Hello from England - my imagination may be bigger than my skillset

[CamperTroll]

Hi, I'm Matt have just joined because I imagine I'll have many questions to ask in the coming years.

I've recently bought a stock 2004 Patrol which I'm planning on converting into a camper. I've made a blog to follow the project - www.campertroll.com (http://www.campertroll.com) - and I anticipate this will take me quite a long time to complete, and not just because I need to learn how to weld first!

The plan is to be entirely self contained, kitchenette and toilet inside, hot water heater for hot showers, diesel cab heater, TV etc. And the crowning glory will (hopefully) be a bolt-on pop-up roof which will contain a double bed (accessed through the sunroof)

For some reason I have this crazy idea that I want to be able to park the car, pop the roof and be ready to cook/sleep without having to step foot outside once. Will see how this pans out...

Cheers
Matt

[MEGOMONSTER]

Welcome mate, surely the best forum on the net. If you need it, you can get it, if you want to know it, just ask it. If you want to find it, go to the search bar for a universe of information. Enjoy the sights and sounds of the greatest show on earth.
There might just be a few people here that could help with your conquest of world domination, I mean Campertroll.

[Dhuck]

Welcome to the forum mate.

[growler2058]

G'day Matt welcome aboard mate

[Clunk]

welcome aboard Matt............ sounds like you've got one hell of a project on your hands.

[Clunk]

love what you did with the rear seats mate

[my third 256]

hi and welcome to the forum a great mob of people here and a lot of very usefull information
best wishes with your patrolling
stephen

[threedogs]

great idea but a hell of a lot of work IMO.
you maybe better off buying a Toyota troop carrier as they
take well with what you plan on doing.
I have never seen or heard of a GU wagon converted into a camper.
May I suggest to you to cut it into a dual cab and extend the chassis,
then build your camper on the back of that, or there may be slide on
campers off the shelf,
Google Ron Moon who is a friend of mine he has this set up and travels the world in it with his wife.
He's currently in the USA after buying and converting a Dodge Ram.
Just looking at you site maybe fibreglass will come in handy for some components like the roof

[AB]

Welcome to the forum mate, feel free to ask any questions.

[kevin07]

welcome to the forum matt all the info you need is here.

[sprdad]

Certainly an ambitious project. Surprised you had so much trouble with the uni joint or that you had to touch it at all.
Whatever you decide to use for your pop up roof keeping the weight down will be crucial. Boat building techniques could come in useful, using resins with carbon fiber cloths will give maximum strength for minimum weight.
Look forward to seeing how it all goes.

[sprdad]

Have used many vehicle seats for sitting around the bonfire of an evening but never got around to putting wheels on them.

[Sherro]

G.day Matt welcome to the forum sounds like an interesting project.:cheers:

[Clunk]

great idea but a hell of a lot of work IMO.
you maybe better off buying a Toyota troop carrier as they
take well with what you plan on doing.

Easier said than done living in the UK, patrols are rare enough over there, I would think troopies were just about non existent.....

[CamperTroll]

Thanks for the welcome guys :)

I'd have a loved a Troopie, but I haven't even seen one in the UK let alone found one for sale! I didnt have that many Patrols to choose from either really, and it was this or a Cruiser 80 (rarer still) for my project.

Glad you like the seats idea Clunk, couldn't decide if it was cool or tacky :P I was going to pick up a cheap sofa off ebay for the garage but thought it would be better to make my own out of what I had lying around.

Threedogs, it is quite a daunting project, but i wanted to be one of the first to do a full camper fit-out in a GU. I'll be keeping the bodywork standard, so no dual cab/extended chassis/camper shell I'm afraid. Although that would be more practical from a camper point of view, I want to keep the truck fairly inconspicuous, and not too tall so that it will still go in car parks. It will be a semi-daily driver.

Weight is the key as you say sprdad, still debating the fibreglass/plastics vs wood vs ally arguments!