Disabled motorhome conversions made to order

[Creationcampers]

Hi Sue,

Thankyou for all your comments. I have been inspired to build this van by a friend who is in a wheelchair, he is a very active fella, who was in the army.
Before I started building this van I had a good look around at what other people had to offer in the way of disabled motorhomes, and in my search I found that you can get great motorhome custom built, but these had price tags of over £50k!!

I really want to help people by supplying affordable disabled access conversions, so to keep them affordable there is no way I could go out and buy a brand new mercedes sprinters!! if I did the price would be in excess of £35k plus!!!

The van is not much to look at at the moment, but that photo on ebay is of the van when we first got it, were tinting the windows, and might even blank of the back two in white so they blend into the van and take away the minibus look!

If anyone wants to follow the progress of our van then please like our facebook page, here we put up progress photos of the van.

We have been getting advice on the build from our friend, and we are trying to make it as user friendly as possible. We have even fabricated our own electric bed, which will allow plenty of floor space in the van when the bed is stored away, and then at a switch of a button the electric bed comes down and is at a low level, so should be easy getting on it. It doesnt take an able-bodied person to make up the bed, which is very rare!

We have to creative knowledge to build most things! and I must say I am very proud of what we have achieved with the bed.

Thanks once again for all the comments

Creation Campers x

[SusieG]

Hi again,

You are quite welcome.

Do you belong to any of the motorhome related forums? I belong to motorhome facts, motorhome fun and the wildcamping forum and both facts and fun have a section dedicated to disabled motorhomes and motorhome users. It might be worth joining these forums as they will have members on there who might be interested in finding a van like yours.

My username on motorhome facts is Sonesta and on motorhome fun It's SkeggySue.

Good luck.

Sue

[Foz]

Creation............what do you think the final cost will be?? about............also are things like overhead hoist over the bed being thought about and power supply to the bed for electric mattress?? This could be good

[Creationcampers]

Hi Foz, for the plan we have for the van at present we dont expect it to cost any more than £15k, We have not planned to put in a hoist, but your the 3rd person today that has mentioned one, (had people message me on ebay about it to).

check out our facebook page, ive just put on photos of the progress so far.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Creation ... 704?ref=hl

[Creationcampers]

So after some thought, we have decided that the van will now be a 3 berth, will have a toilet, kitchen and seating area, there will be tie down points and track for a wheelchair while in transit, the front seat and another passenger seat.m
The van will also have a colour change to get rid of the blue..l were thinking black.. What do u guys think?

[Foz]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2012-12-Volks ... 538wt_1163

look at that mother

[Creationcampers]

Hi everyone, the website is now up and running, please check it out and tell me what you think, www.creationcampers.co.uk

thanks guys

[Burgerman]

I have considered a 7.5 tone truck with 22 foot box, with tail lift. Carpet, my electric bed, a wardrobe, fridge etc and I am all set. But I cant drive it from a wheelchair. Or can I?

I mean much like this (yes if you are my age you can drive on a car licence, and being slow and deseasel they dont use a lot of fuel).

These are relatively cheap, offer a super strong tail lift, and you copuld live in it, or fit all my planes and helis in there, or whatever. But I need something I can drive from a wheelchair...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3m1yEgJ8KU This only has a short body, most are 5 feet longer. (17 feet instead of 22). Its like you can just fit it out like your bedroom...

[Fulliautomatix]

But I cant drive it from a wheelchair. Or can I?

I know it's not what you mean;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyHNlvqe8VE

[Burgerman]

He mad! I especially like that wobbly affair he uses to access the truck. But good for him! I am impressed.

[SusieG]

Hi everyone, the website is now up and running, please check it out and tell me what you think, http://www.creationcampers.co.uk

thanks guys

Looks good creation campers and I wish you every success.

Sue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyHNlvqe8VE

What a positive guy and what an inspiration! Just goes to prove what a person can achieve if they really put their mind to it

I always try to look on the bright side of life myself and I greatly admire anyone who, no matter what their difficulties may be, just grabs life with both hands and lives it to the full!

Sue

[Creationcampers]

Hi Burgerman,

I would recommend a vehicle that you can access the cab from the rear of the van and not a luton box van style, as the access to the cab would be hard from a wheelchair.

I know you said that you would be embarrassed driving the minibus that were doing, but the photo you have seen is from when we purchased it, upon completion it will have had a paint job, and some of the windows are being blanked off to make it look more like a motorhome.

The interior will now have 3 beds (1 double and 1 single) kitchen, toilet and shower room, diesel night heater, TV, seating area with table and plenty of floor space! keep track of the progress on our facebook page!


Sue - Thankyou once again for your nice comments x

[Burgerman]

5K room to move:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-54-MERCE ... 1e6c914436

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-RENAULT- ... 4aa88e0e22

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-IVECO-EU ... 1c298f813d

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DAF-45-LF-150 ... 231f532478



Something this sort of size, small deseasel motor, drive on a car licence, cheap used, reasonably cheap new. LOTS of space! And a super strong reliable tail lift. Good for about 500,000 miles...

This costs no more to run than my 3.8 litre petrol Chrysler, has an 8 foot wide solid floor, that is 20 feet long inside. Thats as big as most peoples living rooms plus...

When you are in a wheelchair, you need space for gear. Electric beds, room to manoever and keep medical supplies, generator, real washer/dryer, etc.

This I could live in on holiday. But its not much good as a drive from wheelchair vehicle. But they make sleeper cab 7.5 tone trucks that may be convertable.

[Creationcampers]

Burgerman, I have had a look at the vans, apart from that great guy in that you tube video, how accessible is it for you to get into the cab in your wheelchair?

Also how much would your neighbours hate you for parking that outside your house, also would you have the space to park it! Plus you also have to think about the resale value, if your going to spend money buying the van and then the cost of converting it, it would be nice to know that the van had a good resale price, which I dont think there would be much call for these!

[Burgerman]

Well I wasnt meaning for you to sell or convert.

And IF I converted one resale value wouldnt worry me. I could remove the gear and its still a van. And I wouldnt sell it anyway. And yes it would go in my drive, in fact down the side of my house so neigbors would be no wiser.

I mean just for my purposes. But I cant find a sleeper style cab I can convert anyway!

I mean like these:

Scroll down.

[ex-Gooserider]

It would be a second lift and a severe amount of conversion, but there is a place here in the US, http://www.goshichi.com/ that does conversions on pickup trucks that are pretty slick judging from the pictures. It appears that they create a section of the floor that slides out and drops down to act as a lift, with the door attached to the lift part. Presumably you could make it work with a truck like you show, though it might be a challenge to deal with the tilt-cab.

It is a neat design as you enter from alongside the vehicle, rather than at right angles like you do with a ramp. So you don't need the extra wide space that the usual side-ramp minivan setup does. They claim it will fit in a standard space, but I'm not sure as you still need 36" for the door to stick out - however it's still an improvement. Also since you end up in the drivers seat position, you don't need all the drive around room inside the vehicle (i.e. you'd be able to keep the middle row seats in a mini-van) Finally, NO DROPPED FLOOR, so you keep your ground clearance!

Hmm... Just checked, they are now http://www.mobilitysvm.com/Mobility_SVM.php and appear to be just doing GM pickups, but it might still be worth talking to them, or at least seeing if you can steal some ideas...

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

That was the link I forgot to add!

[SusieG]

Like with almost anything in life, a van conversion is all about personal choice, needs, preferences, budgets, lifestyle etc. 

There cannot be just one layout or design that would suit each and everyone of us, whether it be for an abled bodied person or a disabled one and what may be perfect for one person, may prove to be totally the opposite for another and vice versa. But that doesn't mean that any one design/conversion is better than another.

Let's face it - not everyone is capable of or wants to build/convert their own campervan/motorhome and neither do many folk have the financial means to import a top of the range van conversion over from the US to the UK either. Therefore, many potential disabled and able bodied customers rely heavily on UK businesses like Creative Campers to convert a van for them at an affordable and realistic price.

I think a forum like this, that is frequented by so many disabled people, should be seen to actively support and encourage a business such as Creative Campers, who are trying hard to help make a difference to the life and lifestyle of the disabled person and we should all be thankful that companies like this exist.

As many of us know through personal experience,  living in an abled bodied world is not always an easy thing to do and not enough businesses consider the frustrating hurdles we often come across when just simply trying to get out and about etc!  Therefore, I must confess it saddens me to read some of the responses I've read to Creative Campers posts! Maybe its just me - but in some of the replies I've read, I  cannot help but detect a sense of scorn and criticism towards their design in them and I  find myself asking where on earth is the praise and the encouragement?

Sue
 

[Burgerman]

Well everyone is different. But I can only speak from my own perspective. And if it doesent look cool, and I cant drive it from a wheelchair then I wouldnt want it. As I mentioned - I would find driving ANY camper van a bit embarrassing, anyway. But at least if it looked cool, I may be more inclined. But maybe thats just me.

But the only example I have seen is the one on ebay. Its not what I see as cool. And its too small for all day full time wheelchair users. The only other vans on your web site are even smaller. So maybe I havent seen what you can do. Bad examples.

But that doesent mean others wouldnt be fine with it and are only worried about function. It may suit someone else then perfectly. But you asked for opinions. As such as a business, I didnt think you were looking for praise. But honest opinions.

The thing is we are not all looking for something cheap. There are many disabled people for eg that use wheelchairs full time that work, or have a big insurance payout after an accident for eg. At least half the prople in my spinal injuries ward were expecting 6 figure insurance payouts... Sadly not me but I digress

And disabled people like cool stuff too, like the flashy big motorhomes, with leather, bars, and TVs, air con, and black glass with powered everything etc just like the non disabled masses. At least I do. But this is my opinion.

[Burgerman]

For eg, this doesent look too bad, (for a camper, but black would be more cool!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvHmo7eCPAc

But, even so, he cannot drive from a wheelchair - he has to transfer. Not something I can do. (he doesent need to, but I do). Its borderline big enough for a manual wheelchair. A powerchair, as most here use, couldnt really be very practical in here. Mine could however, since its very compact and manoeverable. So provided this can be driven from a wheelchair, (pedals, leg room, steering height etc) I could JUST about use it. So:

Can you or do you offer anything like this? If so then I may well be interested. I want to go to spain. But would want this kind of build quality. And its not viable to spend this amount of money on converting a non new vehicle in my opinion.