Tom Grantham, 29, and Kylie Barnes, 30, spent $2,000 to buy back an old shuttle bus - and turned it into luxury house on wheels for a family of five with all amenities and even a fireplace!
How did they do it? Let's see! 
When Tom Grantham and Kylie Barnes bought a 23-year-old shuttle bus for $2,000 in 2011, probably no one but them believed that this purchase would be of any use. The couple had to invest many months of work and about $ 15,000 to turn it into a superhome on wheels, equipped with everything necessary for the vacation of a family with three children. 
The spouse has personal memories associated with this bus: as it turned out when buying, for many years it ran along the 51st route from Grimsby to Loot, passing by the spouses' house every day. Now it has become their very own luxury travel van. 
Tom and Kylie have three children - three-year-old Henry, seven-year-old Poppy May and eight-year-old Logan. In the former bus converted by Tom's forces, they will not be cramped! 
In the main living room of the motorhome there are two wide sofas. You can sit on them with the whole family, admiring the views, and if necessary, they are laid out in two wide double beds. “This is the perfect car for a family weekend getaway!” says Tom. He worked mainly technical part and furniture making, while Kylie became the interior designer. 
In the mobile home, Tom built all the necessary amenities, providing it with a stove, oven, gas fireplace, sink, toilet and shower. From the old bus, only the traditionally designed driver's seat remained. 
To accommodate a bedroom for three children in the car, I had to try hard, using all the space vertically, from floor to ceiling. 
The kitchen-living room in the central part of the van is finished with light wood and is as illuminated as possible. 
In their motorhome, the family travels to music festivals all over Britain, as well as holidays in France and Belgium. 
True, when trying to go to Italy, the former bus let the owners down: due to an engine failure, they got stuck in Switzerland. “It was a nightmare,” Tom recalls. - The police took away our passports, and we had no right to leave the bus! I had to call a friend for help and change the engine. 
However, this story did not make the family disappointed in their motor home. Children especially love him: after all, it was thanks to him that they visited the French Disneyland! 
The transformation of a regular bus into a travel van lasted more than one year. 
The floors in the car are finished with wood and covered with rugs, so that passengers feel at home. 
Tom had to make almost all the furniture for the van with his own hands. 
According to Tom, the kitchen gave him the most problems. 
Oddly enough, the family recently decided to put the fully finished and refurbished van up for auction on eBay. The starting price is £9,100, or about $12,000. “The kids are terribly unhappy that we want to sell the van! says Tom. "But we think it's time to try something new and exciting."
The company "Autocamper" offers a service conversion of minibuses and minivans to motorhomes. You choose the van and chassis that best meet your requirements for the weight, dimensions and speed of the motorhome.
Re-equipment of minibuses into mobile homes is carried out by specialists in Moscow who have completed training at enterprises and specialized tuning centers in Germany. To build a camper, we use equipment and accessories used in serial production motorhomes.
The service of converting minivans into motorhomes gives you the opportunity to create "motorhome of your dreams" in the truest sense of the word. You determine the layout of the camper, the color of the furniture, materials for upholstered furniture, the number of beds, its technological qualities. If you plan to operate the motorhome in harsh winter conditions, the specialists of the Avtocamper company will install "winter package": reinforced heating system with heating of water communications and preheater Webasto. If, on the contrary, you prefer to travel on hot summer days, the camper will be equipped with air conditioning system. Air suspension, increased ground clearance, solar panels, multimedia, an extended set of kitchen equipment - any of your expectations can be realized in a motorhome built according to an individual project.
Another significant plus of building a motorhome on an individual project is the ability to determine the budget, the amount of financial costs to buy a camper. You can choose from either a new van or a used one. The cost of the project is also affected by the list of equipment and specifications motorhomes. For example, You don't need a kitchen block, which is always present in the basic configuration of industrial-made motorhomes. By refusing to install this type of equipment, you reduce costs.
The basis for a motor home can be:
| Peugeot Boxer |  |
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| Citroen Jumper |  |
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| Fiat Ducato |  |
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| Mercedes Sprinter |  |
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| your van | Any other van that has passed the examination in the service center "Autocamper" |  |
A set of works on the conversion of a van into a motorhome:
- Insulation of the van body (thermal insulation)
- Inserting windows and hatches into the body of a minibus
- Production of furniture for a motorhome from a light furniture board laminated with veneer
- Interior decoration of the walls of the minibus with lightweight plywood covered with leather
- Laying electrical wiring, installing lighting and electrical equipment inside the minivan
- Installation of gas equipment and heating systems for motorhomes (Truma, Alde)
- Installation of a toilet block and a shower cabin of a motorhome
- Formation of the kitchen area of the motorhome and installation of a refrigerator, sink, gas stove, hood, oven, microwave oven
- Installation of any additional equipment at the choice of the client: air conditioning, audio and video equipment, satellite TV, navigator, solar panels, awnings and other equipment for a motor home
Making your own camper is not too difficult for an experienced craftsman. But the terms of such construction can be greatly delayed due to the constant improvement of the design. In order not to get into such a situation, you should think over the interior in advance, abandoning obviously unnecessary elements. This is especially important when equipping small cars, for example, when creating a do-it-yourself home on wheels from a GAZelle.
The mobile home has undeniable advantages - comfort, coziness and mobility. Moscow is a noisy city, from which you sometimes want to leave. Trailer owners do not have to look for a place to sleep, and travel becomes very economical. If earlier it was not possible to use this original housing, you should first familiarize yourself with their classification.
Types of motorhomes and their classification
When choosing the type of future mobile housing, you can be guided by its division according to:
- mind - there are trailed, van or motorhomes combined with a car;
- class - there are three classes of comfort for motorhomes;
- type of trailer - there are trailer trailers, hybrid and fifth-wheel trailers.
If everything is clear with the trailer type of a mobile home, then the difference between a van and a combined motorhome is not immediately visible. In the first version, the living quarters are located in the van of the car and are separated from the driver's seat.
This option is suitable when traveling together, when no one stays in the "house" for the duration of the journey. Thanks to this design, it is possible to fit more functional furniture using a blank front wall.
Motorhomes converted from GAZelles or minibuses are just combined.
The comfort class can be called conditional. So, class “A” motorhomes include spacious trailers made on the chassis of large trucks. Outwardly, they resemble a bus, they can have folding structures, but inside they do not differ in functionality from a small-sized apartment.
It should be borne in mind that the driver must have category "C" rights to drive this transport.
There is much less space in it, but it is still convenient to travel in them. What is important - you can drive such a car with the rights of category B, if the weight of the car or total weight car with a trailer does not exceed 3.5 tons.
Class "C" indicates the simplest motorhomes. It can be a small trailer or a minibus converted into a camper. There is no separate sleeping place - its function is performed by folding sofas or armchairs. But by equipping such a mini camper with a trunk-tent, a folding canopy and a set of camping furniture, you can get a comfortable stay at a minimum cost.
Such construction trailers are also called hybrid trailers to distinguish them from simple trailers. Separately, it should be noted fivsvill-trailers, the shape of which is designed to be used in conjunction with pickups. Thanks to this, it is possible to reduce the length of the entire caravan, because part of the trailer hangs over the car body.
Mistakes when building houses on wheels with your own hands
Prices for mobile homes significantly "bite". No wonder the desire of skilled heads of families to save the budget and do everything themselves. It is important to be wise and learn from the mistakes of others:
- you should not do everything from improvised materials - you will have to live in the house for at least a week and you want to spend your vacation in comfort;
- a serious revision of the body, heating system, wiring will be required - one cannot do without the skills of an auto mechanic;
- if you still managed to fit a shower and toilet, do not forget about the drain tank - pouring dirty water onto asphalt or lawn is extremely unethical;
- it's better not to forget to make a connector for connecting 220V at campsites, and a converter for 12V from the car battery.
Making a trailer on your own
If the difficulties do not frighten, and the desire for action is unstoppable, you can try your hand at building a house. And to remake a GAZelle or build a trailer from scratch - the choice is strictly individual!
Do-it-yourself house on wheels from a GAZelle
To work, you will need a grinder, a welding machine, a hand saw for wood and a lot of patience. The phased modernization of the car looks like this:
- The seats are taken out of the cabin, the old trim is removed. All metal parts are treated with a special solution to prevent rust. The walls and ceiling are insulated with polyethylene foam, plywood sheets are laid on the floor. All wiring runs under the floor and wall sheathing, this should be thought out in advance.
- A frame for furniture is welded directly in the body. If it is impossible to set the car straight, you can use a pipe as a level, resting its ends against the lower edge of the window openings. After rough welding, the frame is removed and everything is welded, cleaned and again brought inside.
- Window openings are glued with carpet. Ceiling panels glued with carpet are also installed. After completing the upholstery of the cabin, you can fasten the slats under the mezzanine and mount the furniture frames.
- For the front seats, you can make a swivel mechanism. To do this, you need a front hub, for example, from a VAZ and part of a swivel rack. The circuit is pretty simple.
- The final stage is the installation of furniture on the frame, the connection of lighting, the installation of a pump for the kitchen washstand, the lining of the mezzanines and minor interior improvements. For cooking, you can put a small gas stove on one burner.
- Instead of welding the furniture frame, you can use ready-made sets, reinforcing them from the inside with corners and additional screws. You also need to attach the kitchen to everything - the floor, the sofa, the wall. This is done to protect furniture from loosening while driving on bumpy roads.
We should not forget that such a modification of the car requires registration in the REO. To do this, you need to write an application and get a resolution from the technical department of the traffic police and a protocol from an authorized organization.
Stylish plywood trailer house
If the car has a towbar, it’s a sin not to take advantage of the situation and not make a nice “drop” trailer for spending the night outside the city. For this:
- The side walls of the future van are cut and attached to the base. All holes for doors and windows, as well as for lightening the frame, must be cut in advance, so it is better to think over the drawing well.
- Shelves are assembled from a furniture board and installed on the base. The same shelves will serve as the front and rear walls of the van.
- According to the shape of the van, a plywood sheet is bent over the shelves on both sides, and a power frame made of timber is fixed on top. One side is liftable, giving access to the kitchen.
- Cut out the top hatch and skylight. The entire frame is insulated, wiring is laid.
- Everything is glued on top with veneer sheets. When the door and window openings are cut out, you can proceed to the exterior painting and varnishing.
- Doors, an upper hatch and supply and exhaust ventilation are installed. After fixing all the fittings, parking lights and fenders for wheels, you can safely go on a trip!
And the video shows a detailed assembly of a motorhome with the installation of solar panels: