Blu the Bus

Our LDV DIY Camper Adventure

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Finding the right Insurance

15/1/18

Of course this is one of the most boring, repetitive things to do but it's got to be done - we were totally in the dark of how we even go about getting insurance for a minibus diy camper. After some thorough reading through other diy blogs and endlessly googling we managed to find that there is such thing as a campervan conversion insurance...who would of thought.   

The best insurance broker by far was Herts:

https://www.hertsinsurance.com

It was slightly trickier getting cover as it ranges from 1-6 months in Europe usually but does not cover you while in the UK...erm so how are you supposed to drive it to Europe....The UK is backwards. Anyway after literally being on the phone for hours we finally got covered for both UK & Europe for a year. Result!

We feel like we are making progress - well baby steps anyway :) 

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The meaning behind her name - Blu 

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Our buying experience

12/1/18

There is nothing worse than reaching into a Maccas bag, 3 minutes out of the drive through, only to find out they forgot your fucking Mcnuggets.

A nightmare like this is exactly what we did not want to encounter while purchasing our new home on wheels. Driving up to essex we discussed the many things we were going to check over and ask about whilst viewing this van.

That one thing that we have taken out of this experience, be prepared. Think over the questions you want to ask and research weak points of the vehicle you are buying so you are prepared.

Top of the list was body and chassis rust as well as how well the engine ran. Other important things that we wanted to find out were, service history, length of MOT and any major issues that stuck out.

Things that aren't as important but still worth checking are minor body damage, radio, tyre tread etc. essentially anything that wasn't going to harm the integrity of the day to day running of the van wasn't a big issue but would be more of a leverage point in the price negotiation.  

Due to the stupid winter english sun (getting pitch black at 4pm) we had to look at the van in the dark - wouldn't recommend this at all.

We give her the once over under what little light we had and of course we couldn't get her started. The battery was as flat as her tyres. After an hour of messing around we agreed with the owner if he got it started we would come back the next night, again we really wouldn't recommend this but she was too good shape and had such great mileage we really wanted her to work!

So after being fitted with a new battery and supposedly being driven around the block, excited we ventured up to see her again. Of bloody course again she did not start - don't you hate people who lie... the mechanic mentioned he had moved it however the spiders that were residing in between the back twin tyres had not been disturbed. 

Eventually we got it started and went for a test drive, it went great and we got the price down to £1900. We took the leap and here we are now the proud owners of a massive minibus called Blu.

[projectblu-blog1]

We found our bus!

11/1/18

After some long hard tedious searching we found the perfect big girl! 

This LDV Convoy was advertised on Autotrader UK - one of the best sites to buy a second hand vehicle in the UK. 

She had done 55,000 miles

No modifications

Only 2 previous owners

In a previous life she was used as disability transport for a Church, fitted with a lift ramp at the back

Very sturdy chassis and body- hardly any rust and no structural damage 

Strong ford engine with a huge parts market all over europe 

Simple to work on with minimal electronics (e.g. windy-windows and manual moving wing mirrors 

Listed for £2400

As it wasn't too far away either we got extra lucky! Excited to go and see her but sucks as we are about to go through a toll road in peak hour...

[projectblu-blog1]

It was all a dream

11/1/18

We have both always dreamt of doing up our own camper, something about the open roads, living like nomads and venturing around seems like the life. So we have made the decision to stop dreaming and actually do it.  

I know there are so many cool diy campers out there that you can buy/rent but nothing beats creating your own little space and having no limits. So this May (2018) we are off!

So here we go, it's going to be one hell of a ride just to get a van from a bust to a beauty but will be well worth it in the end. We wanted to blog our progress so we can hopefully inspire you to do it one day too!

Step one...finding ideas of the kind of vans we like and deciding on the size. As there are so many different sizes and models it was quite daunting on what to choose. BUT we finally made our decision and we started looking for a LDV Convoy Minibus. 

We choose this mainly because of size, as Chris is so tall (like 6,2) it's hard for him to stand and sleep in a smaller van (bloody tall people haha). Plus for such a big van we can still use our standard class C driver's licence and its in a lower price range to most of the other vans to choose from. Let the search begin...

Lola & Chris 

Our top van ideas so far:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/george0931/diy-camper/