One of the main concerns we have had with the Minibago has been that of ventilation. Since the vehicle was originally an ambulance, the issue wasn’t critical as the van had two sets of air conditioning units; one for the front seats and one for the rear compartment.
However, when it was decommissioned as an ambulance and sold off, the rear aircon unit was removed. As there are no opening windows in the rear compartment, sleeping in the van during the summer months has been a bit difficult. We have tried opening one of the sliding doors and covering the aperture with mosquito net and that has been partially successful, but opening windows in the rear has always been the solution which we desired. Trouble is, every time we have encountered a possible solution, it has fallen over for some reason, for any number of reasons but mostly somehow related to expense.
As the van is old (1999 model), finding parts is also a issue, but, thanks to a Facebook friend who is also a motorcycling friend and a VW T4 fan, I have discovered Camden GTi at Campbelltown. So, in response to what seemed like a promising telephone call, We headed up there today and found that they had two windows in a wrecked van which I could buy as long as I was prepared to do the hard work of pulling them out.
Easy, I thought. How wrong I was. Firstly, the van was out in the yard, in the baking sunshine. The headlining had been removed and sold so it was like being in an oven. Since the windows we needed to have were in the sliding doors, getting them out involved having the doors closed. After a lot of wrestling and copious amounts of perspiration and discomfort, the windows were detached from the van. However, rather than simply taking the windows home, the boss suggested that I could reduce the cost by removing my fixed windows and leaving them there for them to sell. Of course, that presupposed that we would have to FIT the new ones onsite and, fortunately, they seemed to have the time to do it.
The left hand window came out easily and the new window went in slightly less easily but it did go in. Fitting the inside beading was a nightmare and once again, even though the van was inside in the workshop, it still turned into a trial.
When we moved to the driver’s side, the job suddenly started to look like a disaster. The new opening window was both too long and too high to fit into the cavity left by the removal of the fixed window. What was needed was another window from a sliding door, not one from a fixed panel. Stock control said that they didn’t have one but Matthew suggested that we try the racks out the back just in case one of them had been mis-labelled and was sa sliding door window. He brought one into the workshop and I brought another. His was too big, but the one that I had been brought in fitted like a glove.
So it was then the sweaty, aggravating struggle of fitting the window and the securing strip. By late in the afternoon we were done. Because the both windows are from the left hand side the sliding windows open the opposite way, but we don’t care.
Since we had left our old windows and since I did a great deal of the labour myself, it didn’t cost nearly as much as it would have and now all I need to do is to manufacture some fly screens for them and we are sweet.
To say that I am chuffed is an understatement.
dunc says
looking good phil
most things are achievable in getting a solution if you sit down and think long enough
think about screens on the outside as a pain to undo to open and close windows and maybe a security thing as well
Phil Hall says
Going to look at that today. I agree that having to move the screens every time you want to open and close could be a pain. The downside of outside screens is increased wind noise. Oh, well, we’ll see, won’t we?