Leeds Leisure Vehicles - Aire Valley Conversion

[mattbrum]

Evening All!

Just had a lovely weekend away after a successful MOT pass! I was a bit surprised, but hey its a nice one!

While I was away, I was thinking a bit of extra storage and the ability to make a brew with less of a faff would be good so started looking at the conversions available.

Has anyone got any experience with this conversion, comments, good bad or ugly, would love to hear them as it seems in the right price range.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-Bongo-C ... 2a0dbd5ffc

Thanks in advance.

Matt

[Colin H F]

The photo looks impressive but check first to find exactly what your getting the rock &roll bed and fridge wont be included and I doubt if the sink and hob will be further more if your going to get a conversion you should think about a leisure battery split charging 240 volt hook up and power management system having said that if its just for the ply units fitted its seems a fair price

[mikeonb4c]

You have to be a bit careful with conversions, especially where the price seems a bargain. My mechanic Adrian at Japan Direct sees a lot of Bongos and has one or two stories to tell about dangerously shoddy wiring (and, by implication, other workmanship). Try and get some customer references (though even then they won't necessarily be aware of shoddy wiring until/unless it plays up).

[paulnlol]

We went to this place a few weeks ago and the conversions didn't look all that well done.A bit cheap and cheerful.

[mattbrum]

Thanks Paul,

I'm guessing at that price they are..... I don't mind too cheap and cheerful as long as its not thrown at the van.... My Bongo is on a 95 plate so really dont want to invest too heavily in it, even though it is in my good books and passed its MOT!

What did you think to the cabinets, were they ok, or was it the manner it which it was installed?

Matt

[paulnlol]

Hi Matt ,the cabinets in the vehicles I saw were nothing like the ones in the picture shown,they looked very poor quality.

[Paulinwales]

I got mine converted for ~1330. I looked at that conversion but it don't include fridge or sink/cooker
the seat is fabric (no vinyl option), and no seat belts on bed (seat belts are quite a bit more) seems a fair conversion tho and they are a big company that can do the turn around in 2 days with free camping. I kayak so to wanted something waterproof as i carry my boats in the van ontop of a tarp, so the fishermen don't see me comming! (seriously).

In end i opted for vw dream campers who fitted a very nice side unit with roller door (saves getting bed measurements wrong)
for 700 and got a rock and roll bed custom made in vinyl and fitted for 570 (upgraded stiching) I used the bongo fact file to fit a floor and vinyl myself at cost of £60.

I fitted insulation myself and elctrical 240 hook up etc myself also see see show us your insides page 12?

https://picasaweb.google.com/PaulTheGar ... 1499347506

[briwy]

Be careful about having no seat belts.
My understanding from our MOT tester is that if it capable of being used to carry passengers then it must have belts for the MOT.

[dreamwarrioruk]

or if you put down your rock n roll bed, remove covers, then they dont test seatbelts, well they havnt checked ours in 5 years doing this, both are 3 point belts but unclear if the steel bracket bolted under the bed for the belts would be ok so not risked it so far. Beds bolted to chassis in 12 places and the bars bolted and welded to the frame and chassis, very solid but what are the regs on this?

Oh and the cost complete for our conversion was around 1300 but we dont have a working sink, washing up bowl is included, we do have a cutlery drawer tho instead. Ours was a diy job as seen here

http://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/view ... 75#p577475