Storing my T6.1 Ocean hinged table smoothly, in short: pull then push

[Viktorgeorge]

Over two years of ownership I have struggled to find the best way to stow away the folding table. My wife gave up early days and always leaves it to me.

Getting it out is never a problem once released with the lever behind.

I think I have finally ‘cracked’ storing it.

Assuming my van’s build is not unique, my technique is:

Slide the table back until the RH edge aligns with the middle (cooker) button over.

Leave the table's lever behind untouched (throughout the store).

Pull the table firmly toward the seat cushion, at cushion level, and slide leftwards half-way (until the lever self-clicks) then push the table, still at the same level, away from you until the low-level bolt penetrates its holder correctly and the final clunk occurs.

I have also lubricated all the relevant parts with a thin coat of silicone grease.

 

[Mehdime]

Mmm, maybe ours is easier somehow but I’ve never had much of a problem with it once I noticed that little piece of metal at the bottom of the table that meant to get insert into a thing that holds the table in place when traveling.

Fold the table and slide gently to the back. You can feel if the catch is catching. If it hasn’t caught and the table isn’t held in place (I.e. you can make it rattle against the fridge), pull it out a bit and try again, pushing gently on the table top so that the catch catches.

 

[Viktorgeorge]

Mmm, maybe ours is easier somehow but I’ve never had much of a problem with it once I noticed that little piece of metal at the bottom of the table that meant to get insert into a thing that holds the table in place when traveling.

Fold the table and slide gently to the back. You can feel if the catch is catching. If it hasn’t caught and the table isn’t held in place (I.e. you can make it rattle against the fridge), pull it out a bit and try again, pushing gently on the table top so that the catch catches.

Yours sounds easier, ours is possibly uniquely difficult. I would be interested if other members had my experience of awkward closure.

I know that responding to an earlier post, about "that little piece of metal' i.e. the locating stub, one member admitted they had lived with a rattle for 8 years unaware of the stub's correct location, which is best understood lying on your back head in the cabinet and torch in hand.

 

[KevH]

There is definitely a knack to it but I’d struggle to describe it to be honest. It’s like a million similar mundane tasks…overthink it and it all turns to ****

 

[dspuk]

Never had an issue. I’d say yours has something wrong to cause this much distress.

 

[Mehdime]

That catch thing is definitely non-obvious and it took us a fair bit of looking with a torch light and wrecking our head to understand how the heck it was supposed to work. But once we understood, it was very easy to work out how to slide it in properly.

 

[Viktorgeorge]

Never had an issue. I’d say yours has something wrong to cause this much distress.

It was frustrating until I achieved the resolution in #1.

I suspect, through minor variations in the position of the different locking elements, easier and less so tables result.

The one think I was not going to do is take it to my VW dealer, there are too many tales of grief on this forum for camper cabinet 'repairs'.

 

[lohr500]

Fortunately we worked it out within a mile or so of collecting the new Cali from Breeze in Poole!!
The rattling was driving both myself and my wife crazy.
We were almost at the point of doing a U turn back to Breeze to ask them to investigate where the rattle was coming from .

 

[dspuk]

Fortunately we worked it out within a mile or so of collecting the new Cali from Breeze in Poole!!
The rattling was driving both myself and my wife crazy.
We were almost at the point of doing a U turn back to Breeze to ask them to investigate where the rattle was coming from .

TBF we had the same and every so often when we forget to slide it in without a touch of pressure towards the cabinets and get the rattle. It’s a simple slide and gentle push though.

 

[Viktorgeorge]

...It’s a simple slide and gentle push though.

Not on mine, but perhaps my problem when putting the table away is unusual or unique. Mine has to be pulled outwards until the first connection then pushed inwards to avoid either a really lumpy slide or abject refusal.

 

[dspuk]

Not on mine, but perhaps my problem is unusual or unique. Mine has to be pulled outwards until the first connection then pushed inwards to avoid either a really lumpy slide or abject refusal.

There is basically a guided hole the pin slots into. One has to wonder if yours is out of line or the pin bent.

 

[Viktorgeorge]

There is basically a guided hole the pin slots into. One has to wonder if yours is out of line or the pin bent.

Yes, agreed, and at the stage when the pin is engaging it works fine provided the table is pressed towards the cabinet at seat level. The problem is that to get past the earlier stage as the table initially passes the clip higher up, it needs the opposite, to be slightly pulled away, to not ‘catch’.

Something is out of line I agree, but with my technique all works fine. Because it has perplexed me, and stumped my wife, I thought I would post my solution to see if others have similar problems or not.

It was also an opportunity to explain the pin and socket to any new owners with a rattle, which was the other table problem I had initially until I worked that out.

 

[Mehdime]

“Pin” and “socket” is definitely a much better way to describe this than my “metal sticking out thingie” and “holy thing that keeps the table in place” description

 

[Hawthorn37]

We slide the table backwards until it stops, then pull out from the fridge into the bench seat (about 5-10 mm), then push backwards again till it clicks. If it’s not latched properly it will rattle when on the move. We suffered this with our first hired Cali for 6 days, and when we reported the ‘problem’, the guy at the dealership showed us what we were doing wrong!

 

[Viktorgeorge]

We slide the table backwards until it stops, then pull out from the fridge into the bench seat (about 5-10 mm), then push backwards again till it clicks. If it’s not latched properly it will rattle when on the move. We suffered this with our first hired Cali for 6 days, and when we reported the ‘problem’, the guy at the dealership showed us what we were doing wrong!

As explained in #1, for ours to properly store away, we do as you @Hawthorn37 for a first stage (whilst the lever on the back engages) but we then do the opposite - push the table away - for the final slide and click. Otherwise, for us anyway, the pin does not always locate correctly (staying proud instead, see check in #3); the giveaway for the latter is that there is then no clear gap between the seat and the table top.

With the pull then push we get a pretty smooth store away, all the previously methods we tried were lumpier.

 

[SFO]

very helpful thread.

I knew the table was causing the rattle but didn’t understand why. My “solution” has been the slide the folded table back with a lot of force to ensure the whole thing is slotted in properly.

No idea there was a separate “pin and socket” mechanism.

 

[Viktorgeorge]

... My “solution” has been the slide the folded table back with a lot of force to ensure the whole thing is slotted in properly.

I started like that. Then I experimented with pushing into the cabinet as I slid the table, then tried the opposite, but the stow away was alway still partially difficult. Then i discovered my #1 technique, which came as a considerable relief, with the procedure now silky smooth (no force).

 

[ParachuteMan]

Fortunately we worked it out within a mile or so of collecting the new Cali from Breeze in Poole!!
The rattling was driving both myself and my wife crazy.
We were almost at the point of doing a U turn back to Breeze to ask them to investigate where the rattle was coming from .

I sat my son in the back to locate the rattle. He identified it was the table, an I spent the next 4 months with a piece of foam between the seat and the table. Until I happened to glance at a similar thread about the pin at the bottom…‍

 

[ejmoore]

I just shove the table back into the slot. If it then rattles, I take it out & try it again, holding it slightly further away from the frudge (or slightly nearer, can't remember). Usually no problem.

 

[Rob G]

Over two years of ownership I have struggled to find the best way to stow away the folding table. My wife gave up early days and always leaves it to me.

Getting it out is never a problem once released with the lever behind.

I think I have finally ‘cracked’ storing it.

Assuming my van’s build is not unique, my technique is:

Slide the table back until the RH edge aligns with the middle (cooker) button over.

Leave the table's lever behind untouched (throughout the store).

Pull the table firmly toward the seat cushion, at cushion level, and slide leftwards half-way (until the lever self-clicks) then push the table, still at the same level, away from you until the low-level bolt penetrates its holder correctly and the final clunk occurs.

I have also lubricated all the relevant parts with a thin coat of silicone grease.

I picked mine up October 23 and had the table rattle problem later. It was so annoying(!), and there was no one to sit in the back and find it. Eventually, I found it, and all I had to do was try again with a reasonable non-destructive amount of force when sliding back. But I will try your method for smooth stowing. Thank you.

 

[Viktorgeorge]

I picked mine up October 23 and had the table rattle problem later. It was so annoying(!), and there was no one to sit in the back and find it. Eventually, I found it, and all I had to do was try again with a reasonable non-destructive amount of force when sliding back. But I will try your method for smooth stowing. Thank you.

I would be interested to hear the result.

 

[tobyprivett]

I added a bit of velcro to hold the table leg in place. Now it stows easily and doesn't rattle.