Soon to be newbie

Hi Everyone,

Well my mind has been made! the the hi jet is for me. My dad used to rebuild Vdubs and I love them but am not in a position to have one. Me and the the other half want a camper van that suits our needs of pack and go. And I love the quirky nature of these little vans (plus my teenage son is very embarrased so that means it'll be camped outside his school at kicking out time).

So the plan now is to do as much reseach as possible before I get one, or done over on Ebay. I'm based in southeast London and am on the lookout, and I'm sure that you'll be bored to death of me very soon with all the advice I'm after.

First question, are they eat-able proof? I've a six month old English Bull terrier puppy that eats everything

So basically we want to start with a blank and convert to meet our 2 berth / menace puppy / fishing / wood burning stove needs and I look forward to all your help.

Cheers
Amana

Hi, welcome.

Never actually tried to eat a Hijet so can't help there...

Maybe worth looking for a ready built one? Though it'll be REALLY cosy with a woodburner in it, as in one of you will sleep on the stove, theyre simply too small for that

Yep, log burner isn't going to happen in a normal hijet... maybe a wee side extension

Hijets are good for sleeping in, like a tent you don't have to put up that's dry, off the floor and windproof. With some clever thought you can make good storage under the bed area, and make a bed fold into some kind of seating.

Some kind of awning can give you the space to cook inside outside, with the cooking stuff being accessible in the van.

Toilets, showers etc might fit in a trailer, but not in the hijet itself. Nor would you stand up in the hijet so cooking inside one is not practical.

Great vans though, very fun, cheap to run, reliable, easy to fix, fit anywhere, and they make people smile.

Make sure you buy a nice low milage one, with only a couple of previous owners. One that doesn't have a fan over ride switch, or rad weld in the coolant. One that ticks over for 30 minutes without boiling up.

You can buy a good one for £600 / £700, while you can buy an over heating lemon for £1100. It's all about knowing what your looking at.

Hi

We've looked at ready built but to be honest lots of bits we don't need that use excess space. The woodburner is fantasic, it's portable and we take ours all over the place, I'm not allowed to post a link but it's a frontier stove have a look. I'd hope to use with an awning. That will be question 2......

I'm mostly worried about the mechanics and what I need to be aware of/look for when buying.

Thanks
Amana

Hi

Thanks, overheating seems to be the theme and what I'm focused on. Is this the most worrying issue?

Toilets and showers etc no real concern sure we can fit a shovel in him.

Rot is the other problem

Inner arches, sills - normal sorts of places

Otherwise they are pretty much bomb proof

Except for the door handles, window winders etc, which are made of typically high quality Daihatsu plastic.

Probably gonna get slated by all the Hi-Jet purists -- but how about a compromise---- a Romahome demountable on a Hi-Jet pick up. Can be demounted in less than ten minutes and pick-up sides back on.

You can use it as a van with seats taken out but the downside is the narrow entry rear door. If you need a normal Hi-Jet van then the following is superfluous . :

They are almost Four-legged Fiend ( yes Fiend not friend at at 6 months old ) proof except for the seat cushions -- but they can be stored in the Luton over the cab. You can have two single beds or a double made up and the pooch can kip under or on the bed or in the kitchen floor area.

The Porta-Potti is kept in one of the 4 bunk storage lockers as are water tank and gas bottles ( Mk 5 version has outside gas locker) Many have 3 way fridge (12volt, Calor gas, or Mains hookup, two burner hob and grille which with one on burner on low setting will keep you warm as toast all night but MAKE SURE ROOF VENT IS OPEN. If you are very lucky some had factory fitted gas or diesel blown air heater.

Woodburner is a complete no-no as the Romahome is fibreglass, but is insulated and double glazed,so no need. Outside as HJ said.
I have a good stock of Romahome parts and five Demountable bodies in varying stages from bare shell so you can build the inside to your own spec up to virtually complete -- but all need TLC to clean them up outside.

If you need any more information contact me here or ring 07863030309.

Those little Frontier woodburners are cool, I saw one at a county show once I think some charity supplies them abroad in some kind of basic living kit.

Good luck with the find if your dogs anything like mine it'll insist on sitting in the passenger seat whether theres a passenger or not.

Please excuse the worst diagram ever but I've built a bed like this for mine -



Handy thing is it can be removed in about 5mins. The top is made of 4 bits of ply joined by hinges. The base is two metal frames, one that slides out from the other to create the bed.