LWB Caravelle Owners

[paradigm]

I'm looking at a LWB 'velle and just had a few questions if I may:

With the multiflex board and the bench in bed-mode, what is the length of the bed if the 2 single seat remain up and fully forward? I ask because my littlest one sleeps on a blow up on the rear seats in my LWB kombi.

The Good Night pack, are the curtains/blinds any good?

Finally, and I'm dreading the answer to this; has anyone pop-top'd their caravelle and retained the rear heating bits? And has anyone done this without remortgaging the house!?

Thanks all

 

[jayc001]

I have a LWB velle with multiflex board and pretty sure my mattress won't fit with middle row fitted and up unless they are rotated backwards.

Generally I take middle row out if sleeping in it but normally it's just two people.

 

[paradigm]

I have a LWB velle with multiflex board and pretty sure my mattress won't fit with middle row fitted and up unless they are rotated backwards.

Generally I take middle row out if sleeping in it but normally it's just two people.

I hadn’t thought of rotating the middle row, that would work. One kid on there, one in a cab bunk over the front seats

 

[TallPaul_S]

A LWB caravelle? A rare beast!

Not sure what you mean about the middle row seats - with the multi flex board and rear bench folded down, that is your bed. The single seats aren't required so you can do what you want with them.

The good night pack. I still have mine in it's little bag. I've fitted Van-x curtains to the sliding doors and will be fitting the cab divider and tailgate curtain. The VW window blinds are OK but they're not black out, far from it in fact, leak a lot of light, and the tailgate and windscreen ones use camping tent poles so they're a right faff to put up.

The pop top. Yeah.... Be sitting down if you find someone to do a proper job. Kernow transporters used to do them, and there may be others, but I'm guessing you'll be looking at £7-8k for a proper job with the air ducts being relocated.

 

[jayc001]

I hadn’t thought of rotating the middle row, that would work. One kid on there, one in a cab bunk over the front seats

Sounds cosy. I tow the caravan when family all come away. Sometimes wife and I sleep in the Caravelle and leave the 6 berth caravan full of teenagers.

Did consider pop top but seems sacrilege to lose the rear vents especially when I do 40k miles a year for work. I have seen some conversions that cleverly keep some of rear ac.

 

[paradigm]

Sounds cosy. I tow the caravan when family all come away. Sometimes wife and I sleep in the Caravelle and leave the 6 berth caravan full of teenagers.

Did consider pop top but seems sacrilege to lose the rear vents especially when I do 40k miles a year for work. I have seen some conversions that cleverly keep some of rear ac.

Kids are only 4 and 6 so it’s only a matter of time

 

[paradigm]

A LWB caravelle? A rare beast!

Not sure what you mean about the middle row seats - with the multi flex board and rear bench folded down, that is your bed. The single seats aren't required so you can do what you want with them.

The good night pack. I still have mine in it's little bag. I've fitted Van-x curtains to the sliding doors and will be fitting the cab divider and tailgate curtain. The VW window blinds are OK but they're not black out, far from it in fact, leak a lot of light, and the tailgate and windscreen ones use camping tent poles so they're a right faff to put up.

The pop top. Yeah.... Be sitting down if you find someone to do a proper job. Kernow transporters used to do them, and there may be others, but I'm guessing you'll be looking at £7-8k for a proper job with the air ducts being relocated.

Perfect feedback thanks. Any issues fitting the curtains to the trim rather than the body?

 

[TallPaul_S]

Perfect feedback thanks. Any issues fitting the curtains to the trim rather than the body?

No, all good. The Van-x curtains have a caravelle specific model with slightly shorter curtains and pop rivets instead of screws. For the rear side windows, putting some thin wood behind the headliner is a good idea to stop the screws or rivets from pulling out.




I'm not using the rear side window ones as I'm fitting a set of window bags instead which will act as permanent blackouts and give extra storage.

 

[paradigm]

No, all good. The Van-x curtains have a caravelle specific model with slightly shorter curtains and pop rivets instead of screws. For the rear side windows, putting some thin wood behind the headliner is a good idea to stop the screws or rivets from pulling out.

View attachment 239201
View attachment 239202

I'm not using the rear side window ones as I'm fitting a set of window bags instead which will act as permanent blackouts and give extra storage.

The rivets go into the headlining for the rear? Is that as dodgy as it sounds?

 

[TallPaul_S]

The rivets go into the headlining for the rear? Is that as dodgy as it sounds?

So in the rear, the trims look like this (I've had mine apart to route some wiring)


So you have the 2 vertical trims on the rear pillar and the pillar next to the sliding door, then the grab handle and roof net holder which helps hold the headliner in place. The headliner is about 10mm thick. In a normal T6 when mounting the curtain rails you would screw directly into the metal, but on the caravelle you screw into the headliner.

Not much different to the sliding doors, you attach the rail to the grey plastic above the window.

 

[AdL]

So my LWB van says 'Caravelle' on the build sticker - never quite sure what that meant? What excatly is the definition of a 'Caravelle'? Anyway it has a pop-top but the rear heating is no longer there. There were some pipes going to the roof for air con which we found out when one of them had a leak and the aircon stopped working. Inside the engine bay there appears to be a redundant aircon/heating pipe which was flopping around but I tied up with a zip tie.

Can't comment on the bed / rail thing as the van came with what I think they call a Rock 'n Roll bed.

The curtains seems to fit and work OK and a sort of black out material - but with the dark glass as well it is never light in the van even in direct sunlight when the curtains are shut.

I did not do the conversion! It was not very well done by Caledonian Campers. Gradually sorting out their build issues and the van is generally quite good.

Did that help at all - probably not

 

[TallPaul_S]

So my LWB van says 'Caravelle' on the build sticker - never quite sure what that meant? What excatly is the definition of a 'Caravelle'?

I'm assuming you're UK based as the UK shuttle is called the caravelle in Europe, and the UK caravelle is called the multivan...

UK caravelle models for the T6 came in Executive which has a load of extra chrome, half leather half alcantara seats, climate control (tri-zone, no less!), extra sound deadening, the rail system with rear 3 seat bench, 2 middle seats and 2 front seats, full comfort dash, highest spec colour info display, fully trimmed interior...

There was an SE model too which was less well specced but still had the rear roof vents, rails, etc. only this model was available in LWB, as far as I know.

So if you have a LWB caravelle it's either a UK SE spec, or you're in Europe and it's actually what we'd call a Shuttle - which is a glorified minibus.

 

[AdL]

I am in the UK - but I don't have a colour dash and I don't see any leather. In fact the van seems pretty basic - not even any buttons (at all) on the steering wheel, no cruise control etc. But is is 150hp and DSG and LWB and Tailgate which is what we wanted. No evidence of floor rails, extra chrome etc. No sat nav - but that is just being upgraded. It has a better heating control than I have seen on some other vans - split temperature controls left and right and digital temperature display.

 

[TallPaul_S]

I am in the UK - but I don't have a colour dash and I don't see any leather. In fact the van seems pretty basic - not even any buttons (at all) on the steering wheel, no cruise control etc. But is is 150hp and DSG and LWB and Tailgate which is what we wanted. No evidence of floor rails, extra chrome etc. No sat nav - but that is just being upgraded. It has a better heating control than I have seen on some other vans - split temperature controls left and right and digital temperature display.

That sounds very much like a shuttle. No comfort dash, no multi function steering wheel, but rear roof air con, temperature display where you can set to a specific temperature is climate control Vs the heat knob which is just normal air con, tailgate, no chrome.

Because the shuttle is the caravelle in Europe, that's probably why it says it says caravelle in places on your van. I'd almost guarantee based on your spec that your base van was a LWB shuttle.

See this van

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Also, converters don't generally convert caravelles as 1. They were much more expensive than a kombi/panel van/shuttle when new, and 2. They'd need to do a whole lot more work removing all the caravelle stuff to fit the camper bits.

 

[AdL]

Yup makes sense - the Autotrader link looks a lot like my van.

 

[paradigm]

So in the rear, the trims look like this (I've had mine apart to route some wiring)

View attachment 239204
So you have the 2 vertical trims on the rear pillar and the pillar next to the sliding door, then the grab handle and roof net holder which helps hold the headliner in place. The headliner is about 10mm thick. In a normal T6 when mounting the curtain rails you would screw directly into the metal, but on the caravelle you screw into the headliner.

Not much different to the sliding doors, you attach the rail to the grey plastic above the window.
View attachment 239211

Can I ask where you’re getting your Lwb window bags from please? Struggling to find any

 

[paradigm]

Another caravelle question, not necessarily a Lwb specific on. Standard factory sounds system… is it as bad as the vans or are there addition speakers/sound deadening/subs etc?

 

[TallPaul_S]

Another caravelle question, not necessarily a Lwb specific on. Standard factory sounds system… is it as bad as the vans or are there addition speakers/sound deadening/subs etc?

1x speaker in each of the front doors, and a tweeter in the A pillar. Same as any other T6. Then 2x rear speakers in the panels behind the sliding doors.

It's 'Passable'. The slight extra sound deadening helps a bit but it's not particularly great. Oh and the rear speakers are possibly worse than the front speakers! I have the fade turned 80% to the front. Basically it's almost as bad as the std vans, but with a couple of extra speakers

There was an option of a Dynaudio upgrade for the caravelle but finding one of them is like finding rocking horse poo!

 

[paradigm]

That settles my internal argument then, I'll have my current system removed before I p/x.

 

[TallPaul_S]

It's also very obvious if yours does have the Dynaudio option as it has a large speaker in the dash where the storage compartment would be




I've got the Alpine plug and play upgrade on my list of stuff to buy, eventually!