Overhead lockers

[zeratul]

About to order one as well, as you said - not the cheapest but a great space gain with no loss.

Not looking forward to the drilling part of the installation though...

me neither but it's on the inside, no risk of moisture (solar panel/hookup cable drilling is different) and holes are plugged and camouflaged easily later if needed.

 

[MattBW]

Some food for thought in the 3 seat beach the room between downstairs bed and roof is a lot closer than the others Calis.

We already find we have to be careful not to bang on our heads when we sit up in the downstairs bed, the locker would reduce that head space even more. I personally would try something in the space it will occupy to decide if it will work for you when lying in bed.

 

[Ignazio]

Some food for thought in the 3 seat beach the room between downstairs bed and roof is a lot closer than the others Calis.

We already find we have to be careful not to bang on our heads when we sit up in the downstairs bed, the locker would reduce that head space even more. I personally would try something in the space it will occupy to decide if it will work for you when lying in bed.

Good suggestion!

 

[zeratul]

Some food for thought in the 3 seat beach the room between downstairs bed and roof is a lot closer than the others Calis.

We already find we have to be careful not to bang on our heads when we sit up in the downstairs bed, the locker would reduce that head space even more. I personally would try something in the space it will occupy to decide if it will work for you when lying in bed.

Thought about it, but it's only the back 40cm that loses 12cm of height. There's still about 1m50 of bed that has higher roof. And you could always sleep feet towards tailgate.
For our beach usage the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
Having storage space for kids pyjama's, underwear, socks, spare pants, sweater etc all seem very convenient. Now the boot is often a mess, especially when trying to find little things

 

[Dave bee]

There is a new improved set of bags out next month, I'm waiting to see them.

 

[MattBW]

@zeratul if you get one, would appreciate some images and thoughts on the forum when you've used it

 

[Dave bee]

Cleve
I made a cab bed similar to the one shown but my youngest still insists on sleeping in our bed!

 

[cleve]

So pleased with the window bags that I bought from a forum member recently. Used them this weekend and wonder how we ever managed without them. My only criticism is that they let a bit of light leak in around the edges in the morning but being able to find a clean pair of undies or get the kids in their pj's without rummaging under the multiflex outweighs this! They stick out a bit so unrolling our comfortz mattress topper means the mattress edges need squishing to get past the bags but again no big deal.



I liked how they have 4 different compartments so we have pj's in one for 5 of us, underwear, baby wipes, tissues etc in another, my son's toys and gadgets, charger, torch, kindles etc in another and girls computers and toys in the last. The lower sections can be easily accessed when travelling so no toys and crayons to gather up once we arrive on site and chargers from the sliding door 12v socket tuck nicely out of the way as you can see in the photo so we don't get chargers squashed in the seat mechanism when making the bed.

We always sleep with our feet near the tailgate as it is so much more comfortable but think we might regret the loss of height from an overhead locker as we do like to throw a child or 2 on the multiflex out of the way when cooking inside in cold weather! I'd be interested to hear how others get on if purchasing a locker.

 

[MattBW]

I really like the look of those bags but the price does make me think twice.


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[Ignazio]

Recently bought VanEssa bags. New type is a little different. They fit better than before, because they have a rigid panel that goes exactly in the shape of the window glass. It stands up without any problem, and no lights come inside. Expensive. But very useful.

You can see below the rear panel of the bag, upsidown on the left

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[zeratul]

We always sleep with our feet near the tailgate as it is so much more comfortable but think we might regret the loss of height from an overhead locker as we do like to throw a child or 2 on the multiflex out of the way when cooking inside in cold weather! I'd be interested to hear how others get on if purchasing a locker.

I was expirementing yesterday with putting our waeco Cf35 on top of the multiflex which seems like a good place to store it, and I also found out that it would be hard to open with the overhead locker.
So I'm in doubt about it.
Cleve, if you 'throw kids onto the multiflex' .. don't you have the problem that there's lots of other stuff there (in our case mattrass, sleeping bags, pillows, coats, ...) ? I like the idea though.. they'd be safe while cooking.

Either way, the window bags look nice and probably the best option. Especially the Vanessa ones look nice.. they're probably the same as the new california compact bags due in a month, also their kitchen module is very similar, I guess they work together or one imports from the other.

 

[cleve]

I really like the look of those bags but the price does make me think twice.


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I was expirementing yesterday with putting our waeco Cf35 on top of the multiflex which seems like a good place to store it, and I also found out that it would be hard to open with the overhead locker.
So I'm in doubt about it.
Cleve, if you 'throw kids onto the multiflex' .. don't you have the problem that there's lots of other stuff there (in our case mattrass, sleeping bags, pillows, coats, ...) ? I like the idea though.. they'd be safe while cooking.

Either way, the window bags look nice and probably the best option. Especially the Vanessa ones look nice.. they're probably the same as the new california compact bags due in a month, also their kitchen module is very similar, I guess they work together or one imports from the other.

The mattress does make the multiflex height a bit tighter but we tend to have down duvets which compress when the children suit in them or put the duvet and pillows for the roof bed up there out of the way once parked up, waterproofs for all of us on coat hook behind passengers seat and then down coats when cold weather camping all compress into a dry sack which goes under the multiflex.

I do like the look of the Vanessa bags!

 

[hewittd]

California Camping have a "spring discount" of 8% at the moment, just order the overhead locker.

 

[SlidePods]

If we produced a CNC'd overhead locker who would have one? I think it would have to be a workshop only fit because from a safety standpoint I would want to install rivnuts into the corrugated aluminium shelf at the end of the roof bed. but this would make it removable.

 

[hewittd]

If we produced a CNC'd overhead locker who would have one? I think it would have to be a workshop only fit because from a safety standpoint I would want to install rivnuts into the corrugated aluminium shelf at the end of the roof bed. but this would make it removable.

Judging by the interest on here, I guess you'd get a few takers.

It's a great way to a get some more storage space in a Beach.

 

[SlidePods]

Judging by the interest on here, I guess you'd get a few takers.

It's a great way to a get some more storage space in a Beach.

I just worry about the practicality with sleeping with your head at the tailgate end of the van and the space left in the 3 seater when you have the mattress topper aswell.......... it would be tight.

 

[hewittd]

I just worry about the practicality with sleeping with your head at the tailgate end of the van and the space left in the 3 seater when you have the mattress topper aswell.......... it would be tight.

I'll let you know how it goes

Worst case sleep we'll sleep the other away around.

 

[zeratul]

Im interested slidepods.
Meanwhile ill start with the window bags.

 

[cleve]

so this is why we decided against an overhead locker in favour of the window bags. Comfortz mattress and 9 tog double down duvet in the black bag with an 8, tall 5 and tall 3 year old on top. A locker would leave them no headroom when they chill out on the multiflex and watch a film out of the way when I'm cooking inside on a particularly cold or windy day!

 

[zeratul]

I'm convinced! I will also go with just the window bags. Thanks!
So where do you store pillows? How many Duvets are in the bag? Ours (sleeping bags) seem to take more space..

 

[cleve]

I'm convinced! I will also go with just the window bags. Thanks!
So where do you store pillows? How many Duvets are in the bag? Ours (sleeping bags) seem to take more space..

Just one double duvet in the bag and store another double and a single with 1 pillow in exped XL dry sacks as they compress the down duvets really well when sat on & rolled up. 4 more pillows in an underbed storage bag. These can all be moved onto the drivers seat or spread out on the roof bed once parked to make space on the multiflex. This is a pic of all our bedding with 13.5 tog duvets. Much easier as the weather warms up as we have all season duvets so the bulk reduces with the lower togs and we can get away with just one of the dry sacks instead of 2. We have full size pillows bit the children have cot bed sized ones as they're slightly smaller but they don't seem to notice!

 

[Riofer]

A suggestion for bedding - we use vacuum pack bags. Put in bedding and suck air out to compress it down to a fraction of the size. Easy at home using Henry and not bad out and about using either electric pump or just sitting on the bags and rolling them towards the valve end to squeeze out as much as you can!

 

[Waldo]

Bigger window bag announced by MaxxCamp today: http://maxxcamp.de/de/aktuelles/meldungen/hecktasche.php?sn=sn35410bf08893018d8a7b031862e2e8

 

[Waldo]

but I prefer the one I got from califnorniacamping because it doesn't impact the trunk space itself

 

[zeratul]

Interesting. But this will get in the way of the mattress which lies on the multiflex board ...