Buying a Campervan in Thailand #Vanlife

[CrossBones]

Hi

I am interested to buy a second hand campervan

I was looking at carryboy https://carryboycaravan.com/motor-home/

Or something like a converted transit van.

 

I need second hand though as its way too expensive.

 

It needs airconditioning fridge, toilet/shower. 

 

Its just for myself to escape to nature alone sometimes

 

Please let me know if you have any advice. Perhaps the way to go is to first buy a vehcle second hand then find someone to convert it. I have no idea.

 

Thanks

Edited September 6, 2022 by CrossBones

[pgrahmm]

There's no infrastructure or dumping stations.... You'd have to run a generator for a/c.....

There is a place in BKK that sells cabinets, sinks, cabinets, toilet/shower items for conversions of campers & boat work....I think I found it through Facebook.....

I thought about the possibility when the transit vans price dropped, but there's no real hookups or campgrounds to speak of.....

[Ralf001]

1 minute ago, pgrahmm said:

There's no infrastructure or dumping stations.... You'd have to run a generator for a/c.....

There is a place in BKK that sells cabinets, sinks, cabinets, toilet/shower items for conversions of campers & boat work....I think I found it through Facebook.....

I thought about the possibility when the transit vans price dropped, but there's no real hookups or campgrounds to speak of.....

plenty of camping grounds in Thailand if you bother to look.

[pgrahmm]

2 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

plenty of camping grounds in Thailand if you bother to look.

I camp here - most national parks.....

However - full hookups for campers/RV - elec, black & gray water septic drains are very, very few.....

[Ralf001]

2 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

I camp here - most national parks.....

However - full hookups for campers/RV - elec, black & gray water septic drains are very, very few.....

Thanks for confirming there is camping grounds.

[Peterw42]

Like others have said, there is no infrastructure to support RVs/caravans, there is a reason you dont see any on the road. Plus the weather, its basically very hot/humid in most of Thailand, most of the year. You cant stay in RVs etc without 24hr aircon. 

 

[whereyougo]

Mobile sauna basically. I would do it in oz,  nz or Canada but never here.  Best option is stay in a hotel near a national park and hire a motorcycle and explore your <deleted> off 

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

5 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

There's no infrastructure or dumping stations.... You'd have to run a generator for a/c.....

There is a place in BKK that sells cabinets, sinks, cabinets, toilet/shower items for conversions of campers & boat work....I think I found it through Facebook.....

I thought about the possibility when the transit vans price dropped, but there's no real hookups or campgrounds to speak of.....

plenty of camping grounds in Thailand if you bother to look.

Having bothered to look.... Did you find that any of those have an electrical hookup or dumping stations ?????

 

Or, was your only ‘bother’ to provide an unhelpful and irrelevant response ????

 

[KhunLA]

Crossed my mind a few times, and for ICE, I'd get a new or used (if done right) Suzuki Carry & 'solarize' it.

There was one locally, all set up for business w/solar, but advert had no contact info ... or I would have bought it ... oops.

 

Since getting the EV (ordered)  why bother if needing to sleep in vehicle, for 1 or 2 nights.  Anything else, longer and I'd just get an inexpensive hotel.  EV - no need for solar, as has AC & electric outlet (V2L) to power appliance.  Could do a long O&A in EV, but hotels are simply too cheap to bother more than a night 1 or 2.   Only if last minute, and couldn't find a pet friendly place, as not so easy some times.

 

As pointed out, TH not camper ready yet, with water & sewer dump stations.  If don't mind DIY, al' natural, then no prob.  I've actually taken a (1) shower with a 6 liter bottle of water.  6 liters goes a long way, 1-2 to get wet, 2-6 to rinse off, when the power has gone out, before having gravity water supply at 1 house/apt.

 

Portable toilet (seat/bucket/bog), or not ...  and that's sorted.  Shower, if not DIY (bottled water) then any decent hotel with pool, has shower poolside.  OK, rude to use if not staying, but hey, who's going to know.  I've done that in USA, when driving a truck over the road.  At a FL, USA resort that I had a timeshare at, so sort of allowed, though I didn't ask.

 

EV'ing it @ 6:12 of vid:

 

[Liverpool Lou]

12 hours ago, CrossBones said:

I am interested to buy a second hand campervan

I was looking at carryboy https://carryboycaravan.com/motor-home/

Or something like a converted transit van.

 

I need second hand though as its way too expensive.

https://cars.carithai.com/cars/camper

 

There's a few there.   

[LivinLOS]

Theres a caravan dealer on facebook, theres a guy in CM who sells pickup bed backs like Americans often utilize.. There were some cheap buses sold off recently which would have made superb traveler / hippy busses, if I had more time space I considered one as a plaything. 
 

All that said, Thailands climate is not great for them, the infrastructure isnt readily there so it needs to be a wild traveler type setup, and rooms can be found so cheaply that they dont have the same comparative upsides as expensive hotel countries. 

I like this style of travel, I have done multiple N Africa overlanders, brother had a converted merc 7.5 tonner as a Portugal / Morocco surf hunter for years.. I grey up on and off the road lifestyle as a child in a bunch of things from converted horse transport, military a postal van, a 4x4 one for Sahara, etc. Even enjoying them I wouldnt be too serious about one in asia. 
 

I actually know of a nicely restored one for sale in CM at a fair value.. 

[richard_smith237]

Given the price of labor in Thailand I wonder if retro fitting a van would be a reasonable alternative ?

 

That said: There are campsites etc... which have tents etc usually occupied in the cooler months, particularly around Khao Yai and further north... But none of them are set up for an RV / Cambrian type vehicle with power-points next to the pitch... and area’s to get rid of grey and black waste. 

 

Another facet is that ‘touring’ in Thailand is incredibly cheap, with ‘bungalows’ everywhere for a few 100 baht per night...   so the ‘camping thing’ given the heat and humidity is no where near as popular as it is in cooler countries. 

 

 

I’ve toured with campers / caravans all over the UK, Europe and New Zealand....   it is not something I think works here - Thailand is just not set up properly for that. 

 

I’ve travelled around Thailand... what does work is hotels and small resorts etc.....  its just set up that way.

 

 

 

[CrossBones]

6 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

Theres a caravan dealer on facebook, theres a guy in CM who sells pickup bed backs like Americans often utilize.. There were some cheap buses sold off recently which would have made superb traveler / hippy busses, if I had more time space I considered one as a plaything. 
 

All that said, Thailands climate is not great for them, the infrastructure isnt readily there so it needs to be a wild traveler type setup, and rooms can be found so cheaply that they dont have the same comparative upsides as expensive hotel countries. 

I like this style of travel, I have done multiple N Africa overlanders, brother had a converted merc 7.5 tonner as a Portugal / Morocco surf hunter for years.. I grey up on and off the road lifestyle as a child in a bunch of things from converted horse transport, military a postal van, a 4x4 one for Sahara, etc. Even enjoying them I wouldnt be too serious about one in asia. 
 

I actually know of a nicely restored one for sale in CM at a fair value.. 

please can you PM me details of the CM one

[LivinLOS]

15 hours ago, CrossBones said:

please can you PM me details of the CM one

Listing was a month or two back but I just messaged the guy.. He had a retro camper and a classic bus for sale.. 

[LivinLOS]

Replied that its sold.. Sorry. 

[ThailandRyan]

Gotta build one using an old school bus like this

 

[Ralf001]

Bt.865,000 at the motorshow coupla months back.

 

Suzuki Carry Motor Home.

 

[ThailandRyan]

9 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Bt.865,000 at the motorshow coupla months back.

 

Suzuki Carry Motor Home.

 

Looks like an old school 70's Model C Campervan

[Denim]

There are places that will do conversions to your specifications.

 

Fatty Uncle has some kind of air conditioner stripped down and built into his van. Even has a shower cubicle.

 

 

 

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

Bt.865,000 at the motorshow coupla months back.

 

Suzuki Carry Motor Home.

 

https://autostation.com/featured/suzuki-carry-motor-home

[torrow]

I have a old 4x4 SUV converted to a camper van.

 

I know people with full blown camper van conversions, mostly built on the back of pickups. There are lots of Thailand camper conversions on YouTube. Aircon is the killer... finding places with an electric hookup suitable is not easy.

 

Thailand has some wonderful national parks that offer camping. There are plenty of good campsites too... some where you can literally park up on the beach. Most have toilets and showers. We've never been refused because we have a van, not a tent.

 

The SUV suits us. Most of our time (including cooking and eating etc) is outside under the awning, so we only need somewhere to sleep. The van has a decent solar setup, sufficient to run a fridge and large fan overnight.

 

A camper conversion based on a minivan would be more comfortable. Although it would have been more expensive, initially, I did plan to go down that route. However, Thailand has so many cheap hotel and guest houses, it just wasn't worth it.

Edited September 8, 2022 by torrow