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First night away in new Ocean, good points and questions

kernnowkarmann

kernnowkarmann

Messages
133
Location
Luxembourg
Vehicle
T6 Ocean 204
So, had a great night away in Luxembourg at the weekend, the first in our new Cali. First up, our previous van, a UK converted Renault Trafic always made us feel like we were travelling business class, we loved it. This is like first class though!

My favourite points (concentrating on the camping, the van is awesome to drive, never knew I'd love an automatic so much!):

  • The heater - wow, doesn't take long to get toasty warm
  • The beds - soooooo comfy, and the upstairs lights are a great addition
  • The space, despite being smaller (I think) than our trafic it just feels so much bigger
  • Ease of setting everything up

20221022_172259.jpg
Now for a couple of questions to hopefully make things even better:

The front window blinds aren't great in my opinion, don't have total coverage (although not a problem at this time of year) and a pain as have to lean chairs forward to fit. Was thinking of a windscreen cover, have seen different ones ranging from €50-200, what can anyone recommend. Looking on Amazon some people had put that water came in from the doors when they were attached.

Seat covers - I don't want to spend a fortune completely recovering the chairs so ideally would want one of the dog covers for the rear bench. Looking online though I can't find any that are the right size as the rear bench is obviously nowhere near the same dimensions as a normal car rear seat - does anyone have any tips on this?

Overall though, really impressed, which I'm glad of because let's face it, they aren't cheap!!
 
I’m glad to hear that you are enjoying your Ocean, they are good aren’t they.

The front blinds are tricky but seem to cover enough for us. Once the sun visors have been pulled down there are small gaps near the rear view mirror, not so big though. We didn’t buy a separate cover because ‘space’

Best of luck.
 
Wëllkomm!

Heater is great - we tend to just use it on a 7 now and leave it semi-on all the time in current weather.
For the top bed we also have the Sea To Summit SIM - makes a massive difference but when travelling light we are fine with the std mattress.

Ref blinds - last time away we did the same, just used the in built ones as light was fine and we were keeping the packing to a minimum, but we have these for 70 - 80 quid and they fit and work perfectly. Can't think why I'd pay 4x price for a set of eyes. We will likely buy a Rainbow Pop Top Cover through for the winter excursions - it's been getting chilly up top!


For seat covers - watching for answers - we want just a cover for the lower seats front and back to fit when on site, we don't want permanent and don't want to cover the whole seat. Seems an impossible ask so far. The one I have seen on Amazon looks cheap and gets terrible reviews so the search continues. There was a lady on here a while ago made her own, so next step might be to copy that.
 
When we got our Ocean three years ago one of the first great tips I read on here was a cheap solution for seat covers using micro fibre travel towels. The fabric of the towel means it stays on the seats and absorbs moisture or dirt, they look nice enough and they're dead easy to take off and wash every trip. We bought large ones, total cost was about thirty quid, been very happy with them.
 
Try campercentrum in Holland. They have a webshop which has interior thermal blinds and seat covers. It also has lots of other gear so brace yourself for some spending!
VW also do waterproof seat covers for the califonia.
 
So, had a great night away in Luxembourg at the weekend, the first in our new Cali. First up, our previous van, a UK converted Renault Trafic always made us feel like we were travelling business class, we loved it. This is like first class though!

My favourite points (concentrating on the camping, the van is awesome to drive, never knew I'd love an automatic so much!):

  • The heater - wow, doesn't take long to get toasty warm
  • The beds - soooooo comfy, and the upstairs lights are a great addition
  • The space, despite being smaller (I think) than our trafic it just feels so much bigger
  • Ease of setting everything up

View attachment 100901
Now for a couple of questions to hopefully make things even better:

The front window blinds aren't great in my opinion, don't have total coverage (although not a problem at this time of year) and a pain as have to lean chairs forward to fit. Was thinking of a windscreen cover, have seen different ones ranging from €50-200, what can anyone recommend. Looking on Amazon some people had put that water came in from the doors when they were attached.

Seat covers - I don't want to spend a fortune completely recovering the chairs so ideally would want one of the dog covers for the rear bench. Looking online though I can't find any that are the right size as the rear bench is obviously nowhere near the same dimensions as a normal car rear seat - does anyone have any tips on this?

Overall though, really impressed, which I'm glad of because let's face it, they aren't cheap!!
I rate this screen cover. Silly money for what it is but it works …

Brandrup ISOLITE Outdoor.​

I use it together with the Cali magnetic curtains on the doors.
 
The front window blinds aren't great in my opinion, don't have total coverage (although not a problem at this time of year) and a pain as have to lean chairs forward to fit. Was thinking of a windscreen cover, have seen different ones ranging from €50-200, what can anyone recommend. Looking on Amazon some people had put that water came in from the doors when they were attached.
I bought a set of internal magnetic covers from CamperProject.de in Hamburg. Insulated (for cold and heat), perfect fit, quick to take down and the option to have a black outer fabric for a more stealth appearance. Not cheap but the quality speaks for itself. Lots of different inward facing patterns and colours.

1666612693035.png
 
I bought a set of internal magnetic covers from CamperProject.de in Hamburg. Insulated (for cold and heat), perfect fit, quick to take down and the option to have a black outer fabric for a more stealth appearance. Not cheap but the quality speaks for itself. Lots of different inward facing patterns and colours.

View attachment 100910
Wow, I thought they were REALLY expensive but see you can buy just the windscreen cover on its own

There doesn't seem to be much price difference between inside or outside covers, is there a consensus as to which are better? I would have thought outside easier to install but maybe more prone to being stolen if left on during day? Also worries me about seeing people say some leak inside as they are secured by the door....

Some great tips though, thank you!
 
Wow, I thought they were REALLY expensive but see you can buy just the windscreen cover on its own

There doesn't seem to be much price difference between inside or outside covers, is there a consensus as to which are better? I would have thought outside easier to install but maybe more prone to being stolen if left on during day? Also worries me about seeing people say some leak inside as they are secured by the door....

Some great tips though, thank you!
Personally, since I plan to do a lot of wild camping, aires etc, internal covers are a no brainer. They can be quickly removed without exiting the vehicle if the need arises and you are not advertising yourself. If you intend to be on campsites then you could go either route, although taking down a wet exterior cover in the rain doesn't sound all that appealing.
 
Now for a couple of questions to hopefully make things even bet

The front window blinds aren't great in my opinion, don't have total coverage (although not a problem at this time of year) and a pain as have to lean chairs forward to fit. Was thinking of a windscreen cover, have seen different ones ranging from €50-200, what can anyone recommend. Looking on Amazon some people had put that water came in from the doors when they were attached.

Seat covers - I don't want to spend a fortune completely recovering the chairs so ideally would want one of the dog covers for the rear bench. Looking online though I can't find any that are the right size as the rear bench is obviously nowhere near the same dimensions as a normal car rear seat - does anyone have any tips on this?
glad it was a successful first trip. Definitely the right thing to do - try out the standard kit before buying accessories.

Fron window blinds. - I don’t really understand why you need to adjust the seats to close the blinds. Just adjust the rear view mirror. We often close them for security when parked up in a town etc. However, there are gaps for light, and as there are gaps you also get some condensation too. We looked at lots of options, and talked to people on sites. We steered away from the external ones (it rains too often in the UK, and don’t like packing away wet). After 8 months of looking we bought Brabdrup Isolite internal covers. Easy to put in place, not bulky, and stow in the upstairs bed. Just watch out for the Velcro snagging headlining. Fully dark, fully insulates, and about £120. Make sure you ask for the 6.1 variant, with or without the rain sensor per the options on your van. See photos.

Seat covers - we have the VW black nylon type. Waterproof apart from the seat belt slot in the middle), not bad looking, and you can fit the rear bench in 10 minutes, front and back in about 30 minutes. We keep them on for dogs and humans !
Photos …

E37E1288-536D-44BF-95AF-15C05EFEC325.jpeg

D047D009-0BF7-498C-A38B-9FE898EB4036.jpeg

3C2BB63A-DDAA-48A4-AE1E-C438AA72ED45.jpeg

1FE01438-7C5B-4221-B99F-78ED328AF50D.jpeg

EE43FAA6-5516-427A-BB78-2BE78D32D2D5.jpeg
 
Personally, since I plan to do a lot of wild camping, aires etc, internal covers are a no brainer. They can be quickly removed without exiting the vehicle if the need arises and you are not advertising yourself. If you intend to be on campsites then you could go either route, although taking down a wet exterior cover in the rain doesn't sound all that appealing.
didn't think about the rain, good point!!
 
glad it was a successful first trip. Definitely the right thing to do - try out the standard kit before buying accessories.

Fron window blinds. - I don’t really understand why you need to adjust the seats to close the blinds. Just adjust the rear view mirror. We often close them for security when parked up in a town etc. However, there are gaps for light, and as there are gaps you also get some condensation too. We looked at lots of options, and talked to people on sites. We steered away from the external ones (it rains too often in the UK, and don’t like packing away wet). After 8 months of looking we bought Brabdrup Isolite internal covers. Easy to put in place, not bulky, and stow in the upstairs bed. Just watch out for the Velcro snagging headlining. Fully dark, fully insulates, and about £120. Make sure you ask for the 6.1 variant, with or without the rain sensor per the options on your van. See photos.

Seat covers - we have the VW black nylon type. Waterproof apart from the seat belt slot in the middle), not bad looking, and you can fit the rear bench in 10 minutes, front and back in about 30 minutes. We keep them on for dogs and humans !
Photos …

View attachment 100913

View attachment 100914

View attachment 100916

View attachment 100917

View attachment 100918
I like the look of those rear seat covers, do you just get them from VW?
 
Forgot to add one of my favourite things is the Dynaudio stereo upgrade, really beautiful sound quality. Of course if it had been me ticking the options box and I saw it for about €2k it would have stayed blank.....
 
I bought a set of internal magnetic covers from CamperProject.de in Hamburg. Insulated (for cold and heat), perfect fit, quick to take down and the option to have a black outer fabric for a more stealth appearance. Not cheap but the quality speaks for itself. Lots of different inward facing patterns and colours.

View attachment 100910
Look good! How does the main screen curtain fix? Are those stiffening battens ?
 
Look good! How does the main screen curtain fix? Are those stiffening battens ?
I have yet to use them in a Cali but I assume, looking at the online photos that it slots in between the vents and top of the windscreen and held in place by the sun visors. Yes those are aluminium batons and help to keep the fabric rigid. The slot is for the mirror.
 
So, had a great night away in Luxembourg at the weekend, the first in our new Cali. First up, our previous van, a UK converted Renault Trafic always made us feel like we were travelling business class, we loved it. This is like first class though!

My favourite points (concentrating on the camping, the van is awesome to drive, never knew I'd love an automatic so much!):

  • The heater - wow, doesn't take long to get toasty warm
  • The beds - soooooo comfy, and the upstairs lights are a great addition
  • The space, despite being smaller (I think) than our trafic it just feels so much bigger
  • Ease of setting everything up

View attachment 100901
Now for a couple of questions to hopefully make things even better:

The front window blinds aren't great in my opinion, don't have total coverage (although not a problem at this time of year) and a pain as have to lean chairs forward to fit. Was thinking of a windscreen cover, have seen different ones ranging from €50-200, what can anyone recommend. Looking on Amazon some people had put that water came in from the doors when they were attached.

Seat covers - I don't want to spend a fortune completely recovering the chairs so ideally would want one of the dog covers for the rear bench. Looking online though I can't find any that are the right size as the rear bench is obviously nowhere near the same dimensions as a normal car rear seat - does anyone have any tips on this?

Overall though, really impressed, which I'm glad of because let's face it, they aren't cheap!!
front window blinds - I lined the side one with blackout material and used blackout material and an old curtain and suction pads to make an internal stick on blind for the front windscreen. see this link which someone else did first for side. https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/adapting-cab-blinds-to-blackout.12602/#post-128544
 
So, had a great night away in Luxembourg at the weekend, the first in our new Cali. First up, our previous van, a UK converted Renault Trafic always made us feel like we were travelling business class, we loved it. This is like first class though!

My favourite points (concentrating on the camping, the van is awesome to drive, never knew I'd love an automatic so much!):

  • The heater - wow, doesn't take long to get toasty warm
  • The beds - soooooo comfy, and the upstairs lights are a great addition
  • The space, despite being smaller (I think) than our trafic it just feels so much bigger
  • Ease of setting everything up

View attachment 100901
Now for a couple of questions to hopefully make things even better:

The front window blinds aren't great in my opinion, don't have total coverage (although not a problem at this time of year) and a pain as have to lean chairs forward to fit. Was thinking of a windscreen cover, have seen different ones ranging from €50-200, what can anyone recommend. Looking on Amazon some people had put that water came in from the doors when they were attached.

Seat covers - I don't want to spend a fortune completely recovering the chairs so ideally would want one of the dog covers for the rear bench. Looking online though I can't find any that are the right size as the rear bench is obviously nowhere near the same dimensions as a normal car rear seat - does anyone have any tips on this?

Overall though, really impressed, which I'm glad of because let's face it, they aren't cheap!!
This is the use of blackout material and suckers put though eyelets. Inside so also used to keep out sun when parked in a carpark. It does sometimes fall of if you do not wet the sucker and press hard on a clean windscreen.
1666623303715.png
 
Nice van
Front blinds are rubbish, try get hold of the fabric ones that used to come with T5 Cali’s
Inka seat covers, or lots of other ones available from club shop.
 
So, had a great night away in Luxembourg at the weekend, the first in our new Cali. First up, our previous van, a UK converted Renault Trafic always made us feel like we were travelling business class, we loved it. This is like first class though!

My favourite points (concentrating on the camping, the van is awesome to drive, never knew I'd love an automatic so much!):

  • The heater - wow, doesn't take long to get toasty warm
  • The beds - soooooo comfy, and the upstairs lights are a great addition
  • The space, despite being smaller (I think) than our trafic it just feels so much bigger
  • Ease of setting everything up

View attachment 100901
Now for a couple of questions to hopefully make things even better:

The front window blinds aren't great in my opinion, don't have total coverage (although not a problem at this time of year) and a pain as have to lean chairs forward to fit. Was thinking of a windscreen cover, have seen different ones ranging from €50-200, what can anyone recommend. Looking on Amazon some people had put that water came in from the doors when they were attached.

Seat covers - I don't want to spend a fortune completely recovering the chairs so ideally would want one of the dog covers for the rear bench. Looking online though I can't find any that are the right size as the rear bench is obviously nowhere near the same dimensions as a normal car rear seat - does anyone have any tips on this?

Overall though, really impressed, which I'm glad of because let's face it, they aren't cheap!!
We got the black waterproof seat covers from the forum shop. Yes they cover our nice beige leather seats but hey ho …. we have a dog.
We also went down the external windscreen cover (silver as both helps with heat insulation / condensation and sun reflection in hot weather) as we also find the front blinds are rather flimsy and could in time fail (although 3 yrs + and still intact) . Easy to fit and don’t really take up much space packed.
 
glad it was a successful first trip. Definitely the right thing to do - try out the standard kit before buying accessories.

Fron window blinds. - I don’t really understand why you need to adjust the seats to close the blinds. Just adjust the rear view mirror. We often close them for security when parked up in a town etc. However, there are gaps for light, and as there are gaps you also get some condensation too. We looked at lots of options, and talked to people on sites. We steered away from the external ones (it rains too often in the UK, and don’t like packing away wet). After 8 months of looking we bought Brabdrup Isolite internal covers. Easy to put in place, not bulky, and stow in the upstairs bed. Just watch out for the Velcro snagging headlining. Fully dark, fully insulates, and about £120. Make sure you ask for the 6.1 variant, with or without the rain sensor per the options on your van. See photos.

Seat covers - we have the VW black nylon type. Waterproof apart from the seat belt slot in the middle), not bad looking, and you can fit the rear bench in 10 minutes, front and back in about 30 minutes. We keep them on for dogs and humans !
Photos …

View attachment 100913

View attachment 100914

View attachment 100916

View attachment 100917

View attachment 100918
Hi, do the internal window covers prevent condensation? And do the airbags still work with seat covers fitted?
Holly
 
So, had a great night away in Luxembourg at the weekend, the first in our new Cali. First up, our previous van, a UK converted Renault Trafic always made us feel like we were travelling business class, we loved it. This is like first class though!

My favourite points (concentrating on the camping, the van is awesome to drive, never knew I'd love an automatic so much!):

  • The heater - wow, doesn't take long to get toasty warm
  • The beds - soooooo comfy, and the upstairs lights are a great addition
  • The space, despite being smaller (I think) than our trafic it just feels so much bigger
  • Ease of setting everything up

View attachment 100901
Now for a couple of questions to hopefully make things even better:

The front window blinds aren't great in my opinion, don't have total coverage (although not a problem at this time of year) and a pain as have to lean chairs forward to fit. Was thinking of a windscreen cover, have seen different ones ranging from €50-200, what can anyone recommend. Looking on Amazon some people had put that water came in from the doors when they were attached.

Seat covers - I don't want to spend a fortune completely recovering the chairs so ideally would want one of the dog covers for the rear bench. Looking online though I can't find any that are the right size as the rear bench is obviously nowhere near the same dimensions as a normal car rear seat - does anyone have any tips on this?

Overall though, really impressed, which I'm glad of because let's face it, they aren't cheap!!

I spent a fortune on various "dog" covers, but the "last a lifetime" guarantees that came with them weren't written in any language that my dogs could understand. The mangled remains went into the bin within weeks.

I resorted to using large microfibre towels. Jammed into the rear headrest clips and stuffed down the back of the rear seat squab they stayed in place, proved totally indestructible, quickly washed and dried and kept the seats pristine for years,
 
Hi, do the internal window covers prevent condensation? And do the airbags still work with seat covers fitted?
Holly
Hi Holly, on some mornings we get very slight misting - not water droplets. The side windows are about perfect, but we can’t get the windscreen cover against the glass all the way across as we have a dash cam and toll tag fitted on the passenger side. Friends have the type you attach internally with sucker cups and it they get a bit more condensation, but not too much.

Yes, the seat covers are approved for air bags. Labels are attached to the airbag side.
 

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