VW Crafter MWB Build

[mb2tv]

Hay that looks very smart . Is that new raised flooring in the van and will the heater vents fit ?
1980 kg that seems heavy empty ! But £100 of fule will do that. Lol
Mines 3100kg and rising.

Thank you!
The weight above is with full tank of fuel, but without any one in the van. At least that way i know where we start. These vans are heavy! Mine is a MWB FWD, I read that the RWD and the 4Motion (4WD) are 200 and 300kg respectively heavier, and it is virtually impossible to build one and have a decent user payload for under 3500kg. LWB is another 150kg - again, impossible to be under 3500kg.
No, it is not the raised floor, it is the original floor the van came with. I will see what is the weight difference between this floor and using light material like Garnica efficiency is to decide what i will use. I have not fitted the floor yet as we are trying to finalize the design. Lots of things that seemed to work on paper do no work in reality, so some 'tweeks' has to be made. Also it helps to find where i need to drill for the like of shower waste. The Crafter underfloor is quite a busy place.

 

[mb2tv]

Fridge question: has anyone fitted a fridge with external compressor? Do you need to fill it with gas or it is done in such a way that it is not needed?

 

[wildebus]

Fridge question: has anyone fitted a fridge with external compressor? Do you need to fill it with gas or it is done in such a way that it is not needed?

Are you looking at something like the Waeco CRP40? I understand those ones don't have a removable expressor as such, but a repositionable one to allow you put the fridge further back. Of course, you may be talking about something else in which case the above probably is irrelevant

 

[mb2tv]

No, you are not far off.
With the swivel fitted, we put the additional seats in and discovered the the plan on paper is not that good... Basically, there was no room to pass between the seats and the kitchen. So back to the drawing board, we looked at options: the Mrs wants as big as possible fridge and one that caught my eye was the Vitrifrigo range where some of them have an external compressor. That will maximise fridge capacity as the compressor is not part of the box ( yes, it will eat from the overall space, but will spread it). There is very little info (well, on youtube) of their installation and what is required. I am not sure how they prevent the cooling gas from escaping. For example, Vitrifrigo C95L ('L' in their range denotes external compressor and 'i' denotes internal).
The NEC show was really poor from that point, hardly any parts for building your own camper.

 

[wildebus]

No, you are not far off.
With the swivel fitted, we put the additional seats in and discovered the the plan on paper is not that good... Basically, there was no room to pass between the seats and the kitchen. So back to the drawing board, we looked at options: the Mrs wants as big as possible fridge and one that caught my eye was the Vitrifrigo range where some of them have an external compressor. That will maximise fridge capacity as the compressor is not part of the box ( yes, it will eat from the overall space, but will spread it). There is very little info (well, on youtube) of their installation and what is required. I am not sure how they prevent the cooling gas from escaping. For example, Vitrifrigo C95L ('L' in their range denotes external compressor and 'i' denotes internal).
The NEC show was really poor from that point, hardly any parts for building your own camper.

The Weaco one I mentioned is pretty popular with VW Transporter converters as it allows you to set the fridge further back. I had a look at the info and it says you can fit the compressor upto 1.5M away and it looks from the illustrations that there is a flexible curly pipe that you would unloop? I would expect other "external" compressor models would be the same - I can't imagine a manufacturer would sell a fridge where the owner has to re-gas from brand new? The compressors are sealed units and don't require any venting so could go anywhere within the distance allowed.
Something that I was considering when I was looking for a replacement for my 3-way in the Motorhome was instead of fitting one large fridge, fitting two smaller units. The rational behind that was:

• Price of two smaller units not being that much more than one large one
• Use either as a Fridge or a Freezer - so more flexibility depending on requirements trip-to-trip
• Leave one unit off if full capacity not required on trip, saving power
• Redundancy - if one fails you still have facilities
• Improved options for layout - side-by-side; stacked; or separated.

In the end, I stuck with a regular domestic 240V single Fridge/Freezer but I would still consider the two-unit option for a new build.

 

[mb2tv]

The Weaco one I mentioned is pretty popular with VW Transporter converters as it allows you to set the fridge further back. I had a look at the info and it says you can fit the compressor upto 1.5M away and it looks from the illustrations that there is a flexible curly pipe that you would unloop? I would expect other "external" compressor models would be the same - I can't imagine a manufacturer would sell a fridge where the owner has to re-gas from brand new? The compressors are sealed units and don't require any venting so could go anywhere within the distance allowed.
Something that I was considering when I was looking for a replacement for my 3-way in the Motorhome was instead of fitting one large fridge, fitting two smaller units. The rational behind that was:

• Price of two smaller units not being that much more than one large one
• Use either as a Fridge or a Freezer - so more flexibility depending on requirements trip-to-trip
• Leave one unit off if full capacity not required on trip, saving power
• Redundancy - if one fails you still have facilities
• Improved options for layout - side-by-side; stacked; or separated.

In the end, I stuck with a regular domestic 240V single Fridge/Freezer but I would still consider the two-unit option for a new build.

My wife actually raised this idea yesterday, and we are looking at it, for the exact reasons you mentioned. In most fridge/freezer combinations the freezer is just a 'cool box' going down only to -6°C. I have seen one that can go down to -18°C, but the payment was in weight and power consumption. Still considering the options...
Thank you!

 

[mb2tv]

We have decided on the fridge - Vitrifrigo slim90. Will get it in the coming few days.
Looking at waste water tanks - has anyone heard of FAWO? The seem to sell only to manufacturers and not to the wide public. I wanted to know what the quality of their tanks and if anyone used them.

Thanks

 

[mb2tv]

Started doing some actual work... Today I got brave ( after looking at it for three days...) And decided to fit the maxxfan. A bit scary, cutting a perfectly good panel... But fan is now fitted. Checked that it is working and tomorrow will give it a soak to make sure no water ingress.

 

[wildebus]

Started doing some actual work... Today I got brave ( after looking at it for three days...) And decided to fit the maxxfan. A bit scary, cutting a perfectly good panel... But fan is now fitted. Checked that it is working and tomorrow will give it a soak to make sure no water ingress.

Great choice with the Maxxfan. And as tested working, you will have spotted that the BLACK wire is the 12V one (catches lots out).

 

[Sprinter 1 cup]

So what one is 0v

 

[mb2tv]

Great choice with the Maxxfan. And as tested working, you will have spotted that the BLACK wire is the 12V one (catches lots out).

Yes, they do put tags on the wire, but not sure if that is the convention in the US? Check, check again and just to be sure check...
(That is why i looked at it for three days...)
Not that comfortable cutting the van, but there is a lot of it to come (another maxxfan, 4 windows, shower tray waste, shower extractor fan, water pipes, additional seats fitting and not forgetting the diesel heater). Will be more content after those.

 

[wildebus]

Yes, they do put tags on the wire, but not sure if that is the convention in the US? Check, check again and just to be sure check...
(That is why i looked at it for three days...)
Not that comfortable cutting the van, but there is a lot of it to come (another maxxfan, 4 windows, shower tray waste, shower extractor fan, water pipes, additional seats fitting and not forgetting the diesel heater). Will be more content after those.

In the US, I think they use the same colour for DC as AC - so white is ground and black is "hot" (I found a colleague did not realise that one time when he wired up a US MiniComputer incorrectly and when I went to service it, switching it off left it live and I electrocuted myself and shut down an entire warehouse!)

 

[wildebus]

So what one is 0v

White is 0V

 

[mb2tv]

White is 0V

 

[Millie Master]

Oh so white is negative or to put it another way Zero or '0' Volt.

 

[mb2tv]

Hello all,
Some progress has been made - windows and roof vents are all in (pictures shortly).

I have a Seat installation question(s):
I want to raise the seat so it will be level with the driver and passenger seats - about 12cm. I thought of using two box sections steel of 60mmX60mm on top of each other, but this will be quite heavy. Two alternatives I thought of are using shorter section (not covering the whole length of the seat rail, only where the bolts are) or using wood to raise the seats.
Wood seem to be the 'lighter' option but I do not know if this is acceptable.

Any advice will be appreciated

 

[wildebus]

Hello all,
Some progress has been made - windows and roof vents are all in (pictures shortly).

I have a Seat installation question(s):
I want to raise the seat so it will be level with the driver and passenger seats - about 12cm. I thought of using two box sections steel of 60mmX60mm on top of each other, but this will be quite heavy. Two alternatives I thought of are using shorter section (not covering the whole length of the seat rail, only where the bolts are) or using wood to raise the seats.
Wood seem to be the 'lighter' option but I do not know if this is acceptable.

Any advice will be appreciated

I would be concerned about securing the seat to the base via the box sections for one thing.
And that is quite a raise in height? is this to raise the non-swivelling seat to the same height as the swivel seat? I know when I fitted swivel plates to my VW, I found the increased height rather annoying when it came to my eyeline on the top of the side window and in the end removed the swivels to lower the seats down again.

 

[Nabsim]

I took it this is additional seating to driver and passenger seats Dave as that’s the height he wants to raise to? Can’t answer your question though sorry

 

[mb2tv]

Sorry for not being clear, yes, it is additional seats at the back, not the driver or passenger. As can be seen in the picture, there is a difference in hight between the driver seat and the cargo bay. I have seen this done, just not sure about the details. It is not to do with the hight of the swivel, it is the natural hight of the seats (on the 4motion or rear wheel drive the difference is reduced).
Why is the concern using box section? The idea was to use a box section with long high tensile bolts through the floor with a spreading plate underneath, so the box section is really just a spacer but the strength of the structure comes from the seats and the spreading plate underneath.

 

[wildebus]

Sorry for not being clear, yes, it is additional seats at the back, not the driver or passenger. As can be seen in the picture, there is a difference in hight between the driver seat and the cargo bay. I have seen this done, just not sure about the details. It is not to do with the hight of the swivel, it is the natural hight of the seats (on the 4motion or rear wheel drive the difference is reduced).
Why is the concern using box section? The idea was to use a box section with long high tensile bolts through the floor with a spreading plate underneath, so the box section is really just a spacer but the strength of the structure comes from the seats and the spreading plate underneath.

My concern is not the box section but with using very long bolts of what? 6 inches long? Just seems very long! may well be perfectly fine but just my thinking.