New to all things Bongo

[mountainmummy]

Hi

We're a family of four and have had our van for four years. Ours is unconverted which allows us to make up a massive (if slightly bumpy) bed downstairs which we can all fit in if it's too cold or windy to sleep in the roof.

We take a tent if we're staying somewhere for more than a couple of nights and sometimes use a really small two man tent just to store the car seats.

Realistically the van is a bit small and if we had a spare £30,000 (or wanted to take out a second mortgage) we'd buy something bigger with bunk beds (wildax solaris) however we have managed so far, had some amazing trips and loads of fun with ours.

The kids will love it if you get one.

[CronxMatt]

Hi there,

I bought my 2.5td AFT (R reg) in February this year and it cost me £7600 from a private sale; it had 97km on the clock.
It also has rear facing middle seat and a rear conversion; I have since added a decent stereo, solar panel, charging system and leisure battery.

I have a dog and a 3 year old and my intention was that we would have weekends away and that the 3 year old would sleep in the roof space and me and the dog would sleep downstairs, however, the little one has refused point blank to sleep up there and burst in to tears at the sugegstion of it, so we have been sleeping in a rather cosy fashion downstairs.
To icrease room I'm strongly considering a drive away awnning for out next week away in july.

When I started looking autumn last year, I had my eyes on an unconverted AFT as I felt that I would use the van to sleep in and little else - after all when I used to go to festivals I just had a tent and used to use facilties on site. However, what swung me round to thinking about a conversions was the insurance costs. I live in a high risk post code and was being quoted circa £800 per year, but a chance conversation with a broker led me to look at conversions and this halved my quote overnight.

Best of luck.

Matt

[teamgrimes]

Thanks. Very helpful. Still haven't made the decision yet, but the kids need to get keen on camping first!

[mycallsevern]

HI,

We have two kids (3 & 7) and an unconverted Ford Freda 2.5td. We did quite a lot of camping before we got the van (I think one year we spent a total of 30 nights camping over the year) however we got fed up with always having to load the 4x4 up with tent etc and the take an hour at the other end putting everything up and then another two hours putting it all away at the end of the trip. So we decided on a Bongo.

We went unconverted so that we could try the van for a bit before deciding what type of conversion we wanted. My wife and I sleep down stairs (we have a memory foam topper that goes over the seats to make them super comfy) and the kids sleep upstairs, they love it. If it gets cold you can lay the front seats flat and the children fit snuggly on the seats so they sleep at your feet in the main van. Saying this the only time they have done this is when napping during the day as the roof tent was too hot in the sunshine.

In terms of space we have an Olpro Cubo Breeze awning with the inflatable poles. This take 15 minutes to put up and abot 20 minutes to strike, it gives loads of space, we have a little cooking stove and a fold out picnic table (which stores easily under the middle seats in the van) for cooking on when we aren't cooking on the bbq or campfire (my favourite). We also have a plug in cool box (Outwell Ecocool) which at the moment we run when we are driving it then stays cool for at least 24hrs when camping, however I am about to fit a leisure battery so we can run this and the radio etc when stopped. In terms of being in the van during the day (when it's raining), we shove all the mattress topper and the sleeping bags up on the roof ledge (the bit over the cab that doesn't raise) and then fold the middle seats forward to be a table, the kids then sit on the funny little cushions behind the front seats and we sit on the back row. It is really roomy at a recent festival we had five adults hiding from the rain in this configuration, we played cards for about 2 hours in complete comfort. We are now thinking about getting the front seats to swivel, which is I think offered by New Dawn Conversions in Birmingham for about 500 for both seats.

What we weren't expecting is how much use we get from the van other than camping. Need to pick up some large furniture? No problem fold the seats up and you have a huge load space. Kids want to take a friend each for a day out? Hey kids why not take two, each! We even use it to ferry our staff around at work, why take two cars when you can comfortably load 8 adults in the Bongo? It really is the van to meet all needs. We are now not sure f we want to convert at all...

Anyway sorry for the long post I just think you would be very happy with a Bongo, here is a picture of our set up as you can see loads of room

[teamgrimes]

Great. Thanks! We still haven't made the decision,finances still a way off, but that is very helpful.

[janie]

Hi,

We have a pop top and a rear kitchen unit (not full rear conversion). Which allows us to keep one forward facing seat in the rear. Our middle seat is reversed and has lap belts. This means that we have 6 seats altogether, which has been perfect for us since it has meant that our teenage daughters could bring their mates when we're on campsites and sleep in their own tents. However, when abroad on Aires, etc. We have used it for all of us (them up top and us downstairs). It's snug but do-able!

It really does depend on how much space you and your family need. Some people like to put everything in an awning and stay on sites, some of us prefer to rough it a bit and squish in.

When we've no kids we sleep upstairs ourselves which helps with storage downstairs, since we don't have to make the bed!

We love our bongo - with 2 or sometimes 4 teenagers. It's cosy (but I'm sure Muz will agree) never been too small.

[Muzorewa]

We love our bongo - with 2 or sometimes 4 teenagers. It's cosy (but I'm sure Muz will agree) never been too small.

Too right. I have known people moan that a Bongo isn't big enough for two people, but if you want it to work you can make it work. Sure it's not a Winnebago but it's your key to some cheap holidays and waking up to fantastic scenery wherever you go. A few photo albums below to whet your appetite. You'll notice that as time has moved on we've managed to jettison one of the kids, he now has "other" interests

Scotland, 2009 3 weeks, 2 adults & 2 kids
Ireland, 2012 2 weeks, 2 adults & 2 kids
Scotland, 2013 2 weeks, 2 adults & 1 kid
Iberia, 2014 3 weeks, 2 adults & 1 kid