Globecar Modifications

[Blue Knight]

@Blue Knight I have to ask ( and not knocking anything, you’ve done a lovely job) but.........are you planning on touring the Arctic

I'm just getting it ready for our summer expedition to Spain Dave

My plan is for the added insulation to help protect the hab area from the heat as well as the cold too. I could be entirely wrong here but one of the challenges with the hot sun beating on the sides of a PVC is that the huge cavities of the metal body will retain the heat if left totally empty. I'm hoping that the type of wrap used will help reflect the heat and cold as well as retain it too.

I've spent a lot of time working in the heat so I'm hoping that my theory is correct, otherwise Nicky and I will get fried alive on our first ever outing

All the best,

Andrew

 

[BreweryDave]

An interesting theory Andrew, to keep warmth in I get, but if the heat is in by the sun beating on the outer skin and heating the cavity, surely anything in said cavity would get as hot too, and may actually retain heat, whereas air will ( eventually) cool and disperse. I await your results with interest!

Then again, I’m no thermodynamicist, but I can spell it

 

[Blue Knight]

An interesting theory Andrew, to keep warmth in I get, but if the heat is in by the sun beating on the outer skin and heating the cavity, surely anything in said cavity would get as hot too, and may actually retain heat, whereas air will ( eventually) cool and disperse. I await your results with interest!

Then again, I’m no thermodynamicist, but I can spell it

It will be really interesting Dave and you're probably right sir.

I've got a hunch that we'll keep the van in the UK for our Scottish adventures, as it was intended, but a trip to Europe in the cooler months is probably not out of the question either.

Either way, I don't think we'll see much sun in it

All the best,

Andrew

 

[CazPaul]

You can never have too much insulation in a motorhome, ever, I look at it this way, you are only doing what the converter should have done in the first place.

If you were building the van from scratch then you would firstly be doing all the areas you have just done before any fittings went in so an excellent job all round.

 

[Blue Knight]

You can never have too much insulation in a motorhome, ever, I look at it this way, you are only doing what the converter should have done in the first place.

If you were building the van from scratch then you would firstly be doing all the areas you have just done before any fittings went in so an excellent job all round.

Some great advice there Paul

(As an example): If you look at my rear door pillars (Pic below) then you'll see that there's no insulation present in the body so IMO it's no wonder that cold draughts are circulating when the only thing that separates you from the cold body structure is a 3mm-thick plastic trim.

As you said above, there needs to be a high degree of insulation on a van as in theory it should afford you a good degree of protection in the heat too.

Thanks good mate,

Andrew

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[Minxy]

We found that if you touch the side panels in hot weather you can definitely feel the heat - whatever you do if it is REALLY hot do NOT touch any metal on the side facing the sun as you could burn yourself.

 

[jezport]

In hot weather all the metal heats up transferring the heat to anything touching it and personally I do think any insulation touching it will act as a storage heater, where empty air space will not store heat for long. But in cold weather then the more insulation the better as long as it wont trap moisture inside panels.

 

[Minxy]

I've had an idea ... instead of insulating all the cavities etc inside the van, why not simply stick some on the outside? It would look like a bubble version of an Airstream!

 

[Blue Knight]

It's just too cold for me to work outside so I've only done a few minor things.

1. This is where I placed the new 12v socket which is conveniently tucked away under the foot of the bed:

2. I bought a 12x LED Maypole Light bar the other day because it was a good price so after a bit of head scratching I finally decided to fit it as a puddle light. Firstly, I pushed a 5mm hole through the sink pipe external waterproof mastic membrane so that I could thread the wires:

3. The wire was then fed through the floor before replacing the insulation. The position of my exit hole is below the fridge lower draw:

4. I then mounted the light unit to an existing bolt thread in the chassis:

5. I still need to fit a round LED rocker switch to the system but other than that it works quite well as a puddle light (FYI - the unit equates to 1,260 Lumens):

That's all for today - it's just too cold

 

[Blue Knight]

My job today related to the rear door access area and my attempt to insulate, waterproof and armour the paintwork. I'm not a fan of bare metal showing and, with a dog in the back, the potential for scratches is high - and I don't like scratches!!

1. This is the 'before' pic with the silver floor trim and bare bodywork showing (it's very cold to the touch too):

2. Remove the silver trim and then fill the gap under the wooden floor with a 50mm-wide piece of thermal wrap which you then fold in half and stuff into the cavity (Note: All of the lower door mount rubbers and catches were removed using a T40 Allen Key):

3. Using a 50mm wide roll of black anti-slip tape (10m x 50mm costs £9.99 from Screwfix), I applied a single length to the silver strip. The surface area of the two sides of the trim is exactly 50mm so this size tape is fantatsic for the job. A careful hand is required:

4. The finished trim:

5. We now have a section of the floor with a small amount of thermal wrap showing so measure and cut your tape and apply accordingly:

6. I then applied a further 50mm-wide strip along the top of the bodywork, followed by a further 15mm-wide length, before replacing the silver (now black) trim; and here's the finished item with all of the latches/supports refitted.

I think this looks much better than the original set-up and it also removes the cold feel from the original bare metal.

Note: It is important to leave some of the metalwork showing (The small red bit in my last pic) as this is the area which mates with the door seal and the last thing you want is a problem with your seal.

That's all for today folks

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[CazPaul]

What a cracking job Andrew, excellent finishing touches you are adding.

 

[Blue Knight]

What a cracking job Andrew, excellent finishing touches you are adding.

Cheers Paul, much appreciated sir. I'm running out of time as I start a small house project late next week. It will take the rest of Feb to complete hence the reason why I'm trying to get as much of the van done as possible.

All the best,

Andrew

 

[Garfields]

Should be overprinting in the van to test out all the work

 

[Blue Knight]

Should be overnighting in the van to test out all the work

Good idea but I think I'll do it when it gets a bit warmer - I'm not really a lover of the cold weather these days .......

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Thought I would save my 999th post for you Andrew

Great job here, but aren’t you due to start looking for a new(er) one?

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[Blue Knight]

Thought I would save my 999th post for you Andrew

Great job here, but aren’t you due to start looking for a new(er) one?

What a great honour indeed sir - your 999th post

Much depends on our master plan for 2019 and beyond so this is likely to be our make or break year for motorhoming, I think.

All the best,

Andrew

 

[Blue Knight]

I did my first test 'camp-out' in the van last night and it looks as if my little projects have paid off - no drafts even when the temperature hit the minus figure - very cosy indeed.

I only left the van to come in for dinner and for my coffee and cake at 8pm.

 

[mikebeaches]

I did my first test 'camp-out' in the van last night and it looks as if my little projects have paid off - no drafts even when the temperature hit the minus figure - very cosy indeed.

I only left the van to come in for dinner and for my coffee and cake at 8pm.

I've been viewing some of your posts and images in this thread admiringly, and my what a lot of thought and care you have put into the various modifications and improvements.

We've had our Rapido pvc for two and a half years and the only mods from standard are addition of a reversing camera and a single 11kg refillable gas cylinder - and that's it. Pretty much everything else just as supplied from the converter.

We don't go out of our way to find Arctic conditions, but obviously we've encountered a few sub-zero nights without any issues.

Regarding heat, we hit a patch of particularly hot weather in southern Spain in early September. Fortunately, we were staying at small quiet friendly sites, and simply left the big sliding door wide open all night with just the flyscreen pulled across. Kept us lovely and comfortable.

Good luck in any case with your new van and hope all the mods add to your comfort and pleasure.

Cheers, Mike

 

[1ten]

I like the idea of all the extra insulation but I'm not sure I will be doing it. It was minus 5 Saturday night in the Lake District and we were just fine in our standard van even with the heating off over night. We probably used more gas than you would have though before going to bed!

 

[Blue Knight]

I've been viewing some of your posts and images in this thread admiringly, and my what a lot of thought and care you have put into the various modifications and improvements.

We've had our Rapido pvc for two and a half years and the only mods from standard are addition of a reversing camera and a single 11kg refillable gas cylinder - and that's it. Pretty much everything else just as supplied from the converter.

We don't go out of our way to find Arctic conditions, but obviously we've encountered a few sub-zero nights without any issues.

Regarding heat, we hit a patch of particularly hot weather in southern Spain in early September. Fortunately, we were staying at small quiet friendly sites, and simply left the big sliding door wide open all night with just the flyscreen pulled across. Kept us lovely and comfortable.

Good luck in any case with your new van and hope all the mods add to your comfort and pleasure.

Cheers, Mike

Thanks Mike, I appreciate your fine comments sir. The Rapido PVC range seem to be incredibly well insulated vans so I don't think you'll have any issues in the winter.

Our house project didn't quite start on time today so I managed to get a couple of van hours done this afternoon.

1. I insulated the lower half of the B-pillars as the top half is already well insulated. This is the insulation which is currently in situ:

2. The seat housings were next including a partial insertion of wrap to the front underfloor:

3. I replaced the various small panels and cleaned off the blood . (The plastic in the lower pillars is incredibly sharp):

4. The last job consisted of me protecting and insulating the painted surface on the back doors. The paint is quite cold to the touch and the addition of the non-slip tape not only protects the surface but also acts a thermal barrier. (Note: The Screwfix tape is almost identical in colour to the plastic on the back doors):

5. And the left one too (they look much better in the flesh). I'll use a mild black stain on the tape tomorrow and that will remove the visible vertical line to the left of the door:

That's all for today guys

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[Minxy]

Andrew ... have you calculated how much weight all these insulating etc mods are adding to your camper ... if it's too much you're gonna have to take it out again to use the van!

 

[Blue Knight]

I like the idea of all the extra insulation but I'm not sure I will be doing it. It was minus 5 Saturday night in the Lake District and we were just fine in our standard van even with the heating off over night. We probably used more gas than you would have though before going to bed!

This is more of a project and a hobby to me now but in theory the Globecar range (IMO ) is so well put together that the furniture and the internal plastic shell will themselves form an insulated bubble, within reason!

A Globecar owner need only do some simple modifications like block the apperture behind the gas safety valves to make a PVC a lot more energy efficient. There's no need to go to my OCD lengths but one day I intend to build my own camper and I'm using the time now to learn how these things are put together.

I've got to admit that there's nothing to a motorhome or PVC so it's no wonder that the manufacturers make so much money.

All the best,

Andrew

 

[Blue Knight]

Andrew ... have you calculated how much weight all these insulating etc mods are adding to your camper ... if it's too much you're gonna have to take it out again to use the van!

The insulation has added about 7kg when finished Mel hence the reason why I've asked John Ruffles to register the van at 4.5T

 

[Neckender]

I have a Blaupunkt New York media system fitted to my van which switches off after 20 mins when Parked up, I found that it’s quite a nuisance having to keep switching it back on.
I had an Auto electrician to look at it to change the wiring so that I could switch it on manually and for the system to stop on until I switched it off.

After about 1 hour he said it couldn’t be done because off the canbus system and also the wiring colours were not what he expected, anyway I’ve put up with this for nearly 2 years so yesterday I took the bull by the horns.

Armed with my multi meter I found the permanent live which was red and yellow and the ignition live which was blue, I removed some of the dash and the gear lever cover so that I could get my new wires where I wanted to fit a switch.

I cut the blue ignition wire and fitted a fuse holder from the radio down to the switch and ran another wire from the switch to the red and yellow permanent live. I refitted the dash panel and gear cover and now I can turn my Dab radio or play a dvd without the radio turning off every 20 minutes. If I just turn the radio on with its own on off button it still works on the 20 minute cycle.

What should have taken a couple of hours took me most of the afternoon with having to work out the wiring which the Auto electrician couldn’t.

John.

 

[jezport]

I ran cables from the leisure battery to my head unit

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[Neckender]

I ran cables from the leisure battery to my head unit

200 watt of solar on mine Jez.

John.

 

[jezport]

200 watt of solar on mine Jez.

John.

How much charge goes to the cab battery ?

I wired mine to the habitation battery so I can run it long periods.Its quite high output plus I'm going to add a sub woofer shortly. Don't think the cab battery would last long enough when not running the alternator.

 

[Neckender]

I’ll see how we go Jez.

John.

 

[Minxy]

@Neckender ... did you not read my website info about doing mine? I'd never done this before so it was a bit of a learning curve ... hubby was too scared to go near it as he still has memories of when he nearly electrocuted himself in his teens when fitting a carpet for his mum and cut through a 'live' lamp's lead with a Stanley knife!

https://globecarcampscoutinfo.yolasite.com/services-and-av.php

Radio
As we have an aftermarket radio fitted (not Fiat) due to the way it was connected we couldn't use it without the ignition turned on so I altered it by making up a 2 into 1 lead with an inline fuse and used this to connect the red and yellow leads on the rear of the radio to the yellow power lead only, leaving the red one unused - this means that the radio can be used without having to have the ignition turned on but we have set it to automatically turn off after 20 minutes on standby to prevent battery draw.

 

[Neckender]

Yes Mel I read your post but with our Blaupunkt Our red lead wasn’t ignition feed, on ours It was the blue lead. It’s all now working the same as yours.

John.

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