Massive 5th Wheeler Motor home Overhaul
A BIG OVERHAUL AND A SHORT TIME FRAME: SEE THE DOUGLAS TEAM’S TRANSFORMATION OF THIS REVAMPED FIFTH WHEELER MOTOR HOME
The Evans are “living the motor home dream” as this Ultima motor home is their permanent home as they tour around New Zealand. Travelling around the country in a motor home gives the advantage of being able explore less travelled routes and hidden gems with all the comforts of their home at hand.
Enjoying an adventure is much easier when we have the right equipment in the best condition. This is true of the Evans’ fifth wheeler that needed some re-upholstery work so they could enjoy their tiki-touring in comfort.
THE CHALLENGE
The interior of the motor home needed a lot of work. The carpeting throughout was worn and the upholstered seating was tired and outdated. They wanted a new look to uplift their well-loved fifth-wheeler, Out There. Along with the interior’s overhaul, the awning was also in need of repair so they could enjoy shade protection from the New Zealand sun.
As the fifth wheeler is their actual home, this meant that our team had to turn this job around quickly to save on accommodation costs, while ensuring the job brought their visions to life.
THE DOUGLAS INNOVATIVE SOLUTION
The Evans’ chose their carpet and upholstery fabrics finding exactly what they wanted for their home. We then did a full re-carpet in the bedroom, including the steps and added a step rail to reduce wear. In the living area as well as re-carpeting, we re-upholstered the entire set of settees and dining squabs, and recovered their dining chairs to match.
The awning repair involved adding a new bolt rope to the top where old one had begun to tear. On the other side of the awning, we also repaired their roll-out blind.
The end result not only looks great but is designed to last the Evans for as long as they want to tiki-tour and for many years after.
TAKE A LOOK INSIDE & OUT
In this short video our Production Manager Peter O’Connell takes you behind the scenes with a look at the nuts and bolts of the project.
COULD YOUR MOTOR HOME OR CARAVAN UPHOLSTERY USE A QUALITY REPAIR?
Talk to the Douglas Outdoor & Textile team about a bespoke solution to bring your visions to reality for your motor home or caravan. We enjoy exceeding the expectations of our customers and look forward to hearing about your ideas.
Photo credit: Shellie Evans Photography (https://tikitouringnz.blogspot.com/).
Custom motor trimming – check out this soft top
The Douglas auto upholstery & motor trimming team have been lucky enough to have done work on this customer’s Sunbeam for a few years now, and each time he brings us a new challenge.
Put the top down, baby!
This clever guy came to us and said he planned to make the framework for the convertible top himself, and could we help with making a completely custom sports top from scratch, with nothing more than a couple of photos and a bit of collaboration and imagination?
Not one to turn down a challenge, here’s how we got this to completion in a few “simple” steps:
- Working closely with the customer as he designed and built the framework, once we had the car in our shop we were able to draw up a pattern, and got the owner to check he was happy with the look and that it would work once it was folded down (a bit of nail-biting went on!)
- We then set about covering the framework in sports topping to match the motor trimming work we had previously done on the car’s interior upholstery
- Next step was to fabricate the inner hood lining
- Then, using the pattern we first made, we fabricated the outer skin and fitted it. Like a glove, no less!
The final reaction from the customer was amazing. His initial reaction was stunned silence (we all held our breath), then he went on to explain that he’d had a vision for what he imagined it would look like, and as he knew the challenges we faced just as he had when he’d built the frame, we had exceeded his expectations as to how good it looked.
Fair to say we were pretty happy with that! What a cool job we have sometimes as motor trimmers – we are privileged to be asked to work on classic cars like this, and treat our customer’s baby like our own.
If you have a challenge for us, get in touch – we’d love to hear about your plans and requirements.
You can also take a look at the custom work we do every day on cars, boats, aeroplanes, caravans, horse-floats – you name it!
Alitex Roof Installed in time for Summer
This Hawke’s Bay customer will enjoy their outdoor area even more this summer underneath their Alitex roof. Our aluminium structure with translucent canopies are waterproof, strong and stable while transmitting plenty of natural light while blocking harmful UV. Next year the customer will add outdoor screens to complete their outdoor living area.
Boat Makeover – The Great White
The customer of this boat wanted it to have a complete cover makeover.
He came to us with some ideas after just purchasing the boat. Being a relatively tall guy the existing canopy was too low for him, and he also was keen to have covers made.
We started by designing a custom canopy for The Great White.
Our concept was to utilise his existing frame where we could, modifying it slightly to increase the height.
Using CAD technology we photographed the frame and drew in the new cover style to send for the customer’s approval. When it came time to fabricate, we created the canopy in the desired blood red colour.
A zipper opening was created to be able to see out in case of bad weather.
The canopy is able to fold down so that a cover can be put over the top.
A custom boat cover for superior protection
Custom covers were made to match the canopy in the blood red colour. Covers were made to protect the motors as well as the boat while on the road or in storage, and hi-vis panels were added to the rear to increase night-time visibility. The Great White is going to be hard to miss when it is on the road.
A custom boat cover allows for a nice snug fit which prevents any surprises in the boat when the cover comes off in the new season.
Then we won an award for it!
Because of the design and craftsmanship that went into this job we decided to submit it for the OFPANZ Awards in 2018, being one of the jobs we were most proud of for the year.
We were delighted to have won this award for marine fabrication, it was a fun job to do and we’re incredibly proud of our team because to win a national award is truly a team effort.
Winter doesn’t last long in Hawkes Bay, so contact us quick to get your covers made – we’d love to discuss how we can turn your ideas into a quality custom solution.
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