Coverting 4x4 to camper..

I'm considering converting a 95 Isuzu Trooper to a camper. Under the current rules all that is required is the following:
Seating (which can form part of a bed)
A table (which can be removable)
Cooking facilities mounted in the living compartment (something like a 2 ring gas stove and 400g bottle)
Rigidly mounted storage in the living compartment



I'm also thinking of also adding a side and tailgate drive away awning, sink and 12v pump with shower head, leisure battery + spilt charger and inverter, a water bladder, slim 12v cooler box or passive cooler and a roof rack with box. The gas rings and sink would be in a drawer system and accessible from the rear door, something like this.. There are awnings made especially to cover these parts of 4x4 like this.
The bed would be supported by the drawer at the back and the folded rear seats.

Is there anything I'm missing that would prevent me doing this?
Would I be able to get it insured considering that the main insurers require the vehicle to be 1.8m tall inside?
Revenue state that the cooking facilities must be fixed; would having them in a drawer count as fixed?
Jeep is currently commercial so I'd be putting rear seats back in with seatbelts, would they certs need any certification?

Any thoughts or suggestions gladly welcome

Moomat

Always like something different and good luck if you go ahead.
They say that you can find anything on the internet so
After a bit a research found the following thought that you might find it of interest as there are quite a few photos of what they did
As there is a contact you never know he may be friendly and offer more photos advice etc

Don't know how to do fancy connections so a simple paste and copy

http://www.drivetheamericas.co…-guatemala

Hope that you find it of some use
Don't forget that if you go ahead you must keep us all informed pictures and all of the conversion

David

Hi Pat

Yes unfortuantely stuck with southern tax and VRT rules! I think when the Greens were in government they put commercials in the spotlight. I drive a commercial as my everyday driver, mostly due to being able to throw the dog in the back and have never had any bother.

On the VRT if they valued it at €5000 it would be about €650 vrt. Well worth it to have the proper motorcaravan classification. Considering it's a 95 I doubt that it would be even that high but as there is nothing to benchmark it off who knows what they'd come back with.

The Troopers are a great jeep, this one is a import with only has 90K miles and loads of extras. There's plenty of life left in it so this could be a good use for it, it'd be ideal for wild camping off the beaten track especially outside Ireland.

Hope you get your power back soon!

Thanks Blag. I'd love to travel the Silk Road or go to far Eastern Russia or the like some day in a camper. That's the fascinating thing for me that when you roll off the boat in France, bureaucracy aside you could drive to Siberia, China, South Africa, India etc..

I thought that for camper insurance you had to have an everyday vehicle insured also. I know for my camper insurance last year we had to send in copies of the policy.

I'd hope revenue would recognise that it was a genuine conversion rather than some slapped together job to get cheap tax. My main concern is how they would define "fixed" cooking appliance.. Would mounted in a drawer system like the one I linked to above be sufficient??

That's a great blog, came across it before and was inspired! http://bluetdi.blogspot.ie/2011/11/outdoor-kitchen.html I'd be planning something similar for the back door of the jeep except with the hob on rails so you can make better use of the space above the drawer.

He said he regrets not having the hob in a drawer, I think we may need to test the water with this idea!

Fold out worktop, storage and sink. I will make a tube to run into a foldable waste container for when sink is in use.



Removable table. I may try to find a way to mount a tabletop to the back of the front seats for extra stability. We tend to do most of eating outside anyway.


She's in pretty good condition for a 95, very comfortable Recaro seats.


I got a strong roof rack for extra storage and possible to use a rooftop tent on if the need arises in the future.

The very best of luck!

Great job well done.
Dont be surprised ifyou get more tha a couple wanting a closer look when you are parked up.
David

And I thought I didn't have enough room, lol. After a weekend I feel that you need to stand up. But for little more than a week end I find it impractical to put up the drive away awning. Highly usesable for overnight or two days but similar to myself sticky auksters prevail, sore hips etc. Well done mate.

A weekend horizontal would wear the best of us out

For a drive away awning I have an older version of this http://www.khyam.co.uk/detail.asp?p=740 It comes with a handy intergrated pole system. From bag to full erect and tied down in a few mins.

When you click reply there is an icon on the top row, it's last on the right and looks like a folder with something sticking out. Click on this and another smaller window will pop up.
Under "select files" click "browse" and find the pic you want to include in your post. Double click the pic and it's file name should appear in the smaller window after "browse".
If you want to add more pics go to the next tab down and repeat.
Once you have you pics selected click "upload"
Your pics will now be shown in the smaller window.
Click the pic once and it will be shown in you post!

That's it now show us that Trooper

We have a Transit camper but my wife is pregnant and it only has 2 seat belts so need the extra seat belts for trips away. The old Tranny will have to shuffle off into the sunset unfortunately!

You are not far wrong, John!
I found a few taking down your way in Salthill on an external hard drive yesterday but can't find that icon that Moonmat is talking about. On ours the icon at the far right is smiles, backwards I am going with this photo up loading, I used to be able to get to the up loading stage but the photos were too large. Moonmat if you pm me your own email address I think that I will be able to email them to you.