Roadtripper's Caravelle tinkering

[roadtripper]

Hey folks, been lurking for a while gathering useful advice as we considered if a van was right for us and now we have one on the drive the time was right to join fully and do the VIP thing to (potentially) do some electrical tinkering. Thanks everyone who posts advice here, it's a massive help even before you take the plunge and join in!

We have 2 California's in the extended family and at the annual meet up always rather liked them, but we've run Volvo XC70s for nearly 15 years as we enjoy our of season road tripping around the more distant parts of the UK. Always thought about putting some sort of kitchen camping pod in it but never got around to it and then kids arrived...

Last year we started actively looking to either go for it or rule it out and quickly realised that the camper we wanted... wasn't a camper turned out a Caravelle fitted our roadtripper habits much more closely, especially with retired parents who like a trip with the grandkids but don't enjoy the driving much anymore.

So we hired one for the weekend as an extended test and crammed in as many ways of using it as we could and frankly fell in love with it. The T6.1 driving experience with the digital dash and toys was a much more car like experience than I expected, which made me more confident of using it as the daily family wagon. So much so we tried to buy it but turns out it had already been sold the week before...

Then followed several weeks of visiting VW van centres to see what was about. We managed to talk ourselves up to a nearly new budget as it was the modern driving experience that really clicked for me. With the dawning realisation that it was the sunset of the Caravelle line and the huge delays on anything new (we did consider a Beach Tour with twin extra seats) we pulled the trigger on a 21 plate Caravelle SE just leaving a demo fleet. The spend still makes me wake up shouting "how much?!?" in a cold sweat every now and then but as a family we love it.

So this our van, nicknamed Big Truckie (long story...)

 

[LondonLad]

Great post & interesting to read as similar story to myself.

 

[roadtripper]

So what have we done to the van since we got it?

Well we've set ourselves a rule to keep it mostly stock until the end of the warranty, just to be sure it's right for us.

Following on from some suggestions here:

• Added the rubber wedge strip on the dash to stop parking tickets falling into The Void.
• Added a security clamp to the spare wheel cage bolt (and learned to avoid Legoland)
• Added a stoplock to encourage folks to move on in car parks

The big job was fitting a rear kitchen pod from Evo Designs. It's a key thing we always ment to do to the XC70 so we wanted to do it asap. Only extra thing I added to the pod design was 2 T bolts and runners from SteeFree to hold the pod down at the back, it felt a bit front heavy with all the things open. I spent a bunch of time gathering suggestions here so the cooker drawer has a travel Aeropress, a Ridge Monkey toaster and a selection of folding bowls and kettle as well as mugs.

The wide main cupboard below the utility drawer is identically sized to a pizza delivery bag, so we've got one of those which I've added a second layer of double foil insulation to as a horizontal cool box. With ice packs it keeps the picnic and milk for the tea icy cold all day.

We field tested the main setup in a roadtrip to Scotland 6 up in the van. The bright orange is rip stop nylon with strong magnets sewn into the seam (having a seamstress in the house has benefits). We have a triangle each side, there is a strip to fill the roof gap as well but in Mk1 we made a measurement error and it's a couple of inches short.

The magnets attach to the inner bodywork of the rear and the tailgate and keep the blustery drizzle mostly out of the van. Usually everyone sits in the dry while muggins boils the kettle out back

The plan is being sewn in they are soft and if anything does scratch it's on the inside. Super compact and live in the pod drawer ready for use.

And why orange? Because muggins knows that a nice matching grey will result in him closing the tailgate without thinking with them fitted, hard to forget if they need sunglasses to be near

 

[roadtripper]

Two things on our wish list we didn't manage to find were 4Motion and second battery.

4Motion because 15 years of running one, sometimes two, AWD estates and doing a lot of event work makes my driving style a bit off road, need to remember that I have the clearance but not the traction now We do have snow socks in a bench seat drawer and when the tyres need changing we will be putting the CrossClimates we trust on to replace the sporty Bridgestones we have.

I have had a couple of quotes for a second battery but decided not to... yet. We don't need a lot of power in the van, it would just be nice to have the lights on without worrying about the starter battery, especially if we are an event.

Our main use is "seaside fish and chips in the rain at a weekend" so the main cabin lights are a bit annoying as they are cold white and on a car like timer. There is a great thread here about putting secondary warm white LEDs in them off the second battery which we may try in the future.

Instead we've found these great little USB rechargeable dome lights on eBay. They fit in the fold down roof handles perfectly and give a great light. They also have magnets on. 2 live in the cabin as they exactly fit in the double cupholder with the USB sockets, along with short charging leads. 4 others live in the kitchen pod drawer and can clip on the open tailgate when in use.



Also there is a bit of void in the kitchen pod behind the water carrier and a side hole there. In a van it would give side access to stuff behind the wheel arch but in the Caravelle the trim mostly stops that. But it's an ideal place to wedge a small BEAUDENS Portable Power Station (Amazon link) that does 240v, 12v and USB - currently a couple of long USB leads on it poked out the side of the pod to run lights off. I like it as it's not too big and all the connections are on one end rather than hanging out all sides.

 

[t6blo]

Congrats and welcome to the ownership club

I have a Kombi and have a similar “seaside fish and chips in the rain at a weekend” use case as well as being my daily driver. I haven't installed a second battery and use an EcoFlow Delta Mini which will charge via ignition when engine running or via a solar panel on the roof. Like you my draw is minimal - led lights, charging devices, a cctv camera and Wi-Fi hotspot.

I like your orange windbreaks - I think the tailgate is great to stop the rain when it is falling straight down, but barn doors with a tarp over the top are probably better for wind and sideways rain

The rear of a caravelle is something special though - am a tad bit jealous

 

[roadtripper]

I'm thinking of doing something similar with the smaller Beaudens. We have a full factory towbar hookup but we'd only ever haul our box trailer to events so the basic 7 pins. I do wonder if I can repurpose one of the ignition switched feeds on the other pins to top up the Beaudens and strap it under the seat. One for the future...

We are planning MkII on the orange windbreaks. The magnets hold in remarkably high winds, but they do tend to slide. I might try a bit of bungee cord in the free third side between the tailgate stop and the bottom bracket of the ram as it seems to be the flapping of that edge. We did consider making them longer to reach down to the bumper area but then we run out of metal... A small clamp sucker would work but then we are carrying more bulk and what we have works really well but takes up almost no space at all.

The rear is very nice, but we carry two younguns in it. I may be a tiny bit precious about it still, much to my other half's annoyance. On the shakedown trip with my in-laws everytime we stopped for a bio break I was in the back brushing out (one bit of our precious storage is a 12v car vac...) I'm sure I will mellow but right now it feels like a house extension on wheels and I'm constantly following the kids with wet wipes, and fish and chips is an hour of massively elevated heart rate on the FitBit

 

[roadtripper]

Another thing we've done is to is try to personalize it a bit externally.

My father likes winding me up saying I've spent a lot of money on a taxi (doesn't stop him asking for a lift to the airport mind) but I also don't want to end up looking like a tricked out camper and being a bit too tempting to the scrotes. So aiming somewhere in the middle as a boring unremarkable FamilyWagon.

The Muppet stickers I chose are in no way a comment on our kids, honestly...

 

[roadtripper]

Our final (to date) big bit of work was some sort of awning. After a lot of thought we realised not being a full camper and have a day trip kitchen pod even if we do go camping we will be pulling our box trailer and canvas tent we've used for years and there is little point physically joining the van to a tent.

So what we needed was something over the side for the day events we do for light rain and sun. Again we don't want to do anything "serious" to the van until end of warranty so a Cali style cassette awning isn't right for us at the minute with the bonding to the roof. Had a good look at the Fammia F40 (noting the roof rubbing risk and solutions on threads here) but it's pushing a grand and makes the van look a bit more "camper" than we currently want to do.

Instead we've gone for one of the roof gutter C rails and a Debus awning from Funky Leisure based on some other recommendations here and they were in the sale.

Having got the rail and fettled the ends to smooth off the ends and make it a bit easier on the awning cloth I had a moment of doubt about bolting it flat with the original roof bolts and instead went for the stainless M6 bolts and EDPM bonded washers suggested here which keeps it a bit off the roof but still in the gutter. DIYing the roof of such a new van was... stressful but very pleased with the result. Had to order the bolts overnight on Amazon to get them in time for the next event so now I have 96 spare of everything

We're pretty happy with the awning, was quite windy on first use. Cheated slightly and took the heavy duty wooden awning poles from our canvas tent. But it's quite compact and will let us find out what's best for us without shelling out too much. It might suit us long term, if sails are they way to go we might switch to a Rail Sail or we might go back to thinking about mounting an F40 on the roof.

 

[Crazymind]

Welcome! Easy falling in love with the Velle. I am on my second, not very reliable though.
However I have been lucky I brake down always near home . Never had a problem travelling around Europe, winter or summer regardless.
Can’t see anything else to replace it with. Probably once sorted the last issue I will sell it and get the latest possible 2022 I can find.
Enjoy your T6.1!

 

[t6blo]

The rear is very nice, but we carry two younguns in it. I may be a tiny bit precious about it still, much to my other half's annoyance. On the shakedown trip with my in-laws everytime we stopped for a bio break I was in the back brushing out (one bit of our precious storage is a 12v car vac...) I'm sure I will mellow but right now it feels like a house extension on wheels and I'm constantly following the kids with wet wipes, and fish and chips is an hour of massively elevated heart rate on the FitBit

I‘m the same but there is only the wife and me but she still manages to get crumbs everywhere

 

[roadtripper]

So the van isn't just a me thing, I should give credit to MrsR who has done some neat things inside as well as the MkI rain deflectors/windbreaks for the tailgate.

First off we want the younguns to snooze on the way back from big roadtrips and we want to have the van opened up on less sunny days, but we have to keep an eye on clutter in the "permanent" kit. The solution was getting 4 super snuggly fleece blankets and then 4 cushion covers. MrsR put a reinforced zip in and folded the blankets into the covers. Now day to day we have 4 nice cushions in the cabin, but we can deploy snuggly blankets as and when needed.

 

[roadtripper]

(Updated the thread title now it's turning into more of a journal of the ideas we are trying )

 

[roadtripper]

So a few more bits MrsR has added to the van.

To help the younguns sleep on the way back from roadtrips we wanted some shade in the back. It's hard to argue then into a snooze at this time of the year when the sun is streaming in...

We don't need the bulk of full thermal/blackout blinds and the side windows have the neat pull up sun shades. So we had some grey nylon ripstop and MrsR made up a panel that will sit between the sun blind and the window, it has three elastic loops (actually basic hairbands) to hook over either end of the top of the blind bar and it's middle handle tab. We were careful to do this so they don't pull on the sunblind itself.



They don't go quite to the edge but so far they work very well, the younguns like "changing for bed" in the darkened van after we've done tea and settling down, and they've been useful in giving them a more private bolt hole at events.



Best thing is they are so lightweight they fold to almost nothing and tuck in the seat back pockets of the front seats.



You'll also have noticed our micro bunting that MrsR made up from camper van/beach theme fabric she'd collected. They're ace, only issue with MkI attempt is they hook on to the coat hooks in the handles and blow off sometimes when we have the van open, going to update the mounting to something that goes around the handle at some point.

 

[roadtripper]

I still want to try something in the tailgate window. I'm undecided between a bit more grey ripstop and some suckers or just get a commercial thermal blind for that as I quite often would find it useful to black out the back fully when we park up.

And yes you might have guessed that is the nice colour matched ripstop I got for making the windbreaks before I realised I would inevitably be daft and close up with them rigged and switched to bright orange

 

[roadtripper]

And, while we're here, where did the nickname "Big Truckie" come from...

Well in the awning picture that silver Volvo XC70 peering around the van is our long term work horse. Myself and MrsR are ridiculously emotionally attached to it, we got engaged in it, we got married in it, went on honeymoon in it, brought back both kids from hospital in it...

It's just passed 240K and we've had it since 60K. It's never stranded us and twice got us home even when mortally injured (one broken suspension top mount, one failed alternator bearing) and back from one end of the UK to the other in the teeth of The Beast From The East. I spend more than I should on it (always been dealer maintained, same dealer from new, apparently they show it to the new guys now when it's in like some sort of museum exhibit) but even I have to admit it is in the twightlight of it's years. But, hey, it's practically family.

Anyway in the early years it got named "The Truck" given it's more off road nature than my previous SAABs - which MrsR moved to "Truckie" over the years.

When we fell in love with the Caravelle we hired it was a running joke between us that we were too successful in treating it as our own to check it worked for us - MrsR kept reminding me "don't name it till you own it!". When our attempt to buy it fell through the conversation was broadly this:

"You were going to call it Big Truckie weren't you?",​

"Yep",​

"We're going to buy one now though aren't we?",​

"Yep"​

​

and the rest is history.

 

[roadtripper]

Well today I crossed a line, the first irreversible change to the van, after 3 weeks temporary fitting and pondering the 2 little holes for the Climair wind deflectors were drilled with a PCB pin drill (recommend btw for fine holes) and fitted

I know it's a small step, but...

 

[roadtripper]

Latest additions are a basic lightweight cover for the windscreen and a blackout for the tailgate from Fuel Lagoon.

The windscreen cover is very lightweight but that means it's compact enough to live in the van and it seems fine for occasional use. Not having swivels on there is a bit of a faff unhooking the sides with the door cracked open from the inside but for the price I can live with that.

The tailgate I may try turning back to front so the black is on the outside. I'm thinking more of using it as a blackout to stop folks seeing the loaded luggage than true thermal camping, though also useful for long day trips to get the younguns to sleep I hope.

 

[roadtripper]

So there has been some tinkering, or at least shuffling, in the van this week. As mentioned above we decided against a full camper but still interested in camping.

The fact the Caravelle has a full fold flat bench is intriguing and we've always wondered about the scenario of "out for a day trip but traffic horrible can we overnight if we have to". Strictly there is really only space for 2 adults but 1 adult and the 2 younguns may well fit and I'm reasonably adept at falling asleep on a reclining chair.

Anyway a group we are part of are having a relaxed camping meetup in a family field so it seemed the ideal thing to take the van and experiment. We may just BBQ with them and day trip with the awning up, if the younguns are up for it we may sleep over. We're taking our "plastic" (rather than our massive 15th Century canvas) tent with us as well. We may all try and sleep in the van and store the younguns seats in the tent or we may all sleep in the tent. It seemed a good opportunity to go and have a play with what works.

So, anyway, if anyone is curious what a Caravelle looks like trying to play a California on TV here's the experimenting so far!

Bench seat flat, can still use the rear kitchen pod (first time I've actually checked) then middle seats flat pushed up to it and the table unit slid between them. The protection mats for the car seats go over the slightly vulnerable leather on the flat backs of the mid seats, and younguns neck cushions fill in the slight difference in height on top of the table. Plan is to chuck the general fleece blankets over it all and use a fitted bedsheet to hold it together.

Yep it's a compromise, but then what isn't in a small van you are trying to live in for a few hours?

 

[roadtripper]

I decided to go and test the next step so I can get back to our normal configuration, MrsR suggestion of the king sized fitted sheet works really well, the elastic tucks it well over the headrests each end and covers all the leather even on the sides of the mid seats. I think only thing to watch is the mid seat handles when getting on and off. The headrests on the bench seat will make nice pillow stops I think.

 

[roadtripper]

Which reminds me another recent purchase was two of these summer microlight sleeping bags from Aldi. On road trips we often have the younguns duvets with us for end of day trips back or familiarity in motels so 2 of these would give myself and MrsR something in our hypothetical "delayed in traffic need to stop overnight" situation.



Usefully they are a left and right pair which means they can open up like a big blanket or zip into a near double.

Luckily they tuck right into the otherwise unused space under the mid seats, in fact the slider bar holds them in nicely. Keep in mind we have these seats facing back "railway table" style normally not "minibus" style.