We're selling our van!

This isn't just any old ford transit, this van has conquered Europe, from the arctic tundra in -38 to the Croatian heat in the height of summer, to well worn cliff edge roads in the wilds of Slovenia.

We travelled Europe for exactly 9 months in this van, we left the U.K on the 5th December 2018 heading north towards the arctic circle, in the process we travelled through France into Belgium, into the Netherlands and drove around the tiny streets of Amsterdam, we then headed north into Germany then across the boarder into Denmark. After spending the day in Copenhagen. We headed into Sweden where things started to get serious. We headed further north over Christmas and into northern Norway a place called Finnmark, where we stayed with a reindeer herding family where temperatures reached -40. after a month in the wilderness we headed south through Finland across the straight of Finland into Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, we headed back into Germany via Poland and spent a month exploring the countryside of Germany and the Black Forest. 

We then went south to the fairytale land of Switzerland and then east to Austria and Slovenia, where we camped in bear infested woods and stayed on a farm for well over a month. From there we headed south into Croatia. Experiencing 40 degree heat and beaches every day before heading back over to Italy as far south as rome before travelling back up through France to home on the 5th September 2019. 

9 months of us and the van, and we had an amazing time and the van didn't let us down once.

Let me tell you the story of one of our travelling companion, our ford transit.

Before we owned the van it belonged to a family friend who looked after it very well, there is plenty of service history and receipts for the work which was completed before it fell into our hands.

We brought the van with the intention of transforming it into our home with the hopes of travelling around Europe for a year and so the work commenced.

We stripped our the ply lining and the bulkhead of the van and deep cleaned the inside, treated any small rust spots on the floor of the van so they didn't get any worse and began insulting the van ready for our trip. inside there is 50mm + of Celotex insulation along with a layer of thermowrap (double layer in some places including the floor.) to clad the van we used a baton setup bolted to the metal joists of the van, this way there would be no thermal bridging from the outside of the van to the exterior metal, these batons would also give us a nice surface to screw the cladding and tongue and groove roofing too. We also ran cabling for the electric system along conduit to certain points in the van for the electric system. 

As you can see from the photos the work has been extensive on the van, we removed the large metal bulk head from the van to fit a wooden headboard which we could insulate, it also meant the bulkhead was at a 90 degrees from the floor, creating more space in the van and making the kitchen cabinets a whole lot easier to fit.

The bed is a 6ft x 4ft pull out bed using a double slat system. Which slides back to reveal two seats and a pull out table fit for a banquet for two. There is ample storage space in the van 3 over the bed cupboards along with a fitted 1960's kitchen cabinet under the bed along with two under seat cupboard along with more space over the cab and not to mention the room in the kitchen to hold all the food you need along with space for pots pans and all other utensils.  

There is a 'Garage' space under the bed, when you open the back doors there is enough room for two bikes of plenty of other equipment depending on your needs. there is enough storage space in this van to live self sufficiently without adding extra roof boxes or other additions. 

The Electric System.

The van has an excellent electricity set up, 1 x 100W solar panel on the roof, feeding the the 2 x 110A leisure batteries, enough to charge your devices, the van is also equipped with a dometic CRX50 12A fridge which we brought from new (£550) and has only been used for 9 months whilst we were living in the van, there is also a split charge system linked to the engine, meaning when the engine is running the batteries are charging. there is also a fitted fuse box separating all of the appliances and sockets to ensure extra safety, There is also a sine wave inverter with low battery warning cut off in the van powering extra 240V sockets, which we only used to charge our laptop.

There is also a CO alarm in the van (however I would recommend purchasing a new one for piece of mind once a year)

The lights are low profile LED with a standard light switch on the wall at the entrance of the van. (it can be slightly temperamental as its one I found in my garage but with a flick of the switch it works just fine) Over the last 9 months of living in the van the electricity system hasn't let us down once. in the cold arctic winter where there is no solar power we had to start the van every couple of says or so to ensure there was enough juice in the batteries however if you have enough daylight and are not running a disco you should be fine for a long while.

The Wood Burning Stove.

The log burner in the van was one of our greatest purchases, Its a mini Cyclops from Dave at Glastonbury Burners. This thing throws out between 2-2.5 kW, enough to keep the van at more than room temperature when the outside temperature is hitting -30. (we've done it)

The stove is bolted to the tile hearth with aluminium sheeting surrounding it and the stainless flue with a 1inch air gap between that and the cladding to ensure enough airflow to keep its surroundings cool. we ran this stove everyday for hours at a time for well over 3 months without a single issue or warning from the CO alarm, I have removed the silicone sealant from the top of the stove (purely precautionary as it had been in there for a best part of a year however I havn't got around to replacing it, High temperature silicone is fine for this or Gun Gum.

There is a log box under the stove, enough to keep plenty of logs in for a good 2 days burn.

The Van Itself.

This van has not let us down once. It has a full years MOT would a couple of advisories, (you can see this is the photos)

On our adventure we had to make some running repairs to the van (all wear and tear due to the conditions we were in) these were as follows.

1. Refill the engine with oil due the the engine breather pipe (the pipe which lets gas out of the engine) freezing over resulting in oil spilling from the engine, a common occurrence when driving in -30 degree temperatures. Which is they you see people in Scandinavia with cardboard or plastic cable tied to their front grill to ensure this does not happen. We believe this is what led the MOT tester to believe there was a minor oil leak (I had not given the engine bay a deep clean before taking it for its test, thus the MOT tested believing the oil that had made its way to the bottom half of the engine had leaked from the engine.)

2. A new pair of front brake pads fitted. because driving on country roads for thousands of miles takes its toll on the brakes.

3. New wheel bearings fitted to the front of the van by a garage in Austria and another garage in Slovenia. again simple wear and tear much like that of any car or van.

Other than these issues the van has been perfect. starting on the button in -20 and +40 degree temperatures. 

If you have any questions with regards to the van and the condition do not hesitate to get in contact. I am being as honest as possible with this listing and am happy to help.

The bodywork is not perfect, there are some small dents and spots here and there and we have tried to neaten them up as we have gone along, this isn't just a van, its an adventure wagon.

The windows in the rear half of the van are as follows.

2 x portholes in the rear doors,

1 x dometic seitz window in the sliding door

1 x opening roof light in the middle of the van.

there is also an 'escape hatch' which can be closed or opened in the van, depending on your needs (we thought the idea of being able to get in the front in an emergency without having to leave the van would be a good idea)

The Cooker is a double hob/grill set up, which uses a gas hose to a gas locket in the back 'garage' end of the van, again used daily without a single hiccup.

EXTRAS and other things

The van comes with a number of extras.

Its currently equipped with a 4 x maxxis all weather tyres (perfect in the snow) there are also 4 summer tyres with plenty off tread on them ready to swap when the better weather comes. the spare is also in good condition

A Safe, (we heard of horror stories of vans being broken into whilst abroad so we fitted a safe large enough to hold our electrical laptops and documents,

there is also a deadlock on the back of the van for extra security In getting to the safe and to the 'garage' area of the van. There was also a deadlock on the side of the van but this had to be removed for us to fit the window.

I have just fitted a brand new Vinyl floor in the van as the last one was looking slightly tatty so thats ready to go!

This van has been our home for the best part of a year and we are very sad to see it go, but we would love to see it go to a good home so it can be enjoyed much like we have enjoyed it. We have had the time of our lives in this van and we love every part of it.

You might wish to buy new 25L water and grey water tubs when buying the van, we havn't used ours for a couple of months so may either need a real good clean or to be replaced, (a couple of quid)

The van is also fitted with a beautiful 'baby belfast' Sink, worth around £100 and very rare to find in this condition.

The van doesn't come with bedding, but does come with the mattress and seat cushions and covers.

We have documented our journey and building the van which you can find on our youtube channel and stories tracking each part of our trip on instagram. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7hg30KqRr9RmhizjOqh3yw

https://www.instagram.com/thehendersonsshop/

Theres not much more of a comprehensive history then that.

I have been as honest as possible. As it was me who built this van I know it inside and out. If you have any questions don't hesitate to drop us a message.

http://ebay.us/S5zTzh?cmpnId=5338273189