I managed to source a new back door, as well as a couple of the other missing bits from a guy who breaks ambulances! (a pretty random business to be in, but he seems to do OK from it!)


So, door's fitted, cracked roof light is temporarily fixed with gaffa tape, the engines been removed, and the oil scrubbed off the floor. Time to crack on with the conversion!


Last weekend I started stripping out the old ambulance fittings, keeping the cupboards and anything else useful that I think I could re-use. I've removed the bulkhead between the cab and the back, and it turns out it was just plywood = non-structural, which was a relief. There is however a Steel frame that provides anti-twist support to the body, which is going to need modification...no problem there though.


I've worked out a plan too, after a trip to a campervan sales place with the new wife, we've decided on a layout very similar to the AutoCruise Ascent, which allows us to make the most of the existing features (windows etc) and still get everything in that we wanted.


We felt that since we're using it for our honeymoon, we don't want to be having to make the bed every night, so a permanent bed would be nice, but that means we need a separate seating area too, and then obviously we want a toilet & Kitchen in there too. We decided that the plan below allows the rear seats to be left made up as a bed when we're away as the two of us, but if we want, it can be made us as seats when we're away on climbing holidays with our friends.

So we've got two forward facing seats on a raised area, the same height as the cab, we're going to put seatbelts on them too so we can have passengers, then a WC, fridge and kitchen in the centre of the van. At the rear, we're raising the floor by about 8" so we can easily run the services under the floor, and also have some underfloor storage, and then we're having two bench seats which turn into a double bed.


I've managed to buy a Toilet, Bathroom sink, Fridge, and wall mounted heater off Ebay, and I'm planning to get an underslung gas system from GasIt, so I've got 116litres of gas filled from petrol station gas pumps.


This weekend I'm planning on finishing off stripping out the redundant wiring loom (now we're removing the lights, sirens, defribulator etc... there's a lot of excess wires!) and building up the raised floor areas, so that we can crack on with building the furniture etc.


I'll get more photos of the van empty, before we start putting in the new floors.

The Base Vehicle

So...the story so far:


I bid on an old ambulance in a tender process, not expecting to win it, but then they contacted me and said I had, so, several hundred pounds lighter, I'm now the proud owner of my ambulance:

There's a reason it was a bargain though. Unfortunately, at some point in it's life its been decomissioned as an ambulance, and used as a donor vehicle for other ones, so it's missing a couple of important parts...the back door, the gear stick assembly, a couple of pieces of trim, and most worryingly, the engine's been removed, and is currently sitting in the back, missing a few components!

 So, here you can see the engine in the back, but you'll also notice some use-able cupboards, and the stretcher, which I can sell

And note the missing back door... potentially the biggest problem, as it's a specialist part, unlike all the other bits I need which are just standard Renault Master parts.

Why!?

Hi. I did a lot of searching online to try to find some advice for converting an ambulance into a campervan, without much luck. So, I thought I'd create a blog, incase anyone else ever wants to do the same!!


I hope you enjoy it!