Hiace Camper Van - Build/Reno

Hi

I am new to this forum and just about to start on a new journey - to either build from scratch with a second hand van or purchase and renovate an existing camper van.

I am unsure of budget just yet, but will probably go to 10k.

I dont want the full on camper with fridge, sink, cupboards etc.. What I really want is just a sleeping area for my wife and I and two young kids. Also need storage for esky, table, chairs etc. This is just for camping weekends etc as we are sick of setting a tent up, packing it away and dealing with trenches every time it pours down rain when we are camping, so at least if we can sleep inside we will get away from that issue.

I was wondering what the benefits of going for a standard SWB over LWB and hi-top vs pop top etc are.

I am hoping to get a van around the 1990-1995 model.

Can you sleep someone in the pop top area of a pop top Hiace, is it hard to set up and how much space, dimensions do you get in the pop top section to sleep in. I was thinking of having kids sleep in top pop section if possible and have double bed/setting and table at lower level along with storage behind the drivers/passengers seating.

Does anyone here have a Hiace van SWB/LWB that can give me the internal dimensions of the van. ie. floor to ceiling inside and length and width between wheel wells and walls, height of windows above floor in cargo area, width at widow and floor level.

Has anyone here done a conversion like this themselves? I am interested in any feedback.

We will use the van to sleep in and eat in and store gear. Will also set up side awning and maybe rear awning off rear cargo door.

We will set up table, cooking and seating out under the awning area, so semi-camping with good quality comfortable sleeping inside.

BTW - the idea is that I need a tow vehicle to tow my fishing kayak, so I though may as well get a van we can do up to sleep in and have tow ability (up to 2-300 kg only) for the trailer when I want to take the kayak out.

My main concern I guess with the standard height van is head height for sitting at a seating and removable table arrangement at the rear of the van. This would convert into a double bed at night. The kids would then sleep in another bed at the front section of the van, which would partly double as storage during transit.

Under the rear bedding and set arrangement would double as some storage also. Seats would have water, pump, gas bottles storage and eating equipment stored under them, so they would have hinged lids. To convert to bed there would be ply panels that would span between seats to form double bed to rear section.

The height of the bed/seats would be 450 mm above the floor level, so I need to confirm firstly whether adults could sit on these seats and still have head room to have a meal, watch some TV, play cards etc.

Any advice would be great.

I understand the Hiace is a good platform as it is common, popular and a reliable and solid vehicle in general.

Any views on the pop top would be appreciated. The thing I am unsure of is if you can sleep up there, how much space there is and is it easy to set up. I thought that the front section of it, if boards were to span the roof area could be left set up as a bed permanently and the rear section left open to gain rear section, seating area head height. Mind you the kids only need about 1.5 metres in length to sleep comfortably, not sure on width though for two of them, side by side.

I am pretty handy with building and tools, have done a bit of building around home and am technically minded. Building myself would be a great little project I think, but I am just looking for the information to get started, to make the right choices.


Thanks in advance.

James