Pimp my Mini-Camper
Pimp my Mini-Camper
- 4
- 46 439
This channel is about how to pimp your van and transform it into a comfortable Mini-Camper without spending lots of money. Though continuing to fully function as a 5 seater during the week our Mini-Camper sleeps 2 adults and a kid of 6 years. When heading into nature over the weekend we can take our bicycles along and enjoy plenty of shade and rain protection thanks to the 12,36 m2 awning. The integrated fridge and kitchen as well as 3 comfortable chairs and a large table provide superb comfort. Our vehicle is an unmodified Peugeot Rifter L2 (identical to Citroen Berlingo, OPEL Combo and Toyota Proace City Verso), all gimmicks are removable/mountable in a few minutes. We invite you to "copy with pride" the solutions we adopted, to test them and provide plenty of comments and feedback. Obviously we would be very happy about your likes and your subscription of this channel. Thank you and stay connected.
Пікірлер
Hi! Will you post more videos!!?? Many thanks for the great ideas! I missed the part where you show the bed in the front for the kids?
Hello, unfortunately I don’t have the time to produce and post more. My kid is too tall now to sleep in the front. We changed concept sleeping all three in a roof tent (Maggiolina) on top of the car. The kitchen unit is in its position, I just disassembled the bed section. This concept allows now to use the same vehicle in the L1 standard length.
is it possible to fold down flat, driver seat also?
No, the driver seat can not be put down
Brilliant video, very helpful thankyou
Have you made any further changes to the van?
Great thanks for sharing
I love it. How is your experience after two years now? Are your 20x40 und 20x60 aluminium profiles strong enough? to sleep on them with about 160 kg ?
1 cm Dicke für die Alu Profile die horizontal oben verlaufen? Biegt das nicht durch?
Hi Christian, aluminum profiles are extremely stiff and strong even the slim ones of 20mm width, especially when you orientate them vertically and not flat! The weakest points in my design are where the hinges are connected to the aluminum profiles. Maybe today in addition I would drill a hole and ad a passing through screw on each side. Regarding your below question about the 1cm horizontal profiles: this is no problem either as they are sustained on 4 points over a total length of about 120cm. Summing up the weight of us 3 family members we are at 155+ kg, we never had any problems. Take care and Copy with Pride ;-) Frank
A very innovative design compared to other camper boxes. Great work 👍
Thank you Mark, copy with pride, improve and share ;-). Take care Frank
Are you dutch? 🇳🇱
No man, ... I am a European ;-) By chance I have German and Italian citizenship, but that detail is not of any real importance.
@@pimpmymini-camper5583 Okay. 😂 But dutches are europeans too. 😎🇳🇱🇪🇺
1.5 HDI 130hp ;)
yes, a real good engine that works fine with the 6 speed manual transmission. Even with the car fully loaded, with all that stuff on the roof and the bikes on the hook, I never have issues with missing power. Sometimes I really forget and drive fully loaded as if I had a sports car. And consumption is comparably low as well. I am hoping for a Rifter with a hybrid plug in but it looks like the Stellantis Group will offer only full electric :-(
Interesting, the Driver seat can't go down as well?
Hello Reno, the driver seat can not go down but it works out any well. Don't hesitate to ask and Copy with Pride. All the best Frank
I do not think that is is allowed to extend the 12.36 m2 as you only paid for that.
Hi sparkiesj, sorry but I do not understand your comment. Maybe my humor is not trained enough any more ;-) Thanks anyway for coming back to me.
@ hpwjack, strange enough your comment and question I received via e-mail did not appear here. Yes, the back door can be fully opened with the awning open. Without elevating the awning at the roof bars it slightly touches the back door, so you prolong the stands. As a consequence the inclination of the awning is towards the vehicle, not so good in case of rain and back door open. As I said in the video I often "forget" to rise the awning, especially when the weather forecast allows me to be lazy ;-) Regarding your question on how the brackets that fix the awning to the roof bars look like, check my Instagram account, I posted two photos for you there. Find further details here shop.vanlovers.de/collections/markisen-und-zubehor/products/schwenkhalter Copy with Pride. Frank
Very well conceived build. thank you for sharing!
Hello Mar Kai, it's a pleasure. Check out my other videos and let me know if you need details. Copy with Pride Frank
Love your engineering 👍😎 kind regards from Heidelberg
Thanks, appreciate your kind comment. Copy with pride and let me know the results. Frank
Can you put down the back seats so that it makes a flat base so you can sleep in the car please?
Hi Rick, the back seats go down nearly flat. Very comfortable that you do not have to remove them but, as said, you will not get a fully horizontal surface. The other cool thing is that also the passenger seat in the front goes down flat, so you can load very long objects inside and still travel in three. Copy with Pride. Frank
Nice info bro. How u made the wind shield?
Thanks Darwin. I sketched the entire kitchen module and then had it made by a local metal worker. If I had to do it again I would ask to make it out of aluminum sheets, just to make it even more easy when placing the entire system into the vehicle at the beginning of the season. Copy with Pride. Frank
Sowas regt mich auf, keine Lust auf deine Muttersprache? zieh nach England
Zu spät, wohne seit über 20 Jahren in Süd-Italien, meiner zweiten Heimat. Das tut deiner Leber aber nicht gut wenn du dich aufregst. Ich spreche in meinen Videos bewußt Englisch um meinen Beitrag einem größeren Publikum zugänglich zu machen, das hat rein gar nichts mit Muttersprache oder Heimatzugehörigkeit zu tun. Schönen Gruß in die grüne und saftige Heimat. Frank
Hello Frank! Thank you for sharing your experience! I like your ideas and approach very much. But when i watch videos about campers (especially about mini-campers), i have a strong feeling that it is so much hassle, and that it is much easier just to set up a tent outside the car. I often go camping with my family and i use a car just to transport us and our stuff. And we just set the tent and the kitchen outside the car. What are the advantages of the camper versus separate outdoor tent?
Hy Dmitry, thanks for the nice feedback. Very good question, for me it is the comfort. In a tent you normally do not have a real bed and everything is standing on the ground. The ants visit you kitchen and if it has rained it is a mess to re-pack the tent. Second advantage of a Mini-Camper is the minimal set-up time needed once arrived at the campsite and the easy way you can align horizontally by using wheel chocks. Sure, the bigger your camper gets the more comfort you have but you have also more costs and constraints. Thats why actually my best compromise is a Rifter L2 Mini-Camper. When my daughter will be to tall to sleep over the front seats of the car, my new best compromise might be a Pössl Vanster Mini-Bus. It has a pop-up roof bed where she could sleep. I would than slightly modify the aluminum profile camping-box and continue using it as bed and kitchen also in the Vanster. Copy with Pride. Frank
@@pimpmymini-camper5583 Thank you for the detailed answer, your points make sense. I am thinking about Rifter as a car for my big family, and the opportunity of using it as a small camper is a very nice side effect.
@Dmitry, happy to have helped. May I suggest you subscribe my channel and click the bell so you get informed when I publish the next videos I am preparing. Copy with Pride.
@Sven van Heijningen Hi Sven, indeed a pop-up tent is in my planning, but not for the Rifter as the car is just rented, can not modify. Maybe next vehicle could be a Vanster, it has a pop-up and I can modify my alu camping box (additional floor below) to make fit in this van. Will study this in 2022. Have you started your project?
Please could you post a link to the metal window screens you talked about?
Thanks for asking. I did buy from www.lueftungsgitter24.de/Peugeot/Seitenfenster-Berlingo--Combo--Rifter-ab-2018.html Check out my video "03 Ventilation Grille", it is al about the metal window screens. Copy with Pride. Frank
@@pimpmymini-camper5583 Thanks, appreciate it!
알류미늄 프로파일로 이렇게 잘만들수 있다니 대한합니다
안녕하세요 배낭 여행 튜너 제 생각에는 알루미늄 프로파일이 매우 좋습니다. 나중에 다른 차를 가져야한다면 알루미늄 프로파일로 만든 캠핑 박스를 쉽게 개조 할 수 있습니다. 자부심으로 복사 ;-) Frank
Nice build! Where did you get the aluminium profiles?
Hello Martin, thanks for your kind feedback. For the aluminum profiles check out Dold Mechatronik in the Internet. Here is the link www.dold-mechatronik.de/Aluminiumprofile-und-Zubehoer-20-I-Typ-Nut-5
Thanks for interresting videos. Are you able to open the trunk door with the bike holder attached (but lowered)? I read somewhere that this might be a problem with large trunk door of Rifter. What type of bike holdrr do you have? I am waiting for my new rifter whicb we also plan to convert.
Hello Pavel, thank you for your kind feedback. When I have the bike holder attached and lowered the pedal of the inner bike is blocking the full opening of the trunk door. If you have quick release pedals on your bikes it might work as they are smaller. The bike holder is quite old and not any more on the market. I have an extractable trailer hitch, so I just pull out the bike holder together with the trailer hitch. No wrench is needed and you can mount/dismount it in no time (if you do not forget to put some grease in the hole and cover against dust ;-). Let me know how the conversion works out and don't hesitate to contact me, there are still a lot of tips and tricks I have not been able to share for now. Copy with pride. Frank
How does this System Looks when its folded?
Maybe you can post a link of it here.
At the very beginning of my video kzread.info/dash/bejne/dXqXlsGMkqbQo9Y.html you can see it behind me. Copy with pride ;-)
Great setup again. I Am looking for Arpenaz Decathlon Base M which seems to be perfect for me.
Thanks Arnaud. The Arpenaz though needs a lot of space inside the car when on the road and it takes more time to open and close (I am quite lazy ;-). On the other side it costs much, much less. Let me know your experience.
@@pimpmymini-camper5583 could you tell me with it if your rifter can go into parking limited under 2'00 meters ?
Hello Arnaud, the Rifter without roof bars is 1.879 mm in height. When I have my roof box and the bat awning on the vehicle it is higher than 2 meters. Copy with pride.
Interesting video, thanks, looking forward to more videos from you. I am just thinking of buying Rifter or Berlingo XL. Is Rifter available with automatic gear box? I haven't found any information. Berlingo has automatic one. Why do you took diesel engine? Is petrol model not powerful enough? Other car I have been thinking is FORD Nugget.
Hello Esa, the Peugeot Rifter is the same car as Citroen Berlingo, OPEL Combo and Toyota Proace City Verso. Sure, there are minor differences in the design but to my knowledge they all come with the same identical engines. The 130HP diesel is offered also with an automatic transmission called EAT8. This diesel 130HP is a very modern engine called BlueHDi 130 classified 6d temp and thus allowed even in restricted city centers. Why Diesel? These engines simply have a higher torque and do consume less than petrol engines. 130HP are plenty for my Rifter L2 even when fully loaded. The BlueHDi 100 would have been strong enough, but when I bought the car you could not get it along with the 6 speed transmission and that is a must with a diesel (have a smaller usable RPM bandwidth). The Ford Nugget is one category bigger than the Rifter and quite expensive. Check out the VANSTER if a Rifter L2 is too small for you but you like the concept of a Camping Box. Let me know what you decided. Copy with pride. Frank
@@pimpmymini-camper5583 Thank you for great answer! I think I choose Berlingo, because the dashboard is more accessible for a short person. Rifter has everything so high up you may not be able to see the road.
Hello, could you explain me your setup to fix the bed on the insert (how did you fixe and how did you make the hook ? ). I have a standard Rifter and I want to do similar setup. Thanks for answering and great set up and videos
Hello Arnaud, thanks for your appreciation. I use 2 threaded plates (one on each side of the metal sheet with hole you find on the car), a long thread ring bolt (to connect the plates and as an eyelet for the belt tensioners) and a lock nut (to prevent the system to get loose over time). As an alternative to the long thread ring bold + lock nut you can also use a short threaded bar + an eyelet. When positioning the one threaded plate at the rear of the metal sheet you better tie it up first. Why? When trying to mount the setup the plate may slip away and disappear behind the covering. This happened to me twice, I managed to get it back from behind the covering only after an hour using strong magnets. Hope this explanation is clear enough to understand. I am thinking of posting a short video of this setup as it is quite difficult to explain in words only. Let me know if you need more info upfront. Copy with pride. Frank
@@pimpmymini-camper5583 thanks a lot Frank. I am going to see that in mine. 😉
Thank you much for this nice work. Could you tell what is the name or reference of the two kind of hinges you use for the bed? I am looking for a while for both kind without success. thank you much! Mickaël
Hello Michaël, thanks a lot for the appreciation of my work. Check out internet for "Wandtafelscharnier". Just be aware that these hinges have an orientation, right or left. best regards and Copy with Pride. Frank
Sehr gute Arbeit. Wie hast du denn die Module gemacht? Also die Wanne und das Küchenmodul. Selber gebaut, oder so bestellt? Viele Grüße Franzek Reisen
Habe eine halbwegs anständige Handzeichnung erstellt und bin damit zum Fensterbauer/Schmied. Der hat mit dann die Wanne und das Küchenmodul aus Blech gefertigt. Gebohrt, mit Zinkspray versieget und montiert habe ich dann selber. Beim nächsten Mal würde ich fragen ob er es auch aus Alu-Blechen bauen könnte, Alu zu schweißen ist halt aufwendiger. Die Camping-Box ist jetzt schon die zweite Saison im Einsatz, hat sich bewährt, würde das Teil wieder so bauen. Schönen Gruß aus Bella Italia. Copy with Pride. Frank
Where did you buy the metal window inserts? We are getting our Rifter L2 end of next week and plan to do a camper build as well.
Hello Philipp, thanks for asking. I did buy from www.lueftungsgitter24.de/Peugeot/Seitenfenster-Berlingo--Combo--Rifter-ab-2018.html I am happy with my camper build out of slim aluminum profiles, works very well. Copy with pride Frank
Intéressant
Thanks, I am working on further videos on the conversion details. I am sure you will find some interesting suggestions there, too. Frank