Unimog Club UK
Hello New Members => Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: NathanE on April 20, 2018, 02:31:08 pm
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Hi Folks,
I'm new here having just agreed to buy a U1550 mog to convert into a camper. Looking forward the joys of ownership!
First challenge insurance - let me know any tips!
All the best
Nathan
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Hi Nathan and welcome along.
Sounds like you have taken on a nice challenge for your self 👍. Stick some pictures up of you get time, it's always nice to see how people get on with there projects.
As for insurance, I think there all as bad as each other 😂. Mine was always insured through business but I'm fairly sure NFU cover mogs (saying that, they didn't know what ones was when I rang my local branch😂)
Cheers, casto
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Thanks Casto, will do as soon as I pick it up.
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Hi Nathan lovely chassis the 1550 was classed as the best offroad chassis at the factory for many years, I have a camper and find that Adrian flux very good.
What is it registered as at the moment ?
Moose
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Currently agricultural. But not sure why as it was a cherry picker previously, now just flat bed. I'll try flux, they used to do one of my other cars.
Thanks for the suggestions.
All the best
Nathan
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Hello again folks.
I'm excited to say that I've been making progress on my project over the last few months even though it's been very slow - mainly of the planning kind working out the design for my camper box and details like integrating diesel heating into the engine coolant system etc.
I'm pretty close to having some work done on the vehicle by Atkinson Vos including installing said heater, spare wheel frame, extended fuel tank etc. etc. it will be exciting to get this done and take delivery of the vehicle after lots of months.
However I am having a complete nightmare finding insurance and I really need to reach out for any help people can give. I have tried all the usual suspects, flux, nfu, towergate, etc.etc. and nobody is able to quote for a domestic policy for the vehicle.
So this is a big (desperate?) reach out to anyone who has managed to get a social domestic and pleasure policy, or a camper van conversion policy on a mog - particularly one less than 20 years old - to say please could you PM me and let me know who has covered you so I can try to find a solution. If you wanted to speak to the Atkinson Vos folks to check my credentials I'd be very happy for you to do so.
At the moment it feels like my only other option will be to lock the vehicle in a shed until 2020 when I will be able to get a vintage policy from flux (as long as their rules don't change). This would be super sad as I'm just itching to take it our for a little run!
Yours in hope
Nathan
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Hi Nathan,
Good luck.... It sounds like I’m running a few months behind you with my own conversion.
Mine is currently with ACPrice being brought up to “MOT” standard having been off the road for 11 years. My intention is to get it road legal as a Private HGV class and then plan the camper conversion in the spring.
I’d be interested in your thoughts/plans/conclusions regarding things like:
- Requirement for a turbo
- Fast or super-fast axles
- Twin fuel tanks
- Camper body construction type
- Where to fit a radio in the cab
- and lots lots more.
I’ve just delved into the Haynes manual on building an off-road camper which I’m finding poses all the right questions with some useful advice.... https://haynes.com/en-gb/build-your-own-overland-camper
Hope you get insurance sorted. I’d just assumed from posts on here that it wouldn’t be too problematic.
Got any pics you can post? Where abouts are you located?
Dan.
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Hi Dan,
Very happy to share thoughts. My vehicle is a U1550l37 already fitted with turbo and intercooler. Benefit as I see it is that I will be able to maintain a modest pace when I hit gradients and not be too much of a pain to following traffic. I'm happy with 55mph and so not too worried about fast axles.
I don't have experience with these before, but have had a past of upgrading drivetrain in race cars and the issue with doing stuff like changing portal ratios could be that you need to think about every other link in the chain to eliminate weak spots. (In race car terms increasing tyre size or switching to slicks required upgraded uprights, drive shafts, diffs, etc etc. )
I'm swapping the standard tank for bigger. One of our goals is long bush trips in Australia and Africa so extended range is important. This also leads to considerations like water filtration etc.
I started building the body at the weekend. I'm building an al frame with foam composite panels.
I'm tall and so am lifting the cab roof by 20 cm. I will have a roof mounted centre console for radio and other cab related stuff.
I'm properly stuck on insurance though. I'm having zero luck. Given my build will take a couple of years I'm beginning to be resigned to sticking the truck in a shed until it's 20 years old (15 months) and then getting vintage cover.
I've tried every phone number I can think of or Google and I'm at my wits end at present. It is crazy after 30 years totally clean driving including some fairly "capable" machinery that it's so difficult to get cover.
Let me know what you're doing - it's always good to have someone else exploring the same stuff.
By the way, get Uli Dolde's book, it's super helpful.
All the best
Nathan
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Hi Nathan,
Thanks for the reply-post.
Coincidentally I’ve started inquiring about insurance today, and the problem may be one of mis-categorisation.
I phoned A-Plan (Thetford specialist vehicle office) and Adrian Flux both of whom offer policies for vehicles being converted to campers, saying it covered the vehicle during its conversion.
AF quoted £500 and A-P are due to confirm a price tomorrow.
Tried Trust Insurance who insure Unimogs, but only if you’re using them for agricultural type use.
Im planning increased fuel capacity, but want twin tanks to have the option of running veggie oil or safeguarding the situation of getting contaminated fuel and being able to switch to a secondary tank.
Thanks for the Uli Dolde tip - I’ll look it up just now.
I’ll PM you my mobile & email address so we don’t need to put all our thoughts and chat (which may not always be helpful to others) up on the forum....
Dan.
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Hi,
I'm around 6 months behind you but would be interested in your woes so far. Did you sort insurance as I am about to head down that track?
KR
Brett
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My 1124Ak is insured with Adrian flux as a camper and my Unimogs are with farmers and mercantile in Ripon. My 1550 is a long way of being finished to busy working on customers machines 😂
Moose
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1550 is a lovely chassis :)