Rob's T6 Overland Camper Build Thread

[Snakelimit]

Ładnie troszke last na to poszło

 

[Sasquatch]

Any new updates @T6NOMAD ?

 

[BuzzT6]

Excellent looking build! Well done

 

[T6NOMAD]

Its been a while since I have updated my thread, so thought I would do a little update

Since it is holiday season in Europe, we planned Nomad's first adventure to Sardinia (Sardegna for the name aficionados) for 2 weeks, road trip around the island; but the risky part was going in high season without any bookings or reservations. We wanted to wild camp, sea views, remoteness, isolation.. I was planning to ask the big question to my girlfriend on the trip - this didn't happen, yet... more about this later...

To get to the island we had to get ourselves to Livorno, Italy to get onto the Grimaldi Ferry. This was an interesting experience, quite organized but chaotic at the same time, after all Italy would be boring if it wasn't chaotic right?





When we arrived in Olbia, Sardinia the first thing we did was to go and top up on Groceries, beers and maybe even an inflatable kayak - but I didn't find one that could carry my weight + the Ms so ended up buying a fishing rod instead. We opened iOverlander and made our way to our first camp site, we found a little bit of paradise. It really was an amazing camp site, perhaps a little ruined buy the sheer amount of used wet wipes in the bushes around us but that didn't detract from the gorgeous sea views and isolated camp site.





The van even got some air time! Woo-hoo!! the photo doesn't do it justice, but there was 3 or 4cm of lift of the front wheel from the ground! that's enough to be proud of for a car that has about the same flex of an ironing board! lol



Our journey continued around the island where we found both remote camps, and official camp sites so that we could top up on water, empty grey water tanks, have a shower, do some washing etc...







How cool do those 3 x 175w solar panels on the roof look? They kept my 105AH battery topped up perfectly, we didn't need to connect to shore power at all... Except for this camp, it was gorgeous in the forest but those trees stopped me from getting sun power and Starlink signal as I was working remotely on the trip. That stealth shore power mod from THQ is awesome!





The 2 week trip was cut short to 1 week, we found the most amazing remote camp site where we would have been all alone, far from anyone, but had to drive through a somewhat sandy road to get there... I thought awesome, this will be the perfect place to pop the question... Well, we got really stuck in the sand, Maxtrax out and put to use... Before I knew it I had smoke coming out from under the car with a strong clutch burning smell.. Great! We are now stuck on a remote path, no passers by to help, no air compressor to pump the tyres after deflating them (Rookie mistake on my part), burned clutch.... We need help. So after letting the clutch cool for an hour; during this time we turned on the Starlink and looked for mechanics that can help - we found a Polish mechanic so we thought maybe they will be helpful to their fellow countrymen... Now we had to get there, after assessing all our self recovery options we ended up driving on the brushes next to the path - this was eventful because of slipping clutch but it worked. I then had to turn the car off, put into reverse, turn the car on and reverse out of there over the brushes. After a couple of hours we self recovered and limped the car to the mechanic 65km away..



Now we find out Italy goes into a summer holiday mode for 2 weeks where most business close for the school holidays. Our car will only be fixed at the end of August, so within a couple of minutes we arrange a flight home, the mechanic drops us at the train station to get to the airport 2 hours away... We are home now...

This story will be continued at the end of August when we fly back to Sardinia to pick up the van, this time drive up to Corsica, explore there a bit and make our way back to Switzerland... I still plan to pop the big question on a remote beach but need to find it...

As for the van, this trip has shown some changes and modifications that need to be done to the van, they are:

1. Remove the rear ladder, its pointless and serves no purpose. I will buy another UB rear wheel bracket but will modify it to hold a aluminium box next to the wheel. It will carry the awnings, camping goodies etc. that take up space in the van.
2. The kitchen unit we bought is sub-quality. I went for a cheaper option thinking there wont be much of a difference, sadly there is. Also the unit is design for a 1 sliding door van, not dual like ours so this causes a issue as well. When we get the van back we will take the existing unit out, I will plan a custom kitchen out of Phenolic plywood with Hexagon cover. This will be stronger and more durable and set up to suit us.
3. I need to find a place under the van to install an Air Compressor, has anyone done this?

 

[manfrotto]

Our Van is only Front wheel drive with highway tyres, and got stuck on a sandy road on our last trip. I was quite surprised how easy it is to get stuck, especially when being used to having 4WDs ! Luckily for us a 4WD ute came along and assisted. SHMBO reminds me now every time we leave the tarmac

 

[Kind of Blue]

A wheel Carrier type that has proved popular across Europe is the Multi bicycle carrier for Tailgates. They do not require bolting but clamp on to the Tailgate. Instead of carrying bicycles they are adapted by adding a wheel carrier. The is carrier is able support 2 wheel carriers or a box. They are available from many suppliers of outlander or transporter expedition outlets. One can buy a complete ready adapted carrier complete with all the fittings and wheel carriers or boxes to your requirement or some of these carriers should people already have one the adaptions to make them comply. I should imagine that they may come with TUV approval certification.

Many 4x4 vehicles have them mounted under the vehicle in a void somewhere or if room in the engine compartment. I suggest that you consider mounting it on your new multi wheel carrier on the tail gate. Of course it would require wiring but it is an ideal place for it and would provide a good central point for wheel access and be out of the way perhaps in a box.. Some 4x4 have multiple distribution points for airlines but that would be an added complication I feel.

Great images of you travels by the way.

 

[T6NOMAD]

A wheel Carrier type that has proved popular across Europe is the Multi bicycle carrier for Tailgates. They do not require bolting but clamp on to the Tailgate. Instead of carrying bicycles they are adapted by adding a wheel carrier. The is carrier is able support 2 wheel carriers or a box. They are available from many suppliers of outlander or transporter expedition outlets. One can buy a complete ready adapted carrier complete with all the fittings and wheel carriers or boxes to your requirement or some of these carriers should people already have one the adaptions to make them comply. I should imagine that they may come with TUV approval certification.

I thought about those at 1 point, but prefer the setup I have now with the UB rear wheel carrier. Also cant justify the EUR 1,500 for the bike carrier when the UB wheel carrier is £285

 

[Snakelimit]

Moja pierwsza wyprawa nie byla taka zla jak twoja tylko 1 error. Musze pamietac aby po piachu nie jechac mam nadzieje ze wszystko bedzie ok z vanem I powodzenia na plazy

 

[Kind of Blue]

I thought about those at 1 point, but prefer the setup I have now with the UB rear wheel carrier. Also cant justify the EUR 1,500 for the wheel carrier expense when the UB wheel carrier is £285

I agree they are absolutely ridiculously expensive even just for bikes. They are however very adaptable for multiple wheels and or safari type boxes and for others not wanting to drill holes in their precious van they do the job. I am quite sure that someone could easily fabricate something similar designed on the back of a fag packet for very little money or even use Key Clamp for the majority of the structure leaving only the clamping mechanism to ponder over or to just bolt it on.

 

[Kind of Blue]

I even in my mind imagined a simple lift system for lifting the wheel on and off the tail gate using one of two methods one just a simple foldable jib with a winch, hand or electric and the other using a long captive screw. I thought of this many years ago when humping UNIMOG wheels and tyres and those for Landrover 101FC This is because large off road wheels an tyres can become very heavy the larger they are and humping these in the heat of the desert or on slippery ice might put some off or might be unpleasant especially if one ended up injured in a ditch following a blowout. The high mounting is only to really to facilitate the tailgate lift reducing the need for ridiculously powerful piston hydraulic spring dampers but with such a system one would hardly need to lift the wheel tyre at all perhaps either an battery drill or motor..

 

[Sasquatch]

Good luck with the clutch. Hopefully the chap can get it sorted before your return. Off road without low range can be hard on them.

 

[T6NOMAD]

I even in my mind imagined a simple lift system for lifting the wheel on and off the tail gate using one of two methods one just a simple foldable jib with a winch, hand or electric and the other using a long captive screw. I thought of this many years ago when humping UNIMOG wheels and tyres and those for Landrover 101FC This is because large off road wheels an tyres can become very heavy the larger they are and humping these in the heat of the desert or on slippery ice might put some off or might be unpleasant especially if one ended up injured in a ditch following a blowout. The high mounting is only to really to facilitate the tailgate lift reducing the need for ridiculously powerful piston hydraulic spring dampers but with such a system one would hardly need to lift the wheel tyre at all perhaps either an battery drill or motor..

I was really surprised when I picked up my spare wheel to fit it onto that carrier, it was a lot heavier than what I expected. It can definitely be difficult for solo travelers or someone who is not in the prime of their youth anymore to pick up that wheel. Lower would be better and it would lower the center of gravity too.

Good luck with the clutch. Hopefully the chap can get it sorted before your return. Off road without low range can be hard on them.

Thank you, I'm also hopeful that he can sort it out. The Amarok doesn't have low range, it had a different gear ratio which 'emulated' low range - I think I was secretly hoping tat VW would carry that tech across to the van... I was evidently very wrong there. Perhaps its time I invest in a winch for more efficient self recovery.

 

[Sasquatch]

Aye, some vehicles have a crawler first gear.

 

[Dannyb6467]

Aye, some vehicles have a crawler first gear.

Some T6's??

 

[Sasquatch]

Some T6's??

Not to my knowledge. Was thinking of stuff like the AWD Dacia Ruster, gets around not having low range by means a crawler first gear.

 

[Dannyb6467]

Not to my knowledge. Was thinking of stuff like the AWD Dacia Ruster, gets around not having low range by means a crawler first gear.

Ah ok, sorry, I misunderstood.

 

[Kind of Blue]

I was really surprised when I picked up my spare wheel to fit it onto that carrier, it was a lot heavier than what I expected. It can definitely be difficult for solo travelers or someone who is not in the prime of their youth anymore to pick up that wheel. Lower would be better and it would lower the center of gravity too.

The simplest way would be to have two parallel vertical tubes running up and down top to bottom of the door with a horizontal par of close spacing tubes running between the two verticals this latter pair would hold the wheel mounting. If using something like Key Clamp which has a large verity of diameter tubes to choose and made from a a selection of Aluminium, Steel or fibreglass / plastic and a phenomenal selection of joints. A joints could easily be selected that allowed the set horizontal tubes to run up and down in unison over the vertical set. The simplest method height adjustment would be to have through pegs to lock in position or to place under a resting place one could have several heights pre selected and drilled through. Lifting a wheel on to the bracket when low is easy, lock wheel in place then the whole thing could be just slid manually up the vertical tubes to a satisfactory final place. It is not so much just lifting but in the heat of the day and for someone unfit and then struggling with the wheel bolts might be too much for some but sliding an already secured wheel up two vertical tubes would be easy, then pegs just put through pre arranged holes. All Key Clamp joints can be secures anyway via their own security screws so a belt and braces approach for total security.

 

[Kind of Blue]

Not to my knowledge. Was thinking of stuff like the AWD Dacia Ruster, gets around not having low range by means a crawler first gear.

That is correct, first is almost superfluous on road it is so low even second is quite low. 2nd is perfectly fine to pull away with. Personally would prefer a transfer box but that would add weigh,t complexity and cost. Still the Duster is very competent off road and has a HALDEX like mechanism with Part time AWD that being 2WD, AWD with the HALDEX like device doing something like the 4Motion but it also has the ability to lock up with permanent 4x4 all done with a switch in true 4x4 it is very good indeed nimble and light. With a modicum of work, lifted springs and dampers much larger tyre snorkel ect It would be quite a useful tool and with a diesel so frugal. Not powerful but if the engine is given a bit of right foot and gears held on and stirred it will keep up with the traffic with ease no problem at all. Far more comfortable that a Suzuki Jimni which is an uncomfortable and bouncy ride though they are very short and have better approach, ramp and departure angles. The Duster has a huge boot and is a better all-round car. I do like the Suzuki but it is very bouncy and not very practical but around town great and off road excellent with the right gear and stuff The Duster would fair better than most so called soft roaders by a long way in the rough and has far better ground clearance too. For the money one gets a lot of car with very good road manors, very good off road and excellent potential and quite safe only some secondary safety things not quite the best. The inside is plain and the seats basic but the instrumentation quite good with not being overly touch sensitive to get important things done without having to take ones eyes of the road. that is why we bought one for our daughters fist car on qualifying. Needed a car that was cheep to insure under her own name and build up a no claims. was safe to drive with good handling excellent off road and not very theft worthy as many youngsters perhaps might not be seen dead in one. Basically they are Renaults in another skin. they are Renaults equivalent of the Skoda and the latest examples look very good though unfortunately are now petrol only. I rate them. Loads of Duster in Wales. Though I imagine most will be 2WD. Very Good garages too.

 

[T6NOMAD]

Forgot to include this in my update above, for those nights where we just want to enjoy a movie, I fitted a 50" Duronic projector screen and have a XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro which works an absolute treat, its bright, has adjustable keystone and a great speaker. As I have an Austops pop top with the Deluxe mattress, I am unable to mount the projector to the roof, so it stands on the cupboard next to me. Coupled with Starlink, I can enjoy live TV and full suite of streaming while remote

Super happy with the setup.

 

[T6NOMAD]

So we got the bill to have the van's clutch fixed. The mechanic replaced the clutch with a heavy duty clutch, new flywheel and labour...

Bit of an eye watering pill to swallow, but alas its fixed.




So we fly back to Sardinia on Friday, will have part 2 of our holiday for a week and then make our way home... Expect more photos and videos to come