Pushing the envelope - stretching Cali's room to te limit

[marchugo]

Hi,

As I was reorganizing our Cali today for the 8th time in eight years, I realized how many small adjustments the bus has gathered in time - call it minor repairs. Improvements in creating extra room in our little fourwheeled hotel room are by definition always minor.

I thought, maybe it's useful to show some of them.

Here's a first one: our two stores deep kitchen drawer. To be honest, I nicked the idea from a Spanish Cali-owner, who build it with wood.
My construction is simple: two crossed aluminum bars, 1.5 mm thick, 1 cm high, both cut about 4 mm in the middle.

Don't forget what you through in there. First trip we used this, I angered mss marchugo by asking her where she had left the scissors. Of course I stored them in this drawer myself.

Regards from Amsterdam,

Marc.

 

[motacyclist]

That is ace!

As you warn, only problem is I would forget it was there

 

[SusiBus]

Excellent !

If any of your other mods are anywhere near as good as this I'd love to hear about them.

 

[IanE]

Me too!

 

[marchugo]

Next: The rabbit hole

Excellent !

If any of your other mods are anywhere near as good as this I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks. Maybe I have to manage expectations here... I do not think I can provide a daily maintenance dose... Well, weekly, maybe...

All right, here's another one. Today: the rabbit hole behind the seat, real simple.

I used an elastic cord from the construction market. Drilled six holes in the plastic back cover under the right seat and tied the lines at the backside. Stretch the cords really strong.

When it was ready, I concluded that I should have added an extra line at the top, to hold things more firmly. Useful place for dog's lashes, toilet rolls or slippers.

It's real easy to pull off the plastic cover. Just don't use brute force. Be careful with the cables under the seat, you might loosen the connector for the air bags.

Behind the left seat sits the foam extinguisher - never to be used. Really, in case of a fire, it's better to throw a non-burnable blanket or wool coat over the flames to smother them. If the fire gets too big, close the gas, then get out of the car fast, and let the insurance handle the rest.
(What happens if you are playing the fireman with your foam toy: everything in the bus gets tainted with white foam particles, and most of your electronic gear will probably not work any more. )

All the best from Amsterdam,

Marc.

 

[California Dreamin]

I love it. Is the plastic easy to drill or is it prone to splitting? Hoping it is nice an cheesey.

 

[WelshGas]

I love it. Is the plastic easy to drill or is it prone to splitting? Hoping it is nice an cheesey.

It's relatively flexible so unlikely to split. Use a small screwdriver or bradawl to make s starter indentation.

 

[Shaun]

Great idea, so great in fact that i have just done the same, well almost , I decided to run the cord vertically instead .
The hours i have spent looking at those recesses and wondering why on earth they were not pockets of some description

 

[kaf2546]

I got some heavy duty Velcro tape and you can stick your fire extinguisher and CO detector anywhere you like with no drilling...

 

[marchugo]

Next: we're bending aluminum

While camping, I always find myself having small things in my hand that I must drop somewhere, be it a usb cable, a pencil or my handy. Now I've built a storage tray from aluminum. It hangs above the kitchen block, just under the bottom of the upper bed. There is a nice flat area where the tray finds a hold.

I stole this idea from a German website, where someone had built a tray of 80 centimeter. I decided to go big, and make it 120 centimeters long. In fact 119 cm would have been better, as there is a slight bend in the plastic paneling at the far right side above the kitchen.

I used anodized aluminum, matt gloss, 1.5 mm thick. My original plan to use 0.8 mm failed: it wrinkled like paper. The alu plate was 1200 x 216 mm, and cost me less than 20 euros (fourteen pounds) in the construction market. I had it bended in four plies. The professional bending shop were asking 10 euro per ply, so that would have cost me more than the whole material. You could do the bending by hand, but often that doesn't look nice.

The end result is an unobtrusive looking, very handy gutter, to get rid of those irritating small things. Clean desk policy in the Cali.

When the upper bed is down, you can just fiddle with your fingers in the tray. Things can stay in there whilst driving, which I officially must strongly discourage. Of course you should close the right end (front) of the tray, as an emergency break would push all the contents in the neck of the driver (we drive an LHD).

The tray stays in place with two stripes of 19 MM Tesa tape, which makes this construction like a guillotine in the neck of the driver in front of it, during a crash. You can however secure the tray with some screws in the metal railing where it rests. Also screw it to the wardrobe at the far left side.

All the best from sunny Amsterdam,

Marc.

 

[marchugo]

Great idea, so great in fact that i have just done the same, well almost , I decided to run the cord vertically instead .
The hours i have spent looking at those recesses and wondering why on earth they were not pockets of some description

Hi Shaun,

Nice! Could you post a pic? What do you use it for?

Marc.

 

[marchugo]

Protecting the plastic gas bun against rips




As our next journey is coming, I checked my Campingaz 907 bottle in the gas bun, under the wardrobe in the back. After taking the bottle out for weighing, it appeared almost empty:




Having the bottle out, I decided to put a piece of plastic paint grid from the construction market (1 euro) on the bottom of the bun. This hopefully prevents the plastic bottom against leaks from ongoing wear and friction from heavy sharp edged bottles. Roughly treated replacement bottles may have nasty sharp edges on their iron bottom ring.

The gas bun is built inside the tank for drinking water. A torn water tank can't be repaired, the whole kitchen block must be removed to install a new tank. Costly affair.

I tailored the paint grid to a diameter of about 20 Centimeters. The top opening of the bun is 24 Centimeters, the bottom slightly less than 20 cm. Don't cut it too small, the bottom of the bottle has to rest upon the grid.
Now the water tank is somewhat more save against heavy bumps during driving.









BTW: Watch the air vent with the RVS metal 'T' in the bottom of the bun: this hole should never be covered or sealed, as it is the safety outlet for leaking gasses. Gas is heavier than air, so it automatically escapes downwards from the bus.

In fact the gas outlet is going South in the same direction as the valve that lets out your drinking water, which splashes so wildly behind your back wheel.

Regards from Amsterdam,

Marc.

 

[Hotel California]

@marchugo ,
Check out the tip Rob at CCN gave me regarding the sharp edges on the bottom off the gasbotlles

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/cali-technical-tips-tricks.9457/page-2

 

[WelshGas]

You can buy a specific cover from Camping for the 907 bottle. Well constructed with tough material that has an elasticated edge top and bottom that covers the bottom of the cylinder also stops any unwanted squeaks.
Calor also sell a combined stop-cock and regulator for the 907 which with the addition of an in-line Gas connector allows the cylinder to be just lifted out complete with Valve/Stop-cock. Useful if you use with a gas barbecue which can be fitted with the corresponding in-line Gas connector. So 1 cylinder, 1 Regulato/Stop-cock for 2 appliances.

 

[Seaview]

I know, perhaps slightly OTT so feel free to laugh but we're away at the moment and its a bit wet when cooking outside so we whip the shower cap off and the gas bottle/cover is nice and dry when you put it back in the van.

 

[motacyclist]

View attachment 15032

I know, perhaps slightly OTT so feel free to laugh but we're away at the moment and its a bit wet when cooking outside so we whip the shower cap off and the gas bottle/cover is nice and dry when you put it back in the van.

Bikini bottom?

 

[Teejay]

View attachment 15032

I know, perhaps slightly OTT so feel free to laugh but we're away at the moment and its a bit wet when cooking outside so we whip the shower cap off and the gas bottle/cover is nice and dry when you put it back in the van.

Looks a bit dainty, buy hey, you can do what the hell you like it's your van. Could be worse could be pink and flowery.

 

[marchugo]

Looks a bit dainty

Well, if you'd like it less dainty, you can use a wooden cross with a nail in the middle, to rest your gasbottle upon in the gas bun. Just like you make it under your christmas tree.
Has the advantage that it can support the jack when changing a tyre. Not to mention other useful purposes...

Marc.

 

[Seaview]

Fortunately it's usually the husband setting up the cooking equipment !

 

[rich-s]

I think there are only 2 things that irritate me about our Cali. The first and foremost is why oh why did vw not split the glass hob / sink top. Having to move everything to fill an (electric) kettle, then move it all agin to get the milk from the fridge. I really need to have a good inspection to see if I can achieve anything to be done about it.
Secondly, and much easier to achieve - has anyone here added an extra 230v socket? I have all the kit to do a decent (almost original looking) job of it, but just need to be brave and get my hole saw out to the panel. Watch this space.

 

[marchugo]

Do you mean an extra 230 V socket with mains electricity, or with power from an inverter?
A nice place for a 230 outlet from an inverter could be behind one of the front seats, in the grey plastic cover at the bottom.
Best to use a pure sinus inverter, not cheap though.

Marc.

 

[WelshGas]

I think there are only 2 things that irritate me about our Cali. The first and foremost is why oh why did vw not split the glass hob / sink top. Having to move everything to fill an (electric) kettle, then move it all agin to get the milk from the fridge. I really need to have a good inspection to see if I can achieve anything to be done about it.
Secondly, and much easier to achieve - has anyone here added an extra 230v socket? I have all the kit to do a decent (almost original looking) job of it, but just need to be brave and get my hole saw out to the panel. Watch this space.

I use this to extend the mains socket.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Gang-Ad...09068&pid=100338&rk=18&rkt=28&sd=271438827085

 

[rich-s]

Its an additional mains socket, rather than inverted supply that I would like.

 

[vmaxkiddy]

Envelope stretched beyond the the limit ?

 

[WelshGas]

Envelope stretched beyond the the limit ?

View attachment 15085

I wonder what they've got powering that?