Painting Mercedes Campervan Boot

A great step forward, today we took our first van to the body shop in Spalding to have the boot  painted.  We have got all the problems finally ironed out.  They think that they should be finished by the end of this week.  Then we have got our second van booked in, it will need to be fetched from the fitters workshop, as the interior is not yet finished, but slots in well as our fitter is going away on holiday for a week while the van is in at the body-shop.  When the van returns I will post a picture of the finished painted back and boot of the v-trek van.

Bumper Plugs

I mentioned on an earlier post about the bumper plugs that we had made for the V-trek van, all that they needed was to be painted, well the paint  colour that should have matched was a shade too dark, also because the fibreglass mould is a flat  finish it needs a textured finish.  We have purchased a textured finish  undercoat to try, and also a new shade of colour bumper paint so will shortly see which we feel looks best.  Sometimes a very close match is worse than making a feature of it. Will keep you posted.

Mercedes Campervan Boot

After a lot of head scratching and deliberation we have finally got the v-trek back door to open without catching,  for the latch to connect, and for the gas strut to hold at 90 degrees,this makes it possible to stand under the boot lid when it is open,  this area will be used while using the the outside shower. The gas struts were a calculation between the weight of the 20kg door, the pantograph hinge, the angle it needed to open, along with the length and power of the gas struts.  We went to a company in Bourne who specialise in making gas struts and they worked out the power for the struts that we needed, they mainly supply the boating industry.

We now have the vehicle booked into the body shop in a weeks time to be painted.

What A Catch

Once we hung the V-trek back door we realized that it was catching on the hump of the plastic step of the aperture of the Mercedes van,

This was due to the fact that we decide to hide the handle behind the number plate, making it very tight to remove any of the fibreglass mould which houses the door handle. 

To over come this problem we have cut the hump off the plastic trim and replaced it with stainless steel, this has created a very strong aperture for the catch when closed, and a strengthened plastic step for the boot.

 

Mercedes Bumper Plugged

The van came back from the fibreglass company on Thursday, were they made small moulds for the bumper.  These fibreglass moulds cover were the hinges of the back door use to be.  You can see from the pictures, (Before & After) that the mould has been made perfectly to follow the lines of the bumper.  We have located a matching paint so that the plug will melt seamlessly into the bumper (yet to be painted in picture) These additions to the bumper although expensive to tool up for the V-trek van will in the future be well worth the effort for such a neat finish.

After (needs painting)                  Before without plug

 

 

Bad fitting Merc Mats

I ordered a set of Mercedes floor mats for the V-trek van so that the fit was perfect.  I decided that I would go for the top of the range mats made out of Velour, they were very expensive at £93 per set. (I did manage to get a small amount of discount off but they were still expensive!) I ordered them on the Wednesday and by the Friday they had been delivered, which was exceptionally quick.  We were all so disappointed with the mats when I fitted them into the floor area of the van,  they just did not fit anywhere!, they did not follow the contours of the foot wells, there was not a durable heel pad for the drivers side mat, and there was great big areas of the floor that was not covered by the mat at all!  On the Saturday I took the mats back to the Mercedes garage that had ordered them for me,  they were also shocked at how badly the mats fitted the cab floor.  Hence these mats have been sent back.  Since then we have found a company called Autostyle on the internet that make tailor made car mats, their prices are very resonable.  We can make the template ourselves and they will make up the mats to our design with the V-trek logo on, at half the price of the Mercedes mats.  I have received colour samples of the mats through the post today,  so will decide on a colour and get a set made.  I will keep you posted on the result of the tailor made mats.

The Boot Is United

After a lot of teething problems we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel! Finally we have got the back door fine tuned with the window, rear brake light, Mercedes badge, lighting board, boot handle, and internal locator’s.  As you can see from the picture all within keeping of the styling of the original Mercedes Sprinter van. 

Tomorrow the V-trekvan is going back to the fibreglass company to have some small plugs made to finish off the bumper corners.  There is still the fitment of the number plate to do, this will be hinged at the top so that it covers up the door handle, and then off to the spray shop to be sprayed. The  Gas struts stilll have to be sourced, these need to be pressurised with just the right amount of gas so that they open and close the door smoothly, but all in all great progress!

The Competition!

While  away in Phuket, I notice the competition to V-trek vans!  As the weather is so hot and humid the little vans do not have windows, just roll down blinds for the odd day that it may rain.  Outdoor living is all the rage, so only seats are fitted within the vans.  I am not so sure about the fire red colour in such a hot country? but it is great for being noticed.

 

These little tuk tuk vans are great fun,  but I don’t feel threatened that they will take over the camper van market in the Uk, the climate would kill it!!

Interior Design Planning

Had a long meeting with the guys who do the fitments for the interior of the vans yesterday. The progress is fantastic.  There are many changes to be made due to the fact that the new shaped mercedes van is a little bit longer, higher and wider which is all great news when working within such a small  space to get so many appliances in.  The windows still look like they could hold the hold job up!  At least we can get on with many more factors and cross the bridge of the windows again when we come to it.  The LED lighting has come on in leaps and bounds, and the technology will make it very contemporary within the V-trek vans.  Decided on a stainless steel finished trim to go with the carbon fibre veneer which will very retro.  The whole look of the carbon fibre is coming together really well.  Still need to get the work done on the back doors, but will do that shortly.   Away on vacation for 10 days so will be back with updates shortly.

Topless!!

We carried out work over the week-end and have got the bottom half of the door temporarily fitted, had to make a few minor alterations.  Our biggest hurdle was to over come the handle catching on the plastic trim inside the van aperture.  The handle has been placed here so that it can be disguised behind the number plate to deter opportunist thieves from trying to break into the boot.

In the old V-trek van we had the back made out of fabricated steel which was a long and expensive job.  The advantage of the composite is that it is lightweight and much more detail can be incorporated within the door