In 2025, after spending some time turning up to Carpentry jobs with a Nissan Note full of tools, I thought that it was time that I brought a small van.
I found a bog standard, all white 2012 Peugeut partner. I had had the idea to turn a van like this into a small camper van but thought that it may be too small. With some investigation, I found that by lowering the centre section of the front seat, I could pop my legs through there quite comfortably.
Key requirements of the design was that it should be as cheap as possible and that all elements could be removed if I needed the room for transporting larger items. This was achieved with butterfly catches that engaged with a latch attached to blocks attached to the walls of the van
The main unit is cone that comprises of Desk, extending, wash basin, battery and storage. The battery is simply a “Bluetti AC50B”. This is mounted on a sliding shelf to ease removal and situated beside a handy cigarette port to allow charging. The wash basin is simply a tub that I routed into the top of the unit. It is not plumbed into anything as water can just be pored out.
Next to this is a floor to ceiling unit. This is again attached using butterfly catches. This unit houses a removable bed section, a cooler bog on a retracting shelf. A water bottle and storage areas
The bed unitfeatures a hinged lid with bedding storage underneath and piece of ply that becomes part of the bed. It is attached to the vans attachment points using turnbuckles.
To convert the van into sleeping mode, the main bed unit extends out, the extension under the tall unit comes out and the plywood piece is inserted. The plywood can be a bit of a pain to install. The bed will work for one person without it which also gives more storage for bags or equipment.
There is plenty of room in the front for Sox, his bed and food and water.
When parked up for the night, all bags can be piled up on the driver seat and accessed from the front.
I am very happy with The conversion. It works really well for one night overnight stays. It has worked very well as a home office and for little mini holidays. It is as easy to drive as any normal car and so is much more suited for day to day activities than a large camper would. I would highly recommend.
Future improvements will be getting proper, nice seats rather than the ones repurposed from an old camper van. Would also Like to add solar panels.