My hiking adventures really started with my getting this car back in September 22′. It opened up this beautiful island I live on for me to go and explore. I’ve done a lot of exploring with it too, from the northern stretches of the Scottish Highlands, to the rolling hills in the south of England, and many times around the coastline of Wales. It has take me all around Great Britain and although the miles are adding up on the engine, I’m going to be setting it up to handle many more.
I love car camping
I’ve camped in the car many times, mostly so I can be ready for an early start with hikes the next morning. So I already had a bit of a set up going. With bespoke blinds for the windows which I made out of a discounted exercise mat included. One thing I always noticed though is how much storage space I lost if I wanted to leave my bed set up in the back.
Those seat my have folder down to make a flat space they still took up a fair bit of room, and I rarely had passengers let alone anyone sitting in the back. There is also a load of plastic gubbins under the panel and tray in the boot storage. Yes, it was all great for a more practical family car. For a camping and hiking facilitator, there was a lot of wasted potential. That’s why I am taking on this project to turn my Juke into a fully functional camper van.
So I am going to making some mechanical upgrades, which I will be mostly leaving to local mechanics. I will be taking on the interior all myself though. It has been something that I have been planning in my head for a few years.
Why a Juke and not a Van?
It’s a pretty valid question, emotional attachment aside, it is a mini SUV. It’s not your average camper van base on which to build.
The dimensions don’t sit much smaller than a small van though. Maybe 10 cm off height and length of cargo space in the Peugeot Partner/Citroën Berlingo, Ford connect or VW Caddy. It is clearly a very different shape though. It is not going to be quite as straight forward when creating the fixtures and fittings.
I would need to invest much more in a van, and it would likely be older and with more miles than my Nissan Juke. I’ve done a fair bit of work keeping mine on the road and I expect to spend a bit more. Better the devil you know and all that though.
It’s also a bit better and taking on more difficult roads. Sometimes reaching trail head parking just isn’t going to be easy in a van. I’ve been behind a few struggling up hills and I just don’t fancy taking that on myself.
Then you’ve got the stealth of an all black car, even the alloys. It doesn’t stand out like a white panel van.
Also, I just want to. I do like to do things a little differently and a Nissan Juke Campervan is definitely unique in the van lifer world. It’s going to be testing some skills that I have not practised in quite a while working with ply to build out the interior setup. It will be bespoke, no patterns or even really examples to work from. Not may people go this far with converting a car.
The stages of the build
There will be a few stages to getting this all setup and ready for adventures.
Stage One – Clearing out
There is a few things to get out before I start to put anything new in. Staying MOT compliant is the most import thing to remember here. I can take the seats out with little issue, the seatbelts are most important. In order to pass any belt must have a corresponding buckle, even if the seat doesn’t exit. Since I don’t want to buckles littering the floor, I am removing these completely. I am hoping to utilise some of the bolts and receivers left open to secure my units in place.
Stage Two – Unit design & construction
There is going to be a little bit of trail and error when building the interior units. The interior curves are going to test my carving skills as I build units to snuggle slot into place.
I will be including a box box with will work with the font passenger seat pushed all the way back for a small platform just enough to sleep on. It will need to also be able to fill the space left when the seat is pushed all the way forward. That gives me space to fully spread out, I’m 5’9.5″ if you’re wondering how those dimensions work. Underneath I will need to accessible storage which means some sort of doors in the top panel.
Behind the drivers seat I’ll be building a small side unit which will need to house any water system. This will need to hold as much stuff as possible really.
The space in bewtween will need some low block work to cover a couple of car elements, like fuel pump access. I’ll to make this easy to remove and sure everything is accessible. I also want to have a table in this area. I am currently trying to work out how this table can be used inside and be adjusted to fold outside the tail for cooking purposes. It would be cool if it could also be lowered down to make the bed box wider.
Stage Three – Utility additions
The units will need to customised to allow for the additions of whatever utilities I wish to have inside the camper. It isn’t a huge space so I can’t get too carried away with what I want to include. I do want to make sure that there is a small sink and water units and I would also like to have space for a cartridge toilet. Not as a daily use but defiantly for emergencies. I will also need to make a fan unit to sit in the window to help with any condensations inside the vehicle.
Stage Four – Upholstery
This is the final stage. I will have done my chopping and carving of all the ply units with them fully adapted to work perfectly for my adventures. Next I will need to cover them all in carpet, maybe some rubber matting on areas. I will need to make any cushioning to match the bespoke shape of all the units.
What will I be using the camper for
In the spring of 27′ I will be heading off on my next big adventure. I’ll be downsizing my house for a narrowboat as the year progresses. That interim time though is going to be spent touring the whole of Great Britain. Visiting every National Park and National Landscape across England and Wales. Taking in lots of hiking and camping adventures along the way.
I will also be working from the road. I work as a freelance designer and I want to take my skills from a decade of experience working in marketing and eCommerce agencies with international clients and give those skills to small independent businesses.
Follow the journey to the journey
So it’s going to be be a busy 6 months planning and prepping for a very busy 12 months, if you want to follow the journey be sure to sign up for my newsletter or give us a follow over on Instagram