Camper van - tudedude

A 1986 Renault Trafic Autosleeper RCX

Clarrie

An Introduction to our little Campervan, Motorhome, which ever name you prefer.

A 1986 Renault Trafic Autosleeper RCX Hightop, called Clarrie.

Clarrie was purchased from a family in Weymouth, who were up sizing and needed a larger van.

We had looked at quite a few vans, but as soon as my wife climbed into Clarrie, there was only one van, and this was it.

2068cc Diesel, 5 speed manual, she is not the fastest vehicle on the roads, but she gets us from A to B surprisingly quickly.

On a longish run we always get 30 MPG or slightly greater, so she is quite economical for her size and weight.

This photo was taken on the hills above Tynham in Dorset, just beside the tank firing ranges, this road is frequently closed to allow tanks to use the ranges. The area is full of wild life as there is "No Entry" for the public on the ranges.

Note: clicking on any picture, will take you to my Flickr Site, where you will find an enlarged view and other images.

Driver Side View

This side has the utility external functions.

The Mains Electricity goes in and waste water from the sink goes out.

The black container by the rear wheel is where the Gray Waste from the sink is collected.

The shower waste is disconnected as we don't use the the shower facility.

The TV mast is held up by a home made lower fitting and a adjustable plastic fitting that locks onto the roof gutter.

The rear windows are blacked out by Aluminum foil, permanently on the left hand side and with a removable blind on the right hand side.

We find the aluminum foil helps to keep the heat down by reflecting sunlight.

The electricity socket unit had a broken flap, so I have a high tech chinese take-away box that covers the socket when not in use.

Passenger Side View

On the earlier Renault Trafic's the side door is hinged as you can see, slightly newer models have sliding doors.

The side door has a locking catch mounted on the passenger door, so when the side door is open the passenger door is effectively out of use.

The hinging side door also makes sun shade or awning use more difficult as it sticks out at the front with a sharp corner.

We don't use an awning, and we converted a bed sheet held out with metal poles as a sunshade for those hot days.

The black panel at the back has a vent for the 3 way fridge (Mains Electric, Gas, Vehicle Electric)

You can see the new roof light hinged up in this view, I left the old one up when I drove into the garage, and was treated to a cacophony of crunching and grating as it failed to enter the garage with the van.

I replaced the roof light with a heavier version that includes a electric vent fan.

The black line down the centre of the roof light is where it just touches the plastic rainwater gutter above the garage door.

Yes! it is that tight

Passenger Side View

In this view you can see the small table top locked neatly in it's storage position below the seat.

The water bottle at the side is a collapsible plastic bottle that is used for transferring water to the van.

The cap for the water storage tank is under the bonnet, so you have to open the bonnet to fill up the on board tank.

This does sometimes lead to some funny looks when I add bottle after bottle to the tank, some people think I'm topping up the radiator.

The onboard Gas Heater is situated under the seat on this side along with the two small gas bottles that provide the services in the van.

The gas heater is very effective, it's auto ignition and has a thermostat.

The only problem is that it is just below one of the beds when they are made up, and the blower fan makes it too noisy to use at night.

We have a small electric blower (that is quite quiet) heater that we use at night but of course we can only use that when we are hooked up to the mains.

Fully Rigged On-Site

This is Clarrie at the Camping and Caravan Lynton Site, with everything connected up and ready for our stay.

We had to use double wheel chocks to level the van, I have since purchased another set of wheel chocks to make leveling easier.

We are not too fussy about being really level, as long as we are within a few degrees either side, we are happy.

The TV ariel is a multi function one, that can be changed between vertical and horizontal alignment.

The TV has analogue and digital inputs, so we are covered for most sites.

It's nice to have the TV for those wet evenings, we are also thinking of getting a cheap dvd player to hook up to the TV.

In the summer when the weather is good we don't take the TV as we often play cribbage before turning in.

Clarrie is quite muddy in this photo, it had been raining and the lanes were extremely muddy on our way to the site.

This picture was taken late on in the year and was the week before the site was due to close down.

We enjoyed our stay one this site, we could walk into lynton down a steep single track lane so no need to use the van during the day.

On Site at Salisbury

We now have a plastic step, this serves two purposes:

Makes it easier to get in :-)

Allows use to change foot ware when getting into the van, which saves dragging mud etc into the van.

We keep a rubber stippled mat at the rear door which is good for catching gravel or grass, the mat is easily shaken clean or a quick wash restores it's usage.

The little case beside the steps stores spare shoes.

We keep some stuff under the van when on site as it gives us a bit more room inside.

On Site at the Dorset DA Weekend

On Site at the Camping and Caravan Club Dorset DA Country Weekend

On site with no "hook up" and as it was earlier in the year it was a bit parky at night, so extra tee shirts and socks for sleeping.

When we park on a slope, we park with the back end up the slope, as Clarrie's springs sag a bit at the rear, so it helps with leveling.

A windbreak is always useful, I think we'll buy a taller one this year.

Inside from the Rear Door

Inside from the rear Door

Image taken from the back door looking toward the front.

All the fittings are original and they all work, which is a testimony to the quality of the Autosleeper range.

You can see the fridge tucked in at the left with a small cupboard above it.

This cupboard gets warmed by the fridge so is ideal for keeping clothes and bits and pieces.

The large door on the left before the fridge is the toilet partition that closes off the rear of the van for the toilet and sink.

The front seats fold down to allow for two single beds one each side.

Front With Small Table Fitted

Here the passenger seat is swiveled round to provide a comfy leisure seat.

There are two table tops a large rectangular top and a smaller square top shown here.

The table leg can be located in one of three base holes in the floor of the vehicle. These tables are quick and easy to erect or to store and very firm when in use.

The tables are formica covered and are easy to keep clean.

Looking back from the centre

On the left is the two person couch seating then the closed kitchen unit with drawer and cupboard space.

The very important fire extinguisher.

Just poking down in the top left of the photo is one of the little torches that clip on and are used for reading when the main lights are off.

There are various plastic hooks around the sink, and doors, I find that the type of hooks that come with sticky pads - fall off as soon as the van becomes warm inside in the summer.

I now remove the sticky pad and stick the hooks on with Clear Silicone.

We have lined the side windows with light mesh, to keep flies and wasps from entering the van.

At the far end of the van between the shower unit and the door you can see a bit of white card with a rounded corner, this has magnetic strip on it and aluminum foil, this sticks onto the window in the door, for privacy and heat reflection.

Kitchen Range in Use

Kitchen Range In use

The kitchen equipment works really well, there are two rings on top and a grill underneath.

The grill wasn't working too well so I decided to give the cooker unit a service.

I refurbished the complete range in 2009, by stripping it down to it's component parts, cleaning everything, including the gas jets.

Then re-building the unit, after re-spraying the painted parts with Very High temperature paint.

Everything works a treat now, and it's quite satisfying to cook on, and my wife's toast is just toasty.

We find the best thing to get fat off the stove and the stainless steel is Methylated Spirit.

We only use the meths at home as I don't like carrying too much flammable stuff in the van.

We tend to keep the cooking simple when we use the van as the idea is to enjoy the area rather than spend lots of time cooking.

The Trafic Camper Vans have several variations on the kitchen and sink ranges, the stainless steel versions seem to be better in use as they don't chip like the enamel variety.

And you can re-polish them using a car type metal polish, like Solvol Autosol.

Shower Unit and Porta Potti

The RCX comes complete with shower cubicle and a shower gas heater.

In theory this sounds great, but in practice it is impractical, the shower cubicle is tiny, and when I tried it a few times it was difficult to get the water temp right, so it was either freezing or boiling, and no room to get away from either.

So we have disconnected both the shower water feed and the Shower Drain, we use the cubicle to house our Porta Potti.

The other use is to put a rail across and to hang clothes in the cubicle.

We also keep the gray water bottle in there when traveling.

Another bonus of draining the shower unit, is that you don't have to make sure that there isn't any water in there during the winter months.

If you do leave it filled with water, it will freeze and damage the water heater.

Access to the passenger rear light cluster is by means of the lid at the back of the shower unit.

The Internal Folding Partition

This partition folds out across the van and enables privacy when using the loo and when washing or dressing as it encloses the sink unit as well.

There is just enough room for a strip wash and change, we heat a kettle of water on the stove for this.

The Partition folds in behind the toilet door when not in use.

We have a hook fastened to the outside of the toilet door, that enables us to hold the door open at night, we use a thick rubber band to hook the door back.

The Zig Unit

The Zig unit on these vans is just a central point for the fuses and distribution of the 12Volt auxiliary supply.

There is no charger with this unit.

We bought a CTEK charger for the van and I used to connect it under the bonnet on the Auxiliary Battery.

Now we have connected it to the Zig panel by means of the auxiliary socket, this has worked well and saves a lot of messing about.

As soon as we connect to the hook-up the charger switches on automatically.

I cannot praise the CTEK charger highly enough, an excellent charger, and it can act as a 7 amp power supply as well, it is perfect for our requirements.

The power meter comprising 3 Led's on the left of the panel works well, as does the water meter, just beside it.

The main batteries are monitored by means of a LED voltage unit that I knocked up in the workshop and the auxiliary battery is isolated from the vehicle battery except when the engine is running using a set of relays.

The Gas Heater, Boot Locker, and The Fridge

The gas heater: for warming the van is situated in the gas locker under the seat by the side door.

The heater burner draws air from the outside and vents its gas fumes to the outside underneath the van.

So the air that is circulated is drawn from inside the van and circulated back into the van, this means that there is no way for gas fumes to get into the internal air of the van, to avoid Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

Please install a Carbon Monoxide monitor in your van, as well as a smoke alarm as this might save your life.

You can see the intake and outlet of the gas heater in the image, just beside my foot.

The Boot Locker: Very handy little locker that houses the various gas taps for the van. We do keep some shoes in there but it is an ideal place for things that you might wish to keep cool, as it is probably the coolest part of the van (except for the fridge).

The Fridge: The fridge is a three way unit: Gas, mains, and 12V vehicle.

The fridge works best on the mains, when using a hook-up, as the thermostat works in this mode.

Second best is running on gas, which is very good at keeping the fridge cool, sometimes too cool.

The worst combination is the vehicle 12 Volt connection as this uses 7 amps and is normally only on when the engine is running, this means that when you stop somewhere, the fridge will stop working.

I do not recommend this but: we use the gas option when we are traveling, it has never blown out and it keeps the fridge at a reasonable temperature, much better than the 12V option, and it stays on when you are parked up for whatever reason.