Wednesday 1 February 2012

 Happy New Year!  This is our first update for quite some time due to limited daylight hours and a fabulous holiday in Cuba over Christmas and the New Year.

We are now planning our first trips away for 2012, the first one being Dubfreeze in February.

 We are just about ready - curtains and bed cushions are fitted but still need some finishing touches; the gas, water and electrics are all operational, so we have a functional camper which still needs work but we can start to enjoy it over the coming months.


The van is a Long Wheelbase model, only 40cm longer than the SWB version and the extra length makes the inside living space seem positively cavernous compared to our old Bay.  However that additional 40cm means an 18 ft long vehicle and is all the difference between being able to judge distance easily and bumping your mum's neighbour's fence...sorry Pat!  So the first job of 2012, a reversing camera was called for.

The wiring was an absolute pain as I had to route it through the tailgate adjacent to the window and through the tailgate boot as shown in the picture.  A coat hanger was invaluable here in feeding the wires through the narrow space.










 The camera itself is fitted in place of one of the number plate lights meaning the horizontal position is almost central as seen in the picture.  It came with 5m long video cable which was just enough.

The camera and monitor are designed to be connected to the reversing light circuit which means the system only powers on when reverse gear is engaged.  The rest of the time the monitor's blue reflective surface works as a normal rear view mirror.  However, we found there to be two negatives - firstly our rear seating arrangement means half of the rear window is obscured, and secondly to be blunt the monitor's reflective surface is inadequate at night in comparison to a conventional mirror.

So I have also wired our camera system to an ignition live with a switch on the dashboard so it can be used as a rear view mirror on demand.

 One final thing to add about the system is that it incorporates gridlines as an overlay in order to help judge distance.  This seems a really useful feature but we still have to get used towhat each line represents in terms of distance.

A nice view of our untidy garage.


 


 Major progress last weekend with a pair of leather seats from a Saab 9-5, all the way from Weston-Super-Mare.  Saab seats are a popular choice for T4s and T5s as they are almost a straight swap for the VW ones.  So out came the double passenger seat and single driver's seat, to be replaced with two single seats meaning we can now walk through from the cab area to the rear.  The last thing anyone needs on a wet Sunday morning camping in Wales is having to leave the comfort and warmth of the van in the pouring rain to get into the driver's seat!









Our passenger seat is fitted on a swivel plate providing extra seating in the rear when camping, and the base is a really sturdy lockable safe.  We are really pleased with how comfortable the seats are














Plans for the coming month are to finish the lower cupboards, the awning rail, fit reversing sensors and test everything out at Dubfreeze to see what works well and whether we need to make any changes.  I am also building a "van-puter", comprising a cheap netbook purchased from eBay which had a broken screen and missing hard drive, connected to a ceiling mounted, flip-down monitor.  The plan is to add a decent sized SSD drive to store loads of films, and upload from our PCs to the van over the network.  Should be an interesting side project.

Finally a nostalglic touch, a model of a blue Splitty on the dash.