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Newbie questions: california handling in wet

D

dctrl

Messages
30
Location
Roeselare
Vehicle
T6.1 Ocean 199 4Motion
Hi all,

So a proud owner for about 1,5 month of a T6.1 California Ocean.
Being used in all kinds of conditions, I encounter some handling issues, probably user error.
Uses
° Holidaying on campsites (right now!)
° Holidaying trekking-wildcamping (future)
° Working - laptop work

Question I have. Right now it's soaking wet, non-stop, for at least 72hrs to come.
I'm on a campsite but had to go on a drive.
So what to do: taking in everything very wet is wat I did. The awning and the roof tent.
Arriving back on campsite, still raining (70hrs to come).
I haven't popped the roof yet. It must still be very wet in there.
The awning I opened only slightly.
Is it better to leave the poptop closed? Or open again in (at times heavy) rain?

When the roof was open, in heavy rain, there was water coming in the trunk, from above the window frame. The multiflex board was up, when down it would have dripped on that.
With the ventilation thing installed on the trunk lid, there was only slightly more water coming in.

After reading as much as possible about this heating/ventilating function in the T6.1, it is always a surprise!
The air heater is working very fine. Allthough it's not that cold, I use it and it works very good.
As it is raining, and the roof is down, things become condensated pretty quickly.
I tried to put it in Ventilate mode, succeeded only the 2nd time (or user error)
I set all settings with ignition on, and started 'Heat immediately'. Ventilation started, turned ignition off, ventilation keeps running. Ventilation direction and speed are selectable, however no rear ventilation. Condensation was going pretty quickly. Kept it running until I was getting cold.
Surprise was big, when I turned off 'Heat Immediately', waited for ventilation to stop, and turned on 'Heat continuously' without hitting ignition. The air heater kicked in. So now I don't understand any of it, but it works somehow every time. Right now I can heat untill it gets too condensated, then ventilate.

In all terms, the T6.1 is a fantastic van!
 
oops didn't realize this was a reading-only forum...
 
In terms of the water coming in through the tailgate at the top - there was another thread on here where the owner discovered that the seal wasn't fitted correctly / pushed on firmly enough and the water was getting round the back of it and dripping down inside.

Or are you saying the roof is leaking ?

In terms of condensation - this obviously won't be helped by the excess water in the van. The Ocean has double glazed rear windows which should pretty-much never steam up in normal use, but the others can steam even if it is cold outside and warm inside.

For putting the roof up in rain - no idea. We tended to use a wrap on the outside of our canvas on the our old Cali which kept things dry. On our new one we are trying the isotop vi inside, so we will have the need to dry the canvas too.
 
Hi all,

So a proud owner for about 1,5 month of a T6.1 California Ocean.
Being used in all kinds of conditions, I encounter some handling issues, probably user error.
Uses
° Holidaying on campsites (right now!)
° Holidaying trekking-wildcamping (future)
° Working - laptop work

Question I have. Right now it's soaking wet, non-stop, for at least 72hrs to come.
I'm on a campsite but had to go on a drive.
So what to do: taking in everything very wet is wat I did. The awning and the roof tent.
Arriving back on campsite, still raining (70hrs to come).
I haven't popped the roof yet. It must still be very wet in there.
The awning I opened only slightly.
Is it better to leave the poptop closed? Or open again in (at times heavy) rain?

When the roof was open, in heavy rain, there was water coming in the trunk, from above the window frame. The multiflex board was up, when down it would have dripped on that.
With the ventilation thing installed on the trunk lid, there was only slightly more water coming in.

After reading as much as possible about this heating/ventilating function in the T6.1, it is always a surprise!
The air heater is working very fine. Allthough it's not that cold, I use it and it works very good.
As it is raining, and the roof is down, things become condensated pretty quickly.
I tried to put it in Ventilate mode, succeeded only the 2nd time (or user error)
I set all settings with ignition on, and started 'Heat immediately'. Ventilation started, turned ignition off, ventilation keeps running. Ventilation direction and speed are selectable, however no rear ventilation. Condensation was going pretty quickly. Kept it running until I was getting cold.
Surprise was big, when I turned off 'Heat Immediately', waited for ventilation to stop, and turned on 'Heat continuously' without hitting ignition. The air heater kicked in. So now I don't understand any of it, but it works somehow every time. Right now I can heat untill it gets too condensated, then ventilate.

In all terms, the T6.1 is a fantastic van!
The roof is wet, it sounds like everything is wet. Keep putting the roof up until you find a period when it dries. Try not to store it wet. A few days is fine.

any dry period with a breeze will dry the canvas quickly. Put the heater on and go to the pub if you want to speed up the process.

water entering at the rear is concerning though. I’d have that looked at.

good luck!
 
In terms of the water coming in through the tailgate at the top - there was another thread on here where the owner discovered that the seal wasn't fitted correctly / pushed on firmly enough and the water was getting round the back of it and dripping down inside.

Or are you saying the roof is leaking ?

In terms of condensation - this obviously won't be helped by the excess water in the van. The Ocean has double glazed rear windows which should pretty-much never steam up in normal use, but the others can steam even if it is cold outside and warm inside.

For putting the roof up in rain - no idea. We tended to use a wrap on the outside of our canvas on the our old Cali which kept things dry. On our new one we are trying the isotop vi inside, so we will have the need to dry the canvas too.
Thank you for the tip about the rubber seal. It looks like it is coming from there, no leaking roof. I will look into that.

The double glazed windows did condensate only a little.

I too am looking how i'm going to insulate the roof canvas. The isotop VI looks the most tempting. I plan to travel to scandivania, would it be good to put up the roof with no external protection at all? I reckon if one makes sure the snow is gone before lowering, I see no immediate problem.
 
The roof is wet, it sounds like everything is wet. Keep putting the roof up until you find a period when it dries. Try not to store it wet. A few days is fine.

any dry period with a breeze will dry the canvas quickly. Put the heater on and go to the pub if you want to speed up the process.

water entering at the rear is concerning though. I’d have that looked at.

good luck!
Thank you for the response.
I did put up the roof again the next day (it was heavy rain all night) in nonstop light rain.
Luckily at home I can open up everything for multiple hours, which I did and was indeed necessary!

I got a good tip on the water entering, I will check that.
Thank you!
 
I had the same problem at the rear - water coming in around the tailgate seal. you may need a trip to the dealer for that.

with regards to the heater and ventilate modes - there are several threads on that of you use the search function. The ‘heat immediately’ mode should only be used for short periods (less than 2 hrs - so for a quick warm up). ‘Heat continuously’ can be used for longer periods and programmed for several days…

on your questions about it being wet in the weather you are experiencing… as others have said, it’s fine to close and travel… but open up and dry out thoroughly as soon as you can.

remember with the awning put to have one pole longer than the other so the rain naturally drains away.

I recently (in my Eriba) popped the roof open, opened the vents in the roof, put the heater on max, and left it to dry things out. Even though temps were high. You may be able to do something similar to dry things out.

I hope this first wet experience hasn’t dampened your enjoyment too much.
 
Last edited:

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