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Hi all newby here in Loch Lomondside Scotland we intend next year travelling the lenght and braedth of Britian seeking casual employments to keep us fed whilst doing so, predominately wild camping most of the time in our nearly completed selfbuilt ex 15 seater Fiat Ducato minibus which is now a rather luxurious 2 berth motorhome/ campervan, we duly seek help and advise on a couple of points below and trust your forum can help us.

I read somewhere recently that there is available to download that i am unable to find a pdf engineers report that if taken to any mot station is able to be filled in by said mot'r as a guide to the suitability of a selfbuilt to be used for the purpose for which it was meant, if this is the case does anyone know where i could possibly obtain this form from if so please get in touch.

Also as a selfbuilder i am coming up against problems that need to be overcome daily now as we near completion of out build some of which are detailed below.

1/ i want to somehow utalise a household ladder and in some way attach it to the rear or side of my van to enable access to the roof are but don't know how to obtain or make suitable brackets to hold it on any ideas on how this would be done ???.

2/ I wish to make a roof rack to cover only a small portion of the rear of the roof to hold only 1 roofbox to hold the likes of our awning in all the manufacturers ones are way to dear so what we thought of was either using dexion or angle iron possibly even wooden battens and coachbolting it directly onto the roof obviously strethening the underside where the bolts went through first any ideas would be gratefully accepted as would specs diagrams or photos of already completed ones.

3/ another thing that is far and away to expensive for us is a towbar all we need really is a towball mounted to our bumper as it is only to hold a bike rack with 2 bikes and would never actually ever be used to tow with, anyone done this before is so how ? again any specs diagrams or photos of already completed ones would help immensely.

4/ i am also seeking to find a downloadable electric test form that i could use to prove my electics are working correctly and are safe as i have heard all sorts of horror stories of selfbuilders being thrown off sites for no real reason therefore if i carry all availale paperwork with me we hopefully should be alright.

4a/ As we fully intend to travel starting next year the lenght and braedth of britian casually working as we go to make enough to feed ourselfs and for fuel any info, links to sites or downloadable info on safe wild camping sites, places where we could find casual temp work and such like would also be most helpful

5/ lastly for now at least i am absolutely paraniod about both safety and security whilst both on and off sites or wildcamping and wish to toughen up the locks on my ducato lwb hitop which factory ones are quite naff really what i want to know is there anyway i have fitted coachbolts to the top corners of both front doors which effectively makes these secure and the same on my side door but would rather have it so that it could be opened from inside or outside by way of a sort of threaded rod set up threading into a slightly larger threded pipe say with a security lock on either end of the type found on shop alarms or wheel locks which cannot be opened without the correct key that way with the correct keys it could be opened from either inside or out making them far more useable and safer, i can find nothing on the market even remotely like this and what i can find does not open from both inside and out or is way to expensive if anyone has devised a system to tackle this please again do let me know with any photos, diagrams or specs.

Does anyone have an older type glass pop out sunfoof with all seals and fitting instructions if so and you want to sell get in touch a s a p also if really cheap side, front and rear bullbars ladder for rear, spotlight bar for roof, exterior sunvisor set of 5 x alloys and a towbar all for 1997 hitop lwb Fiat Ducato 2.5 td [ex 15 seater minibus] also looking for materials used to make silverscreens to enable me to make screens for all side windows.

Look forward to haering sensible replies to my post and posting in the future

Yours for now

Dougie

cant really help with the new van i'm afraid....except to think about the rear ladder....if your carrying top boxes they are a means for a thief to climb onto your van and gain access through a vent or into your topbox....it has been known....if you have room carry a foldable stepladder.

as for work in the uk try these http://www.caravan-jobfinder.co.uk/....they usually have a fair few jobs through the year if you don't mind what you do.....alternatively stop at a site and ask....sometimes if they have a busy week they will need an extra pair of hands

best of luck with the van and the travelling

hannah

thanks for that all useful info if little bit helps to a means to an end

cheers for now

dougie

was my fault with the typing here you go...

http://www.caravan-jobfinder.co.uk/

hi ducatobuild.. im sure you will get the answers you want the people on hear are really helpfull...

i just tried your link to take a look at your camper but it doesnt find it...

we are renevating a bedford cf camper.. hard work or what but will be worth it in the end..

your dead correct there doh it is in actual fact www.freewebs.com/expertbuild

The MOT bears no relevance to the conversion side of the van.

Any garage can do the MOT which is for the base vehicle only. You will need a certificate of safety from a CORGI Gas installer for any of the gas installations inside the conversion, and it has to be someone who is certificated to work on motorhomes/motorcaravans/caravans.

You also need to change the details of the van on your registration documents for insurance companies to cover you.

As for the roof window you are looking for there are companies that break caravans and motorhomes for parts. Some also sell on ebay.

For your bikes, if you watch the classifieds and ebay bike racks do come up and these would hold your bikes much more securely than a towball which isn't really a towball.

Motorhome Self Build, Camper Van Parts, Spares and Accessories

Self Build Motor Caravanners Club

Tina

Tina

thanks for all that i am very well aware of most that you write knowone suggested that an moter can give assurances that my van is ok however more and more now insurance companies seek the guidance of an mot station in their quest to deem your van NOT suitable therfore more widely use then for varification purposes, which is what i seeked to find a member of another forum i am a member of yesterday supplied me with the link that i sought anyone who is currently building a van of selfbuild origins should consider downloading this document and it might just save them all the hastle i had obtaining one at www.caravanwise.co.uk/Resources/home_conv.pdf , i spoke to my broker,[ who is also a friend] this very morning faxed him a copy and he was more than happy to insure us under these terms and will do whenever i wish to go ahead now.

As for the bike rack issue obviously a rack made for a car would be no good on a double opening rear door of a van,[ i have a brand new one we bought last year for our car and have never used, as this would quite clearly deny us the use of the rear doors and apart from that i can see no way of getting the bikes of of it to high up, apart from which this types bottom most bar is made to sit on a bumper and the side straps to go around the tailgate, the main reason for wanting t6he towbar arrangement was so when stopped we would be able to remove the whole lot in one nice move leaving our doors free incase of emergency and so as to be able to get in to the van [ for your general intrest i have seen this arrangement quite frequently in boat yards where they launch and retrieve boats with only a simple towball arrangement bolted to the bumper and it works fine all be it not on a public road i'm pretty sure that my rack and two bikes are not anywhere near as heavy as a trailer and small vesel, so you see it's not really as daft as it sounds , if however you or anyone else can show me how to mount my cars bike rack ro my van and still be able to easily open my rear doors please do get in touch personally i can see absolutely no way of this being able to be done but none the less i will eat my hat if it can be proven otherwise.