Panel Van Sliding Doors

[armstrongpiper]

We are considering buying a Panel Van conversion to replace our small coachbuilt Motorcaravan, one of the attractions being a more managable width in narrower country roads. Viewing them at the YORK show yesterday and noted how the seats adjacent to the door were all getting quite wet in the rainy weather. Of course, one wouldn't normally have the door standing open for a long period if it is raining, but have other users of this type of vehicle had a problem with this issue. I noted that there is no rain guttering above the door to catch water from the roof.

The other query is about insect invasion. My wife and I cannot stand a van full of flying pests, and wonder what the experienced users of panel vans do to keep them out. On our coachbuilts and trailer vans we have always used the dangly pussy-cats tails type of excluder, but can't envision these being practical on a sliding door.

[Keith T]

The simple answer to the second comment is that you keep the sliding door closed, and open the windows, whicch should be fitted (or can be) with a fly screen/ blind! We also found very good level of ventilation from the rooflights, and also the sliding windows on the side of the Hightop itself.

We've had 2 campervan conversions, both AutoSleepers, and had no problems with water ingress, and indeed as far as I can remember A-S retined the original gutter when putting on the hightop roof. Obviously in wet weathere, you dion't sit there with the door wide open, anymore than you keep the 'caravan' door open on a coachbuilt in such circumstances (unless of course the amwing roof keeps it dry!)

[armstrongpiper]

And I suppose you get out of your van by climbing through the windows. I am actually looking for sensible suggestions.

[Keith T]

armstrongpiper - 2007-09-22 6:46 PM

 

And I suppose you get out of your van by climbing through the windows. I am actually looking for sensible suggestions.

 

I'm so sorry to offend Armstrongpiper.....I was merely passing on what we found with the two van conversions we had ofer the coure of 4-5 years,. - in other words, we found no problems by acting sensibly.

Its up to you to choose how you get in and out of a vehicle, but at least with such a conversion you normally have a choice of probably 4 different doors, and usually one of them will be in a less wet or windy direction! If you choose the window, or even the rooflight, thats up to you!

[colin]

I'll second both of Keith's very sensible replies, I could add some about our experience's of various ways of keeping insect's out when the sliding door is kept open, but I'll only get upset if I'm accused of not being sensible.

[wesleyT]

We have a Fiat Ducato conversion by Timberland. No problem with the rain coming in as one keeps it closed when rain is around. In winter cold air comes in so one needs to place towelling or such around the gaps. There is also a gap allowing cold air in at the rear doors. You could say that this allows fresh air to circulate. We are thinking of ging back to a coach built!

WesleyT 

[the tortoise]

You could have a wind-out awning, which affords some protection from the elements - no solution for the fly problem there though.

[Guest caraprof]

To be fair to Armstrong his thread is about sliding doors and it was obvious to me that his question about insects was in connection with blocking their ingress when the large sliding door was open. He stated that he had a method on a normal-sized door of blocking them but wanted information on how people coped with much larger sliding doors.

His final sentence was implicit in that he was asking how people remedied this but Keith T seems not to have read the post properly and his response was not helpful in the slightest.

However, Armstrong's reply to him was a litle bit tetchy although I must admit I can understand his frustration.

[Keith T]

caraprof - 2007-09-22 10:52 PM

His final sentence was implicit in that he was asking how people remedied this but Keith T seems not to have read the post properly and his response was not helpful in the slightest.

However, Armstrong's reply to him was a litle bit tetchy although I must admit I can understand his frustration.

Sorry folks, but I shall defend myself on this one. YES I did read his post properly, and I did reply with my own experience and a sensible proven solutioon we used........KEEP THE DOOR CLOSED....and use the window (in our case sliding ones) open and the fly screeen across. Surely that is a remedy, and is practical! It also answers the question raised. If the writer doesnt like the answer, there's no need to criticise it in the rather sarcastic manner he chose. Teaches me one thing however, is that I shan't bother to read his postings in future, and certinly not respond to them.

[armstrongpiper]

OK, Keith, sorry for sounding tetchy, and sarcastic. Our fly problems arise because when it is hot we live outside the vehicle, but have often reasons to go back in, such as getting meals, drinks etc etc. Openeing a wide door enevitably gives access to flying things, and I want to know how other people have dealt with the problem.

[michele]

Not being funny but why not open all the doors and windows when it hot ?

If you do this then what ever flys in is likely to go straight threw as in In one door and out the other window . They are not likely to hang around in your van if they have an outer ..Other than that the only thing that I can think of it a safari room on your door . Although once again they will just fly in through that door and into your van ..could you not try a Raid hanging thing to discourage the insects and flys ..

 

Really quite a problem to solve other than keeping the door shut which is impossible to do and not convienient to use like this .Maybe a safari room with a fly screen attached to the door when you are static on site .

 

Good luck.

ps how about the bobble things that you mentioned but adapted to fit on a magnetic strip that just pops on above your side door no fixing and screwing just get out and drop it to the top of your van .

[alan k]

Hi there,

Fortunately we've no seats next to the sliding door, but when wet and warm enough we use the roll out awning to keep the door area both inside and outside the van dry and shed the water from the awning away from the van.

 

Yes all our windows and roof vents have fly screens but having the sliding door open is a problem at times. We play hunt the mozzie some nights before bed, sometimes we win and some nights we fail and pay for it.

 

We've looked at monkey tails, at "net" curtains etc for the doorway and haven't found anything satisfactory yet. But we do like the halfway house of sitting inside with the door open when just a little too cold to sit outside, and the big wide door does make it feel as if you are a part of the outdoors!

 

alan

[Homenaway]

Concerning insects and sliding doors. . .

 

we bought a couple of packs of black insect mesh for doors made by Tesa tapes for about 9 EUR each in a Spanish supermarket this year and found they worked quite well. In fact one pack was enough to fit across the open door and the thin velcro sticky backed strips hold it in place quite well and are unobtrusive. The plastic "weights" supplied weren't really heavy enough if it was windy so I rolled up the excess length of mesh and fixed some spent AA batteries in the folds held in place with staples (one has to think laterally when plagued by flies :-D.

Any that got in were zapped once the door was closed for the evening.

 

Obviously they have to be removed when the door is closed and yes our seat gets wet if the door is open and also if it isn't fully slammed shut at night - That's why sliding door van owners are so noisy >:-(

 

I reckon the screens will last a couple of seasons

 

There are websites that sell flyscreen meshes

 

HTH

Steve

[J9withdogs]

I got something similar in white from the Kleeneze catalogue.

[Kaz]

I have a murvi panel van with an awning which i think helps to shed the water away from the door entrance. As to the problem of flies. I bought some black mosquito netting from pestatak.co.uk and cut this to fit the door area. It is not quite wide enough so there has to be a join. I have used weights which can be bought by the yard in the bottom of the curtain obtainable from haberdashers and net curtain wire to hang it from. Velcro on the sides allow it to be stretcheed tight across the opening when in use. The curtain pushes back out on the way when not in use. :-)

[Mel E]

Surely the answer to the insect problem is to use the same pussy cats but only over the first part of the opening. Then only open the sliding door part way. We have absolutely no problem with ours staying in position part open (or part closed).

 

Personally, I think those dangly things are awful, but each to his own. When we are forced indoors, either by inclement weather or the setting sun, we simply spray the inside and then settle down for the night. If we're outside, we use one of those anti-fly candle things (sorry, Mrs E buys them so I don't know what they're called, but they do work.

 

When it rains, we close the door ( I also hate awnings, I'm afraid!).

 

Mel E

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[armstrongpiper]

Thanks for all the interesting comments. I appreciate that an awning could shed water away from the sliding door opening, but have you not noticed that many vans - Fiat especially - have no rain collecting guttering over the door opening. So when you open the door, any water draining from the roof inevitably gets into the door. I am thinking that a 'U' section bit of plastic, available from DIY shops, could be glued to the roof above the door with Silicon edge sealer eg. Just an idea, and I'm probably being over pessimistic anyway.

To keep out the flies, we are thinking that two net curtains, with an overlap in the middle, and with weights at the bottom, strung on wires will probably do the trick.