Fiat Ducato Van Conversion Has Full Bathroom, Hydraulic Lift, 4 Beds, and a Bike Garage

We’re living in a nomad lifestyle renaissance – nomadssance?! – and it’s all due to a variety of factors piling on top of each other. The turning point was, without a doubt, the onset of the 2020 international health crisis, which brought along and standardized the work-from-home practice and compounded on existing financial and environmental issues.

The nomadic lifestyle has also become a job in and of itself, so if you’re looking to get into the whole #vanlife madness, here’s some inspiration: a 2020 Fiat Ducato that’s a fully-contained and fully off-grid micro-home on wheels. It is actually a 2021 project that was listed for sale as soon as it was completed and tested on a short family getaway, but that is still on the market – or was, at least as of March 2022.

This is not an ad, but rather a showcase of excellent workmanship and of thinking outside the box, and how both can translate into an original design that maximizes every bit of space available and is even able to create more. It sounds strange, but it’s true: this van includes all the creature comforts of home, plus a garage for a motorcycle or a couple of bicycles, and a hydraulic lift to take you up to the loft on the roof. “Loft” is a bit of an overstatement, since it’s a pop-up tent, but it too is infused with double functionality.

The conversion is the most versatile and challenging project of Gemma and Simon Robins, known in Wales, England and internationally as Creation Campers conversion specialists and Guinness Record holders. They do camper conversions and restorations, including of a WWII warship they bought off eBay, and they have a reputation for seeing potential where others see junk. Or nothing at all.

With this 2020 Ducato, which took them seven weeks of full-time work, they were able to deliver a proper micro-home. They built the conversion for a potential bike racer like Simon, so they made sure to leave plenty of empty floorspace in the rear, to serve as garage. As Gemma shows in the video at the bottom of the page, a dirtbike fits in just fine, and still allows access to the refrigerator and bathroom, though not to the master bed at the rear.

The van has seating for four people and a dining area slash lounge at the front. The kitchen is divided into two parts, with a three-burner stove and sink on one side, and a fridge-freezer, and oven on the other. Considering the constricted floorspace, that’s a full list of appliances right there. There’s also additional counterspace by means of a fold-out table and enough storage for cutlery, pots and pans, and foodstuffs.

Towards the rear is the bathroom, which is also full but wet. There’s a shower and a fold-out sink, toilet and fan integrated into the skylight. Opposite the bathroom is the master “bedroom,” with a Murphy bed that drops from the wall. The other two berths are on the roof, in a pop-up tent that can open to the exterior altogether to become a viewing platform at the track.

In writing, perhaps this van doesn’t sound really that impressive, but if you watch the video, it’s the tiny details that make it that. The bedroom window, for instance, has a sliding cover that protects you from the cold glass when you need or offers a great view and fresh air on summer nights. There’s mood lighting in both sleeping areas, and heating up in the pop-up tent, which also integrates “windows” and screens against insects. Custom-made window screens ensure privacy and protection from the sun.

There’s a TV for entertainment and there are various outlets and USB ports, and solar panels on the roof, to run the electrics on when in remote locations. For further convenience, the couple included an exterior shower with both hot and cold water, a large awning with LED lights, and external electric sockets.

When Gemma and Simon first listed the van, they had already taken it on a test vacation with the kids, which included some racing for Simon. “It was really comfortable,” Gemma told the local media at the time. “There is enough space to move around and not trip over each other. It's got all the mod cons, it's like going on the road in your house.”

The Fiat van conversion is asking £60,000 ($67,000 at the current exchange rate), so it’d better be like going on the road in your house.