At a glance
2023 VW T6.1 Kombi T32 Long wheelbase · Ascot Grey Bespoke full conversion 4 berths · 4 belted seats Completed August 2026 Around four weeks in the workshop
The brief
Tim brought us a standard long wheelbase VW T6.1 Kombi T32 in Ascot Grey — a 2023 van with nothing done to it — and three requirements that shaped every decision that followed.
1. Fully self-sufficient, with no gas on board.
This was the non-negotiable. Tim wanted to park up for days at a time without a hook-up — run the fridge, boil a kettle, cook a single pan, charge phones and laptops, stay warm at night — and he wanted none of it to depend on a gas bottle. No gas locker taking up a cupboard, no drop-out vents in the floor, no swapping bottles on a Sunday evening in the middle of nowhere. Cooking and the electrical appliances therefore needed to run from the leisure electrical system, with diesel providing the heat. It also means the battery, inverter and solar have to be sized for induction cooking, not just lights and a fridge — which is a different order of electrical system from a standard conversion.
2. Proper usable space — and a bed that moves.
Tim chose the long wheelbase deliberately. The extra length over a SWB gave us more room to develop this sliding-bed layout around how Tim would use it: forward to eat with the front seats swivelled round, back to open up a proper living area, anywhere in between. The catch with sliding bed systems is that they eat storage — the bed moves, so fixed cupboards behind it don’t work. Tim wanted the flexibility of a sliding bed without giving up the storage that a long wheelbase should provide. That became the central design problem of the build.
3. A van that looks and drives like it means it.
Tim wanted a sporty, low, cohesive exterior — not a standard van with a roof on it. But it’s a T32, so it carries real weight, and it’s a camper he’ll be driving long distances fully loaded. The stance had to come with a ride that’s still comfortable, tyres and wheels rated for the load, and a roof and body kit that match the paint rather than sit on top of it.
He also wanted one team to do all of it. Exterior, wheels, suspension, roof, electrics, furniture and lining were all designed and completed in-house at our Derby workshop — one point of contact, one point of accountability, and no hand-offs between suppliers.
Power for a gas-free kitchen
A 300Ah Renogy lithium battery and 3000W Renogy inverter supply the induction hob and mains sockets. A 350W ETFE solar panel, Victron split charging and external hook-up provide three ways to recharge. Time away from hook-up depends on energy use and conditions.
The Victron SmartSolar controller manages solar charging, while a CBE PC210 system handles power distribution. Mains, 12V, USB-C and USB-A points sit where Tim needs them, including at the bed, with a wireless charger in the worktop.
Reed Green meets solid oak
Lightweight Reed Green laminate furniture sits beneath a solid oak worktop. The black Dometic sink has a lift-out oak lid; beside it, a flush-mounted single-zone induction hob keeps the cooking area simple.
A 69-litre underslung fresh-water tank frees up cupboard space. A Dometic NRX 50 fridge-freezer, Hafele soft-close drawers, overhead lockers and dimmable lighting complete the kitchen. Iron Grey VanShades provide blackout at the windows.
A moving bed. Storage that follows.
The MobiFrame Glide Rail three-quarter bed runs on a dual-rail floor and provides two belted rear seats with ISOFIX. It slides to change the balance between seating, living space and access. Both front seats swivel into the living area.
We built two full-length side cabinets and two full-width drawers to travel with the bed, finished in the same Reed Green as the kitchen. A solid oak table stows at the back, ready to slide out for use inside or at the tailgate.
One complete exterior
The Ascot Grey Leighton Vans LV-R kit is paired with 20-inch gloss black Navis Luxe wheels, Bilstein B14 Komfort coilovers and black side bars. The colour-matched STORM LWB pop top adds a bi-fold elevating roof bed and two more berths.
For time parked up, there is a Fiamma F45s 300 awning with LED lighting, an Autoterm 2D diesel heater and a full insulation and lining package. A Scorpion S5+ tracker and immobiliser completes the build.
Design Decisions
This was the most extensive conversion we’ve completed, and most of the work that made it so isn’t visible in the photographs. These are the decisions that mattered, and why we made them.
Induction instead of gas — and everything that follows from it.
Going gas-free is a simple decision that has expensive consequences. A single-zone induction hob draws serious current, so the electrical system has to be built around it: a 300Ah lithium battery rather than a 100–200Ah leisure setup, a 3000W inverter rather than a small one for charging laptops, and a charging strategy that can actually refill a battery that size. The pay-off is a cleaner van — no gas locker, no gas drop-out vent, no bottle — and a hob that sits flush in the oak with nothing to clean around. We left a small expansion gap around the glass, which matters on a solid timber worktop.
Sizing the power for days off-grid, not one night.
The 300Ah Renogy lithium battery and 3000W inverter provide mains power away from hook-up. To add charging while parked we fitted the largest solar panel we install — a 350W semi-flexible ETFE panel on the pop-top lid — with a Victron SmartSolar Bluetooth MPPT controller so he can monitor solar charging from his phone. A Victron split-charge kit adds charge on the move. Time away from hook-up depends on energy use, sunlight and driving. The CBE PC210 power management system ties the 240V and 12V sides together with a single control panel in the kitchen. Underneath it all, the battery, inverter and distribution are packaged below the units — which brings us to the hardest part of the build.
Fitting a full off-grid system around a sliding floor.
A MobiFrame system needs a one-piece floor with rails running the length of the van, and the space under the units is where the bed’s travel and the electrics both want to live. Packaging a 300Ah battery, a 3000W inverter, the consumer unit and the fuse board so that the bed can slide the full length of the rails, nothing fouls, and everything stays serviceable took more design time than any other part of the build. It’s invisible in the finished van, which is the point.
Custom movable storage for the MobiFrame.
The MobiFrame Glide Rail bed is the right system for what Tim wanted, but almost nobody makes bed boards for it properly — the bed moves, so fixed storage doesn’t work and most conversions just lose that space. We designed a storage unit that travels with the bed: two full-length cabinets on the sides and two full-width drawers, one front and one rear, finished in the same Reed Green laminate as the kitchen so it reads as one piece of furniture rather than an add-on. It’s as much usable storage as we’ve managed to fit around a MobiFrame bed, and it’s what makes the long wheelbase count.
Underslung water tank.
A 69-litre tank fitted beneath the van instead of inside a cupboard. Two reasons: it frees a whole cupboard for storage, and it gives far more capacity than an internal tank — which matters when the brief is days away from a tap. Fitting it under the chassis on a long wheelbase is more involved than dropping a container in a cupboard, but it’s the right answer for an off-grid van.
Sockets placed for how the van is used, not where the wiring is easiest.
We sat down with Tim and worked through the situations he’d actually be in — cooking, working at the table, sleeping, charging overnight — and placed the power accordingly. A 240V socket and a 12V socket in the front bed board so there’s power at the bed with no trailing cables. A wireless charger set into the worktop. A Scanstrut fast-charge USB-C/USB-A point. Two 240V sockets in the units that are live on hook-up or through the inverter. And CBE dimmer switches on the LED lighting, so the van can be brought down to a soft glow at night instead of full brightness.
Bi-fold elevating roof bed and sliding hatch panel.
The standard pop-top roof bed sits flat and takes headroom at the rear. The bi-fold bed cantilevers up when it isn’t in use, giving proper standing height across the rear of the van in the day. A carpeted sliding hatch panel finishes the roof space so it looks complete from below. Both are small decisions on paper; both change how the van feels to stand in.
A palette, not a list of parts.
Reed Green lightweight high-pressure laminate for every unit, including the movable storage. Solid oak worktop and slide-out table. Black hardware throughout — sink, tap, sockets, dimmer, drawer pulls — and VanShades in Iron Grey against the carpet lining. Outside, the STORM pop top and the full LV-R body kit are both painted Ascot Grey to match the body, so the roof and kit disappear into the van rather than sitting on it. Nothing in the van is a colour that wasn’t chosen against everything else.
Coilovers rather than lowering springs.
Tim wanted the van low, but it’s a T32 that will be driven fully loaded on long trips. Bilstein B14 Komfort coilovers give an adjustable ride height with a damper matched to it, so we could set the stance while choosing a suspension package intended for comfort under load. The 20” Navis Luxe alloys sit on 265/40R20 tyres with a load rating suited to the T32. The Leighton Vans trapezoid side bars, gloss black grille and rear badge complete the look; the result has real presence and still drives properly.
Heating and lining chosen for the same reason as the electrics.
An Autoterm 2D diesel heater with the upgraded Comfort Controller — a 7-day timer and thermostat that can warm the van before a winter drive or hold temperature overnight. We’ve fitted well over a thousand of these; it’s the unit we trust. It sits inside a full luxury insulation and carpeting package (Dodo Dead’n sound deadening, Dodo Thermo liner, Thermo-Fill in the cavities, full carpet lining) so the heat stays in and the road noise stays out. Off-grid only works if the van is comfortable to be in for days at a time.
The van was with us for around four weeks — a long build by our standards, and one we deliberately didn’t rush.
The full specification
Ready for the road
Four weeks of work, all brought together at Unit 17. Furniture, electrics, roof, wheels, suspension and exterior styling were completed in-house before Tim collected his finished van in August 2026.