Conversion finished

[Greggbear67]

Just finished my 5.5tonne I've go self build. Been at it steadily since January, & took it for mot yesterday. Passed with no advisories & mot man says it's very tidy underneath. Been a council welfare bus before I got it so well maintained & serviced regularly so all in all, quite happy now.

 

[Greggbear67]

Few more piccies for your perusal

 

[Millie Master]

Well done, truly well done and now you can start to enjoy the labours of your efforts and you can start planning the holidays of your dreams.

Have you by any chance changed your V5 with the DVLA?

All the best

Phil

 

[Greggbear67]

Thanks Phil, getting good feedback from all who have seen it so far. Not changed the logbook yet, taking the photos tomorrow if it doesn't rain then sending the docs off this weekend. Fingers crossed, sounds like I might have some problems with the change. Everything is done as laid out on the govt website right down to the letter, but still not sure how it needs to look like a motorhome! Watch this space....

 

[GEOFF]

Well done, and good luck with the DVLA - I hope that that they don't give you any problems. Geoff.

 

[Debs]

Bottle Green.....absolutely love it, I have heard that people are having problems getting the log book changed, no idea why, but good luck to you.

 

[Greggbear67]

Was originally going to be mid Brunswick green same as a truck I drove in my youth, but actually ended up light Brunswick which is nearly identical to John Deere tractor green, so I'm happy with the result. Looks very good considering it was applied with a 4" brush!....

 

[wildebus]

Looking good fingers crossed with the reclassfication (would have been a done deal 2 months ago but who knows now!)

 

[Squiffy]

Well done Gregg,
Just take some good photos relevant ones,
Write them a letter to go with them saying as per my legal requirement please change my V5 to Motor caravan. All aspects of your current advice on motor caravan construction have been carried out.

Don't worry about demanding it Gregg if they are going to refuse it they will refuse it anyway, but I'm sure they won't, if they do you can always blame me for bad advice. Phil
P.s. By the way the legal requirement is on you to change the classification just as much as it is theirs.

 

[Greggbear67]

I'll definitely try & get it changed just to keep everything right, but have to wait & see. If they don't change it at least I tried....

 

[Greggbear67]

Had the bus over the weighbridge this morning. With fuel tank 3/4 full but the 70 litre water tank empty it tares at 4.7tonnes. Leaves me around
3/4 tonne to play with for cooking gear/ bedding/ supplies(beer!)

 

[wildebus]

Had the bus over the weighbridge this morning. With fuel tank 3/4 full but the 70 litre water tank empty it tares at 4.7tonnes. Leaves me around
3/4 tonne to play with for cooking gear/ bedding/ supplies(beer!)

That's the great thing with Minibuses - they are designed to deal with lots of dense humans (in more ways than one in the case of a School Minibus ) so once the people and their seating are gone, lots of payload available I think my (ex-16 seater) 4.6t van has around 750kg of payload even with full tanks and 44st of batteries

 

[Squiffy]

Happy days Gregg if a crate of beer is within wieght limits Phil

 

[Greggbear67]

First trip out is booked for this Thursday. Long weekend in a field in the Peak District. Fingers crossed, can't wait!....

 

[NickB]

Take a look at my long post today in the DVLA section...
Your V5c probably has J. Vehicle Category M1 not like the rest of us 3500kg N1... this may be to your advantage getting it MOTOR CARAVAN recognised.

 

[NickB]

BTW.... looks very good ..well done. Nick

 

[Greggbear67]

First trip out went fairly well. Only real issue was the fridge box flattening all my batteries, made worse by the bonnet catch cable coming adrift so it took around 90 mins to get the bonnet up! Need to sort split charge relay out & fit some solar panels next, & intending to fit an inverter & go with a small domestic fridge. Apart from that the bus drives well & performance is surprisingly good for the size/weight. Plans also afoot for more storage.
All in all, I'm pleased with the conversion & looking forward to more adventures.....

 

[NickB]

Sounds really good.