Exterior

In the EuroVan Camper there is a solenoid in the engine bay that charges the “house” battery - it is just a big switch, and has no “smarts” - it just combines the starting and house battery together while driving. Mine has always “just worked”. Since I don’t leave well enough alone, I thought I would change it for something with some “smarts”, and something that would charge the starting battery when the house battery is being charged. As a bonus, I get the ability to use the house battery to start the van if the starting battery dies. ...

IMPORTANT UPDATE - 7/22 I would NOT suggest adding the Hoodliner product (link below) to the belly pan. If you have the slightest gap in sealing the edge of it, any liquid (from cleaning, leak, etc) will be trapped in the foam - not cool. The belly pan (the Bentley manual calls this a “sound dampening pan”) on the EuroVan protects the engine from road debris, and provides an element of quieting for the cab. There is a layer of foam on the inside of the pan that looks like an inch thick carpet padding - the Bentley manual calls it “dampening material”. Mine was oil soaked and filthy, with some chunks torn out from a rat or something - it needed to go. I was just not going to put in some new carpet padding, I wanted something easier to clean and maintain. I am extremely happy with how this turned out, as the cab is much quieter, and the belly pan looks very nice on the inside. ...

I finally moved up to 16 inch wheels a couple of years ago and wanted to have a spare tire mounted on a 16 wheel, as well. I had heard some conflicting stories about how to go about mounting this in the same place as the 15 inch spare: some said to just adjust the stock spare tire holder, others said you needed a new holder and some longer bolts - neither version mentioned cutting metal off of the van - which is what I needed to do! So here is how I did it. ...

Our van had a Carefree awning installed on it - the “standard” awning installed on the EVC by Winnebago - and frankly, it sucked. It was a terrible thing to try and use - difficult to get the awning out of the case, heavy, even harder to get back IN the case. We dreaded using it. We finally splurged on a Fiamma awning, as well as a ShadyBoy awning for the fridge side of the van (driver’s side) - see my earlier posts here, here, and here on the installation of these awnings. Our goal was to get an awning that was easy to use, as well as an awning that would shade the fridge side of the van and expand the living space (so we could chase the shade, depending on the time of day). ...

The Fiamma comes with 2 brackets that mount to the side of the van, so you do not need to place the legs on the ground - great for a quick setup at a lunch stop. The placement of these brackets is not “spelled out” anywhere - here is what I found worked best for me. I placed the brackets the same distance below the “crease” in the side of the van. I placed the front bracket close to the sliding door opening, so that the passenger door could be opened with the awning deployed. ...

I had a “Carefree” awning installed on the EuroVan - the awning that was “stock” from Winnebago - it was a terrible, terrible, thing. I could never get the Carefree OUT of the case without banging up my fingers, or smashing the wife’s, as she holds out the end that I FINALLY was able to get out as I try to PRY out the other side. Then once it comes free, we are so pi++ed off and tired that we can barely roll it out, then then legs fly out, smack us somewhere on the body, or again, pinch our fingers. You have to roll it out to the full length of the awning, whether you want that much shade or not. ...

One of the awning choices for a EuroVan is the Shady Boy. This awning is made in Canada, of US materials, and has a very compact case, and a not too difficult set up procedure. The installation and set up instructions leave something to be desired, though. Wolfgang at Shady Boy is VERY quick to answer any questions, which helped. There is a YouTube video online showing how a Shady Boy is set up - not the best video, but it helped me figure out how to set it up. ...

My propane tank had a bad “service valve” - the part you turn on and off. Every time I would turn it on or off, a great cloud of freezing propane vapor would escape - the valve needed some work! I learned that rebuild kits for the valves are no longer available, as new valves are not much more money. Replacing the valve would require the tank to be removed and all the propane emptied from it. While I was doing that, I decided to replace my regulator, as it was not doing it’s job, either - which is to supply a constant pressure of propane to all the appliances. Might as well do the rubber propane hoses, as well, since they are 18 years old. ...

Above the EVC cab is a luggage rack - a plastic cover over the roof that has 2 handles for strapping boxes, bags, etc (see my post: Storage Box Above Cab. I received a stainless steel bracket kit to replace the existing steel brackets that attach this piece of plastic to the roof, so I thought I would take this piece of plastic off and see just what is going on underneath - man, I am glad I did! ...

We have a trailer hitch on our van (from Eurocampers) but we have had no power connection for hauling a trailer - until now. I wanted something that would handle both 4 pin an 7 pin connectors, so I got such a beast from Hopkins - here is it installed: The trick was just how do I wire this into the Van? As usual, the eurovanupdate list came through (thanks, Paul!). The way I did it was to connect everything on the passenger side - behind the taillight. ...