Kemerton xl making improvements

I’m going to show the changes I have made to make the van more usable to my needs and maybe others
Removing and making insulation better for use in the winter.
People will say theres is ok but with out making changes you will not see or fill how much warmer the van can be.when we use the shower and get out to dry off is much warmer with the insulation my wife has made for the windows. This is from a silver ground sheet cut to size for all the windows and held by window suckers and a hole with a ground sheet plastic ring.i have then filled all the door areas with a roll of dacron and at the areas with panels covering the holes I use a dacron That has silver to one side this can be seen in pictures[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]some pictures are what it looked like before and after the one above the side door

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]The rear doors and window insulation

my tanks have had a insulation put on covering all the area . I had to drop the tanks down to do this and have fitted an extra tank as the xl chassis has a space in front of the spare wheel .i now turn on a tap as to the tank I am using and put a level gauge to show the extra tank level[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

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Fitting  a mesh to protect damage to radiator etc
I removed the grill and put a wire mesh on the back I have covered all the large gapes at the same time I had the lights removed I put a cover over the ecu and fuse box and wiring as this is a major problem I have had to trace breaks in the wiring from water damage on the Peugeot 250 range so have help keep this area dry[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I do love a good modding thread 

RogerThat wrote:I do love a good modding thread 

more to come Roger .from doing other peoples repairs you do mods to your own van to help protect it . I will be showing the roof thanks for your help here but have not got my hullavator pro  still not come

Some very good improvements..........Been looking into meshing the grills on my van,looks good and is very practicle. Is the mesh stainless or ally.and where did you get it from.Also do I see ty-raps as securing points ?

Kdc wrote:Some very good improvements..........Been looking into meshing the grills on my van,looks good and is very practicle. Is the mesh stainless or ally.and where did you get it from.Also do I see ty-raps as securing points ?

the mesh was aluminium so I could shape it as required and is held with bonding sealant to lugs that  you can put metal clips but the clear sealant its self works ok. the mesh was 3m x 0.5m with 5mmx10mm holes I got from ebay .to cover all the area I needed the size shown cost £14.91

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My extra cooling to help cool the fridge on very hot days 
It has 2 sensors that I have fitted just above the cooling fins and 2  computer fans [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]that are also just above the cooling fins This can be set as required to help the fridge keep cool on very hot days . I have set the fans at different settings so the 2nd fan will only cut in if the temperature gets very hot. When I was home at the first lock down on a very hot day the first fan came on with out the fridge running when the sun was making the fridge side of my van very hot so was a good test

glyne lock wrote:my tanks have had a insulation put on covering all the area . I had to drop the tanks down to do this

I admire the work you have done.
Did you need any special equipment to drop the tanks? Vehicle lift or access pit or such like.

AutoSleepy_Don wrote:

glyne lock wrote:my tanks have had a insulation put on covering all the area . I had to drop the tanks down to do this

I admire the work you have done.
Did you need any special equipment to drop the tanks? Vehicle lift or access pit or such like.

Thank you for your comments Don
To drop the tanks I use my level blocks ref stack a blocks they also help look after the tyres as the tyre fits on the curve I jack up the van and place the blocks as to the height required the tanks are very light but I use a trolley jack to make the job easier.the tank in the picture is the new extra 75lt tank I have fitted in front of the spare wheel and behind the rear axle .my van was sorn at the lock down until I use it in September .some jobs I have done on the wash ramp outside and some on the pits in my work[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Many thanks again glyne for giving me the inspiration to tackle the issue that we both had in our Kemerton XLs, that's the ridiculously missing TV aerial socket on the sliding door side of our Kemerton XL vans, A-S should have fitted this TV socket from new. Few here will appreciate just what can be involved in routing an aerial cable above the roof panels from side to side. Many times I would have otherwise given up, but kept saying to myself, glyne's done it. As too with the installation of a second solar panel cable, though by this time I'd bought an endoscope camera that I'd consider essential to anyone wanting to route cables in their van.

The  [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Waste pipe under the sink
This is something that has been talked about on this forum in lots of post .the grey waste pipe used by A/S is just a push fit but should be secured with clamps then it would not come apart but is very poorly fitted to our vans. yes I have glued as many joints as I could and secured mine in place . The first picture is how I have now positioned the pipe and secured  it in place the 2nd picture was how it was positioned but I fitted a p clip as a temporary fix to hold the pipe in place
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glyne lock wrote:my tanks have had a insulation put on covering all the area . I had to drop the tanks down to do this and have fitted an extra tank as the xl chassis has a space in front of the spare wheel .i now turn on a tap as to the tank I am using and put a level gauge to show the extra tank level[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

What a great idea 
Please can I ask where you got the tank from and does it come with mounting brackets?

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Relaxez-Vous wrote:Many thanks again glyne for giving me the inspiration to tackle the issue that we both had in our Kemerton XLs, that's the ridiculously missing TV aerial socket on the sliding door side of our Kemerton XL vans, A-S should have fitted this TV socket from new. Few here will appreciate just what can be involved in routing an aerial cable above the roof panels from side to side. Many times I would have otherwise given up, but kept saying to myself, glyne's done it. As too with the installation of a second solar panel cable, though by this time I'd bought an endoscope camera that I'd consider essential to anyone wanting to route cables in their van.

I never mind helping and especially when you get thanks like I have had from yourself .
As Relaxez has posted here the tv power and aerial sockets are above the side seat on a kemerton xl and I have now put sockets above the side loading door .the locker  I will  show in pictures you have got spare wires for 12volt sockets on a kemerton with a ec500 behind the panel inside the locker with the aerial power box that has a spare outlet to use for your new socket Note the ec 700 has different wiring but I’m sure Relaxez will help with anyone that has a ec700 as to how he wired his up for the extra sockets. to wire the sockets above the side door you need to feed the wires across the roof above the lining remove the wooden panel down above the side loading door to fit the extra sockets I had to move the heat sensor to fit the sockets in the position you will see .at the same time I had this wooden panel down I fitted the extra insulation shown  already .i also fitted a spot light to be able to read when sat on the single seat 





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Great idea for the water tank, a couple of question

1/ Water: are you using a changeover valve or a link so the water self levels on both tanks  ?

2/ Water: where did you get the water tank from and size ?

3/ Insulation: how does the roof lining remove for access to the that area ?

4/ Insulation: where did you get the draylon from with the reflective surface ?

Thanks in advance.

I got the tank from eBay it was hard to find a tank that would fit in the space the item number is 132625547949 this is just the tank the fittings i used  to mount the tank was hook bolts the same way A/S had  fitted the tanks 

Fixer wrote:

glyne lock wrote:my tanks have had a insulation put on covering all the area . I had to drop the tanks down to do this and have fitted an extra tank as the xl chassis has a space in front of the spare wheel .i now turn on a tap as to the tank I am using and put a level gauge to show the extra tank level[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

What a great idea 
Please can I ask where you got the tank from and does it come with mounting brackets?

GP1069 wrote:Great idea for the water tank, a couple of question

1/ Water: are you using a changeover valve or a link so the water self levels on both tanks  ?

2/ Water: where did you get the water tank from and size ?

3/ Insulation: how does the roof lining remove for access to the that area ?

4/ Insulation: where did you get the draylon from with the reflective surface ?

Thanks in advance.

1 I have fitted taps  to turn each tank off and to be able to fill the tanks
2 ebay 132625547949 size 75lt
3 I just lowered it to be able to feed the wires but not an easy job .this was the blanks covering the screws for the joint in the roof lining I also removed the  light in the lining .if you are thinking of doing this I will explain in more detail
4 the dacron was a 10mx.7m.35mm I sometimes put 2 layers and the Dacron with the silver on 1 side this is what is used under the roof felt in the loft for insulation .
I will show a picture of the taps showing the expansion tank .the extra tank can be back fill throw the drain tap on the tank as well

Fitting the extra water tank
I have just 1 pipe that fills the tank and is use to draw the water up to the pump 
This is done by fitting taps at the fitting to fill which tank I want to by turning on the tap to that tank 
I also turn a tap as to which tank I want to use
At the same time I did the pipe work for the extra tank I fitted the Fiamma expansion tank , people say there water system is ok and that maybe correct but this tank has made my water system much smoother to operate and helps the life of the pump after having a expansion [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]tank on my last van had noticed the benefit the tank made on the last van so was a must to fit on this van

polish
when you buy your new motor home car what ever they always want to sale you the  polish that helps protect the paint work and it does make it better to clean ref £500.00 pounds plus for campers . the sales man now puts a large bonus in his pocket when he gets the sale so no no don't .yes the polish is good I do my van cars each year my self this very much helps stop the black marks you see by windows and if you have got any marks will just wash off very easy and not have to polish them out as I had been doing for years.so yes the polish is good but leave out the sales man and go direct to the company that do the job and save some money as that sales man has taken plenty from you already or like I do .do it your self

protecting under the van and chassis  cross members
this is not the best of jobs but I have done my van with a black wax protector
this is a job I did in my work on the truck wash ramp I heated up the wax treatment to help  the spraying under the van I removed all the rubber plugs in the inner seals to spray inside even in side the doors at the bottom to help where you get them rust . i might not see any benefit for the time I have the van but will help with the sale and keep the van looking good for the next owner

Mud flaps
I always fit mud flaps to all my own vehicles it may not keep all the mud but helps and is great for stopping all the tar spots you see on lots of vehicles . The fronts are easy to fit the backs I had to remove a plastic plug but other wise easy to do[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Batteries
To be able to power up my inverter  I needid to fit a 2nd battery so removed the old battery box as this was much bigger than the battery fitted I got 2 new boxes that link together and a better fit to the size battery I already had and got a new battery the same as already fitted .the inverter I fitted as close as possible as in picture to the batteries and wired to take = drain The + off one battery and - off the other .my solar mppt epever DaulRacer is also fitted as close as possible to the batteries in a space on the other end to the inverter this is also wire to give = power to each battery. I also change the wire out put to the van to draw the power even. The solar system wiring already fitted ref Sargent wiring with the plug joints and size of wire I have disconnected from the ec500 system and put new solar 4mm cable from the panels to the controller .in the kemerton trying to use the entry cover fitted by A/S and taking the cables the shortest route was not easy. I would normally come down the pillar behind the drivers seat but did not want to have to make more holes in the roof.after working out a way to get the wires from the roof to under the bench seat with out taking all the top units down as I was told would need to do by a A/S dealer workshop . After sorting my own van was able to help Relaxez with another task for him to take on and well done to him as this is my trade and I have been doing jobs like this for years and was not going to be easy for him but with picture I sent and explaining he was able to carry out the job and save him self a lot of money to what the dealer wanted to carry out this job .the only panel I had to remove was the panel that holds the tv 12v socket and aerial socket and before refitting put  insulation behind[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] the panel

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]the solar controller is linked to my phone I had the Bluetooth but you can also link it by wifi . with the phone I can now change the settings. it shows my days  power weeks power and years power .you can see the volts amps watts  and lots more

I used the same battery boxes in my set up, 2 batteries and less space wasted than the original battery box