Alarm Conclusion

After loads of stress with the Alarm, it has now been fixed.

I posted on Brick-Yard and T4forum with a plea for help as my alarm kept going off. I was reluctant to go back to original installer initially after getting a bit of misinformation. However, he heard about the problems via the blogs and offered his services to get it sorted. It seemed the system would go off after being left for an hour or two. This could have been for 2 reasons:

1. VW 'brain' sending out a self-check system through the door circuit, triggering alarm
2. Faulty door switch (maybe corrosion causing small voltage on door circuit triggering alarm)

The first thing the installer did was isolate the alarm from the 'brain (i don't know the correct terminology!). This seemed to work, we left it for 2 hours with no false alarms. Unfortunately when I returned home, the vehicle did still trigger.
This means I have an issue with the door switches.
The installer kindly fitted new switches in the cab and side doors and connected the alarm to these. This solved the problem.

Its a little worrying to know my door switches are a bit 'iffy' but they seem to work fine in every other way (interior light, central locking, dashboard light etc). Hopefully I won't have an more problems.

Bed and foorplan

I'm now the proud owner of a 3/4 width cannons forge bed/seat. I went for the all extras like 'headrests, seatbelts and memory foam'. I am considering sleeping in the van permanently now as it's so comfortable! It also looks great with the matching T5 fabric.
I'd read a lot about these online and finally decided to take the plunge.....I wasn't disapponted! They are built to a very high standard, the mechanism is solid but really easy to use. I also like the fact the front legs don't scrape the floor when you open the bed.


The plan is to extend the most of the bed to full width by building a storage box at bed height that runs most of the length. The foot end of the bed will remain 3/4 width to allow space for the kitchen pod. Like so:

I like the idea of a full width bed but also need a bit of storage space.
This should give me a 'best of both worlds' solution to comfort and storage. It'll also mean that I can rack a couple of surfboards alongside the rear seats when there are other people sitting in the back of the van.

The next step is to buy all the bits that the kitchen pod will house (sink, gas, water, leisure battery, heater???) Once I have these I'll probably go down the 'ikea cabinet + worktop' route for the kitchen pod then build a frame for the bed extension from wood. Once I have the measurements, I'll give Dave a call at Cannons Forge to make me up a bed panel to form the 'bed extension'/lid for the storage box.