WideCharlie

Duncan, yes, I can see the attraction of a roll-out awning and would like one, with the tent beyond that and then a…😉 The combined hob/sink unit we have as part of the rear conversion works well. My wife reckons she can whip up a four course meal on it (2 sandwiches and 2 Cup-a-Soups!) without any problem. I’ll take a pic of the setup and post once I recover from a long drive on the M5/M6. Torture!

Hi Duncan. Pleased to see that (almost everything) went well. Almost is the best we can ask for, I reckon. There’s an old sociologist (Pareto, if I remember correctly) who argued that 80/20 was an acceptable proportion to obtain in any given situation. My wife says I consistently get the ratio the wrong way round. Oh well… Anyway, yes, that all sounds successful for you. Bravo! And I think I’ll explore the swivelling front seat option now. We too have tried the Alphard thing out again, at Haverfordwest Bridge campsite again. This time, after much research and head-scratching, we decided against getting an awning. We bought a tent instead. A Eurohike Rydal Air 400. And impressed with it we are too. In effect, it’s an awning without being an awning. We wrestled it into submission and positioned it a couple of feet from the van so that the side entrances of both ended up facing each other. Thus, out of one, into the other no probs. Loads of storage in the tent, the wife slept in there, being sylphlike and untroubled of mind, while I slept fitfully in the van, being neither sylphlike nor untroubled. ‘With good reason,’ she said. Anyway, it was most successful and as soon as we can shake off wider family responsibilities and commitments we’ll go further afield, full of confidence. Incidentally, the site owner’s view of awnings was that they have a tendency to get blown away in strong winds when not sheltered by a van. She thought the adjacent tent was the better option. At around £250, I thought so too.

Hi Duncan, OK, that’s our first over-nighter in the Alphard at a really nice site at Harford Bridge, just north of Tavistock. Can’t praise the site enough. Anyway, one or two or more valuable lessons learned. First, we did manage to sleep but it was a little uncomfortable fir n3 with manly shoulders and chest lying on the folded down seats so I reckon a mattress of some description (air bed probably) is needed atop same. Second, the van became cluttered very quickly once the seats were folded down to form a bed. Third, and possibly most important, struggling out of an uncomfortable bed for a pee in the middle of the night was no fun, and cold and dewy damp to the feet, and noisy from opening and closing the door, and so on. All this served to make me feel (very) old 👴 There were more lessons but the above were enough to concentrate our thoughts on an awning. So, that’s probably the next step. I shall research the subject hither and yon, starting with this forum.

Morning Duncan. I’m useless with metal, and engines and much else but, strangely, I’m ok with wood. Shades of Grammar School 5th Form woodwork classes, I think, way back when. So any boxes I make will be ply and adequately braced, yes. Too many other diy jobs on the go at the moment though. In fact, so much I want to do and so little time to do it in!

Coo, Duncan, that’s really rather brilliant. They’ll prove very useful, I’m sure. One of the problems with the rear conversion is a lack of storage space. I’ll have to put my head to it later this year and see if I can come up with a similar very clever solution. Bravo, I say!

Roger, it’s the runny custard that makes my day, thank you 🫣

Hi Duncan. Here’s my somewhat Heath-Robinson solution to the table issue. I fixed a short length of metal tube to a skilfully shaped (😉) bit of wood that sits underneath the rear conversion cupboards. The table hooks onto the tube as it would do for its internal position just north of the sink, and I’ve fashioned a foot for the table’s leg to stand on, thus raising it to the horizontal, which prevents the custard from running off the table and onto my trousers, or even worse.

Hi Duncan. The issue is simply that I am a very poor, rubbish sleeper most of the time. Insomnia rules ok! Rear or side conversions? You pays yer money and makes yer choice! Swings and roundabouts etc. I suppose it’s much the same with awnings… and much else in this life. Good luck with the wedding

Hi Duncan. Gotta say I’m very impressed with those risers. And I’m feeling that maybe I should have had the side conversion. I have rock and roll envy, I suspect. Your van looks good. We’ll see how we go with the setup we have. It all seems to work fine but we still haven’t managed to get away for an inaugural night. Too many other things clamouring for attention, most of those other things being family of course. And visitors. And essential diy. And so on. Spent last Sunday in the big car park at Looe in the sun. Tailgate up for shade, table attached to a bar above the rear bumper, two camping chairs, exotic picnic prepared by hers truly… great fun. Next stop, a campsite field somewhere for a rubbish night’s sleep 😂

Hi all. Well, the deed is done. Bed boards made and installed and we are very pleased. Sylph-like wife is able to spring into the upstairs bedroom once the poptop is raised, for which I am most grateful and I gave her a round of applause, for which she was most grateful. She doesn’t need a ladder or step-stool, she simply hops up via the second row of seats that we have facing backwards. The boards fit neatly and do not impede the poptop handles. To raise and to lower we simply shuffle the for’ard most board backward to overlap the one immediately behind to create space to raise that pesky poptop. Also, we have found there is sufficient space between the upper surfaces of said boards and lower surface of the poptop to store the sleeping mats and a blanket and some other (flattish) stuff to save stowage ‘down below.’ All told, it all seems most satisfactory. We will try it in anger in not too long, after which we will either become campervanning maniacs or sell the damned thing (just joshing!). Thanks for all the help Charlie

Arthur - thanks for the tip. Duncan - yes, awnings generally are contentious but even more so with Alphards it seems. For that reason alone I’ll leave it until next year and see how we get along without one this summer. Paul - thank you for the response and it seems that the seat arrangement in ours is the same as yours, along with the rear conversion. At this stage we can’t see a massive problem with accessing the pop top area via the second row of seats configured one way or another. We’ll see once we get those pesky boards made up. Thank you all.

Interesting stuff, Duncan. It’s good to hear another’s solutions to basically the same problems and I’m impressed with that awning. Went to look at some fancy versions at Go Outdoors recently and wondered what advantage an awning would have over a tent pitched alongside. It seemed a lot of trouble and quite some money simply to create a ‘hallway’ between tent and van. We’ll hold off on the awning decision until maybe next year. And, yes, I can see the attraction of a side conversion but we’ve been and gone and done the rear variety now so that’s that, I’m afraid. I’ll certainly give you a shout if we get up thataways again but, oh, getting past Birmingham on that M42 is enough to bring me out in hives 😉 Thanks again Charlie

Hi Duncan. Our van has a rear conversion so the option of an r&r bed was lost, I’m afraid. We gambled a little on herself sleeping upstairs but if that didn’t/doesn’t prove feasible we’ll still have the width to sleep two downstairs in relative comfort(?). Not sure we made the right choice but I suppose we’ll find out the first night we try it out in anger. And it will be in anger if we can’t sleep! As for best skirts and blouses, neither of us has them. T shirts and jeans and joggers and something warm - that’s about the lot for us. We don’t intend to go far or for many nights at a time or to wild camp. We’re softies, I’m afraid, but I would like more storage space such as you are making. We’ll try it all out and look at options in due course. BTW, we have friends in York. We visited them last year and took the chance to look at the Bangers and Cash place - Mathewsons - where I nearly parted with money for a heap of old rust in the form of an Austin J2. I was saved from heartache by The Sensible One and now realise that issues with Alphard bed boards aren’t even flea bites. Good luck with the drawers.

Hi Duncan, thank you for your comments. As one old git to another I can appreciate only too well the difficulties of ingress and egress you outline. I’m reasonably fit but also reasonably hefty and simply can’t see me sleeping ‘upstairs.’ However, my wife is not an old git and is almost sylphlike so it remains to be seen if she can manage with a degree of ease. We are both used to sleeping on bouncy yachts so an element of discomfort in a camper is acceptable. If it all proves too much, and that’s my expectation to be honest, we’ll have to bite the snoring bullet and both sleep (or attempt to sleep) together downstairs. In which case the mezzanine can simply serve to store all manner of unnecessary stuff. It might even be fun finding all these things out. But, yes, I take your point about trying to get out of the upstairs platform when actually lying on it. A bit like pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps! She’s a clever girl, though, and I wouldn’t yet put it past her to manage. I’ll report back as and when we get those damn boards done 😉 Thank you again.

Paul, thank you ever so much. That looks to us the ideal setup. I’ll get it done as soon as possible to take advantage of a little bit of decent weather. You’re a star! Charlie