Tag Archives: Modifications

Fitting A Bike Rack to the VW Amarok – Part 2…

04 Saturday Mar 2017

Posted by in Accessories, Amarok, Bike Carrier, Bike Rack, General, Modifications, Projects, VW Amarok

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OK, so now to fit the actual bike carriers onto the rack I had previously installed a couple of days ago.

We had opted for the Thule FreeRide 532 over the ProRide version. What put me off the ProRide were a couple of videos on YouTube showing just how easy it was to remove a bike supposedly locked on to the rack. The FreeRide 532 has two arms supporting the bike and offered an option for additional security…. which I’m not going to go into for obvious reasons!

I had ordered a twin pack of the FreeRide 532, unfortunately I only received one. It seems the other was lost in transit somewhere according to my enquiries with the supplier. The other thing I found out was they (or it) didn’t come with the “T” track fixings. OK so a quick trip down to my nearest Thule dealer Northwest Towbars to pick up the elusive fixings. They would remain elusive… Northwest Towbars didn’t have any in stock. Not to be out manoeuvred I’d make my own.

To the bat cave again…

I just happened to have some 2mm aircraft grade aluminium handy and cut eight 21mm x 45mm pieces. The FreeRide 532 normally has three mounting locations, but as there was an additional hole that lined up with the “T” track it would be rude not to use it! So I made four for each rack.

img_1069For the threaded bolt I had some dome head bolts handy. The width of the dome head was wide enough so it would not pull through the slot on its own so I was not relying on a 2mm think aluminium plate entirly. To hold the bolts in place I drilled a slightly undersized hole in the aluminium…

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img_1075img_1077…and used my small press to force the square shoulders of the bolt through the aluminium plate to hold it in place.

img_1078The result was eight “T” track bolts. A quick dressing up on the sanding belt and fine grinding wheel to remove any rough edges finished them off.

img_1079 The excess length of the bolt would be trimmed later.

Fitting the FreeRide 532 Racks

Sliding four of the newly made “T” track bolts in to the WingBars I could place the FreeRide 532 on to the bars.

img_1080I used a couple of nuts to hold the rack in place while I test fitted one of the bikes. It was a bit too tight. The swing up frame section that clamps on to the bike only partially engaged on the bike frame. The whole rack needed moving rearwards by about 10 to 15 mm.

Not a problem, as the WingBar mounting is off set laterally compared to the “T” track, reversing the bar so it faced the other way would solve this and effectively move the “T” track slot rearwards by about 20mm.img_1081

With the WingBar mounted in the other direction the bike was a perfect fit. Also it made it easier opening the end caps of the WingBar as configured the correct way round they were a bit tight against the roll bar.img_1083img_1084img_1082The next thing to address was the overhang. I still had around 50 to 60 mm of adjustment I could make to the rails of the FreeRide rack. Removing everything again and a bit of ‘adjusticating’ with a small rubber mallet soon saw the rails in the correct position. I had not been able to get the rear of the mount flush with the pickup tailgate as was my original hope, but checking with a plumb bob…

img_1090img_1091… It was still shorter than the tow ball and only about 40mm longer than the rear bumper. So the overhang wasn’t anything to worry about.  Even with a bike on the rack it would be clear of the caravan in the tightest of turns. Next it was just a matter of squaring things up and tightening everything down.

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I ended up locating the rack more to the side than I first planned. This was for two reasons. Firstly, once the second rack is in place it leaves me with nearly 800 mm between the two racks which will allow for the option in the the future of having the ability to install a mesh tray, ski rack, surfboard rack (we don’t ski or surf… ho hum) or slimline roof box if we ever run out of storage in the Amarok. The second reason is it will give the rear view dash cam a relatively unobscured view rearward even with two bikes on the back.

Everything torqued to the correct settings, I topped off the nuts with an additional nylon lock nut to make sure they could not vibrate loose…

img_1093img_1094… and using a Dremmel I cut off the excess thread and ground off any sharp edges.  I need to find a suitable plastic or rubber push on cover for these then I can give them a quick coat of preserving grease.

One thing that I did think about was the prospect of the swing arms bouncing up and down when bikes were not on the rack. A quick rummage in my straps box produced a few of these little blue straps and a handy slot on the mounting plate seemed ideal…

img_1096… problem solved. A simple solution to something that may or may not be a problem.

So one rack fitted, all that is left is to repeat for the other side, when it arrives!

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Fitting A Bike Rack to the VW Amarok – Part 1…

03 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by in Amarok, Bike Carrier, Bike Rack, Modifications, Uncategorized, VW Amarok

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It’s been a few months since we bought our VW Amarok and I hadn’t originally intended it to take this long to install a bike rack or carrier. What slowed us down was sorting out the bits needed for mounting a bike carrier above the bed of the Amarok. In the USA, pickups are plentiful and there are various companies that make carrier systems and mounts for pickups. My initial thoughts it would be fairly easy and started perusing the Thule website. Unfortunately they did not sell the correct mounting hardware for where I wanted to mount the rack.. on the side rails for the Roll-N-Lock cover.

Searching the internet found plenty of results for the type of mounting I wanted… all in America and the most promising system was produced by Yakimar.

However, trying to find a retailer that would ship to the UK was a bit of a problem as most would only ship to the US and Canada. I did eventually find a company in California that would. The next hurdle was the cost. To buy everything and get it shipped over here would ring up a massive £2180 bill at the checkout. This was not worth it. I out the bike rack on the back burner for a while… and the pound against the dollar slipped in the meantime.

Getting ready for installing the bike rack

I started looking around again at the start of this year and returned to Thule and Fiamma. Could I make up my own “kit of parts” to do the job? Fiamma while having a great selection of racks and bits didn’t provide anything in the way of a roof bar so back to Thule again. While mooching about their website I accidentally got on to the American  area of their site and while looking for mounting feet came across one specifically designed for mounting on to flat roofs. The part was intended for a Fibreglass canopy on a Jeep Wrangler but pictures showed them being used on a number of vehicles and camping trailers. This was exactly the part I needed.

I checked with a number of Thule retailers to see if they had Kit 3113 which was used to mount Rapid Podium Foot Pack 460R on flat surfaces. No one had it, so a quick email to Thule asking if it was obtainable in the UK or Europe was fired off. The answer was a bit surprising. It was an American part produced by the American Division and was not obtainable in Europe.

OK, back to my contact at Worldwide Cyclery in California… did they stock it and could they ship it? It arrived within six days. I also ordered the Foot Pack 460R as it was over £60 cheaper even after paying import duty than buying it in the UK on-line. I now had the means to mount the WingBars(Aeroblade). I just needed to check the size and order these and two FreeRide 232 bike mounts. Before I ordered, I checked the width I’d need. Next problem, The WingBars in the UK were 1500mm wide and in the US being manufactured in English sizes were slightly wider by about an inch. They arrived a few days later from the US!

OK, so now I had all the parts… to the bat cave!

Assembling the 3113 mounting plates

Assembling the 3113 mounting plates

The first task was to assemble everything so I could to a test fit of the whole caboodle on the back of the Amarok before drilling anything… always a good idea! The four Kit 3113’s were assembled first and the four 406R feet were mounted on to them.

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Assembling the 460R on to one of the 3113 mounting plates.

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 Once this was done, the sub assemblies were slid on to the ends of the WingBars.

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Once this was done, I could roughly position the two partially completed WingBars across the bed of the Amarok.

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I now needed to check the position of the bike on the FreeRide 532 so that would in turn give me the position I needed to mount the WingBars. From the centre line of the mounting plate the front edge of the front wheel is about 550 mm, so the front WingBar needs to be at least 550mm back from the rear of the cab.

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However, the Amarok’s sport bars have to be taken into consideration as these stop the front wheel of the bike going too far forward and will help protect the cab.

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This presented a problem. The rear of the FreeRide232 protruded back and hung over the rear tailgate by about 350mm and if possible I wanted everything flush. Not a problem, the two bike wheel mounts can be slid forward and backwards to accommodate various size bike frames and the main mounting point… with a little assistance from a rubber mallet and be slid backwards. So in effect I nudged the two main bars forward so they didn’t protrude over the tailgate and the bike still fitted. You can see my mark as I started to move the main mounting plate on the picture below:

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While doing the test fitting and adjusting the position of the mountings, I discovered I had a bit of luck. On the Amarok sport bar there are two ABS plastic mouldings that fit round the bars that are designed for mounting spot lights or work lights that just happen to line up and can be used as ‘rub strips’ to stop the front wheels contacting the coated stainless steel sports bars.

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I could now measure where I wanted the WingBars to be located and marked out the positions. I wanted the rear cross-bar to be as far to the rear as possible (something planned for the future) and worked out the distance from the front bar which had to be located so the bike rack fitted with the front wheel tucked against the roll bar.

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As the sides of the Roll-N-Lock cover had a slot underneath, I’d previously machined 4 pieces of steel to fit in them and pre drilled and tapped the holes. All I needed to do was drill the sides of the Roll-N-Lock cover.

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The (supplied) hex bolts passed through and screwed into the steel plates I’d machined. I also added a spreader nut and lock nut underneath… just to be sure! The lock nut wasn’t tightened up to the spreader nut, so if someone tries to undo the hex bolts, they will simply back off a little then spin round.

OK, first one done time to do the other side…

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Other side complete a quick test fit of the WingBar…

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While pre-positioning the front bar ready for marking out, I was interrupted by Sue… a welcome coffee and hot pie break!

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Both rails fitted, it was time to add the covers and rubber strips…

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A final position check of one of the racks and time to call it a day as the rain set in again.

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The spacing of the bars will give us lots of options for the future to add a top box, ski mounts – these will allow ski’s to be carried angled upwards over the cab (have to learn to ski first though!) or a mesh tray.

I’ll post part two soon showing the bike carrier mounting and go into some of the little pitfalls I have come across.

NEC Show Roundup – it’s all technical…

28 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by in Caravan Electrics, Electrical, General, Maintenance, Modifications, Technical, tow vehicle, VW Amarok

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This is really a follow-up to my previous post – Smart Alternators: how they affect Caravans and Motorhomes….

While at the NEC show one of my big tasks was to get a number of technical questions answered by the industry players. One of my first stops was to Westfalia and to meet up with Rick Sykes and his colleague on the Westfalia stand. Rick is the national training manager for Westfalia and I was able to get answers to a number of questions that you have asked me and I’d not been able to answer fully. Continue reading →

Little Things….

04 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by in Accessories, Caravan Electrics, Electrical, Maintenance, Modifications, Technical

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One of the little things that has been on my “must do something about that” list for a while is to address the problem we have with not enough places to plug things in and charge them. When we are in the caravan in the evening the front looks like a tech gadget table top sale… Macbook Pro, WiFi router/MiFi device, two iPhones, camera battery chargers, Fitbit charger and all these needed plugging in. The 4 way surge protected power strip I put there just wasn’t cutting it any more.

It was time to do something about it. A couple of years ago Swift supplied a kit to modify the drop down TV system that was installed in a range of their caravans. Our caravan already had the upgrade, however they did supply a new piece of wood to replace the installed piece as some of the holes had moved when they upgraded the latches. Always wanting to repurpose things I thought that this could be the basis of an upgrade… not to the TV drop down but to the rear of the draw unit. I wanted to install USB charging ports but still required a couple of 240 volt sockets and a brief search on Amazon I came across what I needed. The other thing I wanted was a couple of 12 volt sockets so that I could use our 12 volt plug-in USB chargers if we were pitched off grid.

To The Bat Cave…

The build was fairly simple. I had already converted the draw top from a slide and swing open operation to a pull out so the addition was straight forward.

The top being assembles in the workshop

The top being assembled in the workshop

It was a simple matter of cutting out the two rectangular holes for the 240 volt face plates and opening up the two existing holes intended for the new latches to the right size for the 12 volt sockets. I did intend to use the same electrical fittings as are already installed in the caravan but pricing everything up it came out at nearly four times the cost of what I eventually used here.

The two 240 volt sockets are wired with 2.5mm multi-strand cable and have slim line back boxes to protect them and the 12 volt cabling is all done with crimp connections and protected with heat shrink tubing.

The whole project including installation only took me a couple of hours and made me wonder why I’d been putting it off for so long!

I didn’t want to fasten anything to the structure of the caravan so the piece seems to ‘float’ above the front sill. The wiring was all pre done in the workshop and was easy to connect up to the caravan services as we had a 240 volt and 12 volt outlets nearby in the base of the draw unit.

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Plenty of room even with the blind down.

The upgrade now gives me 3 x 240 volt sockets and 6 x USB charging points plus 2 x 12 volt sockets. The space under the sockets can be used to tidy any excess charging cable away while in use.

Shopping...

Use the following bits from Amazon…

Knightsbridge SFAV7USB4MB 13 A 1G Screwless Switched Socket with 5 V DC 5.1 A Quad USB Charger with Chrome Rocker – Matt Black

Knightsbridge SF9902MB 13 A 2-Gang Screwless Switch Socket with Dual USB Charger – Matt Black with Chrome Rocker

The back boxes came from B & Q and the 12 volt sockets came from Go Outdoors caravanning section.

BlackVue Dash-Cam Fitted…

17 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by in Accessories, Dash Cam, Gadgets, General, Modifications, VW Amarok

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A few days ago I fitted the Black Vue DR650S-2CH 16GB twin camera dash cam to the Amarok. All in all it was a vey easy install taking me less than two hours to accomplish. The longest part was actually tucking the wires in along the edge of the head liner so they can’t be seen. Helpfully Black View supply a little blue tool that helps you do this without damaging any of the interior trim. I also installed the Black Vue Power Magic PRO that allows permanent connection to the vehicles electrical system and gives you the ability to use “Parking Mode” which records continuously when you are parked with the engine off.

If you have considered a dash-cam but don’t know where to start, one of the best introductory guides to Dash Cams that I have seen is by Techmoan.com. Just click on the link to watch it. There are also dozens of dash-cam reviews on His channel.

The electrical side of add the camera was made easy by using “Add A Circuit” fuse holders. (I’ve put links to everything on Amazon at the bottom of the post) Crimp the Add A Circuit on to the correct cable on the Power Magic unit then simply identify which circuit is permanently live in the fuse box, select a fuse, pull it out and insert it into the Add A Circuit fuse holder along with a fuse of the correct rating for the Power Magic and push the Add A Circuit into the space where you removed the fuse from. You will need two as the Power Magic requires a permanent 12 volt supply and an ignition switched 12 volt supply…. and a ground of course.

From the driving position very little of the front camera can be seen.

From the driving position very little of the front camera can be seen.

There are several switches on the Power Magic to set before you install. The first set the minimum voltage the unit will turn the cameras off at, this stops you flattening the vehicle starter battery, the second set sets a time for the cameras to stop recording after 24 hours, 48 hours or you can set it to infinity. There are several combinations and it’s all explained in the instructions.

The rear camera is installed at the top of the window avoiding getting one of the heating elements in view

The rear camera is installed at the top of the window avoiding getting one of the heating elements in view.

A few installation tips….

  • Try to install the camera so that the lens is as central as possible so you capture as much of the road as possible.
  • Try to install the front camera so that the area in front of the camera is swept by the windscreen wipers so you can clear the rain.
  • If you install a rear view camera, try to make sure it is not positioned directly in view of one of the heating elements, but close enough so that the window is cleared when the screen heater is on.
The front camera tucks up behind the rear view mirror

The front camera tucks up behind the rear view mirror

Editing the video…

I used iMovie on my MacBook Pro, I’ve never tried editing any video before, so here is my first attempt…

I have a feeling that I might have to create a YouTube account in the near future…. that’s going to be a whole new adventure!

Shopping Guide on Amazon UK:-

Black Vue DR650S-2CH 16GB

Power Magic PRO

Add A Circuit Mini Blade Fuse Holder

Add A Circuit Standard Blade Fuse Holder

Ecocamel Shower Head…

09 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by in Accessories, Gadgets, General, Modifications, Product Review

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A few weeks ago Abigail from Ecocamel contacted me asking if we’d like to test out the Ecocamel water saving shower head. I’d seen adverts for these and noted that some caravans were now having them installed but I never really gave them a second thought until Abigail contacted me.

The shower heads arrived just in time for me to fit one of the Ecocamel Jetstorm shower head to the caravan for our trip to Leek.

Now, sometimes you subconsciously prejudge things and I really wasn’t that excited about a new shower head, after all what amazing things can you do spraying water about. The first time I went to use it I turned on the shower in the caravan as normal and adjusted the temperature by swivelling the tap into the position I normally use and lift it for the flow. What surprised me was the water seemed much hotter than I’d thought it would be. I re-adjusted the tap, and as the shower head had a better spray pattern (who thought that adding air to water would make that much difference!) I could reduce the flow and this meant I had to adjust the temperature down a bit. So what does this all mean?

Well, reduced flow saves water and as you are not using as much hot water for a similar spray pattern your hot water lasts longer. This was borne out by the fact Sue could have a shower straight after me without waiting for the hot water tank to come back up to temperature as it filled up with cold. Admittedly they were ‘navy’ showers but it took away that early morning decision…. whether to dig out all the shower stuff… brew a cup of coffee… stare out the window for a bit and pluck up the energy to schlep over to the site facilities or just hop out of bed straight into the shower.

Home again, I decided to replace our rather expensive and heavy shower head in the upstairs bathroom. Again, I was a bit taken back by the improvement a simple device could have. We have a combi-boiler and when the old shower was turned on max flow, it did struggle to keep up temperature wise. The water was hot but not really skin reddening hot. What a difference, as we could now turn down the flow a bit, the water was HOT and I had to adjust the temperature knob down on the tap from almost max to about half way.

So why has it taken a few weeks for me to pen this review? Well I like testing things and I wanted to know just how much water/energy we were saving so over the course of a few weeks I did some measuring and recording… not good enough for detailed analysis but just enough to satisfy me we were indeed saving water and that should mean energy too as we are not heating up as much water per shower. As long as you can turn the flow down a bit from your normal setting with your old shower head and  you get the same spray/deluge you will save water and hence energy.

Are there any downsides? Well they are a bit noisy as the head sucks in air and mixes it with the water, however its only as noisy as one of these power shower do-hickys.

Are we happy with them… you bet Ecocamel is the only way to go now!

If you are going to the NEC show this week, stop by Ecocamel for a chat, they are on Stand 11.03 or checkout there website Ecocamel.com

Keep an eye out on the blog, as I have TWO of the Jetstorm shower heads to give away. I’ll post the details after we come back from the NEC!

 

A Place for Everything…

29 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by in General, Modifications, Projects, tow vehicle, VW Amarok

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The additions to the Wolf continue, despite the recent news from Glossop Caravans at our last service, that we have damp in the caravan. Hopefully we will hear soon whether or not its covered by the warranty. So, moving on, a couple of additions to the  VW Amarok. After installing the sliding bed, I noticed that there was some space available between the end of the bed and the truck bed at the cab end. It was only 70 mm, but I thought with a bit of creative construction, I could come up with a contrivance to hold some of the stuff and tools that we normally schlep about with us. Using 18mm birch ply phenol finished board I came up with a storage box that is fitted to the bed and projects forward right up to the truck bed front wall… Continue reading →

Pressure Relief…

01 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by in Accessories, General, Modifications, Projects, Water & Plumbing

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A lot of new caravans now have the ability on a ‘super pitch’ to be able to attach a mains water feed directly to the caravan without having to have an Aquarol as a water reservoir, and this seems like a good idea. I started looking at the options available and was surprised at the cost of the only suitable system for our caravan. I also wasn’t keen on the plastic regulator. This got me thinking, maybe it was time for a little Caravan Chronicles DIY project.

I wanted to come up with some sort of contrivance that was assembled from stock components that were easily available anywhere. After a brief search on Amazon I came up with my shopping list and ordered everything (see links below).

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The result was a simple to use commercial pressure regulator that I could use our existing blue water hose that originally connected to the Aquarol and standard hose fittings that allow me all the options for connecting up.

IMG_0526As a temporary mount I used a couple of the small plastic hangars that Fiamma sell that slide into awning rails allowing you to hang things from. In this case a couple of cable ties held it in position. I’m currently in the bat cave folding a small aluminium plate to mount the regulator on that slides into the rail and has a foam padded back to protect the caravan. I opted to use brass fittings for the hose connections rather than plastic just for durability.

So how did it work out?

Well on a recent trip to Southport Caravan Club site (where the photos were taken) it worked extremely well. The initial set up was easy and to start with I reduced the pressure using the small screw on top of the unit to about 0.5 bar (7 PSI) to ensure I didn’t over-pressure the caravan plumbing. I increased this to about 1.5 bar and this gave an excellent flow rate with the added feature of not having to run the internal water pump.

Something that was in the back of my mind however was what if the regulator failed and full mains pressure was allowed through to the caravan’s internal plumbing? As I’d used a commercial unit, hopefully the chances of this would be very slim to non-existent as these units are designed to be permanently installed in commercial and domestic plumbing installations however I also added another little handy gadget at the tap end…

IMG_0547This ‘Y’ fitting has two small ball valves, one of each outlet. So when we go out, I simply turn off the appropriate ball valve. Having a ‘Y’ adaptor also allowed us to fill up our Brita filter jug or draw water off without having to turn the tap off and disconnect the caravan hose. All in all everything worked out perfect. (note I have since changed the blue hose adaptors shown for brass ones for durability).

One last thing…

If you are at all worried about water quality in your caravan, connecting up this way will allow you to thoroughly flush out your caravans water system and give you clean water from your caravan’s taps, (especially In summer too, when the sun has been warming up the water in your Aquarol all day) all you need to do is just run the tap for a minute or so to get cold fresh mains water.

Caravan Chronicles Shopping...

I am often asked where to buy some of the products we use. Here are the links to the products. If you click on the links and purchase any of the items, a few pennies will go to helping the cost of running CaravanChronicles.com

Caravan Ultraflow Inlet Hose Assembly (I bought one of these so I could keep my existing one intact. You will need the correct model for your caravan water inlet).
15mm Adjustable Pressure Reducing Valve Including Gauge 1-6 Bar Reliance Water Controls The pressure regulator comes complete with a pressure gauge.
Brass Bush 1/2“ BSP Female x 3/4″ Male Reducing Bush “Converter (these were used to adapt the size of the fitting on the pressure regulator so I could fit the female quick release adaptors.
Garden Mile® Solid Brass 2-Way Double Outside Garden Tap Adaptor & Hose Connectors 3/4″ With 2 Quick Release Female Adaptors. An option, but very handy.
Silverline 598438 Tap Connector Brass I bought two of these for the regulator.

Caravan Chronicles Shopping…

21 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by in Accessories, Blog updates, Caravan Chronicles Shopping, Caravan Electrics, Help Guides, Projects, Technical

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I receive a lot of emails asking where people can buy some of the tools – especially some of the crimp tools and terminations I use in my posts and articles. In the past I have just emailed people back with the details and maybe links. However my last post about cable termination brought on a rather large amount of requests. So I have decided that I will include links to the products on Amazon. So from now on you will see a section at the bottom of any posts called….

Caravan Chronicles Shopping...

Any specific items used will be listed, and by clicking on the link to the item you will be taken to the Amazon store page. If you do decide to purchase anything, it will be from Amazon (or their associates) and delivered by them. It’s just like buying from Amazon directly.

The price you pay is exactly the same as it would be by going directly to Amazon. All I receive is a few pennies from each sale that will help towards keeping the wheels of Caravan Chronicles turning.

I have also created a shopping page that lists the products under a link to the original article. There aren’t any photos, just descriptions to keep the page neat and quick to load. If you want to go back to the article, just click on its title.

I hope you don’t mind me doing this, but it will save you having to email me asking where to get things from and save me a bit of time in replying to everyone.

Cheers

Simon