Full review

Words & photos: Peter Vaughan

The Custom Camper Solutions Breeze

Custom Camper Solutions (CCS for short) offers the full gamut of popular layouts for small (Ford Transit Custom or VW Transporter) conversions. There’s the classic Pinewood side kitchen model or the Highland Twin (available as a high-top or with a front-hinged pop-top) with a rear kitchen, fitted loo and single beds, but it was the Breeze that caught our attention at Peterborough’s National Motorhome & Campervan Show and not just because its metallic Fortana Red paint stood out from the predictable silvers and greys.

This was also the first time CCS has added aftermarket wheels to its campers and, although the 20in multi-spoke rims seen here might be a bit big for some tastes, company owner, Dan Cooper, reported that they had helped this campervan to “shoot out of the door”. He had built this example for his own family to use but it had sold at the show…

The specification

This demo model had been built on a brand-new VW Transporter T6.1. It featured Startline spec, which includes Crosswind Assist, Automatic Post-Collision Braking System, Front Assist with City Emergency Braking, DAB+ radio with 6.5cm colour touchscreen and electric/heated mirrors. To this, the Business Pack had been added, thus including remote central locking with alarm, air-conditioning and parking sensors.

And CCS had brought the base vehicle up to camper spec with the further factory additions of swivel cab seats, armrests and no bulkhead. The van had been ordered with a tailgate but had mysteriously arrived with rear barn doors!

Although only powered by the entry-level 110PS (108bhp) engine with five-speed manual gearbox, the Breeze seen here looked well priced at £53,495 – especially when a lot of VW camper prices now seem to start with a six or a seven.

And it’s not as if there was an absence of other kit. This model also boasted lowered suspension on coilovers, a splitter under the front bumper and even a 100W solar panel and a Webasto diesel-fired heater.

The layout

What marks this short-wheelbase T6.1 out from CCS’s Pinewood model, and many other side kitchen designs, though, is that it has a three-seater rear bench. As with the company’s other conversions, this is the popular RIB unit and CCS always uses the version with Isofix for child seats.

In fact, the Breeze was designed with kids in mind as Dan and his wife go camping with their six-year-old. They wanted the extra space offered by combining a wide seat and slimmer galley and Dan feels that the lost locker space isn’t an issue once you’re set up on a campsite with an awning.

The interior

Not only does the wider RIB bench give you a five-seater car when in use as a daily driver, but it also means there’s a much more generous bed. Converting the RIB at night is always simple but here the bed measures 1.84m by 1.29m. And there’s another double berth above, in the Austops pop-top, which also features a zip-out front window.

Down below, CCS’s furniture is all designed and built in-house and CNC cut. Cabinets can be whatever colour the customer chooses, while here the rear bench had been upholstered to match the cab seats (leather is available at extra cost). A slate-style textured flooring with copper-coloured splashes had also been selected for this Breeze demonstrator.

The kitchen

The kitchen unit itself is necessarily narrow alongside the back bench but becomes much deeper at the front, just behind the driver’s seat. Here, you’ll find the 50-litre Vitrifrigo compressor fridge with a Can single-burner hob and sink unit above. Also here is a cutlery drawer with a neat chopping board cover that greatly increases worktop space for the cook. And a further idea to maximise space means that the 10-litre fresh water carrier is hidden in the ‘dead’ space behind the fridge.

Storage

The rear boot area is generous in this camper, too, while three long drawers pull out from under the rear seat. There are shallow top lockers above the kitchen and over the rear seat to enhance storage, too. Gas (a Campingaz 2.75kg cylinder) is kept in a steel compartment accessed through the boot.