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Hi
Yes I did fit it myself, was pretty straight forward, did swap over regulator as original hyper one was too big for the new bottle to fit without cutting the copper gas pipe.
There is no real ‘gas’ work involved, just screwing in hoses as if you where chasing a gas bottle over. When I had a B BQ point fitted, I had it done by a qualified guy as it involved cutting existing gas pipes and fitting in new ones.
Obviously you have to drill a dirty great hole in the side of your beloved Exsis, but measure once, twice, three times, go and have a coffee and then measure again before you get the drill out. As I mentioned, i had already had a BBQ point fitted in the locker, so I had something to easily measure from. Biggest time was chasing the wires in for the electronic gauge, but that is not essential as you can just see the gauge on top of the bottle. I don’t think we will ever get the cost back, but it does give more room in the locker and more capacity (14kg, compared to 2 x 6kg lite) which is always useful.
We live in Ipswich and have 3 garages which sell LPG (shell, Morrisons and an independent) so no problems yet. Haven’t had to find it while been away, but there is a good app myLPG.eu which helps to find garages. It’s not 100%, so is always worth a phone call before travelling.
Hope this helps!
Chris
Thanks for al the suggestions, we do have a rotisserie, but have never used it, always get the BBQ out!
Just finished fitting air suspension, won’t go into detail as its covered in depth on other sites to fit onto a ducato chases, but on a short test run Helga definitely rolls less on bends and roundabouts. At its operating pressure of 40psi, I get an extra 2″ of height on the back wheels.
Also I have just installed lithium ion batteries in place of the lead acid leisure batteries. While expensive, the weight savings (gone from 46kg to less than 16kg) and the discharge rates should prove beneficial. We are off to Carfest this weekend for 4 nights of grid so they will get a god try out then with toaster going to feed 12 of us for breakfast! Will post comes pics on our return and report on how they performed.
Hi Katy
We had Helga treated by Rustbusters a couple of weeks ago, cost us £760 +VAT.
Very professional and easy to deal with. We live in Ipswich, so I drove up early one morning, left Helga and took advantage of the hire car deal they have (cost me less than £40 for 2 days + petrol) Picked her up the next day late afternoon.
I knew the lower front cross member was rusty from the last MOT, so replaced that before we went (just over £50 on eBay, and about an hours fitting with a friend) Was very pleased not to get a call saying she needed any extra work.
Underneath, wheel arches etc are now very black and shiny, very happy, and hopefully well protected.
As Chris & Susan say, you need to go back once a year for a check up, but they also give you a kit to top up yourself if you add/take something on/off.
All the best
Chris & Amanda
thanks Barry, will have a look at your suggestion about the pipe, if i don’t need to get to the tap, I may cut a board which covers the whole lot.
Hi Barry
The main boss and detachable boss cost just under £100 in total.
The cost of the steering wheel is personal choice, mine was just under £200, making a total cost of £300, but you can spend less than £50 on a wheel https://tinyurl.com/y46sqvjn , or even look out for a second hand one like this https://tinyurl.com/yy2cl8o5
This would bring the cost down to less than £150
Hope this helps
Chris
I have just fitted a removable steering wheel to Helga so we can slide the drivers seat further back, also good anti- theft, hard to pinch if you can’t go around corners!
When looking into this, saw a kit from Marcle Leisure, but sending them an email they don’t sell them any more.
So back to the drawing board and found this boss hub on ebay: https://tinyurl.com/yxszeb2w and this quick release hub on amazon: https://tinyurl.com/yxuht6ov There are lots of aftermarket steering wheels which will fit these kits, I went for this one: https://tinyurl.com/y52yqwsb quite expensive as it came from the USA, but the blue does match the seats!
First ensure your wheels are straight, and the steering lock is on. Remove the horn button, 3 hex bolts behind the steering wheel to reveal the holding nut.
Get the big socket set out and undo until the last 2 or 3 threads. Unclip the horn wires. Knock the wheel from behind to loosen it, that’s why you keep the nut on to stop you hitting yourself in the face (I am speaking from experience here!)
Pass the horn wires through the boss, slip it over the spline and secure with the original nut.
Cut the horn wires and solder onto the lower part of the quick release hub, then bolt onto to the black boss.
Attach the top half of quick release boss, and find correct position for steering wheel, plug in horn and bolt down with supplied bolts.
As you can see the seat now slides around 6” further back.
just seen I missed a space out on the door lock link, should be this: https://tinyurl.com/y3zxn7yt
As Charlie said, Helga has now joined us in Sunny Suffolk. We have looked at several Exsis motorhomes, and she was by far the best. Also with the added bonus of being an SG version.
She ran like a dream back along the M4 and now sits at home. Our main passion is wild camping in the UK and Europe, so she will soon have a solar panel and extra leisure battery fitted. Other jobs we have lined up for her include undersealing, 4G connection, head unit & speaker upgrade, more USB chargers, door locks, LED headlight bulbs and most vitally an external BBQ point!
Hopefully as we go along I will post pics on how things are going just in case they can help anybody else.
Amanda, Chris & Noah
