Dormobile Ohana high-top campervan

Like a T6 camper that’s grown up

Words & photos: Peter Vaughan

The Dormobile Ohana

Fifty years ago, the Dormobile brand was so synonymous with campervans that its name was sometimes used generically, like Thermos or Hoover. Its side-hinged pop-tops were fitted to everything from Austins to VWs, from Bedfords to Land Rovers, and it made coachbuilts, too. But that era came shuddering to a halt when the Folkestone factory shut its doors in 1994.

The current company effectively relaunched the brand in 2020 and is now based in the New Forest. It still offers restoration facilities for those classic models but key to its future health and growth will be a range of new campervans, including side kitchen conversions on the Ford Transit Custom and VW Transporter, plus larger layouts on the Peugeot Boxer. 

Its latest model, the Ohana, debuted at Campervan Campout and is based on the MAN TGE (sister van to the Volkswagen Crafter) with 140bhp motor and eight-speed automatic transmission. 

Unlike most other conversions of this class-leading base vehicle, Dormobile’s design makes no attempt to combine coachbuilt-style facilities with panel van dimensions. Instead, it approaches camping from the opposite direction, aiming to offer a VW T6-like conversion in a bigger, more spacious vehicle. 

The exterior

On the outside, everything has been kept simple, although the alloy wheels and metallic paint are included in the £84,995 price tag. 

There’s little else (bar subtle Dormobile badging) to mark this out as a campervan, and the side windows are tinted glass rather than motorhome-style double-glazed plastic. A 130W solar panel is mounted on the roof and a roll-out awning features, too.

The seat/beds

Inside, the layout looks akin to smaller campers, featuring an RIB 120 rear travel seat and a side kitchen – all finished to a high standard. The big difference is at the back, where a fixed bed runs across the campervan at high level (with the benefit of pods on either side to achieve a 1.87m maximum length).

The mattress is also 1.21m wide and has a domestic-style thickness of 180mm. This arrangement also gives the Ohana a supersized garage (1.45m wide, 93cm deep and 91cm high), so storage shames smaller campervans. 

Of course, as Dormobile converts a high-roof version of the MAN, there’s no need for a pop-top here, so the second bed is formed at low level from the rear bench. This unfolds into a 1.84m by 1.12m double where your feet go beneath the rear bed (in a recess that can store your bedding by day).

Then, if you need five berths to go with the five seatbelts, you can simply add a Cabbunk.

On site, this Ohana had a double passenger seat in the cab, which rotates thanks to an R & J Camper Solutions swivel base that raises the bench to enable it to turn more easily. A single passenger seat version is also available and either model will have a free-standing table to cater for mealtimes.

The kitchen

Dinner will be served from a kitchen that features a combination three-burner hob and sink unit, plus a 41-litre top loading fridge.

The galley is constructed from birch ply with a solid wood worktop and includes four large drawers for practical storage. A pull-up power tower with four 230V sockets is also fitted.

The facilities

Services are more campervan than motorhome – a portable water carrier and a 2.75kg Campingaz cylinder.

Interior lighting is generous, including dimmable lamps over the rear bed, while an Autoterm diesel heater caters for off-season camping. 

Although there’s no washroom, a Porta Potti stores under the rear seat for emergencies. That sums up the Ohana, which is like a VW camper that’s been supersized. If you’re trading up from a T6.1, maybe that will make it the ideal solution.  

Where to buy

Dormobile sells its vehicles from a new site (formerly a Vauxhall car dealership) in Lyndhurst in the heart of the New Forest. 

There it operates Monday to Friday and you can see a selection of its latest conversions in stock.

The company

Perhaps the oldest name in campervans in the UK, Dormobile was also once one of our biggest brands. The original company closed its doors at Tile Kiln Lane, Folkestone, in 1994, but just three years later the  name was reborn in a modest way and in 2020 the marque was relaunched.

Today it offers restoration services for classic Dormobiles (including the sought-after Land Rovers), as well as thoroughly contemporary conversions on the Ford Transit Custom, Peugeot Boxer and VW Transporter – and now the MAN TGE. 

The Ohana featured here will be followed by a second MAN conversion, the Ballintrae, with a shower compartment, high spec and a pop-top (to make it a four-berth). Importantly, some of Dormobile’s newest conversions have both National Caravan Council (NCC) approval and Type Approval.