Top 3 Items You Wish You Had When You Got Your First Cali

[kurienp]

Nice, bungee cord seems to a popular one!

To elaborate on what I meant from the question => "Top 3 Items - at some point you got along your California journey at a later date, but - You Wish You Had When You Got Your First Cali"

Got it. There is usually such a long wait that by the time you get the Cali, you've had the time to browse through these forums, figure out how items are used and if it fits your use case

On that list, the only item I wished was there was a Duvalay mattress for the lower bed. Ours came with the VW mattress and that was really uncomfortable for me. Everything else ... was need based. I believe in more is less.

 

[Aidy P]

Self inflating mattress for downstairs.
Air safe for rear door.
Mosquito net for rear door so no bugs can get in when sleeping downstairs using the air safe.
In France now and this combination is brilliant

 

[Elly Swanson]

As the title suggests, what are the:

"Top 3 Items You Wish You Had When You Got Your First Cali"?

GO!

Have had our Ocean 18 months, but didn’t get these at the beginning and wish I had:

1/ Internal isotop Insulation for the pop top (have one now)
2/ second skin seat covers (have them now)
3/ Sea to summit campervan mattress (trying to get one now but they’re like rocking horse poo at the mo, keep looking on t’interweb every night)

if we’re allowed a number 4: threadlock for the chair screws as I’ve just lost one and a spacer!

 

[Elly Swanson]

I can never understand the "mattress topper" thing...we find the upstairs bed so comfortable! But we seem to be in a minority!
(Only slept downstairs twice so can't really comment on that)

I like a hard bed so upstairs bed is very good for us too. I’m fine sleeping downstairs in our ocean just with a sheet over the bed, but that’s a little too hard for my hubby.

 

[AlisonF]

Wind out awning and tow bar.
Pretty much all the other things folk mention above I bought well before the Cali arrived as knew I wanted them and didn’t regret buying them either.

 

[Skylark2.0]

Self inflating mattress for downstairs.
Air safe for rear door.
Mosquito net for rear door so no bugs can get in when sleeping downstairs using the air safe.
In France now and this combination is brilliant

Agree, rear mosy net and air safe are a life saver on hot summer nights.

 

[Aidy P]

Self inflating mattress for downstairs.
Air safe for rear door.
Mosquito net for rear door so no bugs can get in when sleeping downstairs using the air safe.
In France now and this combination is brilliant

And a wet flannel!!!! Crikey it’s baking tonight in France Glad we’ve got the USB fans upstairs and downstairs too.

 

[clarinetbcn]

If the 2 seat bench is the same as in the SE or Ocean, it will in no way fold forward.
If it's the 3 seat Multivan (Caravelle) seat, then you can fold it both ways.

Don't give us a reason to buy a new California Ocean!!

Funny, today I just rearranged the packing boxes in the back so they sit on top of the multi flex and the drawers open toward the front of the van. This makes all cooking equipment, food and clothes storage, wine cases (!), walking boot storage, bike rack arms, gas canisters and bedding accesible from inside the van. We had a couple of days of rain and it was getting to be a pain to go back and get wet opening the tailgate with the bikes on. This only works because the 3 seat bench seat back folds forward. I always assumed all Calis could do this, and can understand the frustration if it doesn’t. I finally understand why people pay so much money for boot sliders. I always thought it was strange because wasn’t it just as easy to fold the bench forward? I guess you could say I’ve made an anti-slidepod.

 

[wilburthewombat]

As the title suggests, what are the:

"Top 3 Items You Wish You Had When You Got Your First Cali"?

GO!

I'm just specc'ing my first Cali. Wish I could dump the diesel engine and spec electric or hydrogen fusion ...

 

[NorVern001]

A different make of camper van.

Actually, I really like the van, just the camper part is poor.

Should've gone for a conversion instead.

Not at all happy with 'bits' that keep breaking.

* Flexi light in overhead sleeper
* Rear mounted bike rack
* Kitchen cupboard door track
* Gas bottle valve (plastic)
* Spare wheel stolen - no locking bolt
* Satnav / radio
* 2 x leisure batteries

 

[California4x4]

A different make of camper van.

Actually, I really like the van, just the camper part is poor.

Should've gone for a conversion instead.

Not at all happy with 'bits' that keep breaking.

* Flexi light in overhead sleeper
* Rear mounted bike rack
* Kitchen cupboard door track
* Gas bottle valve (plastic)
* Spare wheel stolen - no locking bolt
* Satnav / radio
* 2 x leisure batteries

I agree there are lots of parts in the California Ocean that are easy to break. The flexi light, kitchen cupboard track and the gas bottle valve are potentially the only things that are specific to a California in your example though. The other issues would be the same in a VW conversion or did you mean a conversion based on a different platform? At least you can get a 5-year warranty from VW on a California. None of the converters are offering that. Have you seen a conversion company that is making more robust offerings?

 

[Velma's Dad]

I agree there are lots of parts in the California Ocean that are easy to break. The flexi light, kitchen cupboard track and the gas bottle valve are potentially the only things that are specific to a California in your example though. The other issues would be the same in a VW conversion or did you mean a conversion based on a different platform? At least you can get a 5-year warranty from VW on a California. None of the converters are offering that. Have you seen a conversion company that is making more robust offerings?

I'd agree with NorVern that quite a lot of the internals on a Cali are indeed a bit too fragile. But on the plus side, most of the things that break are easy to fix - flexi-light (mine is dodgy although haven't bothered to sort it so far), kitchen tap (mine replaced under warranty but can get them but from club shop for about £30), 'shutter' on the rear cupboard (yes, really is just taped together but a trivial matter to re-tape it if it breaks - I just did mine), window blind track finisher on the B post (superglued back on).

Generally I think the interior is adequately robust apart from the niggles, and aesthetically much better than any conversion I've seem although obviously that's subjective.

 

[clarinetbcn]

A different make of camper van.

Actually, I really like the van, just the camper part is poor.

Should've gone for a conversion instead.

Not at all happy with 'bits' that keep breaking.

* Flexi light in overhead sleeper
* Rear mounted bike rack
* Kitchen cupboard door track
* Gas bottle valve (plastic)
* Spare wheel stolen - no locking bolt
* Satnav / radio
* 2 x leisure batteries

I have come to the conclusion that I love the concept and design of my Beach, but the low quality of the finish once you get under the trim is sometimes shocking. There will be an active market of replacement parts of higher quality by third party manufacturers as these vans age, because so much of the cheap bits will fall apart. But I have no doubt these vans will also last for decades, just not thanks to Volkswagen.

 

[Wildcamper]

After temperatures in France last week of 41 degrees during the day and around 25 at night, i wish I’d bought a mosquito net for the sliding window.

A VW comfort mattress option from the factory on my first Beach.

LED headlights on my first Beach.

Get some net curtain material. Cut so it overlaps onto the vehicle metal work, get some powerful fridge magnets from "first4magnets", stick some thin felt to the bottom of each (to avoid scratching the van) then cover the open window and hold in place using the magnets. Easy!

 

[ejmoore]

I can never understand the "mattress topper" thing...we find the upstairs bed so comfortable! But we seem to be in a minority!
(Only slept downstairs twice so can't really comment on that)

Likewise - we always sleep up top and find it really comfortable - I don't know why other people don't.

 

[ejmoore]

We bought a second-hand van without an awning or a bike rack, and subsequently added both. The new van already has them. The first van was absolute luxury for us after tent camping, even our first trip in the Brecon Beacons - snow on the ground, and we couldn't get the heater to work - still great. The only thing the old van eventually lacked was good internal lighting. The new van is much better, especially now I've found (from the forum) that the ceiling lights go brighter if you hold them on!

 

[ejmoore]

It's funny how a lot of other people's 'essentials' are things that I can't imagine needing or using, or haven't even heard of. But that's the great thing about the van - you can make it your own.

 

[ejmoore]

Likewise - we always sleep up top and find it really comfortable - I don't know why other people don't.

Don't find it comfortable, I mean. But I don't know why a lot of people don't ever sleep up top - or in some cases, even put the roof up!

 

[Robbox2]

Likewise - we always sleep up top and find it really comfortable - I don't know why other people don't.

Same here my husband and I sleep so well up the top. We find it much more comfortable

 

[Elly Swanson]

Likewise - we always sleep up top and find it really comfortable - I don't know why other people don't.

Different horses for courses and peeps for sleeps. I love it mega firm. But if it were soft and bouncy I’d want to change it!

 

[Elly Swanson]

Don't find it comfortable, I mean. But I don't know why a lot of people don't ever sleep up top - or in some cases, even put the roof up!

Never putting the roof up! That’s just weird. My hubby’s a scouser from Diddy Land and even he puts the roof up.

 

[Katie Jones]

Don't find it comfortable, I mean. But I don't know why a lot of people don't ever sleep up top - or in some cases, even put the roof up!

Could be because children sleep in roof and not enough room for 4! It’s tricky but at least there’s a chance they get to sleep before us this way!!

 

[Ted]

Self inflating mattress for downstairs.
Air safe for rear door.
Mosquito net for rear door so no bugs can get in when sleeping downstairs using the air safe.
In France now and this combination is brilliant

One of our friends bought a self inflating mattress for Glastonbury Festival. Unpacked it by the tent, didn’t read the instructions and proceeded to blow it up with her mouth. She thought ‘self inflating’ meant blowing it up yourself! We still laugh about it today, twenty years later

 

[ejmoore]

Could be because children sleep in roof and not enough room for 4! It’s tricky but at least there’s a chance they get to sleep before us this way!!

Well I can understand that, but some people on their own or just a couple never use the roof bed. It's so much easier than shifting everything to get the downstairs bed set up (as we found the other night when a thunderstorm was seriously forecast, so slept down).

 

[MattBW]

As the title suggests, what are the:

"Top 3 Items You Wish You Had When You Got Your First Cali"?

GO!

Alpkit brukit
Isotop for poptop
Solar panels.

close 4th is heater (not standard on beach).