Our New Motorhome

The DIY Truck to Motorhome build

I decided that Matilda our bus to motorhome conversion was much too big for us, now that the family has grown and left the nest.

In addition, there are many places that you cannot access nor visit in a 13 tonne bus, and some sites will even deny access to heavy vehicles. I decided to downgrade to a smaller motorhome, that would access more bush retreats with the ability to park closer down the riverbank than a 13 metre long rig.

The search for a replacement.

It was decided to either build or buy a pantech truck style motorhome conversion. A list of criteria was drawn and the search began. After months of deliberation, and viewing many clapped out rust buckets, I finally decided on an Isuzu NKR pantech truck, with a 4 metre long body.

The rejects

I looked at most of the conversions for sale on the internet, and found that most only had a 3 - 3.6 metre long pan body, often only 1.8m wide, and were usually Mitsubishi canters or Ford Traders. The little Canters were fine, but the Traders were usually the model with the lesser of the 2 engine types available. Both were rough as guts to drive while empty, while from experience as a truck drive the Isuzus were a pleasure to drive.

The criteria

One important factor was to keep the overall length to 6 metres, to avoid the time restrictions regarding the parking of heavy vehicles, plus we could downgrade the GVM to suit those with only a car license and not a light rigid class.

Next, I wanted to keep the overall height below 3 metres, yet retain sufficient headroom, and have a minimum width of over 2 metres to accomodate the build. Most of the little pantechs for sale were short wheelbase, and lacked sufficient room to build below, and were too short to allow for extra body lengths. The cheaper ones were often petrol and not diesel, or diesel with 25 million kilometers on the clock.

Consideration was given to engine access, with a tilt-cab at the top of the list, and the Isuzu has both a tilt cab as well as a underseat access panel. This meant that I could easily create a walk through access between the pan and the cab at a later date.

The design

First on the design list was easy access and storage for my mobility scooter! In the bus motorhome, it would simply split into 2 parts below decks in a storage bin, and load up with a small ramp. Although not a great issue, it was really a pain in the bum re-assembling it each time. This new motorhome was to have a massive rear storage boot that would also fit the scooter in complete (minus seat) and still proved a huge easily accessible storage area. The scooter is to be loaded using an 12v winch powered hoist.

Next on the agenda was to have a side door, and the house batteries, water tanks, gas bottles, recovery equipment and anything else not requiring common access to be mounted underneath, without compromising the ground clearance of the truck. Many of the builds I looked at, had huge storage bins and very little ground clearance, so the exercise for us would be pointless if we could still only travel where the bus could go.