1STDISCO Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 Hi there, Having done a weekend camping at Silverstone this year in my Disco 2 I found it far more comfortable sleeping in the car! I am now embarking on a series of charity runs around the country starting next year and have been thinking about vehicles and accomodation. The runs will be taking in some beautiful areas around the lake district, peak district and Scotland - giving me the perfect opportunity for some greenlaning so I was thinking about taking my beloved Td5. However, I have also been thinking about getting a disco 1 and coverting the back of it into a basic camper. I know you can buy defenders as campers but I have to admit that I love disco's! Having had a look online my initial ideas was to use a 3 door disco 1 commercial as a base vehicle, or a standard 3 door disco 1 and remove all the rear seats. Inside have a bench bed on one side with storage underneath, and a unit on the other incorpoarting storage for gas hob, sink etc, all custom made to fit the body of the car. Has anyone done or seen a similar project, and could some advise as the legalities in terms of MOTs etc in converting the back of a commercial vehicle, or in turning a 5/7 seater into a 2 seater and customing fitting the rear. Also with the commercials I have noticed the disco 1's tend to have no rear windows, as opposed to more recent ones with privacy glass. Are these metal sections removable? If not it may be better to convert a car based one so it's not to dark, and have the rear windows tinted for privacy. Any ideas or advice much appreciated! Hopefully I'll be welcoming Discovery number 2 to the family soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmattley Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 Never done it myself, but as theres more of em about, could you not just get a normal 3 door disco, take the back seats out and tint the windows as much as you legally can and/or maybe put up curtains? Then just take it from there? Sounds like a good plan though, might do it myself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 have a look on the Discovery Overland Mods Thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbake Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 Hi there, Having done a weekend camping at Silverstone this year in my Disco 2 I found it far more comfortable sleeping in the car! I am now embarking on a series of charity runs around the country starting next year and have been thinking about vehicles and accomodation. The runs will be taking in some beautiful areas around the lake district, peak district and Scotland - giving me the perfect opportunity for some greenlaning so I was thinking about taking my beloved Td5. However, I have also been thinking about getting a disco 1 and coverting the back of it into a basic camper. I know you can buy defenders as campers but I have to admit that I love disco's! Having had a look online my initial ideas was to use a 3 door disco 1 commercial as a base vehicle, or a standard 3 door disco 1 and remove all the rear seats. Inside have a bench bed on one side with storage underneath, and a unit on the other incorpoarting storage for gas hob, sink etc, all custom made to fit the body of the car. Has anyone done or seen a similar project, and could some advise as the legalities in terms of MOTs etc in converting the back of a commercial vehicle, or in turning a 5/7 seater into a 2 seater and customing fitting the rear. Also with the commercials I have noticed the disco 1's tend to have no rear windows, as opposed to more recent ones with privacy glass. Are these metal sections removable? If not it may be better to convert a car based one so it's not to dark, and have the rear windows tinted for privacy. Any ideas or advice much appreciated! Hopefully I'll be welcoming Discovery number 2 to the family soon! I've had similar ideas about a camper conversion, with the added thought of having the floor extendable out to raech as far as the edge of the open door, then forming a tent around it all. However, I went down to the Peterborough Show a couple of weeks ago and was very impressed by the roof tents on show.... until I saw the prices! Just as I was about to leave, I saw a small, private outfit selling a few tents they'd shipped-in direct from the Chinese manufacturer and at about half the price of the competition. A quick inspection impressed me enough to part with a deposit and last weekend I got the tent. Fitted it yesterday onto a set of new heavy duty roof bars, and took it to the woods. It's very impressive both in design and build quality: Sadly, they'd run out of the extra skirt bit to enclose the ladder, but say they be bringing some more in soon. If you're interested, I'd be happy to give you their details. Silverbake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1STDISCO Posted September 27, 2009 Author Share Posted September 27, 2009 Hi there, Thanks for the replies. Sliverbake - if you could send details of the roof tents that would be great, long term plan would be to do a camper conversion tot he rear of the vehicle and then add a roof tent also for extra flexibility. Mark - thanks for the thread link, was very interesting and has given me some great ideas. It's also nice to know that other people have done it! Am thinking it might be easier to start with a standard three door and take all the seats out leaving just the front two, presume this is ok to do legally? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ooops Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 I've had similar ideas about a camper conversion, with the added thought of having the floor extendable out to raech as far as the edge of the open door, then forming a tent around it all. However, I went down to the Peterborough Show a couple of weeks ago and was very impressed by the roof tents on show.... until I saw the prices! Just as I was about to leave, I saw a small, private outfit selling a few tents they'd shipped-in direct from the Chinese manufacturer and at about half the price of the competition. A quick inspection impressed me enough to part with a deposit and last weekend I got the tent. Fitted it yesterday onto a set of new heavy duty roof bars, and took it to the woods. It's very impressive both in design and build quality: Sadly, they'd run out of the extra skirt bit to enclose the ladder, but say they be bringing some more in soon. If you're interested, I'd be happy to give you their details. Silverbake. If its not too much trouble I'd also appreciate that info Thanks Olly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ooops Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 I've had similar ideas about a camper conversion, with the added thought of having the floor extendable out to raech as far as the edge of the open door, then forming a tent around it all. However, I went down to the Peterborough Show a couple of weeks ago and was very impressed by the roof tents on show.... until I saw the prices! Just as I was about to leave, I saw a small, private outfit selling a few tents they'd shipped-in direct from the Chinese manufacturer and at about half the price of the competition. A quick inspection impressed me enough to part with a deposit and last weekend I got the tent. Fitted it yesterday onto a set of new heavy duty roof bars, and took it to the woods. It's very impressive both in design and build quality: Sadly, they'd run out of the extra skirt bit to enclose the ladder, but say they be bringing some more in soon. If you're interested, I'd be happy to give you their details. Silverbake. If its not too much trouble I'd also appreciate that info Thanks Olly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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