Max dimensions for a camper?

[HoSS]

I'm considering building a custom rear camper body.

Does anyone know where i can find the max dimensions allowed?

i.e. Max width, max beyond wheels, max rear overhang etc..

And any other regulations that apply.

[mmgemini]

Any help ?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=max+camper+van+dimensions&rlz=1C1DVCA_enGB328GB328&oq=max+camper+van+dimensions&aqs=chrome..69i57.10240j0j8&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

[Bowie69]

The IVA manual has some of that, specifically width I believe, but with a LR base vehicle you won't be exceeding that.

As for overhang I certainly don't remember anything about it in the IVA manual.

Height is whatever an artic is roughly, but you won't be going that high will you....

[FridgeFreezer]

Surely that sort of thing is all in the book we're not allowed to mention in this corner of the forum?

[Cynic-al]

Where do you want to take the camper? If you want to take it on sites each site seems to have it's own maximum length. There are quite a few I can't go to with my caravan. Obviously the sahara isn't as restrictive. Also the bigger they get the fewer places there are that can get them on a ramp for an MOT. We had to try 3 local garages before we found one for our works van, it's a LWB high roof relay.

[FridgeFreezer]

Been round this loop while fantasising about camper-trucks, you can buy/build a huge camper wagon out of an HGV for not very many pennies compared to a VW Transporter but the bigger you go the more restrictive it gets to actually use the thing - can you park it, can you get it on the ferry/tunnel, can you store it, nip into town in it, get an MOT on it, dare you park it off-tarmac, etc. etc.

[HoSS]

I think you guy's imaginations ran away a little, im not suggesting a artic sized thing

It will be based on my Volvo C303, with the following wishes:

Width- i wanted to make the rear body a little wider than the cab if allowed. I'm sure i've see that on campers.

Length - just a little longer than the existing body with a sloped departure angle on the underside, less than a metre more than standard. I just wondered if theres an rule on how much behind rear axle. I guess lights would have to be on the rear face, not under the overhang?

Height - possibly a little higher than the cab, but nowhere near the 4m of an artic. Although i'm still also considering to keep it in a shipping container dimension in case i want to explore more remote parts.

I will check out the posted links, thank you.

Paul

p.s. how does one get a copy of the IVA?

[miketomcat]

If you Google iva you can download a copy I have the Manual on my phone there is however several categories and I'm not sure what a camper fits in to.

Mike

[tacr2man]

IIRC behind the axle cant exceed more than 60% of between the axles . Regarding lights , there are requirements as to min and max heights for different lamps, and arcs of visibility. EG rear fog lamps

Requirements relating to obligatory rear fog lamps and to optional rear fog lamps to the extent specified in part ii

1. Number:

One

2. Position–

(a) Longitudinal:

At or near the rear of the vehicle

(b) Lateral–

(i)Where one rear fog lamp is fitted:

On the centre-line or off side of the vehicle (disregarding any sidecar forming part of a motor bicycle combination)

(ii)Where two lamps are fitted:

No requirement

© Vertical–

(i)Maximum height above the ground–

(A)Any vehicle not covered by sub-paragraph (B):

1000 mm

(B)An agricultural vehicle, engineering plant and a motor tractor:

2100 mm

(ii)Minimum height above the ground:

250 mm

(d) Minimum separation distance between a rear fog lamp and a stop lamp–

(i)In the case of a rear fog lamp which does not share a common lamp body with a stop lamp:

A distance of 100 mm between the light-emitting surfaces of the lamps when viewed in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle

(ii)In the case of a rear fog lamp which shares a common lamp body with a stop lamp:

100 mm

3. Angles of visibility–

(a) Horizontal:

25° inwards and outwards. However, where two rear fog lamps are fitted it shall suffice if throughout the sector so defined at least one lamp (but not necessarily the same lamp) is visible

(b) Vertical:

5° above and below the horizontal

4. Alignment:

To the rear

5. Markings:

An approval mark

6. Size of illuminated area:

No requirement

7. Colour:

Red

8. Wattage:

No requirement

9. Intensity:

No requirement

10. Electrical connections:

No rear fog lamp shall be fitted to any vehicle so that it can be illuminated by the application of any braking system on the vehicle

11. Tell-tale:

A circuit-closed tell-tale shall be fitted

12. Other requirements–

• Where two rear fog lamps are fitted to a motor vehicle first used on or after 1st April 1986 or to a trailer manufactured on or after 1st October 1985 they shall form a matched pair.

reagrding container height with a 303 you need to consider an elevating roof , as even a supercube is not very high door 2.560m high!

lights could be under the overhang with certain requirements

HTSH

[HoSS]

Hmm, so whidh category does a camper go into?:

• M1 vehicles - passenger cars
  
• M2 and M3 vehicles - buses and coaches
  
• N1 vehicles - light goods vehicles (up to 3,500kgs)
  
• N2 and N3 vehicles - heavy goods vehicles (over 3,500kgs)
  
• O1, O2, O3 and O4 vehicles - light and heavy trailers
  

• 
  

[Blanco]

remember that max width is less for 3.5t vehicles, I seem to think it is 2.3m

[Bowie69]

M1 I believe, I seem to remember reading stuff about campers in there.

[zoltan]

Have a trip through some of the builds on www.theoverlander.org, plenty of people have built some nice insulated boxes onto DAFs and MANs. I cheated and bought something with a radio box already on the back.

[Jamie_grieve]

Does it have rust in it? If not I'd say just use it as it is and camp in it. Enjoy the weekends away instead of being stuck in the shed with yet another project. I got my Volvo with the same intention of turning it into a camper for going to festivals and events. Indeed I've successfully used it as such for five years now and hand on heart the biggest modification in all that time was a new larger alternator. I stuck a collapsible army camp bed and some collapsible chairs in it, a wee gas cooker, water and away I went. Plastic cutlery and plates from Halfords and never looked back. I revel in seeing struggling camper builds in my dreams as I sleep on my trusty comfy camp bed.

I'd say you could also potentially ruin one of what are becoming rare vehicles. I've got a diesel engine and box sitting next to mine now and still haven't put it in for that reason. Once I start hacking at it I know it won't stop.

The 303 fits perfectly in a container, I remember seeing Richard Dover's (he used to have a Volvo web site) 304 command cab in a container. It just fits.

Elevating roof as tacr2man says would be a good idea though if you did build a camper. As said, it depends where and what you want to go and see.

If you were looking at following some of the Eastern off road events, going to Scandinavia and seeing what they get up to then the Volvo would be an awesome support / chase wagon.

I'd also say you can drive the length of Africa or West to East from Dover to Beijing without leaving asphalt if you want. The kind of places you'd need portals and lockers you probably wouldn't be risking your worldly possessions.

I think there's just sooo much wasted space on a Volvo to make a really good camper. Park it next to a Transit or Sprinter and see how much more actual camping room there'd be in one of them. You probably lose three cubic metres to a van just by the height of the chassis, floor and portals.

Can we get pictures even if it's a landy forum..?

[miketomcat]

Pics please you are in the right forum after all.. I came quite close to buying a c304 but it would of been my daily driver! I saw sence and bought a 110 mainly due to practicalitys of parking. Mind that was far to normal hence I'm now building an ibex but I still want one.....

Mike

[Jamie_grieve]

I came quite close to buying a c304 but it would of been my daily driver!

Mine was a daily driver for four of the five years I've had it. I think practical is relative, I thought it was really practical compared to either the Praga or Berliet.

The Praga's really slow and gets a bit epic sometimes and the Berliet is a bugger to park. A 110 wouldn't be much smaller than the Volvo and the Volvo gets V8 Landy milage. Stick gas on it and it would be cheaper than a diesel 110 to run.

I got caught up in some stooooopidly narrow streets in a town called Sandwich in Kent on my first ever mission into the deep South before I found out they didn't have either roads wide enough to pass or even passing places and the 304 handled them no worries at all. It's shorter and narrower than either a Transit or Sprinter or any of the big vans and probably has a better turning circle than a 110. I'd say you could probably just get out of a tighter parking spot than a 110. There would be very little in it. You can carry a lot more carp in the Volvo and they are much more competent off road or in snow than an off the shelf Landy.

I put a picture for those lucky enough not to have encountered how impractical a Berliet is for just nipping down to the shop is compared to, say for example, a C304.

Not to stray too far off topic, Hoss, have you considered having a demountable camper so that it is a load rather than an intrinsic part of the vehicle? Only legislation regarding loads would be relevant then? You could use the rear of a cab like mine on your 303 and have a step through hole to the camper section without any modification at all to the cab. This could be blinded by a bit of canvas or the original panel stored on the roof of the camper. This allows you to make camp then drive off with the vehicle if you wish.

You could leave a flat bed on the Volvo as a pickup to use when the camper is not on the back.

One big advantage of the Volvo over trucks for making a camper is the rigid chassis means mounting it is very simple, on trucks the chassis twist and making bodies twist is very difficult and making them rigid makes them high.