Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Interior of my camper


It remarkable that I have not given a proper description to my camper after so many posting. I guess I was more focused on the journey than the carriage, especially the technical detail and the interior. So here it is.

The dining table can be folded down to convert into a double bed, the blower above is a standard car aircon blower. The children are sitting on the benches which also form part of the converted bed.

The ceiling aircon can only be used when on site, either by external AC electric power supply or by generator, which the camper carries. In my opinion, this aircon made the camper truly usable in a tropical country like Malaysia. Interestingly, it can also run in reverse mode to function as a heater (blowing cold outside and hot air inside). I recently added a fan for alternative cooling when the weather is not too hot, as you can see I have yet to tuck away the wire neatly.

The washing basin. The water tank is located at the bottom of the camper, an on-demand water pump provide water pressure to the faucet. The pump is self priming type will activate periodically to maintain the water pressure, however if it is left power-on unattended, the auxiliary battery will drained quickly. I learnt this through hard lesson! On the left of the basin is the compartment for stove, the original stove was missing when I bought the camper, so I just use a portable butane stove in its place which I seldom use anyway. Below the stove compartment is a gas powered refrigerator. The cooling element of the fridge no longer works, so it is used  as a storage compartment. I am planning to replace it with a standard mini fridge. The AC power outlets are active only when on site. I am planning to add an inverter to provide AC power from the auxiliary battery.


The driver's cab. It is a standard Toyota Dyna lorry, the body of the camper is custom built and it is wider than the standard cab. The bench seat can accommodates an adult for sleeping provided he/she does not exceeds the height of 5 feet 8 inches!

The bunk above the driver's cab. It can accommodates two persons. It also servers as storage for luggages and mattresses when the camper is on the move

Half of the bath room is taken up by the porta potty, which is a self contained unit with flush water tank and holding tank at the bottom. As you can see the space here is at a premium. Using the right chemical is crucial, otherwise the consequences can be "interesting".  By a happy coincidence, Ace Hardware has also started to sell the chemical required by such porta potty. I usually keep the petrol can here when on the move because the bath  room has an exhaust fan to remove any leakage of petrol fume.  So far the can's seal is good and I have not detected any leakage.

The bath room shower head, it is also powered by the on-demand water pump so the water pressure is very good, in fact if you are not judicious with water usage during shower time, the water supply can run out quickly. The box behind the shower head is the water heater, however the wattage of the heater is beyond what the generator can support. So it is only for on site use with external AC electric power only. The original exhaust fan was a solar powered unit. the solar cell and the motor has packed up long ago, I used a 12v PC fan as a substitute, it is powered by the auxiliary battery.

19 comments:

emt said...

thank you for the sharing

Unknown said...

thanks, so yours is 4+1berth.hmmm interesting

Unknown said...

find this on mudah Camper Dethlefs Globetrotter Esprit for RM 39 900 and Mercedes sprinter 311 cdi
RM 41 500 today http://www.mudah.my/Camper+Dethlefs+Globetrotter+Esprit-7922259.htm. sound fishy with no contac no hahaha.

but if true,it is best bet ever. cross my finger

TJ Chang said...

The pictures in mudah.my looks like they were taken in other country. Yes, it does looks fishy. There was a similar spec Mercedes Camper on sale last year in mudah.my. It was fully imported from UK unregistered. The asking price was around RM190K.

emt said...

My target now!.

1) buy a 4x4 truck etc hilux
2) find some truck campers, so many options but over sea...not sure it JPJ approve for truck camper. I do not know where to ask, if telepone for sure they also blur what is it truck campers.

now try to deal email with US company: http://www.nomadevasion.com/ they said it can ship into our

the best option for small truck campers: http://www.nomadevasion.com/ but from france even the website france.


the reason use truck camper: I can use the truck when we not using the campers so it cut cost for daily use for vehicles.

TJ Chang said...

Hi Emt,
You may want to explore the caravan trailer option. This option is JPJ approved, the trailer will have its own geran, license plate and road tax (RM50 a year), any car can then tow it legally as long as it is powerful enough.

Unknown said...

yes emt, i also considering it (caravan trailer)
cause i have already 4x4 truck. so tj do you know how to register caravan trailer and the procedure

TJ Chang said...

quite similar to motor vehicle. every trailer should have a geran for public road use legally. you need to send it for puspakom inspection then register/transfer at JPJ, then get a road tax. but i am not sure if it need insurance.

Unknown said...

Vw now joint venture with drb-hicom. Will they bring any campervan...hopefully yes

Anonymous said...

Guys, im starting a department in the company i work for to convert a bus or a van to be a campervan with excellent interior. Workmanship by a carpenter that build a luxury boat in pasir gudang.

we are converting a bus at the moment as a display unit.

i lived in UK for 4 years and just came back last summer. I'd always loves campervan myself. its a dream comes true in Malaysia.

if you interested about getting yourself a campervan with quality, can call me Zilla 012 7906772 and our office in Johor.

vijay said...

very nice i wish i had one in my country too.....singapore

Anonymous said...

Mr TJ, great blog you have here!
have you been in contact with Zilla for this campervan conversion in Joho?
I might be interested any website?

TJ Chang said...

I have been quite been with my day job over the last few months, I would love to visit your workshop if I ever go to Johor.

Reggie said...

thanks for sharing, before that i truly thought a camper-van is illegal in m'sia

Lawrence Lee said...

Hi TJ, how nice :) where can I buy/modify a campervan in KL? U can email me at lawrencethlee@gmail.com

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

thank you for sharing man, you made my day! not kidding!

Ana June said...

Hi guyz i did called zilla's hp no but managed to talk to the brother.. Will update later after i visit the workshop..


Camper lover umi. ��

Anonymous said...

hi sir...can i know the model and full spec for your campervan...i tried to search for it in the net but still can't find it...

Anonymous said...

contek me plz 0199576161