When we bought our Defender back in 2019, the car was not equipped for overland travel, camping adventures and such. It did have some accessories, but it was mostly used for transporting the previous owner’s dogs. It had 9 seats. 2 in the front, with the classic cubby box in between, a bench and a seat in the second row and 2 benches each for 2 passengers at the back.
It also had a snorkel, a skid plate, a custom made roof rack, a spare tyre at the back door and some other accessories. It wasn’t making any weird noises during our test drive and it seemed in a very good condition overall so we did not hesitate too long once we saw the add online. As soon as we brought it home we started with our first camper conversion, but we have gone through 3 major renovations until today. We started off with sleeping inside the Defender, mostly it was just the two of us and occasionally Lu joined as well. Then when we got Mila we decided to buy a roof top tent in order to have more space. And now that we have Leo as well we invested into a pop-top roof. On this page you can read more about all these modifications and setups.
2019 CAMPER CONVERSION | sleeping inside the Defender
Our first and biggest conversion started a week after we bought Leni in February 2019. We had to improvise a lot because we didn’t have a garage or a private parking space so we were doing everything on a public parking lot in front of my apartment in Germany. At that time I only had Lu, but he spent only half of his holidays with me and the other half with his dad, so he wasn’t travelling with us all the time. Therefore we arranged the interior to fit 2 adults and occasionally one child. We had 3 months to complete all the works before we set off to Scandinavia. I actually quit my job that summer so we were really carefree and had not time limitations. We started with a few test road trips to the Netherlands and France and spent some weekends camping in Germany before the big trip and with each journey we realized there is something we wanted to change or add. So by the time we hit towards the north we were really ready.
We kept 3 seats in the car and arranged the sleeping space for us two with the possibility to hand a self-made hammock for Lu. There were so many options and things to decide so what really helped us during this camper conversion process were certain Youtube videos and blogs from fellow overlanders. We also made a 3D model of our desired setup.
First we emptied the car completely, removed all the seats and insulated the interior with the ABX INSULATION as well as a 10mm thick layer of ARMAFLEX. We then put back the front two seats and the seat behind the driver’s seat. The next big step was ELECTRICITY. We bought an EXTRA BATTERY, which we connected to the SOLAR PANEL on our roof rack. We prepared the cables for interior LIGHTS, USB and other ELECTRICAL PLUGS and the FRIDGE.
We built a small WOODEN TERRACE on the back part of the roof rack and added an ALUMINIUM STORAGE BOX and our SPARE TYRE next to the solar panel on the roof. Because we were living close to Hanover, Germany at the time, we bought most of our exterior EQUIPMENT at FRONT RUNNER – we got their AWNING, GULLWING WINDOW, DROP DOWN TAILGATE TABLE, WATER TANKS, JERRYCANS & HOLDERS, HI-LIFT JACK, SPARE TYRE BBQ and some other small things. We also ordered HOLDERS for our self made FOLDING TABLE which is mounted over the gullwing window.
What also took a lot of time was doing the WOODEN INTERIOR FURNITURE – we made storage boxes, a kitchen counter with a sink and installed a pipe with running water, different smaller cabinets, a book shelf and a sofa which stretched out into a bed for two adults. We made a HAMMOCK for Lu, using two wooden sticks around which we sewed a durable fabric and attached it to the sides of the car with ropes and carabiners. We slept on a ROLL UP MATTRESS, which we previously used at home for guests. We also bought darker fabric and sewed the CURTAINS for all the windows ourselves. We also found many useful little things in Ikea. During the renovation, it was also important for us that most of the action is concentrated on the left side of the car, where we usually spent most of our time. That’s why we also have an awning and a gullwing window on this side.
We also bought some CAMPING EQUIPMENT – chairs and a table, gas stove, portable shower, hammocks, cast iron pan, cutlery and plates, a rope for drying our clothes, camping lights and other small things which come in handy.
With this version of the Defender, we drove through quite a few countries in 6 months, from the Netherlands and France to Scandinavia and the Baltic countries, Croatia, Germany, the Czech Republic and Italy. Unfortunately, we had to cancel all of our further plans due to the 2020 pandemics. Once there were less restrictions we drove the entire German Baltic & northern coast and discovered some of the lesser-known parts of Slovenia.
2021 CAMPER CONVERSION | Campwerk rooftop tent
The main change of this second big conversion was installing a ROOFTOP TENT, as our family grew by one little member. At the beginning of June 2021, Mila was born, so we thought it might be nice to have a little more space. We didn’t want a HARDSHELL ROOF TENT. Mostly because those take up the entire surface of the roof, and we wanted enough space on the roof rack for our aluminum box, solar panel, spare tire and other things. In addition, there is less space inside most of these tents. That’s why we only looked at SOFTSHELL TENTS. Among our 3 favorites, we finally decided on the CAMPWERK ADVENTURE 140, which we bought in Ljubljana at the MATSPORT store. By the way, I highly recommend a visit to Matsport to anyone based in Slovenia looking for something similar. We mounted the tent on the car in such a way that it opened over the back door of the car and not to the side. We already had an awning on the left side, and with this solution we then had a roof over the back door as well, which was really practical. We changed the interior a bit. We installed the rear bench back, so we had a total of 4 SEATS, and we connected our fridge behind the passenger seat. We custom cut 10 cm thick MEMORY FOAM purchased at a local hardware store and sewed the fabric covers. These pieces were attached with velcro to the wooden bench and storage boxes, and we also used them to conjure up an INDOOR BED. So Mila and I could continue to sleep inside the Defender whenever we wanted, we simply had to collapse the rear bench seats.
We made some really memorable road trips with this setup. When Mila was 3 months old, we drove from Slovenia to the north of Germany, then via the Netherlands and Belgium along the coast of Normandy and Brittany to the island of Ile de Re, from there back to Germany across the Champagne region, and then onward to southern Sweden with Lu. All four of us slept in the roof tent without any problems, but since it was already October and quite cold in Sweden, Mila and I occasionally slept inside the car, and the boys in the tent. About a month after that, we moved to Slovenia. Shortly before Mila’s first birthday, we did another epic road trip through the Balkans, we spent almost a month exploring Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, S. Macedonia and Kosovo.
The 2021/2022 season was pretty awesome regarding Defender trips, but the following two years our focus and priorities were elsewhere. We bought an older house here in Slovenia and we started a big renovation project which quickly took all of our free time, energy and also finances. On top of this my mom got really ill and unfortunately passed away in August 2023, while I was pregnant with Leo, who arrived in January 2024. Due to all of this we haven’t done much traveling in general and were really just focusing on our family.
2023/24 CAMPER CONVERSION | pop-top roof
When we found out I was pregnant in May 2023, a lot of questions opened up for us again. First, of course, the more personal ones, and then also the more logistical ones. One of those was also, how are we going to travel with our beloved Land Rover now that it will be 4 – 5 of us. The tent might still be big enough for us, Mila and the baby, but eventually we would need more space. So we were leaning towards the ultimate solution. One that was already on our minds when Mila was born, but the waiting times during the pandemics were too long for us back then as we needed a quick solution. We had time now, since the baby was due in January and we knew we will not take the road before the summer. We decided to CONVERT OUR ROOF into a POP-TOP ROOF. Now, this is “easily” done on a Defender because its roof is fixed with bolts. You remove those and the roof comes off quite quickly. Many Defender owners who use their cars for overlanding choose this pop-top option and so did we.
Like always, there are many advantages of this setup, but there are also some disadvantages. The biggest DISADVANTAGE is definitely the price, so we really thought of this very thoroughly and we are convinced it will pay off in the end. For us personally, the changed look of the car itself is also a minus, because with the pop-top roof, the car is a little bit higher and the upper part has a different shape, which we had to get used to at first. At the same time, we painted the upper roof part in white, so now the additional height bothers us less. The biggest ADVANTAGE has to be the speed of setting up. You basically push the roof up and that’s it. Which is a real luxury compared to setting up a softshell roof tent. Also, the bedding remains on the mattress when you close the roof which is really practical. Another very important factor for me is that we can now all sleep and live in the same space and we even have standing height inside the car once the roof is up together with the bed. This is extremely important at bad weather when you cannot be outside. Also from the safety point of view, this is somehow a better solution compared to rooftop tent.
So, a converting a roof into a pop-top roof in Slovenia is a bit of a challenge and as far as we know, nobody is licenced to do it for Defenders. The easiest way for us was to drive to Germany and do it there. We chose EX-TEC as we knew from our friends they provide all the necessary paperwork and certificates need for the HOMOLOGATION process back home. It took a few emails and we got a date in October. We drove to the vicinity of Regensburg, a beautiful Bavarian town btw, and left the car in good hands for 2 weeks. In the meantime we were getting regular updates via Whatsapp. At the same time, we also decided to officially CHANGE THE SEATS FROM 9 TO 5, as it was extremely nerve-wracking to reassemble the last two benches for technical inspections every year. In Germany, we had technical inspections every 2 years and this task was still tolerable, but in Slovenia it is every year and it is really annoying. Now we have a Defender registered for 5 people and since there are exactly 5 of us with Lukas, and 4 of us without him, we will now permanently leave the last row of seats inside. To prepare the inside bed, we will simply push down the rear bench seat every evening.
We are planning a longer trip for this summer, where we will truly put the new pop-top to the test. Mila will be 3 years old and Leo 6 months. So one of us will sleep up with one of the kids and the other one down with the other child. Let’s see how it goes and we will write more once we are back home.