My Hidden EHU & Water points in D-pillar (tailgate)

[dave renton]

People have been great helping me, so I thought I'd post a few pics of my van. This show my EHU and water arrangements the rear molding is held in place with two magnets you can see one of the striker plates in the photo. There is a shock corded tether as a backup, but it is very secure. I have a cabinet latch with a key which I may fit later on. The filler normally has a cover, but I removed it to make it easier to see. I'm looking for an inline tap to go between the bulhead fitting and the Hozelock connector.

 

[Jason Stancliffe]

People have been great helping me, so I thought I'd post a few pics of my van. This show my EHU and water arrangements the rear molding is held in place with two magnets you can see one of the striker plates in the photo. There is a shock corded tether as a backup, but it is very secure. I have a cabinet latch with a key which I may fit later on. The filler normally has a cover, but I removed it to make it easier to see. I'm looking for an inline tap to go between the bulhead fitting and the Hozelock connector. View attachment 64938

Nice idea!
I know those small magnets are very strong

 

[will-h]

Hi Dave, thanks for sharing, that's a pretty neat idea. Have you got any further pics - such as of the lid itself?) and how you did it?

Looks a lot easier than other solutions involving kitchen cabinet hinges and a huge amount of messing around!

My EHU is underneath the bumper and it's a bit more of a faff than i'd like.

 

[dave renton]

Hi will-h I'll get some pictures of the lid. I had messed around with hinges, but I couldn't really make it work well. It would be useful to have a look on U Tube as to which bits of the "lid" to remove if you search for Hidden EHU VW T5 you will get a result I think. The guy uses a hinge. Having removed the "tabs" I attached two magnets (Hafele metal bodied) with small bolts (I'll show them in the photo) The biggest problem is lining up the "striker plates" don't rely on the body of the van, it will not give a good grab. The striker plates have a rubber fitting that allows the plate to swivel to make a good contact with the magnet. To get the correct position I put hotglue on the striker plate which was already on the magnet and pressed the assembly against the van. You then can carefully separate the two and then screw the striker plate to the van. Sorry! hope that makes sense. You can also use doublesided tape, or tape the van mark the back of the striker plate with pencil and press the assembly to get a position for the mounting holes. The water filler for the tank is also mounted on the bumper and that was pretty easy to thread the pipe to the underfloor tank. I fitted a "safety cord" so it can't fall off just as an insurance. I should say that my conversion has stalled as I need a roof fitting and my Variotec bed moving from my old van, most converters are closed. I will try and post tomorrrow.

 

[dave renton]

Hope the pics are useful. The problem can be removing the cover! The magnets get a very strong grip! Note the tape pull, the cover, top to the left, I may add the cabinet lock as it will add some security and the key would act as a handle. Just a point- I set off to make a door then changed halfway through, it might be possible to retain some of the "tabs" on the cover which would help locate the cover. Have fun!

 

[will-h]

Thanks, that's quite interesting. I wonder if leaving the section under the boot lid latch might provide better security against it falling off.

More silly jobs to think about!

 

[Caroline1970]

Thanks for posting on this, its really helpful and we are planning to do the same as it looks easier than hinges. Did you use the 4 or 6kg magnetic catches?

 

[dave renton]

Pretty sure I used 4kg ones from Hafele. It has been in place since Feb 2020 without any problems other than occasionally not quite lining up (we are talking a few mm) It can be a little fiddly to remove the cover the catches have such a good grip. A better pull than the duct tape tab would be a good idea. You might also want to consider leaving some of the lower plastic in place and using it to help alignment( just a thought) Still searching for a shut-off for the water just to keep things hygienic but I'm not dead yet! Have fun.

 

[will-h]

I am still interested in this and I like your filler setup too. Time to revisit this I think.

I assume you have the fresh water tank in the 'rear diff' location just in front of the spare wheel? How well does the filler work, does it simply pour out of a tank breather line once it's full?

 

[dave renton]

Yep the tank is just in front of the spare wheel. I used a CAK tank however I think the one I bought was for wastewater. This meant that the pipe fitting locations were not ideal apparently you can ask for them to be placed so that hooking up is easier. I would suggest talking to CAK first so you get the most appropriate one. That said I managed to fit it and hook it up and it works fine. The tank has air vents on the top and when full the water should come out of those. I say should because I've never filled it completely! Covid has prevented us from using it as we normally would but we have been away for a few days and everything worked fine. I did consider fitting a vertical pipe from the take-off pipe with a one-way valve to act as an overflow but in the end, went for the approach outlined. I wrapped the tank in radiator foil but I suspect it is pretty much a waste of time. Our T4 had the same arrangements lasted 20 years going to the Alps each winter freezing down to -25C without problems we used to fill the kettle from the drain as obviously water freezes from the top down. The new tank doesn't have a drain because it was a waste one. Hope this helps.

 

[BoroBoy]

People have been great helping me, so I thought I'd post a few pics of my van. This show my EHU and water arrangements the rear molding is held in place with two magnets you can see one of the striker plates in the photo. There is a shock corded tether as a backup, but it is very secure. I have a cabinet latch with a key which I may fit later on. The filler normally has a cover, but I removed it to make it easier to see. I'm looking for an inline tap to go between the bulhead fitting and the Hozelock connector. View attachment 64938

@dave renton - Can you post a picture of the cover and where the magnet parts are positioned? Where did you buy the Hafele magnets from?

 

[dave renton]

Hi Here are some pictures hope they help. Note the tape tab just visible in the first photo, a couple of bits of foam to help alignment, and use stainless steel for all fastenings. Hafele is a hardware firm but Screwfix or Ironmongery Direct all do stainless steel mag catches. Very important to get everything lined up read my earlier post about how to do this. Have fun.