Modding my Stanway (and PVCs in general)

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd share some of the modifications I've made to my Stanway in the last 18 months of ownership. Some of the mods can be made to other PVCs and indeed, other motorhomes in general

A "Stanway" I hear you ask?

Yup, we're a rare breed

Think of the current Symbol Plus (front lounge, rear kitchen) but with a dinette at the front?

Anyway, lots of floor space is what appealed, as our dog is kinda large, she wouldn't be able to turn around in a traditional rear-lounge PVC

Traditional PVC on the outside:

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But slightly unusual layout on the inside:

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My first 'mod' was actually a repair

The tiny screws used to hold the table leg to the table were all loose on the day I got it home...

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Ok, this is going to be harder than I thought...

The forum is very restrictive on image uploads :(

Anyway!

So I drew around the mounting point, removed the leg completely, scored up the underside with deep cuts using a stanley knife, applied copious amounts of Gripfill and then reattached it using longer and wider screws.

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Eighteen months on and it hasn't budged since the day I fixed it

Deep cut threaded screws are often the answer Roger, as you just discovered.

I don't know why they are not used as standard during the build. They don't cost much more, and in comparatively fragile or thin components they can make a big difference.

It's not exactly rocket science is it? 

Most likely answer, never been brought to their attention.

But I agree with you Gromit, better screws in the first place, still they have a lot to learn if they listen.

Like the long screws on our first Topaz that scratched the bathroom sliding doors, result Marquis sent in a bill to A/S for £350  + cost of two new doors.
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Richard

rgermain wrote:Most likely answer, never been brought to their attention.

But I agree with you Gromit, better screws in the first place, still they have a lot to learn if they listen.

Like the long screws on our first Topaz that scratched the bathroom sliding doors, result Marquis sent in a bill to A/S for £350  + cost of two new doors.
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Richard

It probably has been Richard. 

While chatting with the (late of the Service Centre) Mark a while ago I mentioned it to him, and he entirely agreed. He even said the deep cut screws would cost no more, since they would be purchased in such huge quantities.

His response, complete with Gallic shrug and raised eyebrows, "I'll certainly tell them, but they won't take any notice!!"


Dave

RogerThat wrote:Hi everyone,

Thought I'd share some of the modifications I've made to my Stanway in the last 18 months of ownership.  Some of the mods can be made to other PVCs and indeed, other motorhomes in general  

I look forward to this.  For some reason I really like the threads with the modifications;  I've even utilised some myself

One of the other early mods, within just a week or two of getting the van was to have a tow bar fitted.

Not for towing with mind

My wife needs a mobility scooter to get about, and it was my intention to get a folding platform fitted (details to follow in a future post).  But the platform requires a tow bar to bolt on to.

A quick trip to see Mick at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in Preston and a Brink tow bar was fitted in a couple of hours, complete with canbus wiring too.

Would fully recommend Mick, well priced, and an excellent cafe just a few minutes down the road (priorities eh?)

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Plus, tow bars are really handy for tractors to attach to when you get stuck in a muddy camp site and need dragging out

Another mod, a cheaper one this time, and one which I also used in the old van too.

"3M Command Hooks"

These stick on to smooth surfaces, such as the bathroom wall, and are available in loads of different sizes. They also remove REALLY easily!

I've stuck a couple near the sink for facecloths and a couple elsewhere in the washroom for hanging wet towels and clothes on to dry!

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Sticking with the washroom...

I bought a bath mat from Tesco and cut it to the shape of the washroom floor.

Great for cosy feet on bathroom trips in the middle of the night

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Granted, by cutting skills leave a LOT to be desired.

But you get the idea

RogerThat wrote:Another mod, a cheaper one this time, and one which I also used in the old van too.

"3M Command Hooks"

These stick on to smooth surfaces, such as the bathroom wall, and are available in loads of different sizes.  They also remove REALLY easily!

I've stuck a couple near the sink for facecloths and a couple elsewhere in the washroom for hanging wet towels and clothes on to dry!

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I have used this type of hook to hang an extra shower curtain on to keep bathroom dryer when showering. Works very well, I did ask A/S for a quote for curtain and track and they came back with £114! inc. p&p. Wow now I see why the vans cost so much.
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Richard

This is the mobility scooter platform I mentioned earlier.

I bought it from Armitage Trailers over in Ferrybridge - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Great guys, extremely helpful too.

They do a fixed version and a folding version. I went for the folding version and opted to have it delivered and fit it myself.

It's a really well engineered bit of kit, quite heavy, and to be honest, somewhat awkward to remove on your own due to the size and weight.

I've since replaced this with something very different, details in a future post, but sharing this for reference as it was a great bit of kit!

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It's very easy to fold it up, simply pull out two spring-loaded pins, fold it up and put the pins back in to lock it in the upright position.

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It also removes very easily too.

The light board detaches with similar quick-release pins, then the platform itself is released by undoing a few 17mm grub bolts.

Again, the only downside, the platform "area" is quite large and a bit unwieldy at times if lifting on your own!

rgermain wrote:
I have used this type of hook to hang an extra shower curtain on to keep bathroom dryer when showering. Works very well, I did ask A/S for a quote for curtain and track and they came back with £114! inc. p&p. Wow now I see why the vans cost so much.

They're really handy aren't they!

I've put two high up on either side of the wash room and hang a piece of string between the two in order to make a temporary (and somewhat mini) washing line.

£114 quid is a bit steep Richard!

On to a bit of security next.

This is a "TVL Pedal Box" - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Available for a wide range of vehicles and a fairly solid bit of kit too.

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It also doubles as a little mini-safe too, capable of storing the iPad, dash cam and sat nav comfortably.

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When we're driving, I move it to the passenger side footwell where it gets used as a footrest for my vertically-challenged wife

Not sure what you'd call this next one...

A setting-change perhaps?

I'd noticed that the leisure battery meter was quite inaccurate on the digital display.

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Turns out that the panel was set to 110ah battery, yet I only have a 90ah battery in the van!

Following some instructions found on this very site I was able to enter the engineering-mode and change the setting of the battery size.  I then re-calibrated it and it's been perfect ever since

Another mod that I did early-on was to get the van uprated.

While we had a pretty good payload available, the weight of that scooter platform, plus the scooter, plus my +50KG dog was getting a bit high.

I know a lot of people have used SVTech in the past, but I went a slightly different route, that of J R Consultancy (John Ruffles).

Our van has gone from 3500KG to 4050KG

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That was the easy part...

My first mistake?

Sending my logbook/V5 and all the JRC paperwork and certificates to the DVLA using standard post...

Weeks went by, no news... more weeks went by, DVLA claimed they never received any of it...

Nightmare.

I had to pay for a new V5 would you believe! And THEN I had to send everything off to them AGAIN!!!

I send it via Special Delivery this time - lesson learned.

Next job?

Another repair...

This time, it was a repair on behalf of Peugeot, rather than AS.

It dawned on me, after over a month of ownership, that I'd never once seen the handbrake light come on the dash...

Turns out there was a very good reason for that!

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This looks like a manufacturing fault?

Or a switch-assembly fault as they put the pieces of the switch together?

Look carefully and you can see two plastic lugs. These shouldn't be here, they are preventing the two metal pieces from making contact!

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A quick trim with a Stanley knife soon removed them.

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And the handbrake light then lit for the first time ever.

Makes you wonder what a PDI actually involves eh..?

Next mod!

This was actually an upgrade on a previous mod.

I mentioned the tow bar and platform for the mobility scooter. It turns out that things were flexing a little too much for my liking, on the Brink tow bar side of things.

So I removed the tow bar completely (leaving the wiring kit in place) and I replaced it with a Towtrust TP3. This is a seriously heavy duty tow bar with a higher "S" rating than the Brink (150KG now)

More importantly, it had an extra bracing section in the centre, which you can see here.

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All the flexing was now gone and I felt much more comfortable about that extra weight out back.

Another useful mod, was the replacement of the standard pop-up clipboard with the tablet-holder version.

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The tablet holder suits me particularly well as I use TomTom on the iPad.

Also, it allows me to play all the music on the iPad through the van speakers.

Additional bonus is that the music fwd/rwd buttons on the radio also control the music on the iPad, so I can skip tracks etc.

Music is muted when a spoken instruction is issued. And it charges the iPad on the move too.

Another mod performed early on in ownership was the installation of a water filter on the cold line of the kitchen sink tap.

I did all manner of research in to various filter kits and the Nature Pure QC2 range always seemed to review well.

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An easy install, just cut the cold line and insert in series.

The filter unscrews, cutting and sealing the cold line as it's removed so it's really easy to maintain too, just swap out each year

Another cheap mod next, that of a simple mirror attached to each sun visor.

I think these were 99p each on eBay or something.

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