It's been a long, long time!!!
Yes it has been nearly 2 years since our last blog. If you are receiving this you are on our mailing list. We would love for you to keep on getting our blogs but you can unsubscribe by clicking the button at the bottom of the page.
Yes it has been nearly 2 years since our last blog. If you are receiving this you are on our mailing list. We would love for you to keep on getting our blogs but you can unsubscribe by clicking the button at the bottom of the page.
What's been happening ?
Well Covid had curtailed our overseas travels, but the good news is that we have planned another European trip this year, more about that later. We have however been exploring more of Australia. During the time of Covid we have been busy working on our new project, our new campervan, very exciting.
Introducing our New Campervan "Scamp"
Why “Scamp you may ask?? The word derives from a old dutch word “slip away” , from an old French word “to run away” / “make one’s escape”. And in English it mean a rascal.
We purchased a long wheel base, high roof Mercedes Sprinter van . Our carport was turned into a workshop and the transformation from a empty van into a campervan took tweleve months. Not that we were slow but we were also working full time. All of the work was carried out by Jenny and myself with the exception of our friend Jeff assisting with the roof racks and solar panel installation. Below are some photos of the van build.
One thing we wanted the achieve was a bed that would not take up too much space. The van was to narrow to sleep sideways and eventually we came up with the idea of a bed that converts to a couch. During the day the surface lenght is less than 900mm and then at night it comes out to a full side bed. To acheive this we purchased a IKEA sofa bed, secondhand and with some modifications and 4 wheels it works extremely well.The bed is always made and takes less than a minute to convert from a couch to a bed.
The finished product.
Below are some photos of the finished campervan. Here is a list of some of the features.
- 3 solar panels on the roof attached to unistruts, 2 x 100watt lithium batteries, 2000 watt inverter and DC to DC Charger
- 2 Maxxfans front and rear, one sucks in the air and the other one blows. This allows for circular air flow.
- Three windows installed, one on each side and the third in the sliding door.
- Overhead cabinets and floor cabinets with plenty of draws. Two bench tops with plenty of workspace.
- Two burner gas stove and a hatch to house the gas bottle.
- 110 litre water tank, water pump, sink and tap, hot water service and a shower .
- A must for a campervan to be off grid is a toilet, a Thelford cassette toilet that even flushes, luxury!!
- A 135 litre Vitrifrigo fridge that has a good size freezer. Makes ice for drinks and we can have icecream, Yay
- Bed that converts to a couch during the day.
- Table and chairs, under the chairs extra storage space.
- Lights, powerpoints and usb charging points. there is even a water guage to see how full the water tank is.
- A reversing camera.
- Jenny made rear and side flywire screens, very clever she is.
- In the rear is our garge for storing chairs, table, barbeque, hoses and fittings, tools and other bits and pieces.
- We had added some decorative features to give it a homely look.
- A 3.5 meter Fiamma Awning
Jenny made this rear screen, taken from a Canadian design we saw on youtube. As you can see it can be fully open, fully closed, just the garage open, just the top open and the top open with the flywire letting in the breeze.  Took a bit of working out but Jenny did a great job.
We have taken “Scamp” on several trips and everything seems to be working well. The next blog post will be our trip to Mundi Mundi and the silo tour on the way home.
Special Visitors
Last week we had a visit from Michael and Pam. They are fellow motorhomers who have motorhomed extensively in Europe and Australia . We keep in contact via our blogs and emails. Although we have known each other for 10 years this is the frist time that we have met in person. We spent the day chatting about our travel exploits and shared a meal at our local Irish Pub. You can see their blog posts at michaelandpamstravels.com
After spending the day together no-one thought to take a photo so I pinched this one from thier website.
Thus ends our blog post. Our first in nearly two years and I am a bit rusty, I hope that it worked out ??
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Wow! Your new van looks awesome! You guys did such a good job. Happy exploring 🙂
J+E, it was such a pleasure to finally catch up with you both and knock back a Guinness together. Scamp is a real tribute to skills, we were both very impressed with how its come together.
Good job guys
Fantastic job both of you! Very impressive, great teamwork. 🤗