Mercedes Vario 2 to 4 berth spacious camper

Sad to say, we are selling our treasured van. Restored and rebuilt during the last 5 years, it’s taken us all over the UK and Ireland and spent many weeks in France. Now it’s time to pass it on to another family. The van is located near Otley (between Leeds and Harrogate). The Mercedes Vario is an iconic vehicle, last produced in 2013, super strong, super reliable, super simple to maintain.

We’ve used it as a luxury 2 berth, but the current layout would suit 2 adults with 1 or 2 children. It’s simply converted using good functional design and materials, it could easily be adapted by the new owners to their needs. We love the spacious interior and driving it is a joy, especially over long distances.

Living space in brief – sleeping is on an IKEA double mattress, cooking is on an LPG fuelled twin ring hob. Food prep is on a 5cm thick ‘Live Edge’ Planed Yew wood worktop. We’ve got hot & cold pumped water and a flushing cassette toilet with external access for emptying. Our dining table comfortably seats 4 or replace it with the (matching Yew wood) coffee table for 2. Drop the table to seat height and it’s a small double bed. Eberspacher diesel heater, TV / DVD, 6 speaker stereo (DAB / CD / Aux input / Bluetooth etc), plenty of internal storage in the kitchen, living area and rear garage.

Our van always gets lots of attention, the artwork on the side, the great condition, the size, the lovely colour, which prompts conversation and makes us very proud.

Further details-

Base Vehicle

Mercedes Vario 612D Long Wheelbase panel van (7 Metres) 5.9 Tonne right hand drive with 5 forward facing belted seats in original Mercedes Oliv Grun colour. Converted into a 2 – 4 berth luxury camper. It’s a diesel engine famous for reliability.

5 speed gearbox and the normal compressed air powered handbrake. the base vehicle is 1999 with low milage (104845 Kilometres 67000 Miles) from new. Lots of paperwork including original factory build sheet and bill of sale from Mercedes, instruction manuals, receipts and MOT’s (5kg of paperwork).

The V5 is in my name, 2 previous owners and registered as a motorhome (lower tax and insurance)

The bodywork is in excellent condition with photos showing extensive bodywork welding and painting from 5 years ago. New bonnet and new reinforced back bumper also fitted at that time. Chassis and underneath is as good as new.

Full length aluminium roof rack housing solar setup, very useful for additional storage, custom fabricated to allow for the (new) Heki Rooflight to open as designed (this allows access to the roof from inside) In addition, a roof ladder is stored in the vehicle garage for access from outside.)

Insulation – all walls are insulated with foil backed Kingspan which works well, rear doors are filled with loose weave polyester insulation. We’ve used the Vario year-round and it’s lovely, cosy in winter and cool in summer (the roof rack is fully boarded with Aluminium, protecting the van roof from direct sun, frost and snow. The walls around three sides of the IKEA double bed are carpeted / upholstered and draft free (the Heki Rooflight is above the double bed). We add blackout blinds to all windows at bedtime.

Electrical – 12 volt 240 Ah leisure battery (2 years old) that’s charged from a Victron battery to battery charger and 400W roof top solar via a MPPT solar charge controller, 12 volt shunt with Victron information panel, electric hookup socket (rarely used), Eberspacher D2 diesel heater, internal LED lights, external step light, extractor fan in the washroom (great when showering), map reading light in the front, reading lights (so totally ‘off-grid’)

Engine & Mechanical – 5 cylinder turbo diesel engine starts and runs perfectly, doesn’t use oil (other than perhaps an odd top-up halfway between oil changes) or coolant, maintained lovingly regardless of cost (and documented on YouTube on my Rich Stuff channel).

Currently 11 months MOT, no advisories on recent MOT’s, new alternator, auxiliary belt, air drier, air brake tank, steering drag link, differential oil and pinion oil seal, thermostat, engine oil level indicator, power steering hoses, 4 new brake callipers pipes and brake pads.

All engine sensors replaced before our last overseas trip. Intercooler and radiator removed and flushed at the same time. King Pins greased quarterly, oil and fuel filters replaced every 3000 km (spare parts (and maintenance training if required) will be included in the sale).

Wheels & Tyres – 16 inch Wheels are powder coated in silver, steering tyres are new MAXIS Vansmart the 4 at the rear were new 5 years ago and 10% worn. Spare is unused. Onboard tyre inflation system that runs from the van.

Water- the Propex Malaga water heater can be powered by mains electric or LPG (we only use LPG) and provides hot water in the kitchen sink, hand basin and the shower.

Washroom – Thetford (large) cassette flushing toilet, integrated sink with taps / pull out shower head, the shower tray is custom built TIG welded Aluminium to fit the whole washroom floor (no insulation under it so showering in winter is best with a shower mat). Washroom extractor fan and light. Hot air heater vent in the washroom makes it great for drying coats and towels in winter.

Garage storage – Purpose built storage garage accessed via the double rear doors, big enough to securely store 2 adult road bikes, sun chairs, table, levelling chocks and ramps and sand / mud ladders, snow chains, outside table, 19kg LPG tank, tyre inflation equipment, spare parts, genuine Mercedes jack and wheel brace, plus all the beach / skiing / biking bits and pieces.

Security- alarm fitted with internal movement sensors, two additional high security door locks fitted (garage and side sliding door). Battery isolator fitted.

Asking price is £28500k (reduced as the diesel heater is in need of a flame sensor)

(selling due to health reasons).

You’re going to want to see it if you’re interested, please send me a message

Thanks for reading

Rich

Pool in Wharfedale