Autotrail Tracker

[misty]

HI we have a 2006 Tracker with the cupboards over the cab they are so small we cant store our beding in them.some Trackers do have a bed over the cab but we could not find one at the time.we would like to take the cupboards out.this would give us a lot more room up there.we dont want to put the beding under the seats. we will never sleep up there .its a small van only ft 19.2 so every bit of space counts.we dont want to wreck them we will put them back when we sell the van.so has anyone done this was it a big job and was it worth it. thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mel B]

Difficult to advise without seeing the van as to how easy it would be (I don't have one). Is it the same as the below?

[Mel B]

An alternative to altering the van would be to use some 'vacuum' storage bags instead for your bedding etc. I have some for our van and they really are great so that clothes, towels, spare bedding etc really reduce in size quite a lot making them much easier to store. There are 2 types though, the ones where you need to use a vacuum cleaner to suck out the air, or the type I have where you roll the bags with the clothes etc in to expel the air through a 'bladder' at the bottom so more suitable for daily us in a motorhome.

 

rollup travel bags

 

We also use them at home too for storing our motorhome bedding etc over winter rather than leaving it in the van, much easier to find storage space at home when the duvets have the air knocked out of them!!! :D

[Derek Uzzell]

misty - 2012-12-27 9:04 PM

 

HI we have a 2006 Tracker with the cupboards over the cab they are so small we cant store our beding in them.some Trackers do have a bed over the cab but we could not find one at the time.we would like to take the cupboards out.this would give us a lot more room up there.we dont want to put the beding under the seats. we will never sleep up there .its a small van only ft 19.2 so every bit of space counts.we dont want to wreck them we will put them back when we sell the van.so has anyone done this was it a big job and was it worth it. thanks

 

I very much doubt that Auto-Trail will have constructed your Tracker's over-cab lockers so that they can easily be completely disassembled, then easily be reassembled at a later date. (It should be apparent from a casual inspection of the lockers whether there's any likelihood that the component parts can be simply dismantled.)

 

If you just want to store bedding and/or bulky items over the cab, I suggest you remove the locker doors - which should be straightforward - and store them carefully. Then DIY a 'shelf' extending from the base of front lockers to the rear of the cab. (Essentially, this would be what you would have got with the optional bed.) You would not gain the amount of storage volume you'd have with the bed option, as the lockers' internal partitions would still be there, but it should produce more than adequate space for bedding storage. It shouldn't be hard to do if you've got basic DIY skills.

[peterjl]

Hi

 

Our last van, (sold march this year) was a tracker. We use duvalays and they both fitted into the overcab via the doors. A bit more of a push with winter weight but summer weight no problem. We also put the 2 pillows in. When everything in the cupboard was full but doors closed fine.

 

Peter

[Cliffy]

 

 

We have a 2004 AT Tracker. we stow all our bedding in the overcab lockers. two single duvets, three pillows and a double sheet, Dead easy with summer duvets, I even have room to put my camera gear in there as well, it is a little bit tight with winter duvets but never been a problem.

 

 

[Derek Uzzell]

Cliffy - 2012-12-28 11:13 PM

We have a 2004 AT Tracker. we stow all our bedding in the overcab lockers. two single duvets, three pillows and a double sheet, Dead easy with summer duvets, I even have room to put my camera gear in there as well, it is a little bit tight with winter duvets but never been a problem.

 

Forgive me for saying this but, while you and peterjl are/were able to cram your bedding into your Tracker's overcab lockers, both of you are ignoring the first sentence of Misty's original posting "...we have a 2006 Tracker with the cupboards over the cab they are so small we cant store our beding in them".

 

Misty's bedding may be much bulkier than yours and, if she says that she cannot get her bedding in the overcab lockers, I believe this should be accepted as a factual statement. (My Hobby has fairly voluminous overcab lockers but there's no way I could store our thick winter-weight duvets in them.)

 

I'm doubtful that it's a realistic plan to remove a Tracker's lockers without causing damage, but I've no practical experience of this motorhome so that's just a guess. You, on the other hand, own a similar motorhome to Misty's, so you should be able to check the lockers' construction and advise her on the practicability of what she is suggesting doing.

[Cliffy]

Derek Uzzell - 2012-12-29 9:29 AM

 

Cliffy - 2012-12-28 11:13 PM

We have a 2004 AT Tracker. we stow all our bedding in the overcab lockers. two single duvets, three pillows and a double sheet, Dead easy with summer duvets, I even have room to put my camera gear in there as well, it is a little bit tight with winter duvets but never been a problem.

 

Forgive me for saying this but, while you and peterjl are/were able to cram your bedding into your Tracker's overcab lockers, both of you are ignoring the first sentence of Misty's original posting "...we have a 2006 Tracker with the cupboards over the cab they are so small we cant store our beding in them".

 

Misty's bedding may be much bulkier than yours and, if she says that she cannot get her bedding in the overcab lockers, I believe this should be accepted as a factual statement. (My Hobby has fairly voluminous overcab lockers but there's no way I could store our thick winter-weight duvets in them.)

 

I'm doubtful that it's a realistic plan to remove a Tracker's lockers without causing damage, but I've no practical experience of this motorhome so that's just a guess. You, on the other hand, own a similar motorhome to Misty's, so you should be able to check the lockers' construction and advise her on the practicability of what she is suggesting doing.

 

Derek

I did not intend to sound dismisve about Misty's dilema; if that is how it came over I applogise. I was trying to indicate that if the over cab locker is not big enough it would be more appropriate to look at the bedding being used.

 

Our tracker is presently in secure storage 7 miles away so I can not look and see what would be entailed to take them out. I say them because the over cab locker is integral with the offside side locker which houses the Sargent control unit, this would also create difficulty in storing bedding where it could affect the cooling of the unit.

 

The existing overhead locker is around 300mm high and 450mm deep, it runs almost the whole width of the habitation area with no partitions and is accessed by one door approximately one metre long. It is specifically designed to take the bedding.

 

I am of course assuming that the 2006 model is similar to our 2004 model but looking at photos in adverts newer models on different cabs appear to be at least the same size or larger.

 

The only way I can envisage that the locker volume can be increased and still provide a safe and practical habitation area is by removing the false bulkhead from the back of the locker to give access to the bulbus head area. This may interfere with the integrity of the roof structure and would also make a cold locker even colder. So professional advice would be advisable before attemting this

 

 

Misty

 

I trust the forgoing explains my original reply which appears to be have taken as unhelpful, this was not my intention.

 

Clff

 

 

[misty]

Hi thanks everyone for your suggestions .we have 2 duvalays 1 fits over the cab ok a pillow goes each side in a small cupboard over the cab .but no way will the other one go up there on site we leave one on the drivers seat.on the move it lays on the settee'and rolls off.only had the van 3 month.maybe its to soon to start wrecking.will have a rethink THANKS

[Cliffy]

misty - 2012-12-29 8:08 PM

 

Hi thanks everyone for your suggestions .we have 2 duvalays 1 fits over the cab ok a pillow goes each side in a small cupboard over the cab .but no way will the other one go up there on site we leave one on the drivers seat.on the move it lays on the settee'and rolls off.only had the van 3 month.maybe its to soon to start wrecking.will have a rethink THANKS

 

I have just had a look at the adverts for Duvalays they are quite bulky aren't they. I thought they were just posh Duvets! :-(

 

I think something like Derek suggested would be the easiest answer.

Make a shelf from ply wood covered with fabric or sticky backed plastic that will sit on the small ledge below the lockers and strap the Duvalays to it with bungies.

 

Or take the easy way out and stow them in the shower cubicle when not in use.

[flicka]

As a professional alternative (abiet more expensive) a call to Coachbuilt GB (Nuneaton) & see if they can help.

They are approved by Autotrail for modifications.

 

http://www.coachbuiltgb.co.uk/bespoke-modifications/#

 

[Derek Uzzell]

The primary objective is to be able to store bulky bedding in the upper part of a Tracker's cab. Secondary objectives should be that the way this is done won't affect the vehicle's resale value and will be simple and safe. I'd also suggest that it should be DIYable and not expensive. 'Prettiness' isn't really an issue (though it has to be said that it would be if I did it.)

 

My immediate reaction to any suggestion that the existing Tracker lockers should be removed/modified is "Don't!" It's much simpler (and more effective) to remove the locker doors and then 'fill in' the space from the fronts of the lockers to the rear of the cab (ie. the area directly above the cab seats). This could be done with a rigid, shaped in-fill (as cliffy envisages), or with a non-rigid in-fill (think horizontal bunk-bed safety-net)

 

http://www.laleisure.co.uk/motorhome-bunk-safety-nets.php

 

or with a halfway house arrangement (eg. a set of linked slats).

 

Proper consideration would need to be given to prevent people moving between cab and living-area bashing their brains out on the in-fill, the in-fill being secured so that it can't fall on people's heads, the bedding placed in the lockers and on the in-fill staying there when the motorhome is driven, and, when the in-fill is eventually removed prior to the vehicle being sold, that no sign of its presence remains.

 

I can imagine adding a rigid in-fill 'shelf', then fitting a vertical door to it so that the whole overcab volume is converted into one large locker, but that would be overkill. My first thoughts would be for a rigid (though not necessarily one-piece or solid) padded in-fill, with something at the in-fill's rear-of-cab edge to stop the bedding falling off. Plenty of alternatives though.

 

[peterjl]

Hi misty.

 

My better half has corrected my memory. We used to store both summer weight duvalays over th cab but on the rare occassions we used winter weight duvalays they used to travel in the shower (once it had dried out). You could consider that as on option as it stops them rolling about. It worked for us.

 

Peter

[Derek Uzzell]

And there’s me thinking that people with motorhomes having restricted interior storage capacity for bulky bedding (particularly people with panel-van conversions) would have come up with sophisticated solutions to get round this limitation.

 

I had envisaged use of fantastically expensive mountaineering-standard sleeping-bags filled with genuine eiderdown, or heated night attire (by that I mean pyjamas/nighties with integrated 12V heating, not ‘hot’ night wear of the sexy variety). How disappointing...

 

You’d need to be careful with the ‘in the shower’ approach, as many motorhomes (including my Hobby) can have water from the shower waste pipework run back into the shower-tray if the vehicle is driven up a steep slope. Anyway, I thought the shower area is where the Motorhome Dog lived.

[HymerVan]

We use a highly technical and sophisticated method for storage of our duvalays in our Fifer PVC. On the move they sit neatly on top of the rear seats (beds) and on site they sit on the cab seats until used.

The key to storage in a small van is firstly to take nothing you don't need and secondly to think laterally about where and how you store everything else. On our two month trip to Europe this year I reckon we had about 60 litres or so of unused storage space.

[Guest 1footinthegrave]

I think the Duvalays are the root of the problem, as they are so bulky. Before these came out I ordered two single size memory foam toppers to try and even out the humps caused by stupid knee rolls on the cushions ( why do they do that ) storage of them was a major problem, so much so that I kept cutting then down until I got to a point they were just about the half the size,just supporting your trunk area, which provided a solution, on the road I just stick them under the "settee " cushions, and have two high quality down duvets that compact down to a very small size, and both of them complete with pillows fit easily in our relatively small over cab locker..

[Derek Uzzell]

I've thought about this a bit more and now suggest a 'cargo net' approach.

 

This involves removing the over-cab locker doors from their hinges and then hanging a sort of hammock across the cab, suspended from the hinges of the side lockers. (The idea is so basic I don't think it needs more explanation.)

 

Misty can then follow her normal procedure of putting the pilows in the side lockers and one Duvalay in the front locker, with the 2nd Duvalay going in the cargo-net/hammocky thing. The beauty of this idea is that, with a few lengths of string and, say, an old curtain, it can be checked for practicability (eg. I think there would be a need to attach the front edge of the 'hammock' to the base of the front locker - a couple more bits of string?) but would cost nothing, be quick to test and would cause no damage.

 

Done tidily it's got to be a candidate for an MMM "Top Tip".

[Mel B]

Derek, I too thought of something along the lines of a 'hammock' but on further thought I wasn't so sure (so I didn't suggest it) as, unless there was some way of tightly securing it once 'loaded', it would bounce around whilst travelling which could prove very annoying and painful if a heavy duvalay fell out on your head! :D

 

Having had a shuftie as the massive size of duvalay's when rolled, my only other suggestions are:

 

1) remove the quilt from the duvet and roll them separately - pratty but it may be easier then to store them in the existing cupboard.

 

or

 

2) fold the duvalay rather than roll it to reduce the 'height' so that it may then go in as it would be flatter (depending on the depth of the locker this may/may not be viable.

 

[Derek Uzzell]

Hmm - perhaps not such an inspired idea after all.

 

As Misty can get one of her Duvalays into the front locker, it's reasonable to assume the 2nd could be stored in the space in front of the locker. Will these things fold rather than roll? I suppose that might depend on the thickness of the foam.

 

Back to the 'shelf' in-fill I think.