I'm new to owning a caravan and I'm really keen on making some changes to the interior, I want to move the general kitchen area, cooker, sink and fridge to the other end of the caravan to make more room.
I need to know, can this be done? Would it cause any lasting damage? Would the job be entirely too big to be worth it? Any advice would be welcome.
I am absolutely no expert so please just take this as my personal opinion, but I think that Caravans are laid out to balance the weight appropriately on the axle. If you start moving the large pieces of furniture around you might find that you knock things out of balance, especially if you move heavy stuff to the back of the van.
Perhaps an understanding of how caravans are constructed, which is basically from the inside out, will give you an insight into how difficult deconstructing and modifying interiors is!
Literally everything is possible with sufficient time, money and effort, the big question is, 'is it worth it all for the end result!'. IMHO absolutely not, unless you are doing it for the satisfaction of the project itself, you are unlikely to increase the value of the van by any significant amount, probably less than your spend on materials alone, and if the van is already in good order you may de-value it! People have done some fantastic renovations/modernisations of near derelict vans, but always for the satisfaction of the project, never as an investment.
You will find things like cookers and fridges are usually placed near the axle for a VERY good reason, that is because they are relatively heavy and their placement has a significant effect on towing stability, the last place you want heavy items is in the tail of a caravan, it would likely be awful if not downright dangerous to tow! Placed in the nose, you would likely never get the van noseweight light enough for chassis and towbar safe limits. The original layout of a caravan is done not just based on convenience of living quarters, but on the chassis balance to achieve correct nose weights and good towing characteristics as well. If you look at vans with the kitchen built in the rear, often you will still find the fridge and microwave elsewhere, usually nearer the axle!
Remodelling an interior should be done with full chassis engineering considerations not just stylistic interior design!
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Topic: Moving Fixtures
