Recently acquired a 1989 long wheel base Toyota Coaster bus complete with seating and want to convert it into a motorhome.
If I remove the bus seating, would that be enough to register it as a motorhome/campervan here in NSW and to avoid the twice a year over the pit inspection.
Any idea's, thanks.
Yuglamron said
05:00 PM Nov 17, 2015
I am pretty sure even when the seats are removed it needs an engineers report before it can be registered as anything other than the original compliance plate shows. My apologies if I am wrong and someone else comes up with a definitive answer.
Peter_n_Margaret said
10:05 PM Nov 17, 2015
It may vary from State to State.
The OKA was a bus when I bought it.
In one week-end, I ripped out most of the seats, built a bed at the back and a bench along one side with some plastic box drawers and fitted an Engel fridge and a portable stove in a box. It was done with raw chip board.
It needed to be inspected by the Rego mob.
They wanted to see that it could not be used for load carrying and that it had permanently installed sleeping and food prep. areas.
The rego was then changed to be a "motor caravan" with seating for 4 and the rego costs almost halved.
That did us until I did the 'proper' conversion a year or so later.
Note that just removing seats needs approval.
Talk to the rego approvals branch in your State.
Cheers,
Peter
PeterD said
10:32 PM Nov 17, 2015
As Peter said, consult your local motor registry, they are the ones you will have to convince that you have done enough conversion for them to change the registration status.
Jaahn said
10:18 AM Nov 18, 2015
Gazook wrote:
Recently acquired a 1989 long wheel base Toyota Coaster bus complete with seating and want to convert it into a motorhome.
If I remove the bus seating, would that be enough to register it as a motorhome/campervan here in NSW and to avoid the twice a year over the pit inspection.
Any idea's, thanks.
Hi Gazook,
In NSW that is not enough to register it as a motorhome. There are restrictions which include having as many beds as seats and having cooking and water facilities etc. You can ring the technical hot line for more information. Do not waste your time at the local registry office IMHO, they are only paper pushers and will only accept an engineers certificate to do any changes.
However you can remove as many seats as you want, tidy it up and then re-weigh it and get an engineers inspection to be reclassified a panelvan or whatever. I have recently done this for a Sprinter bus and kept it as a 6 seater. The RMS web site has a list of authorised engineers and their locations. Then you can fit it out as you want so long as it is safe !
Actually the twice a year inspection would not be required as long as it is not registered as a public passenger vehicle. But the pit inspection will be required because of the weight. You can just transfer the rego and reclassify it as a private vehicle. When you have an engineering inspection and if the weight is low enough he can reclassify it as a light vehicle below 4.5T which helps too. Normal inspection then. This is commonly done with these LWB Toyota Coasters. My advice is to ditch everything including the spare when getting it weighed, empty fuel tank etc, as it will save money on the rego.
Jaahn
-- Edited by Jaahn on Wednesday 18th of November 2015 10:26:46 AM
Yabbie said
12:07 PM Nov 18, 2015
We converted a Transit 12 seater Bus to a camper, in SA in conjunction with Motor vehicle dept. It needed to be inspected and compliance plates checked and changed.
It needed to be weighed via registered weigh bridge, and 2/3rds of the vehicle had to be dedicated for camping before the rego was changed to a caravan vehicle.
Our only problem being getting comprehensive insurance - as most of the bigger insurance companies wouldn't touch it. Found CIL covered it.
Gazook said
12:10 PM Nov 19, 2015
Many thanks for the replies.
Very helpful and gives me idea's on how to deal with it.
We already use a short wheel base Coaster and have for a number of years ... just wanted something bigger.
Thanks again.
Aus-Kiwi said
10:46 PM Nov 19, 2015
I have a 6 ton 9m Fuso .. Rego is not much more than a car..
It was blue slip inspected to change reg from Queensland ..
You get a cert to carry persons depending on seat belts etc
Yes gas cart and mod cert was ok.. I must say I've improved the gas side safety wise though..
Recently acquired a 1989 long wheel base Toyota Coaster bus complete with seating and want to convert it into a motorhome.
If I remove the bus seating, would that be enough to register it as a motorhome/campervan here in NSW and to avoid the twice a year over the pit inspection.
Any idea's, thanks.
I am pretty sure even when the seats are removed it needs an engineers report before it can be registered as anything other than the original compliance plate shows. My apologies if I am wrong and someone else comes up with a definitive answer.
The OKA was a bus when I bought it.
In one week-end, I ripped out most of the seats, built a bed at the back and a bench along one side with some plastic box drawers and fitted an Engel fridge and a portable stove in a box. It was done with raw chip board.
It needed to be inspected by the Rego mob.
They wanted to see that it could not be used for load carrying and that it had permanently installed sleeping and food prep. areas.
The rego was then changed to be a "motor caravan" with seating for 4 and the rego costs almost halved.
That did us until I did the 'proper' conversion a year or so later.
Note that just removing seats needs approval.
Talk to the rego approvals branch in your State.
Cheers,
Peter
Hi Gazook,
In NSW that is not enough to register it as a motorhome. There are restrictions which include having as many beds as seats and having cooking and water facilities etc. You can ring the technical hot line for more information. Do not waste your time at the local registry office IMHO, they are only paper pushers and will only accept an engineers certificate to do any changes.
However you can remove as many seats as you want, tidy it up and then re-weigh it and get an engineers inspection to be reclassified a panelvan or whatever. I have recently done this for a Sprinter bus and kept it as a 6 seater. The RMS web site has a list of authorised engineers and their locations. Then you can fit it out as you want so long as it is safe !
Actually the twice a year inspection would not be required as long as it is not registered as a public passenger vehicle. But the pit inspection will be required because of the weight. You can just transfer the rego and reclassify it as a private vehicle. When you have an engineering inspection and if the weight is low enough he can reclassify it as a light vehicle below 4.5T which helps too. Normal inspection then. This is commonly done with these LWB Toyota Coasters. My advice is to ditch everything including the spare when getting it weighed, empty fuel tank etc, as it will save money on the rego.
Jaahn
-- Edited by Jaahn on Wednesday 18th of November 2015 10:26:46 AM
We converted a Transit 12 seater Bus to a camper, in SA in conjunction with Motor vehicle dept. It needed to be inspected and compliance plates checked and changed.
It needed to be weighed via registered weigh bridge, and 2/3rds of the vehicle had to be dedicated for camping before the rego was changed to a caravan vehicle.
Our only problem being getting comprehensive insurance - as most of the bigger insurance companies wouldn't touch it. Found CIL covered it.
Very helpful and gives me idea's on how to deal with it.
We already use a short wheel base Coaster and have for a number of years ... just wanted something bigger.
Thanks again.
It was blue slip inspected to change reg from Queensland ..
You get a cert to carry persons depending on seat belts etc
Yes gas cart and mod cert was ok.. I must say I've improved the gas side safety wise though..