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Ordering Cali without the wardrobe

Rololux

Rololux

VIP Member
Messages
172
Location
Luxembourg
Vehicle
T6.1 Ocean 199 4Motion
Will be ordering a new Cali sometime over the coming year. Since we’re golfers, we need to plan the best way to carry golf clubs. Since the rear storage is too narrow to fit clubs sideways, one option is to store them standing up. But it occurred to me that if the wardrobe was not there, it would be possible to fit them sideways. Is it possible to order an Ocean without the rear wardrobe? Beach is not a good option for us, since we need the kitchen, including fridge. Alternatively, has anyone successfully removed the rear wardrobe without making it look tatty?
 
why not just slide the rear bench further forward so they fit lengthwise?
 
why not just slide the rear bench further forward so they fit lengthwise?
.....which only involves removing the stop shown below from the left hand floor rail alongside the left cupboard door.7CE1943B-636E-44B2-85EB-C92352A09E55.jpeg
 
Will be ordering a new Cali sometime over the coming year. Since we’re golfers, we need to plan the best way to carry golf clubs. Since the rear storage is too narrow to fit clubs sideways, one option is to store them standing up. But it occurred to me that if the wardrobe was not there, it would be possible to fit them sideways. Is it possible to order an Ocean without the rear wardrobe? Beach is not a good option for us, since we need the kitchen, including fridge. Alternatively, has anyone successfully removed the rear wardrobe without making it look tatty?

Why do many people only consider the SE/Ocean?

Having had both variants I can tell you that the SE/Ocean is a restricted format. You are permanently stuck with what you get. On the other hand the Beach is what ever you want it to be.

You can have a kitchen and a fridge in a Beach. The kitchen can be a completely different format of which there are plenty of different solutions to chose from. The fridge could be a fridge/freezer like ours instead of just a fridge as in the SE/Ocean. If it's room that your after then the Beach has it in spades. The interior is a flexible and adaptable space where you can eat, sleep, entertain or strip out completely for some other use. You can also carry up the seven adults in comfort. There is absolutely nothing you cannot do that you could in an SE/Ocean.

So why consider removing the wardrobe which would ruin the SE/Ocean format? Either buy a cheap second car with a boot to suit your golf clubs or consider something more flexible like a second hand Beach?
 
You could also lift out the small mattress and ‘parcel’ shelf and store them upright in the back?
 
A Beach with a decent kitchenpod is the way to go fitting your needs imo.
 
As others have said, please do not butcher a new Cali.

So much of the fittings are designed to be integrated, so removing the wardrobe is likely to mean that things will not fit nicely and you'll have exposed joints and seams. This is likely to affect the residual value dramatically.

Still Beach options available in ex stock dealerships.

Have you taken your golf equipment along to a friendly dealership to explore what is practical?
 
Why do many people only consider the SE/Ocean?

Having had both variants I can tell you that the SE/Ocean is a restricted format. You are permanently stuck with what you get. On the other hand the Beach is what ever you want it to be.

You can have a kitchen and a fridge in a Beach. The kitchen can be a completely different format of which there are plenty of different solutions to chose from. The fridge could be a fridge/freezer like ours instead of just a fridge as in the SE/Ocean. If it's room that your after then the Beach has it in spades. The interior is a flexible and adaptable space where you can eat, sleep, entertain or strip out completely for some other use. You can also carry up the seven adults in comfort. There is absolutely nothing you cannot do that you could in an SE/Ocean.

So why consider removing the wardrobe which would ruin the SE/Ocean format? Either buy a cheap second car with a boot to suit your golf clubs or consider something more flexible like a second hand Beach?

This sounds like a very interesting option. To elaborate, will VW supply a Beach with an Ocean kitchen, or are you limited to the single burner pull out stove, plus a toolbox, or go after market with a pod?
 
Not a golfer so just a lateral thought. if there is only 1 or 2 up in the van Drive with bench flat ie in bed mode. Put clubs on bed. When camping and wanting the rear pop up the roof put clubs on the top bed out of the way.
 
This sounds like a very interesting option. To elaborate, will VW supply a Beach with an Ocean kitchen, or are you limited to the single burner pull out stove, plus a toolbox, or go after market with a pod?
As has already been said, no they won't. There are only three formats:
1. Ocean - with the fitted kitchen etc with electro hydraulic pop top roof. (T6-1)
2. Coast - more basic but with the fitted kitchen etc with manual roof as standard. (T6-1)
3. Beach - (T-6 only) - no kitchen but with a choice of 4 up to 7 seats. There are two T6 Beach models, either a 4 (+ 1 optional extra), seater layout which features a storage box and a 5 (+ 2 optional extra), seat version which has better boot storage but a higher bed. Both versions have huge king sized lower beds. The Beach also features a manual roof mechanism which IMO is a much better/simpler system. However, the down side is that the Beach is now only available in mainland Europe in T6-1 form. So it would probably have to be a second hand T6 if you want it in right hand drive.

The lhd continental T6-1 Beaches are different again. They apparently come in two versions probably with the same seating arrangements but with the following differences. The first has a built in fold away single burner stove and the second loses that to gain a second sliding door. Personally, neither offers significant advantages over the T6 Beach design.

However the T6-1 isn't what I was referring to as I doubt if you'll want a left hand drive Cali.

So if you are interested in a Beach, first decide if it has to be rhd. If it does then it's going to have to be a T6 either second hand or new/nearly new from current existing dealer stock. If you do go down this road then IMO don't buy one unless it has the optional parking heater.

As for the kitchen, there are many possible solutions involving removable kitchen pods featuring either one or two burner stoves. VW have missed a trick here as they could have marketed these but for some reason have always chosen not to. Therefore it would be down to you to find the pod that suits you. There are lots of companies offering this sort of product including at least one on this forum. They can either be boot mounted to slide out or fitted to the floor rail system mounted either transversally behind the front seats or longditudinally as in the SE/Ocean. In all cases they can be removed when not being used as a camper van. So the choice is yours.

If an SE/Ocean is what you really want then what's wrong with the rear compartment to carry your golf clubs in. Just lean them against the rear seat and strap them down. Invest in some tie down brackets and a ratchet strap from the club shop to stop them moving in an accident. If you intend to camp and golf at the same time then accommodating two big bags of "golfing bats" is going to prove an issue what ever vehicle you have.
 
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As has already been said, no they won't. There are only three formats:
1. Ocean - with the fitted kitchen etc with electro hydraulic pop top roof. (T6-1)
2. Coast - more basic but with the fitted kitchen etc with manual roof as standard. (T6-1)
3. Beach - (T-6 only) - no kitchen but with a choice of 4 up to 7 seats. There are two T6 Beach models, either a 4 (+ 1 optional extra), seater layout which features a storage box and a 5 (+ 2 optional extra), seat version which has better boot storage but a higher bed. Both versions have huge king sized lower beds. The Beach also features a manual roof mechanism which IMO is a much better/simpler system. However, the down side is that the Beach is now only available in mainland Europe in T6-1 form. So it would probably have to be a second hand one if you want it in right hand drive.

The lhd continental T6-1 Beaches are different again. They apparently come in two versions probably with the same seating arrangements but with the following differences. The first has a built in fold away single burner stove and the second loses that to gain a second sliding door. Personally, neither offers significant advantages over the T6 Beach design.

However the T6-1 isn't what I was referring to as I doubt if you'll want a left hand drive Cali.

So if you are interested in a Beach, first decide if it has to be rhd. If it does then it's going to have to be a T6 either second hand or new/nearly new from current existing dealer stock. If you do go down this road then IMO don't buy one unless it has the optional parking heater.

As for the kitchen, there are many possible solutions involving removable kitchen pods featuring either one or two burner stoves. VW have missed a trick here as they could have marketed these but for some reason have always chosen not to. Therefore it would be down to you to find the pod that suits you. There are lots of companies offering this sort of product including at least one on this forum. They can either be boot mounted to slide out or fitted to the floor rail system mounted either transversally behind the front seats or longditudinally as in the SE/Ocean. In all cases they can be removed when not being used as a camper van. So the choice is yours.

If an SE/Ocean is what you really want then what's wrong with the rear compartment to carry your golf clubs in. Just lean them against the rear seat and strap them down. Invest in some tie down brackets and a ratchet strap from the club shop to stop them moving in an accident. If you intend to camp and golf at the same time then accommodating two big bags of "golfing bats" is going to prove an issue what ever vehicle you have.

Thanks Mart. LHD it must be, since we live in Luxembourg! So a new Beach is an option, but I really prefer the full VW kitchen, so it's likely we'll go for an Ocean. We're used to camping with golf clubs in a regular car plus tent etc., so in any case we'll have more space. It just seems to me that the rear wardrobe is not the most efficient / flexible use of space, so was wondering about the possibility of somehow getting an Ocean without it.

Plenty of our golfing friends have Oceans, and manage with clubs. Best option is indeed standing them up - just wanted to see if there was an alternative.
 
Hi, would something like an MFT Back Box work for the clubs?
 
Or a roof box to store them...
 
I’d go with the previous suggestion of just moving the seat forward a bit.

With the gas bottle, water storage and associated pipe work being routed behind the wardrobe, you couldn’t really remove it without compromising the bits you want to keep.
 
An odd idea but here goes.....
I needed to carry some golf clubs to the driving range and noted they (a few) fitted across the bottom of the deck chair hatch in the tailgate (with the chairs removed). There may be a way to modify that hatch to fit all your clubs, with the bags in the 'boot' as you desire.
 
Thanks Mart. LHD it must be, since we live in Luxembourg! So a new Beach is an option, but I really prefer the full VW kitchen, so it's likely we'll go for an Ocean. We're used to camping with golf clubs in a regular car plus tent etc., so in any case we'll have more space. It just seems to me that the rear wardrobe is not the most efficient / flexible use of space, so was wondering about the possibility of somehow getting an Ocean without it.

Plenty of our golfing friends have Oceans, and manage with clubs. Best option is indeed standing them up - just wanted to see if there was an alternative.
I agree with your comment about the wardrobe not being the most efficient / flexible use of space.

Good luck. I'm sure you'll find the Ocean works for you just fine. :thumb
 
Some more lateral thinking. Not a golfer so .... A golf club is about 47 inches in length. How about storing the golf clubs in the inside wardrobe ? (the wardrobe seems to be taller than 47 inches?) Use the space beneath the rear shelf for the golf bags. At location, get the golf clubs and put them into the bag?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
The wardrobe is a composite part of the whole: Kitchen, cupboards, wardrobe, rear cupboards. They are all delivered on site for a fork lift truck to shove in the back of the embryo Cali. It is not a divisible item nor something that can just be discarded. Sadly it's Ocean or beach.

Not really sadly either: the composite build of the kitchen, wardrobe, rear cupboards eliminate so much rattle it what makes the Cali so desirable.
 
I carry clubs on holiday to Ireland in a carry bag for the occasional game. All up to and including the 3 iron fit straight across the boot in the ocean.with the driver and 3 wood only through the ski hatch. My clubs are an inch longer as I am tall therefore normal irons will fit. As the clubs are stored right at the back of the boot area so nearly all the boot space is preserved and accessible this way.
Colin
 
Is this a wind up??? Don't need to remove any stops, slide seat forward and clubs go in boot without any issues. Had 4 sets in there no problem.
 
We carry our clubs all over the place ,just take out the woods , no issues at all with everything else sidewards under the bed
Dave and Lisa
 
We have contemplated a beach in the past and if we ever took the plunge of selling our SE I would definitely fit an Ocean / SE kitchen and remove the cupboard. I did this in our old conversion before we had the SE and it was great. Factory quality kitchen pod that could be easily removed if required.
 
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