New Member - Internal Dimensions Reqd

[ralnavman]

Hi folks. Just to introduce myself as a new member and also ask for some help.

As it happens, I'm a Bayless member, as I'm looking into how I may be able to use one. To explain, I'm trying to find out the overall internal dimensions of a Bay camper van to see whether I would be able to push my wheelchair bound wife in through the rear section. My intention is to then look at the whole layout of the vehicle for the purpose of providing a comfortable environment for my wife to remain in whilst my daughter and I could experience the less warmer activities.
Basically, I want to be able to transfer my wife to the front seat, preferably swivel mounted, so that she is facing forward for travelling, and then which can be switched round to face the rear when stationary. Whilst my daughter and I were out, then my wife could have access to various entertainment devices, using, maybe, power inverter. As she is completely immobile, she would have to use a voice activated remote so power has to be available.
So, before embarking on a purchasing route, I need to establish that in principle, these intended plans will fit (literally!). And to do this, I would be grateful if someone could give me the internal measurements for the section from the engine bay forward.
If someone could help i would appreciate as I have gone into many websites without any success.
Many thanks in advance,

Andy

 

[Tofufi]

Hi Andy, welcome to earlybay

I would expect it to be tricky to allow a wheelchair to sit in the position of the passenger seat, due to the high seat tubs over the front wheels.

You get a smoother ride from the back/middle of the van though, especially if lowered.

A wheelchair would have to be pushed through the sliding door entrance, but I'm sure anything is possible here, as long as there is sufficient headroom. I don't know if a VW hightop panel van would give more headroom through the doorway (VW hightops had an extended door, but are VERY uncommon, I've never seen an RHD one. And cutting windows into a straight one would possibly not be considered a good idea.

 

[rob-stone]

Click on this link. It will show you interior dimensions.

http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?t=217&highlight=cad

You can get pasenger chairs that rotate. People refer to them as captain chairs.

hopefully it may help you.

 

[Araon]

Shouldnt be too much of a problem regarding the captains chair youl need to have the bulkhead cut out to enable a 180 rotation of the seat....the swivel bases can be easily purchased though you'll need the low profile version as stated by Tofufi the wheel tubs are quite high... the other problem is the basic height of the cargo floor, though you could have it (the van) lowered a tad relatively inexpensively.
If you get a micro bus with the middle bench removed this will give you ample room to manipulate a wheelchair and seating for passengers plus wheel chair stowage.
In fact someone else on here (name slips me) was doing a similar project I'm not sure how far they got.
That cad drawing is very useful I have a a file full of them with various ideas most dross...
Good luck in your endeavours...
Oh and welcome, keep us updated

 

[Harlequin]

Araon , was it LuAn?
http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?t=3838&highlight=captains+chair
I'm sure there were other threads in relation to him adapting their
camper

 

[ralnavman]

Wow guys, what a fantastic response. I've been trawling the internet for some weeks trying to find out these dimensions and you guys supply them and more in a matter of hours. It was really interesting to see the photo from Tofufi (see that you're not a million miles away!) which lcearly shows the walkwy through the front seats. And you are right about not being able put the wheelchair in the front seat position. I clearly need to find about a bit more about the 'captain chairs' product. From the photo, it appears that there is a vertical section where the back of the seat would be. Could this be removed without any adverse effect? And if I can use the rotating seats, which I would ideally like to swing thru 180 degrees, are they accepted by the MoT ?
What distinguishes Earlybay/ low lighters over other Bay campers? And the dimensions given in the CAD drawings link from rob-stone are excellent. Initial view is that my plan should work and I can now lay it out on paper.
Has anyone got any recommendations of reading sources of what to look out for when buying a Bay camper?
Once again, many thanks for all the contributions.

 

[Araon]

The main difference between the bays are that the earlies look real good and the lates are butt ugly :lol:

regards the dimensions nothing to worry about, its things like engine vents on the rear quarters being larger, deformation panel on the front lip and a few tweeks since the late bays eventually had a 2ltr type 4 motor option...

the bulk heads can be removed usually a bit of brace is welded in place to offer a bit of rigidity though not always, there are plenty of busses out there with the captains seat mod in place so it may be worth putting out a search for one already done, T25s' had them as an option on the later versions I believe....and yes they will pass a MoT as long as they lock in place and dont spin around like a top.

The swivel bases come up on ebay quite a bit but they need to be as thin as possible......

 

[Araon]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Swivel-Seat-base-for-Mercedes-Sprinter_W0QQitemZ120227873304QQihZ002QQcategoryZ36798QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

something along these lines....you can get them to fit the VW tub if you look around or people make there own up/pay a visit to there local fabricators...

and a T25

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VW-T25-TYPE-25-CAPTAINS-CHAIR-SWIVEL-BASE-X-2_W0QQitemZ130201584239QQihZ003QQcategoryZ36798QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Snakey]

Nice little article on type2.com about bulkhead removal.

http://www.type2.com/library/body/bulkh.htm

 

[Guest]

From the photo, it appears that there is a vertical section where the back of the seat would be. Could this be removed without any adverse effect?

Yes, this area is called the bulk head, there are a few van have it removed

And if I can use the rotating seats, which I would ideally like to swing thru 180 degrees, are they accepted by the MoT ?

yes they are accepted by the MOT as long as they acan be locked in the forward position, many T25 vans came with them from the factory/coachbuilders.

What distinguishes Earlybay/ low lighters over other Bay campers?

they have more street cred look cooler etc. There are cosmetic differences, bumpers indicators size of the rear indicator cluster and the running gear is slightly different where disc brakes at the front were introduced in 71 which would be the most significant change along with a host of smaller changes

Has anyone got any recommendations of reading sources of what to look out for when buying a Bay camper?

there are a few good books available;
try vwbooks.co.uk for literature. that mags volksworld and camper and bus, UltraVW will have vans for sale, lists of traders etc.
but the best thing to do would be take someone knowdledgable with you. There are a few Reputable people on this site who buy and sell and have various vehicles available. Check out the buy and sell section, you might not have to look any further.