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Thanks for choosing our van, here is a checklist and

guidelines to follow to make setting up and packing up as


easy as possible.

PAGE
2-5 SETTING UP
6 PACKING UP
7-9 BED END FLYS
10-12 AWNING & ANNEX SET UP
13 WHAT IF I HAVE ANY QUERIES WHILST I’M AWAY?

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SETTING UP

1.- LEVELLING THE VAN-When you’ve picked your spot,


note there is a small spirit level stuck on the A Frame that
will tell you whether you are level or not. If not level side
to side there are yellow levelling ramps and chocks
provided. Just place a ramp under the wheel on the side
that needs to come up and reverse up onto it, then chock
it. Chock the other side also and apply the hand brake.
Levelling front to back is easily done by winding the jockey
wheel up or down once the trailer is disconnected.

2.-STABILIZER LEGS-Once you are level take the tool and


wind down the 4 stabilizer legs until firm only, until you
get resistance and then a half turn more. Do not over
extend, these stabilizers are not load bearing and are only
there to avoid the van rocking too much as you move

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around inside. Lowering them too far and placing an
excessive load can cause them to bend.
3.-ROOFTOP CLIPS-Undo the clips at each corner securing
the roof to the trailer body. A pretty obvious one but if you
start winding the trailer up with 1 or more clips done up
can cause serious damage to winding mechanism and
corner struts. Would be a quick way to end your trip just as
it’s getting started!

4.-START A’ WINDING!- Take the winding handle from the


rear compartment, open the rear black door and slot it in
to the mechanism. Up is clockwise, you’ll notice pretty
quick that it takes a bit of huffing and puffing! The green
cord on the side of the van is a guide to indicate how high
you go, when it’s fully extended you are at max height. It
doesn’t need to be super taught, you want a bit of give.

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Place 2 safety support struts at diagonally opposite ends
next to corner jack struts. These are an important failsafe
in case winding/jack mechanism fails and roof collapses
with you in it!!
***Stop winding about head height if you plan to use the
awning and/or bed end flys to unclip and unzip from the
bags before they get too high. We’ll cover awning and bed
fly assembly separately***
5.-SETTING UP BED ENDS-Slide out bed ends evenly until all
the way out and pull canvas out over bed frame. Do not
velcro canvas to underside of bed ends yet, it makes it
harder to put internal bed support in if canvas is tightly
secured. Remove bed end support poles from under bed
and place in support brackets on van frame and metal
brackets underside of beds. Go into the van and take out
“hockey stick” pole from under each bed end. Place round
end in bracket on folding bed frame and extend outwards,
then slot into bracket above bed. These can be pretty hard
to get in and takes some grunt work, hence you don’t
velcro the canvas on the outside and make it harder. Go
back out and then velcro canvas to underside of beds.
6.-INSTALL THE DOOR-Remove plastic cover from door top
half, undo 2 clips holding it to the roof. The top half will
swing down on a flat metal hinge. Slot top half onto
bottom, there are 2 little raised nubs that it slots onto.
Push the metal hinge at top of door out until it snaps into
place, you have to do this with a bit of force. Once in place
secure latches on metal hinges at the top and latch joining
top and bottom of door. Then undo 2 latches securing door
to the frame.
7.-CUPBOARD-The cupboard lays flat in transit, you can
now lift it up on its hinges to the upright position, open and
lock in place with internal latch.
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8.- POWER/WATER/FRIDGE/GAS-Connect the power with the
15a cord (if plugging into 10a use adaptor), switch the
fridge over (all the way left) to mains. Turn on isolator
switch located in van near lounge. Turn on the gas bottle.
Connect water hose from tap to van with provided hose and
fitting. Attach grey water hose and run away from van. If
location doesn’t have suitable drain for hose there is a
bucket to catch grey (sink) water and you can then take it
and dump in suitable location.

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PACKING UP
You would be right in thinking it’s pretty much just doing
all of the above in reverse. But there are a few important
points to remember-
1.-The door goes up last and needs to be dismantled first.
Easy to forget and if you start winding down with the door
still up can cause damage. When folding door back up to
stow position, ensure the metal hinge is laying flat against
the roof. You will need to hold it in place with force until
clipped back in.
2.-Remove the safety support struts before winding down.
3.-Ensure everything stored internally is below the level of
the bed slides including folding the water tap down
inwards. Maybe take a photo of what it looks like inside the
van when you’re unpacking as a guide. All doonas and
pillows must be off the beds as they don’t pack down
enough to be able to secure the roof to the trailer body.
4.-Disconnect water hoses/power cords/turn off the gas.
5.-Ensure all 4 corner latches securing roof to the body are
in place. We have fitted quite thick mattress toppers and
protectors to both end beds to make them more
comfortable. The downside being the extra height has
made getting the latches on a little bit difficult, they can
require a bit of grunt. If you are struggling then you may
have to raise the roof back up a bit and remove the
mattress topper in order to get the latches on.
6.- Make sure the stabilizer legs are retracted and all tools
are stowed. Once hooked up ensure trailer hand brake is
off.
7.-It never hurts to do a final walk around to check for pegs
and poles, lights and latches.

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BED END FLYS SET UP

Both bed ends are fitted with fly kits which offer extra
insulation and protection from the elements. They consist
of the roll out canvas and mesh sided covers at each end
that come with 5 poles each.
-2 side support poles
-1 horizontal spreader pole
-1 centre support pole
-1 short vertical pole
These are stored in the long tunnel trunk. We have
converted the original poles to make the flys freestanding
to do away with guy ropes and ground pegs.

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It is best to erect the flys before fully raising the camper.
Unzip/unclip the flys from the bag when at about head
height.
1-Connect the 2 outside poles by screwing wheel ended
bolts into brackets mounted on the van.

2-Then connect the horizontal spreader pole which has 2


bow ends that will hook over the outside support poles and
then through the corners of the bed flys.

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3-The fourth pole is a really short one with a “claw” end
that attaches to the cross pole with the spigot pointing
upwards.

4-Lastly the 5th pole has a hook that goes into a bracket in
the middle of the van. The bow end will go over the top of
the short pole’s spigot which will then connect to the
centre outside of the van.

5-Extend and raise the adjustable poles until the bed fly is
taught. Once camper is fully raised they can be readjusted
as required.

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AWNING/ANNEX SETUP

As per the bed flys set up, unclip and unzip the awning and
leave to hang down when approximately raised to head
height. When you roll the awning down you will see there is
already a pole mounted on the outside edge. The other
poles, guy ropes, spring fasteners and pegs are all located
in the tunnel trunk along with a hammer.
There are 9 poles to erect the awning-
-5 vertical support poles (ground footing 1 end and crab
claw other end to connect to horizontal roof support poles)
Note 3 vertical supports go on the outside edge and then 1
on each side.

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-4 horizontal roof support poles (hook one end to van
mounted brackets and crab claw to connect to outer
horizontal roof pole)

There are then eyelets in the canvas on the outside edges


to clip adjustable guy ropes to, which in turn need to be
pegged down and tensioned.
***If you are going to erect the full annex with walls don’t
over tension the awning as it makes it difficult to attach
the walls
The annex walls are located in a large bag that needs to be
stored in the van whilst travelling, it’s too big to fit in any
of the storage compartments.
The annex kit consists of 3 zip on walls and 2 parts that
cover the gap from the van to the ground, the steps and
wheel well.
The long white narrow section connects via a sail track to
the edge of the van and the smaller white section buttons
on just above the wheel well.
Lay out the 3 main walls with the grey floor strips at the
bottom and window zips on the outside. We have marked

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the LH and RH walls but note that the window zips should
be on the outside.
Zip all the wall sections to the awning and to each other,
the LH and RH wall edges closest to the van slide down into
sail tracks on the van.

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WHAT IF I HAVE ANY QUERIES ABOUT THE VAN WHILST I’M
AWAY?
Should you encounter any problems with the van or there is
anything you’re not sure about, please don’t hesitate to
contact us and we will try and assist in any way we can.
We’d rather you call us with any queries, no matter how
small, than be unsure and potentially cause damage by
doing something the wrong way.
Jo is the best first point of contact as Sean may be at
work ,depending on the day, with limited access to his
phone.

Thanks again for booking Swan Claude and we hope you


have a great trip!

Sean and Jo

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