Securing Gandalf
Fully recovered from the last session of van work, we were ready to kick off with another lingering task: Security. With Gandalf filling out with various bits of equipment it was defiantly time to protect all the work that’s gone into it so far. After having had a good research around we finally settle on some locks for the doors, let’s find out how we did.
Security
Security has always been on our mind when it comes to the van, not only from the point of view of protecting our equipment but ourselves also. We felt now was the right time to investigate some beefy security locks. I’d been researching for some time and as it turns out there are a plethora of options out there when it comes to campervan and caravan locks. Vans traditionally have two options: slamlocks and high visibility locks, whereas caravans and motorhomes tend towards deadlocks. A comparison of the available locks and other security devices is available on the blog HERE.
Ultimately we decided to opt for deadbolts, we felt that these were the most discrete and secure option. Having looked around I settled on a company called VSS ‘Van Security Systems’. The system is provided with everything already wired up and it’s just a matter of attaching it to the van battery and then the rest is plug and play! The locks have been extensively tested and some of the videos showing the testing and attempted break-ins are really impressive. The was also the option to have a shock sensor alarm which will ring out an ear-splitting 120db siren should anyone hit or rock the van. We ultimately choose not to install the alarm as we felt this could get annoying for our neighbours should it be a little windy outside!
Installing the locks
As with most things on the van, you purchase an item, it comes with a set of simple instructions and it seems easy to complete your task. This is all fine in theory but everything ends up being much more fiddly than expected and the locks were no exception. The problem came with actually installing the locks and not anything to do with the electrical side of things. The locks attach through the van structure with rivets, not the easiest things to work with at the best of times.
We made a start eyeing up the sliding door, having already panelled all the door with marine plywood. The only way to install the locks onto the sliding door was to take the panels back off. This was going to be quite a task given how we’d secured the plywood to the doors in the first place. When panelling the sliding door previously, we were unable get hold of a piece of wood that would have been big enough to do it in one piece and ended up having to do it in two pieces, something I had regretted until now. Having had to do it this way meant that we could get away with just taking off one of the panels instead of the whole thing. It was still not easy and was quite and awkward task, the only way to remove that particular panel is with the door shut and work lights setup. In addition, when we’d initially installed the panels the kitchen had not been put in so there was more room to ‘coopy down’ and work. As the smallest of us all, I volunteered to remove the panel on the sliding door whilst the guys took in the instructions and readied themselves for action.
After taking the panel off I then gently pulled back some of the vapour barrier, giving us enough room to test out possible locations for the lock. Once we were all happy with the position, it became necessary to remove part of the wall panelling in order to fit the side of the lock which holds the bolt. Rather than take the entire wall panel off it was decided to try to cut out the square we needed in situ, with a Dremel. I must point out that I was exceptionally lucky to be wearing safety goggles for this, as part of the cutting disk snapped off and flew into the centre of the goggle leaving a gouge, I most certainly would have been quite injured had I not been wearing them! Once I’d finished cutting out the opening for the lock, John moved in and marked out the holes ready for Ben to drill. Following a speedy drill session, we then painted the bare metal with POR 15 (a rust preventer) and moved round to have a look at the rear door, giving the POR 15 some time to dry.
With the initial success of the sliding door we had hoped the rear door would also be a smooth affair, unfortunately as is often the case this is where we ran into a little difficulty. Trying to locate the exact place to install the lock on the rear door turned out to be a bit of a guessing game, not going as well as we’d hoped. The instructions that come with the locks give you a measurement from the van floor up and tell you to drill the holes there. We measured and I dutifully cut an opening out of the wall panel with the Dremel. After pulling back the vapour barrier we were all dismayed to find that this really wasn’t a suitable place to put the lock. Rather annoyed that we now had a redundant hole in what was supposed to be our final wall finish for the rear door, we took a step back to regroup. To avoid having any more unnecessary holes we decided to loosen the whole panel and try to feel around for a good spot, the gap was really small and as I had the smallest hands, it was up to me to save the day! With a rather squashed hand, I finally located a good spot and both Ben and John managed to confirm after just about managing to get their hand in the gap and off we went again.
With another new hole cut in the wood in a more appropriate place, John once again marked out the holes for the face place containing the deadbolt and Ben set to with the drilling. After a quick application of POR15, we moved back around to the sliding door to fit the bolt and retainer. Though it was necessary to drill holes in the van to attach both of these its actually secured with rivets, rather than screws, so out came the rivet gun. We had no idea at this point that this was going to require strength on an inhuman level to get them in, nor did we think it was going to take as long as it did. After a thoroughly exhausting hour for the guys we finally had the sliding door bolts sorted, and were really not looking forward to tackling the back doors.
The Morning After….
Heading back out, with both Ben and John feeling really achy from yesterdays physical efforts we were all full of apprehension for the day of hard work ahead. Not fancying the riveting we decided on a more merciful start to the day, opting instead to install the the control box which handles the electrics for the bolts. We decided the best place to mount this was under the passenger bench seat in the cab, there’s quite a spacious compartment, although it is a little bit of a game to drill and screw in the area. As the working area lacked in space but some strength was required to drill through the seat base, Ben and John took on this task. I meanwhile, was lucky enough to have some wonderful cuddles with Becks the cat!
In order to mount the control box we needed to drill four holes plus an additional larger hole for the cables to run through. Thankfully the majority of this process was straightforward, having mounted the box we were ready to start work with the cabling. It was now that the tough part of control box installation kicked in, we needed to run the cables from the cab area to the living area in the rear, which meant drilling through the bulkhead, the last time we attempted this is was no easy feat and required quite a high powered drill in order to even make a dent in it. Ben did not relish having to do this again particularly as we needed to use a hole saw to make a big enough opening not just for the two cables for the locks but also for the reversing camera and battery charger that we will be installing at a later date. Some time later after finally getting through the bulk head we realised that we had no rubber grommets to line the hole with in order to protect the cable from the bare metal.
John came up with a neat solution to use a piece of hose pipe the hole had unfortunately come through in a difficult place behind the seat and a small hand was needed once again to thread the cable through this section. Whilst I stepped up to attempt this part Ben and John resigned themselves to the joyous task of riveting the bolt and retainer to the rear door. Again the guys pulled out superman like strength and after a while managed to get the lock on the door. Meanwhile I continued to route the cabling from the bulkhead down to the locks. We were finally done! This task turned out to be a bit of a mission and I don’t think it ranks high in our lists of favourite jobs so far. Due to the rain and how busy I was I didn’t take many pictures of the work at the time but will update with more of the final product later.
