Folding Beach pop-up correctly

[jimmywease]

Hi

Since having the Beach for a couple of weeks, I notice that the pop up roof is becoming rather wrinkled, possible from my poor folding technique. I endure the stiffeners fold inwards and push in any fabric straying outwards (as it does above driver's door). The part I find a bit confusing is neatly folding the fabric above the sliding roof hatch, but then needing to gather it up awkwardly to access the fasteners. Is there a denifinitive method or video guide for this please?

James

 

[Max-Felix]

[this is a cut and paste from a reply I made in a similar topic]

The Beach clips and buckles system is not the best design in the world and takes a bit of patience, technique and practise to use. It really could do with refining but like many Cali aspects this does not seem a VW priority.

This video below is getting old but shows perfectly the technique and how to roll the fabric behind the webbing (you'll feel a seam/tab on the back of the webbing just below the clip and the rolled fabric needs to sit below this). It also shows perfectly how to first just pull the roof down gently under its own weight and it will sit up a bit, gather the material in then check outside for trapped material. Then back inside to pull the roof down, roll fabric each side behind and under the clip, then actually clip each side, then the buckles, then push the shutter home gently with both hands while lifting the buckle each side unless they will get caught, etc, etc! Finally sit down with a sweaty head, slightly stressed and puffed out. Do it each morning for a month non stop and it gets easier.

FFS VW, just refine it a bit.

 

[jimmywease]

Excellent video. Thanks. Is there a similar one for neatly stacking up the lower bed mattress sections on the multiflex board? I've tried to follow the manual but can't really make sense of it!

 

[hirsty]

Thanks Max, nice video. I've never done the walk around like that myself, but I've often thought about it, perhaps that's how the chap in the film has worn the back of his head down a touch ...

- The real trick with this is around 2min 30 mark getting the tab of 'seatbelt type material' in place between the back of the buckle & the tent to avoid nipping the fabric. I'm thinking about making the tab bigger with duck tape or similar to increase coverage ...

- remember to have the sliding door open, and preferably front windows too, to allow the air out & stop the fabric billowing and getting caught in the scissor arm supports

- unzipping the roof canvas a touch seems to help, I now particularly need to undo the Brandrup Isotop inner liner zip so I can grab the original VW fabric (it'd be easy to think you've got it all inside whilst only having the liner & not the tent itself ...)

- make sure the upper mattress hasn't slid down towards the back of the van, I did that once whilst it was still new in it's poly bag & the back of the roof was really proud

- I've finally learned to drop the roof before swivelling the seats back round to front facing, makes life easier

 

[Esandar#1]

Excellent video. Thanks. Is there a similar one for neatly stacking up the lower bed mattress sections on the multiflex board? I've tried to follow the manual but can't really make sense of it!

Hey, Jimmywease,
We are almost 12 months into owning our Beach (had one which went back after 7 moths) and every time we close the roof we are still ultra nervous about whether the canvas is rolled out the way properly... so relax (in some ways) but keep vigalant in others!

As hirsty points out there are many small things to master and the more you play, you more you learn. I can swivel the seats in seconds without bashing the pillars now, I can get onto levelling blocks in half the time it used to take and i can remove or put back in the extra seats (we have a 7 seat beach) in mere minutes! Zipping up the VW comfort mattress is just like doing the rubiks cube - easy once you remember the right order of moves. Extend three part. Put two part on top, lean over and zip, then flip 2 part. We have small insulating tape markers on the floor rails so that we know the exact position for the bench prior to reclining, leave any headrests that aren't needed at home when we go camping, pack the safety net in with the chairs and have made some window blinds that snuggly fit the front windows (so don't use the VW curtains). I have also made two of these for the sliding door so we don't need to lower/ raise that blind at night. We are currently experimenting - with inflatable camping mat - to find a slightly softer solution to the VW Comfort mattress (by playing 3 in a row between the seat and the comfort mattress. Not tested it over night yet but early 'lying down' tests were encouraging!!!

Cheers
Ian