It's curtains for the old blinds

Here's a perfectly timed upgrade that we've been wanting to do for a while. The old internal window blinds have served us well but always felt a little 'temporary'. And since using the external cab blind more often, the internal ones were simply getting in the way... the solution; curtains.

We'd been aware of a curtain kit from Kiravans for quite a while but weren't in a position to justify the price. But thanks to a competition they were running we soon found ourselves with a nice voucher towards the purchase. As is usual in the land of Stone174, nothing is ever that simple - there's nothing in the Kiravans curtain range for the right hand sliding door on our twin slider... Time for a little Yorkshire ingenuity.

As we were keen to continue using the external cab blind, the kit ordered comprised of a curtain for the left hand sliding door, one for the tailgate, and another left hand sliding door kit (a right hand fixed window version would be too wide).

Pic: Kiravans

As you can see the curtains look nice and simple - they're always under tension so don't flap or move around - and the black-out option we went for certainly seems to work.

Fitting is relatively straightforward and the mounting kit is sufficient. Confidence with a drill is required! We started on the left hand sliding door first (all fine), then on to the tailgate (again, all fine with some very slight adjustment to the curve of the rail), and then on to the driver's side sliding door.

Here we simply 'flipped' the left hand version - the top rail is still the top rail but now mirrors the one at the other side, this fits fine without adjustment. Next we offered up the bottom rail - here it doesn't fit 'perfectly' at either end - the rear corner needed a tweak to fit and the front fouls against the door handle plastic cover.

At first I thought it would be case of 'out with the angle-grinder' and trim the rail... but on closer inspection (it's always wise to take a step back, have a brew, and mull things over for a bit) we decided to remove the door handle cover, trim it to the profile of the curtain rail, fit the rail, replace the cover - perfect!

Thanks Kiravans, not only for the curtains but for letting us be your competition winners!

Connected camping

With the availability of campsite wi-fi ever increasing, and better 3G and 4G coverage nationwide, it was only a matter of time before some tech made it in to the van. I've already discussed watching TV in the van quite successfully with the laptop, but sometimes that can seem quite cumbersome and a bit of a chore to setup.

So with the recent purchase of an ipad mini my mind started working on how this could be integrated in to the van with the minimum amount of fuss and remaining as descreet as possible. I'm still saving up for the popular dash conversion for ipad but in the meantime here's how it works in the back of the van - perfect for those wet weekends and lazy mornings in bed.

Here's the bracket fixed to the centre of the roof section above the head of the bed:

Nice and simple, uncomplicated and quite descreet (even moreso when I paint the screw heads black). And here's the ipad holder - note that the ipad stays in it's case for ease of use:

The holder simply slides and clips in to the bracket and can be easily operated at arms-length whilst lying in bed (as demonstrated by Mrs. Stone174 whilst in bed):

And now the flexibility of everything the ipad has to offer is available; television, films and radio, weather, news, email, facebook, an alarm clock, tide times, the list is endless...

There's loads of different types of holder out there. This one was bought on ebay for around £10. Just make sure it will hold an ipad completely upside down and not just at 90 degrees.
Here's the link to the one I went for:

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!

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!

Autumn update

As you've guessed by the lack of blog posts, not much is happening at the moment. We took a trip over to Campershak last weekend for them to look at making a few adjustments and repairs to parts of the interior - these should be done early in February next year, hopefully before Dubfreeze.

Whilst out in the Autumn sunshine it seemed a good opportunity to get a few photos:

Cornwall trip & Busfest 2013

I know what you're thinking; there hasn't been a post on here for a while. So here's a long-overdue update...

There's nothing much to report on the van front other than it has been in regular use as Camper, show vehicle, bike transporter, spare room, and chill-out area. Early September saw us make our annual pilgrimage to the Southwest for some camping, surfing and general lazing about, with the return journey being interrupted by a stop at the Busfest show under the Malvern hills.

Our first stop was at our regular haunt, Trewan Hall campsite near St. Columb Major. As the week progressed, the campsite emptied leaving just us with a field to ourselves.

The weather was kind so we made our usual trips up and down the spine of Cornwall; St. Ives is one of my favourites - but it's always better when you take the park and ride train from Lelant rather than struggling to drive into town and find a parking space.

The Eden Project is always quite high on our list and one we hadn't visited in quite a while. The addition of the new aerial walkways adds a great new perspective to an already spectacular site.

Plenty of chilling out with our fellow van-campers took place. If ever there was a perfect time and location for the 'snail-like' lifestyle of carrying eveything around with you, it's Cornwall in early September when the weather can change three times in a day. One minute you're sat in the fog, the next minute you're getting ready for a spot of surfing under clear blue skies.

Perranporth sunsets are always a bit special in September.

Feeling refreshed from a few days in the southwest, it was time to head north to our next stop; the Blackmore Camping & Caravanning Club site just a mile or so down the road from Busfest at the Three Counties Showground. Being on a designated hard-standing pitch isn't quite the same as the freestyle Cornish camping, but having electric hookup was nice as the temperature had cooled.

A small selection of the awesome vans at Busfest:

Busfest was as busy as ever and there seemed to be even more of our European bus-loving cousins making the trip to the show. Loads of Germans, Dutch and Belgians in attendance - they always come over with the really cool vans that never really sold in the UK; syncro T4s and cool early bays were in abundance. The show and shine was a little thin on T5's - more than last year, and the quality/taste is getting better year on year.

This year really highlighted the need to get our interior done. Sticking with the 'no-compromise' ethos, I'd really like the dash and door cards trimmed along with the front seats and rear seat/bed. Cost-wise I fear this will have to be done in two stages; we'll get the seating done first as Mrs. Stone174 can no longer deal with making the bed up with just bare foam and an Ikea throw.

As ever, keep watching this space. I'll try and put up a few musings as to the direction I'd like the interior to take, without giving too much away! Apologies for the break between posts - but you can't blame me for being out in my van all the time!!!

Micro Mods: Window Winder Wheels

The cab area will be one of the last parts of the van to have any sort of modification done to it. Other than the footwell lights and the cab light it is pretty much untouched.

Then I saw this mod done on the T5 forum and thought I'd give it a go. At first glance I couldn't work out how the winder handles came off, but it's dead easy once you know...

Simply squeeze the lock-ring behind the handle and pull it in the opposite direction to that which the handle is pointing - simple. Then it just pulls away from the mechanism.

Once off I simply chopped the back of the small wheel section to remove the spinning part. Then using a small cabinet connecting bolt and some loctite on the thread, add the skateboard wheel of your choice:

Before and after

Then just replace the handle in the opposite of removal. It's probably wise when choosing your skateboard wheel to keep the diameter small, a larger wheel might put too much stress on the handle - Stone174 accepts no responsibility for your own breakages!

And here's the finished thing, for now. The beauty of this mod is being able to change the wheels for something else at a later date:

  

Campervan TV

As a die-hard 'camper' I used to frown upon fellow campers that were sat inside (usually in caravans) watching the soaps, whilst the sun was shining in the early evening. I still do... but have grown to realise that just sometimes, usually on a wet and windy evening, something other than the local paper or a book might not be a bad idea - if only to watch the weather forecast for the next few days!

I'm not keen to have a flip-down monitor in the van or a screen on a bracket that can be folded away. The route I chose to go down was to simply watch TV on the laptop. After-all, the laptop is nearly always with me, I can use it for checking emails, blogging on the go, editing photos etc.

A few months ago I picked up an Elgato EyeTV DTT dongle. For a little under £60 it comes with an easy setup disk and a magnetic-mount aerial. Simply arrive on site, plug in and set the dongle to auto-tune - it usually finds between 20 and 50 free-to-view channels within a couple of minutes depending on whereabouts you are in the UK. There's also space to record programmes to the dongle for later viewing - just like a modern set-top-box.

The size of a small USB stick - the dongle takes up next to no space in the van

Great results from such a tiny aerial, it even works inside the poptop

An instant, pin-sharp, full screen picture

Plus the whole thing is portable, can be hidden away and plays DVDs and music too. With the addition of an old iMac remote control I can change channel and adjust volume without getting out of bed! Whilst die-hard campers might scoff at the thought of never being away from the television, I feel this is the perfect half-way solution without having anything permanently fitted in the van.

Micro Mods - an update

Finally it's warm enough to do something outside without losing the feeling in your finger ends. Ideal for changing the bulbs in the new cab light:

For the main centre light I've used a 3x SMD Festoon C5W 44mm unit. And for the two reading lights I've used 4x SMD W5W Sidelights.

Light output is massively improved. Nice and white, very bright, and an inexpensive upgrade.