Electric roof envy

cleve · Mar 15, 2015

Spent 2 hours with my parents today showing them round their SE which they only collected on Tuesday. Very excited for them. We love our beach and couldn't be without the extra space it provides but we do now have electric roof, interior table and folding headrest envy!

motacyclist · Mar 15, 2015

Great having two Cali's in the family, you will enjoy going out together :thumb

Georgiegirl · Mar 16, 2015

I'm with you on the folding headrest thing. VW if you are listening can you add these to the Beach pleeaassee!

sandalfarm · Mar 16, 2015

the electric roof seems to me to be something else to go wrong unless you have weak arms

18hunts · Mar 16, 2015

As an SE owner I would gladly do away with my electric/hydraulic roof.
As a retired engineer I always believed in the 'kiss' principle.
I see no reason to over complicate something with an expensive to repair system.
There's nothing more simple than an easily operated manually raised roof, the majority of camper vans have them.

rippers · Mar 16, 2015

Having experienced the manual roof on our old Beach I can't wait to get the electro hydraulic version on the SE i've ordered, I'm 6'1 and not a small chap and I found the manual roof hard work.. even to get the clips undone! Plus the juggling act getting it down an holding it open a bit while trying to tuck the material in making sure it doesn't get caught. God knows how a shorter/weaker person would do it and hold it up, not to be sexist but my wife refused to touch it as she struggled so much. When I met a SE owner at a show and they just pressed the button and that was it, I was very envious!

18hunts · Mar 16, 2015

My wife is 5' 4" and never had a problem.

WelshGas · Mar 16, 2015

Mind you a Caravan and horse would really take the "kiss" principal to the extreme.
My son Has a conversion, and both him and his wife agree that the manual lift roof is easy to go up and a right pain to get down, and they are both tall and very fit as they both do extreme sports. They have "electric roof envy" as well.

dannosail · Mar 16, 2015

Would the Cali bungee solution not work as well on a manual roof to prevent trapping material?

I think the hydraulic roof is probably overkill but most of us go for electric windows these days - the tipping point is invariably reliability vs convenience. After 90k we've not had roof problems (touch wood!) but did have to overhaul the auto gearbox which was less expected.

rippers · Mar 16, 2015

It's not only the material being caught in the scissors it's also the material getting caught in the clips that hold the roof down which the bungee made this even worst imo. Basically to have to get the roof down then stuff all the loose material into the side to get the clips back on which are at a silly position and angle and on my Beach where really stiff and unless the roof was pulled down with a bit of force wouldn't do up.

Oh and the roof material and the secondary clips used to love getting tangled up with sliding hatch lol I have wondered whether this could happen with the SE roof too thou yet to find that out

dannosail · Mar 16, 2015

rippers said:
It's not only the material being caught in the scissors it's also the material getting caught in the clips that hold the roof down which the bungee made this even worst imo. Basically to have to get the roof down then stuff all the loose material into the side to get the clips back on which are at a silly position and angle and on my Beach where really stiff and unless the roof was pulled down with a bit of force wouldn't do up.

Oh and the roof material and the secondary clips used to love getting tangled up with sliding hatch lol I have wondered whether this could happen with the SE roof too thou yet to find that out

Although I don't have a Beach I see what you mean about the catches. I've only had minor problems with the sliding 'hatch'. Usually if you get the front section of the canvas folding in lowest the sewn in 'baton' reaches across to the bed and the rest of the side canvas lies on top. You can then pull the hatch across without needs a second hand to hold material up - never actually caught any material in the sliding hatch.

- Does that make sense?!

shaun5 · Mar 16, 2015

Have to say that we have found the manual roof in our Beach straightforward. However, being a man, a bit of gadgetry wouldn't go amiss.

rippers · Mar 16, 2015

Don't get me wrong Beach roof is perfectly fine and usable but the convenience of the electro roof for me is less time mucking around setting up and packing up which is my pet hate of camping.

WelshGas · Mar 17, 2015

Couldn't agree more. :thumb

cleve · Mar 17, 2015

I'm glad it's not just me that has struggled with getting the roof down on the beach. I seem to have finally perfected the knack after a year of ownership which involved lots of swearing at clips, shouting at children that I can't referee arguments whilst lowering the roof and using my head to push the roof up back up by a few mm so I can tuck the fabric behind the clip!

Still, now I have mum and dad to join us on trips away, they will be setup at the push of the button so more time to entertain the children whilst we mess around with our roof

Solar panel and a large underbed drawer would also go on the wish list!