What Have You Done To Your Van Today?

Changed out my 85Ah AGM leisure battery for a Renogy Smart 100Ah LifePO4 battery. Changed out Solar Controller for Victron MPPT. Recycled my 85Ah AGM battery into a Bison Battery box, for more portable power availability.
 
I made up a small back wheel for my bike so I can mount the bike in the back of the van without needing to slide the seats all the way forward. The wheel helps no end with getting the bike in and out. We have a trip to Bike Park wales planned next weekend so this means we can fit three bike and us all in the van (SWB Caravelle conversion) in comfort. Fork mount and rail are from FortyWinks (and are quality). I had to create new mount points in the back of the van as the old mounts were buried under the floor. They are RivNuts mounted into the threshold plastic.


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Wheel is just big enough to protect the derailleur and keep it off the floor.


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FortyWInks Bike Station is a quality bit of kit (ignore the test wheel, it was for proof of concept).

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New mount points are RivNuts mounted into the plastic moulding beneath the cover.

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Plenty of legroom now, before there was probably 2" between the seats and other than sitting in the middle with your legs crossed made the back seats useless.


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I love the offroad look of the wheels.

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I also installed LED's in the step lights to match the other lights that were already LED. I used LED tape after having a number of issues trying to use LED bulbs (kept blowing fuses).

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Finally I installed a "neon" loop round the headlining that comes on with the door lights.
That is the ultimate mullet. You need to ride that at BPW
 
Awning bolted on. Bit of guesswork with the required brackets with only pics and no dimensional data available. Lucked out in that it all went together and I didn’t even need to re-drill holes to align, just needed cut the supplied coach bolts down in length a bit. New roofbox up too (shorter one to fit in front of my spare) but was too dark at that point to snap a pic!

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Pleased with this! Reasonable bit cheaper / less complexity than the winder awnings, but still very Thule in quality and design. Also has the advantage of being a bit more extension than the 4900/5102 options at 2.5m. Bit of a gap between it and the van but it’s more geared as a day-van / picnic warrior, so not planning to be used for anything more than sun / drizzle relief. Cambelt service next on the list :rolleyes:.

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We Drove up to Bacup today and had a Van- King bed fitted to our SWB Kombi by Murray, Pat and I are very pleased with the quality of the materials and can’t wait for the warmer weather to use it.
Murray is a great guy, clean worker and very pleasant and knowledgeable to talk to.

John.
 
Finally changed the headlight bulbs after my earlier failed attempt and thinking it was 2 pairs of H7’s I needed.

H15’s arrived today ……2 hrs later and a loss less skin on my knuckles, they are in. That top connected block is a complete bar steward to reconnect! Thankfully the H7 bulbs were dead easy.
 
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Pleased with this! Reasonable bit cheaper / less complexity than the winder awnings, but still very Thule in quality and design. Also has the advantage of being a bit more extension than the 4900/5102 options at 2.5m. Bit of a gap between it and the van but it’s more geared as a day-van / picnic warrior, so not planning to be used for anything more than sun / drizzle relief. Cambelt service next on the list :rolleyes:.

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Nice van and set up...looks the bizz! Just wondering with those that keep their spare wheel on the roof...must be quite a task in getting up and down? How do you manage that?
 
Nice van and set up...looks the bizz! Just wondering with those that keep their spare wheel on the roof...must be quite a task in getting up and down? How do you manage that?
Cheers! It’s not bad in fairness, I carry a telescoping ladder at all times and the non-awning side has locating brackets so I’ve a very stable way of getting up and down. It’s still a faf since it’s so unwieldy, but other than putting it up to start with I’ve not had to move it. It would love for it to be underneath but it doesn’t fit with it being oversize, and for the privilege of being 4mo I can’t get away with an undersized spare.
 
Cheers! It’s not bad in fairness, I carry a telescoping ladder at all times and the non-awning side has locating brackets so I’ve a very stable way of getting up and down. It’s still a faf since it’s so unwieldy, but other than putting it up to start with I’ve not had to move it. It would love for it to be underneath but it doesn’t fit with it being oversize, and for the privilege of being 4mo I can’t get away with an undersized spare.
What size is the wheel/tyre? You can get oversize spare wheel carriers for the underneath but they come at a price! Cheaper to keep on the roof! :thumbsup:

 
They are genuine Sportline 5 Spoke 18” Wheels. I think they are an earlier generation. I bought them from Deaky here on the forum recently. I'm very pleased with them. They really suit the van I think
Don't forget.....they're mine when you sell em !!!
 
...May be going the Iveco route to build a small overland truck...definitely don't forget though bud.
 
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