For various reasons the lifting roof has not seen much use since last autumn - I was wrestling with time to get more fitments and mechanical things done that badly needed doing.
My fuel pump was leaking so I bought a s/h one and had it fully overhauled by the local Bosch agent before christmas, not cheap as it needed a new hydraulic head. It should have been straightforward swap for my old leaking one but it is proving to be a pain in the butt. I got the local 4x4 garage to do the swap and change the timing belt as well as it was mid-winter and having it all apart and off the road whilst I played with it on the drive was not an option. It wasn't running right after the overhaul and the garage & Bosch agent were perplexed. I got the Bosch guys to look at it again and they decided to tweak the fuel screw (bearing in mind this is all under warranty work now) which improved it but still not great.
Long story short I realized there was no apparent fuel increase under boost so pulled the pump top off myself and found that the boost pin (which moves up and down in response to the turbo pressure) was jammed solid! Pump guys had a devil of a job getting it out as the fuel pin (which comes across to butt against the boost pin) was jammed in the bore and needed a rod welded onto it to get it out. They got it back on the road with bits from another pump and then I noticed it had a leak, so took it back to Bosch and they fixed the leak but again performance has taken a hit, this time too much smoke and an initial odd surge in rpm a few days after I collected it from them, which meant I had to wind back the idle speed. It might be going back in to Bosch once again although it is usable and pulls nicely, running very very sweetly, but the smoke under heavy load is excessive.
At the same time as all of this I had a head gasket fail so replaced the head myself with a Turner Engineering one, adding various new gauges for turbo boost, exhaust gas temp etc at the same time. All this messing about with the engine and pulling off the manifold and downpipe has revealed a more badly corroded exhaust than I thought which I had to replace, and the air intake & intercooler piping has had a good inspection too when they were off and they all looked pretty tired as they've had 15+ years of use so I've ordered new silicone ones and will replace them next week or so.
Inside I've finally got the inverter wired in and working, also all the wiring for a 240V mains hook-up and RCD protected outlets for both of these - the wiring was incredibly time-consuming to do ensuring its all properly routed and fully sheathed and protected from vibration.
My back door was failing, the skin crumbling although the steel subframe was not too bad, but I decided a whole new door was easier than replacing the skin, and not much dearer, so a few weeks ago I painted up a new one and replaced that too.
And to add to the fun there's been a bad adhesion problem with the Sikaflex and the cellulose paint and etch primer I'd used on the new roof. Basically the Sikaflex has eaten through the paint and primer right down to the alloy! So I've had to scrape that off the various joints and reseal.
Anyway it's now usable so my wee lad and I went off for a week for a boys own adventure to the north coast. Weather has been a bit iffy - we've had snow right into June (on the hills), and its been distinctly cool. Anyway we'd a great time, and the trip revealed a few weaknesses to my design and many many strengths so I thought I'd give you an overview.
Negatives first:
1) The rear awning I designed and built has had as much of a slope on it as is possible within the small space between the back door top and the lifting roof joint - basically the more of a 'drop' you put on the swing-out awning arms, the more space you need to store it when its folded back and not deployed (think of the triangle shape needed and you'll understand). One solution was to make slots in the brackets that hold it to the van so that the bolts holding the awning 'triangles' could be slid to and fro to alter the angle when its deployed, but I decided against that (I may change my mind on this). Anyway it really rained when we were away, a lot of water, and with the two arms out and the fabric taut, it filled with rain. The slope is definitely not steep enough. There was an easy solution - I had an adjustable awning pole which I used on one side. Simply folding one of the awning support arms back in out of the way and using the awning pole and a few guy lines to give a good water-shedding slope. It worked perfectly. So basically I have the two arms out for sun shade and light showers, but for heavy showers I can pull back an arm and drop a side on the adjustable pole and shed water away from the door. (see pictures below).
Arms out and level, good for light rain and sun.
One side dropped on a pole for heavy rain and wind.
2) The interior loops used to pull the fabric inside when lowering the roof. These are stitched through the fabric sides and onto them I attach thin elastic cord with hooks on the end when I drop the roof, then remove them. The loops were always going to be a potential leak point however I had seam-sealed them and made sure they were watertight. However the continual use, and temporary tension applied by the elastic cords inside when I drop the roof, has revealed that the seam-sealer is not flexible. We'd a few really wet nights and the first one had the interior fabric loops getting pretty damp as the water was wicking through on the stitching. I solved it temporarily during the night with a strip of j-cloth on the cord loop inside acting as a 'wick' into a cup, which in the event wasn't really needed as it didn't get to the dripping stage. But next morning the sun came out and it was very windy so it dried quickly and I was able to slather some clear silicone on the stitching all round. Just as well I did as it got even wetter the next day and we'd a very rough night but this time it stayed absolutely dry. I'll put some waterproof fabric patches over the outside exposed stitching to properly seal them. In retrospect I should perhaps have simply stuck some loops on the inside and not stitched through at all.
Stitch-through sewing (and a dragonfly we picked up)
Now the positives:
Happy to say - many!
1) The interior layout work REALLY well. The sink at rear, with cooker opposite is a great combination for food prep and cooking. The lid of the slide-out fridge gives an additional work surface too. The really useful things are the ply 'lids' I've added to strengthen the tops of the plastic food and plate storage boxes (which makes them usable as seats outside the van or inside) but which fit the top of the sink and can be used as additional work surface.
Things like a folding colander that sits across the sink is a huge boon for easily draining rice and pasta, minimizing spill and scald risks. And the small slide-out table with extra, larger, top which can be added if needed (which is normally the detachable front of a cupboard) is a great asset, making a quick and easy work, eat, read, laptop surface.
But the real winner is the shelf around the roof. When I built it I retained part of the original roof, and used the old 'curve' coming up out of the gutter to fasten the new roof to. This left a 'lip' inside all round which I put 6 inch wide pine on, thus making a wide shelf down both sides and across the back. This has turned out to be even more useful than I imagined. It can have cups and bottles put on it, small items like cameras and binoculars, bottles and tins and stuff thats required when cooking such as bits of veg or spice and sauce bottles. It really has made the rear area incredibly versatile and usable, and keeps spillable things well out of the way of main work areas and elbows, and really reduces the risks of spillage as well as making life easier.
Roof hatch: brilliant investment (yacht deck hatch) - enables huge ventilation which helps prevent condensation from the fully waterproof fabric sides, keeps upstairs part cool and allows great sky views in bed or sitting up looking with binoculars at the view. Wee lad loves standing up on the bed platform and looking out!
Continued below in another post - kind of a small trip review:
it's all being listed on my 'must do' list!
