When it comes to buying a motorhome or outfitting a campervan conversion, the size of the vehicle and engine capacity is often the first priority. But following close behind is the floor plan or internal layout. After all, this is where you will spend most of your time while on holiday. It can put a real dampener on your holidays if you discover that the layout of your new campervan isn’t quite right!
Just as we all have different tastes in the design of our homes, every motorhome and campervan owner has different preferences for the interior look and layout of their RV.
There are many different factors that come into play when it comes to layout preference. These include budget, storage needs, travel style, or simply personal taste.
Motorhomes are a big investment, and for those who are travelling or living full-time in their campervan, it’s even more important to create a layout that works for daily living.
The beauty of a KEA ex-rental campervan for sale from RV Sales Centre is that if you don’t like the internal layout of your sleeping and mealtime spaces, the team can easily change it.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at some of the aspects to consider when thinking about a campervan conversion, including:
Two-berth toilet and shower models
Four-berth and six-berth models
There are many reasons why campervan and motorhome owners may choose to undertake a campervan conversion. Let’s take a closer look:
Neil MacPherson, RV Sales Centre Production Manager Australia, says the team recognises that the needs and wants of motorhome owners are quite different from those who are renting for a short term. What might be comfortable for a long weekend may not quite fit the bill when travelling on regular extended holidays. Making your motorhome cosy and as comfortable as possible is certainly worth the effort!
The biggest change requested is at the rear of two-berth, four-berth, and six-berth motorhomes where there is either a club-style U-shaped lounge or a fixed bed. MacPherson says RV Sales Centre’s onsite team is now converting layouts to offer motorhome buyers more choice. He says the team have listened to customers and are now making the campervan conversions before they go up for sale.
“It’s all about us giving customers another option – to have another point of difference,” he says. “If we look at our rental fleet and the five different vehicle types, I think there are something like 12-13 different layouts to offer now that we have started to make these van conversions.”
Just as with residential real estate, upgrades to your motorhome can increase its resale value. Having a good layout that appeals to more potential buyers is often worth the investment. Once you’ve got a great layout, it’s easy to add a few inexpensive RV accessories and enhancements that will make your motorhome even more appealing.
As many experienced motorhome owners who have upgraded over the years will attest, their first campervan is often a far cry from the current one. You may start out travelling as a couple, but as the years go by you may want to travel with children or grandchildren, with new friends. Or as your kids grow older you may decide you need more space (or less!).
Converting your campervan can be an economical alternative to buying new. Sometimes a simple van conversion can make a huge transformation, making it more comfortable and better suited for you and your travel companions’ adventures on the road.
At KEA, our team can bring your campervan conversion to life. The two most common conversions we undertake include:
The Ultima and 2 plus 1 campervan models offer rental customers a club-style rear lounge that converts to a bed each night.
It can be a bit fiddly to make up your bed every evening, but MacPherson says it works well in a rental market where people are only using it for a short amount of time. However, from a sales point of view, he says customers were not keen on the idea of packing the bed up and down each day. Most motorhome travellers prefer a permanent bed area – the most popular options being either one double bed or two single beds.
“Those two options came from customer feedback,” he says. “We have customers saying, ‘we’d like a double bed in this campervan’ or ‘we’re keen on single beds in that vehicle’. With this feedback, we were able to develop and design two single-bed mattresses and a double that will fit into the back. So now there are three layout options for the one vehicle.”
MacPherson says single beds are a better option from a functionality point of view, but it all depends on the motorhome owners’ preferences. “With the double, you actually have to slide out from the end of the bed to get out,” he says. “It’s not ideal but that’s the space we have to work with. But with the singles, you can both just roll out of bed.”
Equally varying layouts are available for the four-berth KEA Navigator and KEA Discovery campervans as well as the six-berth Jayco Traveller. Interestingly, MacPherson says the opposite trend is happening to the two-berth motorhome models. Customers are preferring to have a club-style lounge in the rear rather than a fixed bed. The Discovery and the Traveller motorhomes have a Luton peak where a bed area can be set up.
“We seem to be selling more club lounges than fixed beds at the minute, but we are also throwing in tall fridges as well as part of the club lounge campervan conversion which I think is helping to facilitate that,” he says.
Macpherson says trends come and go, which is why the team offer a varied amount of van conversion layouts to suit all requirements and tastes.
Depending on the layout and size of your motorhome or campervan, you may decide on one of these common bed conversions.
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At KEA, we make it easy to bring your campervan conversion dreams true. We have a great range of rental campervans and motorhomes that come off the fleet at varying times in their life and move on to the sales yard. Customers are also able to request a particular rental vehicle at any time.
If you are happy with the existing layout, then the vehicle will be serviced and detailed and you can start to enjoy the motorhoming lifestyle straight away. But if you’d like a particular type of van conversion done, the team can also take care of that for you.
If you have something particular in mind, the KEA team of motorhome experts will work with you to tailor-make the layout to suit your needs.
KEA motorhomes are built new and refurbished by a team of experienced motorhome experts, right here in Australia. Each of our quality-built campervans and motorhomes are designed to tackle the unique Australian roads and environment, without compromising on comfort and style.
When you choose a KEA campervan, you’ve also got access to our fully equipped service centre workshop. Keep your motorhome in tip-top condition by booking a yearly service that will reduce the chance of any issues while you’re enjoying your campervan holidays. We also have a full range of RV parts and accessories – and if we don’t have what you need, we can source it quickly.
If you’re still searching for the perfect motorhome for your adventures, check out the KEA website to see the range of motorhomes for sale including KEA ex-rental campervans for sale.
Have more questions about campervan conversions or self-contained vehicles? Feel free to stop by a branch or certified dealership to chat with one of our RV campervan sales experts. They are a wealth of knowledge when it comes to van conversions and are happy to answer any questions you may have.
We hope this blog has given you some helpful insights into the benefits of van conversions. It’s an exciting process, and it’s certainly a whole lot easier when you’ve got a team of experts on hand! They can help answer questions such as ‘what is the most popular motorhome layout?’ or talk through other considerations to help plan your campervan conversion. If you’re ready to take the first step, consider looking through our KEA ex-rental campervans for sale. Once you’ve found a van that looks like it could be a good fit or may need some fine-tuning with a conversion, talk with our team of experts – they can make it happen!