Converting to a camper

Choosing a builder

Once we had decided on a base vehicle, we considered the options for converting to a camper; an overland camper fit for some reasonably extreme conditions and adventures. Marcus would have loved to have spent a year or so building our ‘dream vehicle’, but the heat and restrictions of living and working in Qatar meant that this was just not going to be practical. We started to look for a manufacturer. It quickly became evident that most of the companies making good quality overlanding vehicles are based in Germany! Following much further internet research we narrowed the search down to the following companies producing overland vehicles based on the Daily 4×4 chassis. These were:

Bimobil http://www.bimobil.com/

Bocklet http://www.bocklet.eu/en/vehicles/motorhomes/vehicle-details/vehicle/dakar-630/

Exploryx http://www.exploryx.de/index.php/modelle/exploryx-impala-daily/

Unicat http://www.unicat.net/en/info/EX37-IvecoDaily4x4.php

Woelcke http://www.woelcke.de/category/expedition/car-9/car.php

In our research we came across adverts for the Abenteuer Allrad show http://www.abenteuer-allrad.de/ held annually in Bad Kissingen Germany. This is probably the largest 4×4 show in Europe and all of the above companies would be there! It didn’t take long to decide to visit in 2012 so that we could see the vehicles for ourselves and talk to the various companies. Despite the time and cost of travelling from Doha to Bad Kissingen, we cannot recommend this show highly enough if you have any interest in these things! It’s great – with lots to see and lots to buy!

During the 4 days of the show we looked at all the above companies offering Daily 4×4 vehicles, and many others suitable for converting to a camper. This really helped us to narrow down the field, but it was a very difficult choice to make as they were all great vehicles. We had produced a list of requirements before the show and gradually scored each of the manufacturers’ vehicles and features against our list of requirements. Eventually we were able to narrow it down to just two companies: Bocklet and Exploryx. We returned home to Qatar to make the final decision.

Factory visit

Such vehicles are made bespoke to order, so understandably a substantial cash deposit is required on placing the order. We did a credit check on both companies which were both OK, but after refining our vehicle requirements and some telephone enquiries with each of the companies, we decided our preferred choice would be Bocklet. We arranged a further trip back to Germany for a factory visit with Bocklet.

The factory visit to Bocklet was great; very interesting to see the whole build process, meet the people doing the work and see the quality and attention to detail that goes into a Bocklet vehicle. Decision made, we ordered a Bocklet Dakar 630!

The vehicle build – converting to a camper

Iveco delivered 2 months late to Bocklet!

Having placed the order we now had 15 months to wait for delivery! This seemed like an age but it did give us plenty of time to consider all the fit-out options and equipment selection. It was cool to hear that Bocklet had just completed the support vehicles for the Dakar Rally, so there was now space on their production line for our Truck! Unfortunately, when Bocklet was ready to get started on our Truck, Iveco was two months late in delivering the new Daily 4×4 chassis to Bocklet’s factory. However despite this long delay, Bocklet did a great job of rearranging the work sequence to keep to the delivery schedule for the finished Truck.

The basic process for converting to a camper was:-

build the rear cabin shell
modify the Daily 4×4 chassis to take the cabin
fit the cabin to the Daily 4×4
fit-out the cabin to become our new home
take the vehicle to specialist fitter for installation of air suspension
return vehicle to IVECO to correct the optional fittings that they missed on the original build!
German TUV inspection and homologation certification
FINISHED – delivery to UK on German trade plates!