Delivered at last to be converted early 2023 and hopefully used for holidays later that year.

[rod_vw]

Ordered in August 2021 and collected today from Aquila Truck Centres at Tipton. Despite various hold-ups and errors on behalf of MAN in Poland we feel that we have had good service from the sales part of Aquila Trucks and personal service from day one from Craig Hackley, MAN TGE Specialist. Aquila Truck CentresTipton | MAN Truck & Bus UK Ltd



The spec as ordered and delivered is attached.

The LWB T6 with the Reimo high roof that can be seen in the background is the vehicle that the TGE is replacing. If all goes according to plan the T6 will be for sale sometime in 2023.

 

[Loz]

Must be nice to have a clean sheet..

 

[rod_vw]

Must be nice to have a clean sheet..

It certainly is @Loz but I have done it five times before during the past eighteen years.
Started converting my own in 2004 with a LWB T4 ex dealer stock and moved onwards through three LWB T5s and a LWB T6 all new dealer stock bought at the right price I may add.

 

[gavandi]

Looking ace.....good luck with conversion.
Possible road trip may/June??
See pub thread

 

[rod_vw]

Looking ace.....good luck with conversion.
Possible road trip may/June??
See pub thread

If things go according to plan we will be in France with the TGE, or failing that the T6 about that time of the year.

 

[dellmassive]

looking good. . . and the best colour of course.

 

[rod_vw]

Minor progress today - Cavity wax sprayed into the bottom of the side panels and sliding door plus both rear doors. Thanks to the pointers received from other sources the bungs did need removing from the door bottoms, the right rear door had an inch (25mm) of water sloshing about in the bottom. Maybe this is a cunning plot by an MB spy to ensure the rear doors rot just like the early Sprinters did!
Product used was Tetroseal Wax Oil, handy as I had some left over from doing the Beetle hollow sections etc. whilst I was restoring that a few years ago.

I have also examined the sliding window water drain system and am very glad to see that they are a totally different design to those on a T5 or T6, maybe, just maybe, they will not leak like those do.

 

[rod_vw]

Well, we are a year on from my last post but at last we have the TGE back home and hopefully ready for use. There are a few little jobs to do but generally it is as specified to our converter.
Pictures courtesy of my converter Buckettz Dubz

 

[gavandi]

Looks awesome......great layout.
Lots of happy miles ahead
What's the make of the fly screen ?

 

[rod_vw]

Looks awesome......great layout.
Lots of happy miles ahead
What's the make of the fly screen ?

The fly screen is Horrex, they are available from Camper Interiors normally but currently out of stock. Mine came through a trade only supplier to my converter.

 

[rod_vw]

First night out in the new TGE conversion, must be mad to try it on such a frosty night! The overnight parking was at Fromebridge Mill just off M5 J13, a regular stop for us when doing this trip.

All worked as expected, now on our way into Devon to visit relatives.

 

[gavandi]

Was it toasty warm inside?
Condensation??

 

[rod_vw]

Yep, toasty warm inside and no more condensation than we've had in the T6 (LWB High roof) many times in much warmer ambient temps.
Using internal Reimo screens on the cab. Not as impressed with these as we were with the ones used on T5 & T6, different fabric on these.

 

[T16ACM]

It's a great looking van, interior is more like where we are aiming.

Though we are going for double bunks in the back, Evo furniture and full victron setup. Eventually we will have roof rack and more swamper look, big wheels etc

Bucket dubz will be supplying the rear seats when we get to that part.

Are the two maxxairs needed? We currently have the front one in our plan and a small one in the shower, but the one at the rear we haven't thought about.

 

[rod_vw]

It's a great looking van, interior is more like where we are aiming.

Though we are going for double bunks in the back, Evo furniture and full victron setup. Eventually we will have roof rack and more swamper look, big wheels etc

Bucket dubz will be supplying the rear seats when we get to that part.

Are the two maxxairs needed? We currently have the front one in our plan and a small one in the shower, but the one at the rear we haven't thought about.

The rear one is only a vent, the Maxxair fan is in the front plus a little fan in the shower pod. The front / rear solution allows for nice gentle airflow over the bed area in hotter climates which we like to experience in Europe during the summer.

We supplied the Crafter / TGE front double seat which Andy (Buckettz Dubz) fitted in the rear modified to have two seat belts and fitted on a supporting frame which allows for the installation of a Truma 4e below.
When I first contacted Andy I explained that I had converted five vans previously, a T4, three T5s and a T6 so I would be a total 'pain in the behind' and he was till brave enough to take the job on! Age and health were the things that persuaded me not to do this one myself.

As he built the van to our specific speciation plus curved balls like the Lippert electric bed and the Horrex sliding screen we ended up working very closely on the project. Since then he and I have developed a superb working relationship with him tolerating my modifications to the van as our experience using it has developed.

It's still 'on going' and may well be for some time.

 

[Oldrat]

Lovely van Rod. Great design, very well thought out and nicely put together.