More storage

As any fellow campervan'ers will know, it's all about the storage - especially us small-van'ers. They say every inch counts when it comes to hiding/storing all those little bits and bobs you seem to acquire over the years and then carry around with you.

One area of the van I felt could be improved upon is the sliding door; two large cavities that have been panelled over with no frills by Volkswagen on all but the top of the range Caravelles and Californias. Scouring the internet for good used door panels from these models and you're quickly well in to three figures - and with no guarantee of secondhand quality (and a few dubious sources) and I'm left looking elsewhere...

Here's the sliding door from inside as it has been since carpeting the van back in March 2009:

Fairly plain and boring, not living up to it's full potential, just adding to a sea of grey carpet.

Then a couple of weeks ago whilst browsing the T5 forum, I found a few other owners that had bought a new product from Kiravans that fits the brief. It's still in a pre-production test phase at the moment but this replacement panel complete with three storage compartments is going some way to maximise every useable space in the van:

It looks a little 'plain' at the moment, still in factory grey, but once trimmed along with the front door cards and refitted with blind clips to hide those standard clips it should feel much more at home. The top pocket is ideal for things like a few bungee cords or tent pegs, the middle pocket would take a few folded newspapers or magazines, the lower pocket is ideal for a full size umbrella which neatly clips in at either end.

Great service from Kiravans too; emails promptly answered, ordered Thursday afternoon and it was delivered at 9am Friday morning. Fitting takes around 10 minutes - a little longer depending on what you may have fitted to your door already.

Release the Hounds(tooth)!

After what seems like a relatively quick two weeks the van is back on the drive after it's trip to the trimmers. Our initial pre-pick up nerves soon diminished on seeing the finished results which far exceeded our expectations. As you'll know from previous posts we had given MJ a fairly tight brief - to the point that I had even photoshopped a T5 seat to explain where the fabric/leather meeting points should be (I've seen a few styles that I don't like and didn't want in my van) - I think we found the right point somewhere between 'client from hell' and 'knowing what you want'.

We also threw in a couple of last minute requests just before dropping the van off. One of which was to change the colour of all the seat plastics. Having seen a few retrims on the recent Busfest visit it was clear that good quality nappa leather meeting commercial van-grade light grey plastics wasn't going to look right. To achieve the no-compromise, factory OEM look, we had to change the colour of the plastics to the darker Caravelle-spec anthracite.

And that's quite a lot of plastic for two captain's seats:

This had obviously added to the initial one-week turnaround time, not a problem - we've waited five years for this moment! Going back to the previous posts you'll have seen my teaser as to the finish and materials chosen, a part of the brief that didn't change. Here's a few taster pics:

The front seats are pretty much perfect. Exactly the result I was hoping for - enough of a difference to make them stand out, yet not too far to look out of place - if that make sense? I'm not trying to make a 'luxury' vehicle with diamond stitching and fancy embroidery, just a quality finish that looks like something Volkswagen might have done with a bigger budget.

The rear seat trimmed to match has started the process of tying the two areas of the van together:

The bed frame might get a coat of darker paint just to help it blend in a little more. We had some fresh foam cut in the firmest grade possible (we both like a firm bed). The front edge roll makes for a really comfy seat and helps the otherwise 'square' foam look a little more rear-seat like. Another pair of headrest may also be added at a later date.

There's some exceptional attention to detail from MJ Interiors - I hardly need to say that they come highly recommended!

Another last-minute request was a pair of map pockets in the front seats:

A good shot showing the darker plastics:

A wider shot of the front seats, well worth the wait...

So that's it. Stage two will be dashboard, steering wheel, doorcards, A and B pillars, headlining, and a few other tweaks. Now to start saving up again, it won't be another five years I can assure you!

Stars & Stripes in SkegVegas

Shortly after man put a cart behind a horse he couldn't help but start to modify it. One of the earliest modifications was paint; on the cart, canal barge or commercial vehicle, if it was designed to carry a load and the owner took pride in their carrier, it would be adorned with some form of embellishment.

As a closet hot-rod and kustom fanatic, a lover of commercial vehicles, american cars and trucks, as well as working in the creative industry with a love of form and typography, it was only a matter of time before the camper received some form of freehand pinstriping.

Now at this point you're thinking has Stone174 deviated from his current course of keeping things unfussy, clean and 'factory'? Well... maybe.

As the T5 scene has progressed over the past five years that we have owned this vehicle there has been a lot of development resulting in hoardes of converters and enthusiasts turning out good quality campers and vans. So here's our chance to add in a little individuality. Something that doesn't conform to the 'norm'.

I've admired the work of a handful of UK pinstripers, all have their style and something about them. Around a year ago I got chatting to Seaside Neil (one of the UK's finest) about the possibility of laying some stripes on the van and after plenty of communication it was agreed it would be done as part of a striping demo at the Viva Skeg Vegas VW Show.

We had decided it would only be the door shuts that would receive the treatment - a hot-rodders favourite - and in-keeping with my less-is-more ethos the striping would be kept to two colours, one darker and one lighter than Stone Blue. After some chatting about the locations on the van, composition and colour samples, Neil set to work:

Thankfully the weather was looking on our side... kind of. The wind had started to increase to the point that Neil could barely lay the brush on the van without the wind moving it - at one point one of us would be leaning on the opposite side of the door whilst a small group of friends gathered round to create a human windbreak. Things were not going well... the stripes in the picture above ended up being wiped off and started for a second time.

You can't help but admire Neil's work; as a creative I hate an audience or anyone looking over my shoulder as I try things out, but Neil would happily chat whilst striping even though the wind (and the occasional drunk) were really starting to get on his nerves. After almost three hours of battling the elements, laughter, frustration, restarting some sections and walking away from others, he was almost done.

As a final touch we had the table leg done to match, thankfully this could be done in a more sheltered spot and was finished in no time - handy as the next paying customer had been hanging around for over an hour!

By the end I felt drained, stressed, relieved, but happy that the job had gone relatively well. I've not photographed all of the striping, you'll have to have a good look around the van next time you see it. My philosophy of less-is-more still stands, you could walk around the van and barely notice anything has been done - which is the result I wanted. I also feel it could stand a little more in some spots... but only time (and the weather conditions) will tell.

Trim Teaser Two...

Another quick visit to MJ interiors to check a sample of the material we've chosen for the centres of the seats. So here's a little indication as to how the trimming will look:

Dark grey Porsche dogtooth pattern fabric flanked by anthracite BMW Nappa leather finished with a cyan blue top stitch. A nod to the old-school without deviating from the OEM theme too much; quality materials, craftsman-quality finish, zero compromise.

And that's all I'm giving away...

Trim time teaser

At last! Time to sort the interior. I wrote in my wish list five years ago that the interior trim would be one of the last jobs we get around to - and that time has come. I won't be giving anything away just yet but will try to update the blog as regularly as possible when it starts to happen.

Because we use the van all year round it's become hard to decide when we can do without it for a couple of weeks - so we've pencilled in a date after the main VW show season has finished, mid September. Thankfully this ties in nicely with the trimmer who has a waiting list of people wanting his expertise on their projects and falls before his annual rush to get jobs finished for Ultimate Dubs; the show that many people see as the season opener and an opportunity to debut their new cars.

So who's the trimmer? After a few conversations with fellow T5 owners, much internet research, and a visit in person, we've decided to hand the van over to Michael at MJ Interiors near Shipley. Their reputation is second-to-none and they're local too (which helps us check progress if required).

The process will be a two-phase affair; front seats and rear seat first then, after saving up again, doorcards and dashboard will be trimmed to complement the seats and lessen the 'van' feeling of the standard cab - not to mention eradicating a few rattles along the way!

We had a great first visit; Michael took the time to talk through various options on leather, fabric, stitching and thread, even though both Mrs. Stone174 and I have very set-ideas on the look we're trying to achieve. Between us we made a few minor tweaks and now have the overall 'look' down on paper ready for a quotation to come through. 'No compromise' and 'less is more' are still the main themes running through the van, hopefully the end results will tie in nicely with the external look of the van and finally give us something we'd be happy to show off more than we have to date... as usual, watch this space!

Stanford Hall camping perfection...

Just back from yet another glorious weekend with great weather, great friends and a great atmosphere. My only concern is that camping at Stanford Hall is becoming a little too popular and the evening's once-quiet noise levels had certainly risen this year. It's only a minor quibble about what was an otherwise perfect weekend.

What better location for camping over the bank-holiday weekend than the grounds of a stately home? Extremely good value for money too. See you there next year - just turn the volume down at midnight alright?

Living the Vanlife - a long overdue update

Apologies again for what seems like a long break between posts but with the good-weather on our side every time we take the van out, you can't blame me for not posting as regularly as usual.

Since the last post we made our annual trip down to Sandown Park for the Volksworld Show; aweful weather on the Thursday night's half-way trip had us thinking we were in for similar to 2013 but the Friday morning dawned bright and the rest of the weekend was just glorious.

In terms of sheer variety and entertainment the Volksworld Show 2014 was a hard one to beat; the best aircooled metal from all corners of Europe, a swapmeet that you need to go around four or five times to see everything, club displays, skate and BMX displays, breakdancing, live music, sunshine, a chilled-out campsite, a few beers in Esher, this one will stick in the memory bank for a long time to come!

A few pics:

Check out the blue sky

One of the stars of the show for me

Gorgeous lowlight Ghia

Cool-flo's BMX display had men my age drooling

Vintage Speed display was jaw-dropping

Old-skool breakdance display was a nice diversion

After Volksworld we made the short trip over to the Chertsey C&CC site for two nights with a day trip in to London. On arriving and having a nice meal we headed back to the van and just as I was checking the front blind on the van a figure walked over and in broken English asked "you have been to Volksworld show? You come far?", to which I answered "yes, from up north, Yorkshire", "oh, I come far too... from Israel". Crikey. It turns out Benny (who runs a VW shop, known as Dr. Bug) has flown in to Heathrow, hired a T5 California and filled his suitcases with parts bought at the swapmeet - so many parts that he needed to purchase another suitcase before heading home the next day. We chatted for around half an hour about the VW scene in Israel, the difficulties he has finding parts, showing each other photos of our projects on our phones etc. We parted after giving him some travel tips so he could go sightseeing in London the next day where I assume he bought another suitcase!

After camping at the show next to Belgians, French, Dutch and German campers, to meet a chap from Israel who shared our passion for all things VW made the whole weekend a truly cosmopolitan experience.

Interior tweaks

With one week to go before our annual road-trip to the Volksworld Show and a day out in London, it was time to make some little upgrades that had be mulling around in my head for a while...

One was to get the leisure battery changed for a fresh one. I'd known for a while that the old one had been struggling to get back up to full capacity so a quick trip to Go Outdoors and a fresh 100aH Numax battery was bought and replaced.

Whilst the battery was out I decided to change the old 12v DC socket that sat next to the control panel for a 5v USB socket. Reason being that we only ever seem to use that socket for charging phones so instead of an adapter why not swap the socket internals - dead easy to do with the interchangeable CBE system.

Whilst on the subject of electrics you may recall we had the van in at The Campershak recently for repairs and a few tweaks - one of these adjustments was an opening hatch in the base of the clothes cupboard to give better access to the fuse box and distribution box for the CBE system. Here it is:

As usual, great attention to detail and finish by the guys at The Campershak matching the wood grain across the doors perfectly. You can just see the fusebox in the lower pic - no more 'potholing' through the rear hatch (complete with headtorch!) just to swap a fuse - now it's a breeze!

And that's it for now - we're ready for the 2014 show season. Can't wait to get to Volksworld next weekend with two nights at the Chertsey C&CC site to wind-down afterwards... see you there!

An Afternoon with the Californias

It was with some trepidation that we rolled in to a car park full of T5s that were all very different from ours. All with owners that on first appearance seemed very different to us...

The natural preconception is that your average California owner isn't necessarily into the 'scene' but have bought themselves a slice of ready-made-cool without the usual rights of passage associated with working your way through some of Volkswagen's earlier models.

How would they view our van?

Kindly organised by my father, owner of an early T4 California, the club meet was one of several taking place up and down the country; an opportunity for like-minded owners to get together and share hints and tips on California ownership.

So after a morning of cleaning and detailing, we pulled up and aired-out:

On the whole I think most Cali owners liked it - a chance for them to see something different from their own (almost identical) vans. There were some funny comments, 'its on them modified springs' being the best, and it was great to see people's reactions when you tell them the van started life as an empty panel van, 'you'd never know' was the comment from one owner that made me smile.

On closer inspection you could see some variations in the Californias in attendance; variations in model year, headlight upgrades, interior accessories etc. One van that did stand out was a California that had more individuality than others - blacked out badges, awning and bike rack made this van stand apart from the others:

We hung around for around an hour and half, chatting away about our interior, camping trips and van life in general - it turns out that most California owners are cut from pretty-much the same cloth; they all crave the same spirit of getting-away in their vans...

Would I go to another? Probably. There's talk of a camp-out later in the year - chance for a longer natter over a beer with fellow campers...

If you're interested in a VW California or the California Owners Club, follow the link to their forum here.

Good weather, good omens...

...and a long-overdue update.

It's Dubfreeze again! Back out of hibernation and raring to get the 2014 show season underway. I did start to question what on earth we were doing on Saturday morning; packing the van in the rain with a cold wind blowing sideways, meeting friends and driving over the M62 and down the M6 on a day when the media is telling us not to travel unless you have to... and we're going camping!

Good morning Stafford!

But the morning after the beers had washed away the memory of bad weather dawned crisp and bright. The temp gauge said 0.5˚C and the ice on the bonnet confirmed it. The inside temp was around 12˚C thanks to the Eberspächer and the roof staying down overnight.

Roof popped, kettle on.

The journey down was yet another confirmation that the recent DMF and clutch replacement had been a complete success - no more judder under load, everything operating as it should.

If you search previous posts you'll read about my love of Dubfreeze and the fact that it's not so much a 'show' as a reason to get out - and I'm so glad we (and many others) did - it's amazing what a little bit of sunshine can do for the spirit!

On another positive note, we chatted to someone about another 'upgrade'... not so much a modification, but definitely one to keep an eye out for. It won't be happening until mid-August but fingers-crossed this will be one thing that will make the van truly unique amongst it's stablemates. Sorry, I'm not giving anything away just yet...

The van will also be going back to The Camper Shak on Friday for a few interior tweaks and a repair to some damage done last year; nothing major, just a freshen up ready for camping at the Volksworld Show in March - see you there!