Building a camper in a VW Crafter / MAN TGE L3H2

This van is 1.832 mm wide, which is 68 mm short of sleeping across it if you are 1.80 m. That is the single most important thing to know about this model: a transverse bed physically fits, but you will not lie stretched out. For a fixed bed here you want the slide-out or the lengthwise bed — those sleep along the van and reach 2.050 mm whatever the width.

Of the ten layouts we have costed, 10 fit this model, 9 of them with room to spare and 1 only just. The fullest is the Lengthwise bed with seating for four: it leaves 832 mm of aisle and weighs 266 kg, leaving you 574 kg of payload for water, batteries, bikes and yourself.

Between the wheel arches it is 1.380 mm. That number matters more than the load width, because everything that runs along the floor — a bed, a bench, a run of cupboards — has to pass it or clear it. That is why our frames stand on adjustable feet and not on a continuous plinth.