Overlander breaks new ground with premium Welfare conversion
When Overlander burst onto the vehicle conversion scene in 2018, we had already spent almost 5 years designing and market testing our flagship R160 2-Stall Horsebox. It was no surprise that when the R160 entered the market, it quickly became the go to horsebox for the top international riders.
Taking the lessons learnt from extensive R & D on the horsebox and combining that with our links to our group company Hireco, we established a commercial vehicle range to service the light commercial sector. Hireco are actively and aggressively expanding their rental fleet for the light commercial vehicle market. Overlander is Hireco’s preferred partner for vehicle conversions.
In 2019 our engineering team developed a Welfare van which was sent around Hireco sites across UK & Ireland to be put through its paces. After this extensive trail and feedback, we refined our design, introduced new material types and the Overlander Welfare Van was launched.
This 7-seater approved, market leading van combines a comfortable eating area at the front with 2 separate area’s in the rear. One is an enclosed toilet area for additional privacy and the other is a heated drying area with boot and coat storage.
In the kitchen/eating area the van has seating for 4 around a comfortable table, opening side window, USB charge points and a Transvend water boiler for that essential brew. A small yet useful sink with both hot and cold running water and a powerful microwave. The small but clever layout combines both practically and premium finish, giving you the overall feel of comfort and space.
The van is equipped with a dual function heating system from Webasto which heats the kitchen and drying area. It also provides hot running water to the kitchen and bathroom sinks. This can be controlled from the central control panel.
The rear of the van is also well thought out, once you step up in with ease, due to the Rhino rear step you can see how the use of space has the end user in mind. The rear has 2 well-proportioned rooms, which in the Welfare van industry is a novelty. The toilet is private, with a lockable door, roof ventilation, running hot and cold water. The toilet itself is from the well trusted brand of Thetford and like the rest of the van the toilet area is constructed using phenolic faced birch plywood, which means its completely wipeable and very hard wearing.
Safety is paramount to Overlander and the Welfare van comes complete with a fire extinguisher, first aid kit, chapter 8 graphics and LED roof beacon. It is also equipped with a rear reversing camera which neatly sits into the rear brake light and reverse sensors on the rear step. The exterior of the vehicle also has a mains plug-in to allow the user to plug into an onsite power source to aid the charging of the deep cycle batteries.
We spoke to Hireco Director Pete Smith and this is what he has to say about the rapidly growing Welfare van fleet
“From the very start the build quality of Overlander’s Welfare vehicles has been exceptional and as a consequence has been very well received and highly appreciated by our respective customers”
So what’s next for Overlander?
The current Welfare Van is based on a Peugeot Boxer which to date has been hugely successful. We have also developed a premium welfare van solution for a medium wheelbase VW Crafter. Overlander have secured an order to build 100 welfare vehicles across 2021. With this order we have rapidly ramped up our production and this will support a number of our key suppliers throughout 2021.