Right base van, wrong interior - worth buying and changing?

[Cymru]

We’re seen a suitable base van for sale which has already been converted. The pop top (SCA) and RIB bed are good, but we would like to remove and update the following:
- electric system
- insulation
- side layout furniture

We’d also like to add an underslung water tank, and a roof solar panel

Has anyone got any experience / advice about changing the pre-existing interior? We would want a professional conversation (I am practically incompetent!). So cost might be an issue - also would any decent conversion company be interested in doing this sort of thing?

 

[archersam]

Honestly it is a crazy idea if you cannot DIY.

You are going to overpay for a conversion, then lose a ton of money on reselling anything that might be salvageable and then pay top dollar to get someone else to add the conversion.

 

[ginkster]

It’s clearly all eminently doable but you will likely be paying more for the van as it’s been converted and more for your conversion given the extra work. Is the base van really that rare or special that it’s worth the extra? There are thousands of vans on the market. Maybe worth a chat with a couple of converters to see what they think.

 

[Cymru]

Thanks both - that all makes sense. I suspected it wouldn’t be cost effective, but wanted to check.

We’ve struggled to find an equivalent good base van: LWB, low mileage, tailgate, minimum 150bhp. Will keep looking …

 

[T6ChrisO]

What makes the base van so special?

EDIT - we posted at the same time......

What budget are you looking at?

 

[Cymru]

We’ve checked on Autotrader it seems that the price e of the vans that we are looking for is around £30-£35k when you add the VAT at 20%. That’s based on a T6.1, LWB, tailgate, 150bhp, euro 6, T32, mileage less than 50,000, ideally a kombi with factory fitted windows rather than panel van.

The van that is already converted meets the above spec, and is £36k (although it is a 2017 van)

Hence our dilemma about what to do - getting an unconverted base van looks like it would cost nearly as much as the converted one!

 

[drinfinity]

Why do you want a Kombi in particular for a regular side layout conversion? Is it mainly windows? The factory fit windows are notoriously leaky, and fitting your own is easy, cheap, and they don’t leak.