The Caravan & Motorhome Chat Forum

Ive taken on a personal project to design and build a custom caravan with the hopes of selling it at the end. Ive already started the build process. Take a look at the designs. If you are interested then get in contact. Also i would love to hear peoples opinions. Thanks

It’s the only way to get what you want I think.

I’d love to strip out and refit a van to my own design. A friend is doing a full refit of an old 70s sprite and it’s barely recognisable.

I don’t think your layout would work for us but I wish you all the best

C59

Is this a business venture or just hobby stuff?

Cheers
Bugs

All being well a potential business venture. I want to make this one to see how smoothly the process goes and see how popular the end product is. Whether it will or wont sell and for how much

(28-02-2019, 12:11 AM)Collett59 Wrote: [ -> ]All being well a potential business venture. I want to make this one to see how smoothly the process goes and see how popular the end product is. Whether it will or wont sell and for how much

Great stuff! 

If it does take off as a business, just to let you know you would be able to advertise free on CaravanChat Forum in our Section "Advertise Your Business/Products here". In addition to our registered members, we also have hundreds of visitors each day who just look in.

We could also run a feature for you on our main website - contents of which are syndicated via "NewsNow".

Cheers
Bugs

It would be helpful if a plan view were added as I can't see where the cooking facilities or wardrobe are supposed to be.

Ill draw up a plan and post it in here asap

I would be interested in where the wheels and suspension will be placed, as the location of the axle about which the completed and loaded vehicle will pivot will determine the coupling nose weight, how stable the vehicle is when being towed and also the height of the floor from the ground.

Will a special chassis be built to carry the caravan, or do you have a particular commercial chassis in mind?

(05-03-2019, 10:54 AM)Navigator Wrote: [ -> ]I would be interested in where the wheels and suspension will be placed, as the location of the axle about which the completed and loaded vehicle will pivot will determine the coupling nose weight, how stable the vehicle is when being towed and also the height of the floor from the ground.

Will a special chassis be built to carry the caravan, or do you have a particular commercial chassis in mind?

I have taken an existing trailer and will be building this body on top of it. the axle will sit approximately half way down the chassis, roughly inline with the shower/toilet.

Thanks for adding some more details. They do, however, raise a few thoughts in my mind:

1. Are you aiming for any particular MTPLM?
   
2. I can't see any provisions for hanging any clothes
   
3. Where do you plan to locate the battery and gas bottles? The obvious place would be under the bed, but that would make the caravan rear end heavy.
   
4. There seems to be no access to the double bed from the sides other than at the door. As the wall-to-wall arrangement all round obviously provides for a transverse double bed it makes it difficult for anyone sleeping at the far end to get to the bathroom without climbing over one's neighbour. It also makes it difficult to stretch fitted sheets over the corners of the mattress.
   
5. Access to the bathroom is difficult if someone is working in the kitchen at the same time. The bathroom door opening into the kitchen area would collide with an open oven door unless it is intended to fit a sliding bathroom door. At the very least, the hob/oven and the sink units need to be reversed.
   
6. The caravan appears to be strictly two berth. The lounge area with its limited hip room seems to be in line with that intent, with no provisions to seat any guests. Is that intentional?
   
7. Due to the bulbous nature of the front end, whoever sits on the front bench seat has very limited headroom.
   
8. Because the front end panel tucks in below the waistline, the space between the entrance and the front bench seat is wasted.
   
9. Where do you intend to place the toilet in the bathroom?
   
10. Many people like to watch TV while in the caravan. Taking such a preference into account I can't make out a suitable location to allow one to view a TV conveniently from both bench seats at the same time.