There are many simple hacks for motorhomes that make life on the road easier. Although I have done these for our Avida Eyre, there’s no reason they can’t be done on most other brands and models.
Hack One - EAR LEVEL SPEAKERS
Age-related hearing loss is also known as presbycusis and most of us will either have it or will get it — the only cure is to stop breathing!
In some of us, particularly those exposed to loud industrial noise in our working life, this hearing loss impairs our ability to hear high pitch sounds, such as keys jangling, some women’s voices, or birds twittering etc.
Listening to the motorhomes sound system while travelling is a classic example where the music or talking is indistinct. So we’ll turn it up — which can aggravate others — but this doesn’t always improve the high end losses, generally because of road noise.
The problem is accentuated by manufacturers placement of speakers in doors (located down near our knees — heard of anyone with their ears near their knees?), and in later models, the positioning of a small tweeter speaker in the door/windscreen pillar, next to the dash and level with one’s chest in most cases — who drives with their head on the dash? This doesn’t seem to help, I find.
So, I decided to extend that position to up near the visor level on the same pillar using an ‘eyeball’ tweeter I had laying around. (They can be purchased at places like Jaycar, Autobarn or eBay.)
Results? The sound is brilliant. At the high frequency end, even travelling on the odd occasion in a 110km/h zones, it has allowed me to hear drum cymbals, hi-hats, guitar harmonics and to pick out the words on songs more clearly than ever — James Morrison on trumpet sounds better than I’ve ever heard him (and no, I haven’t got a new hearing aid or changed button battery brands).
I won’t go into the full ‘how to’ here, but in essence I extended the tweeter wires up behind the pillar trim and led it out where the ceiling lining starts, and the speaker just sits there suspended on its shortened wiring. Being a self-contained ‘eyeball’ tweeter, it can be focused around in its socket mounting, to face towards a driver’s right ear, and there’s no reason why it can’t be replicated on the left side.
What a difference! If you’re hard of hearing when travelling you’ll probably benefit too.
Hack Two - ENTRYWAY MATS
In wet or dry weather, we can carry inside a nice clean motorhome all sorts of muck from mud to bull dust to prickles, and burrs — don’t you just hate those common three-corner sharp burrs, prevalent out west?
So, I removed the doorway edge trim, cut out a mat to go under the trim, and re-screwed the trim back, which ‘captures’ the mat and stops it slipping around. I then made a few other mats of dissimilar carpets etc close pile, cut pile fine shag, rubberised and so on, suitable for a variety of conditions. Now no matter what the outside ground is, dust, prickles, cut grass, mud etc I bring that appropriate mat to the top.
It’s great for keeping dirt out because when a mat gets soiled, it just lifts up and can be beaten against the wheel or a fence or post to shake it clean.
If muddy, it can be put under a tap, then slapped against something to rid excess water and pegged out or, if we’re moving off, shoved in a side locker to dry out, with the next mat then taking its place.
This is more suited to a Fiat Ducato with the recessed entry sill into the cabin, although other brands may have similar, but Reject shops or ‘dollars n cents’ type shops sell a great pile carpet floor mat for not a lot. Cut them up to suit the shape of the step-in on drivers or passenger’s side.
This stops muck coming in on one’s footwear. For ours, I haven’t glued it or velcroed it down as the rubber backing holds it in place.
Hack Three - CARPET PROTECTOR
Bunnings and SCA sell a thin checkerplate type of rubberised liner matting for not a lot. We bought a few metres (it’s about 1.8 wide) and cut it to suit the cabin floor as a carpet protector.
We now don’t get burrs (very hard to remove from carpet pile) and small bits of debris (annoying underfoot) etc getting into our nice carpet.
Any debris on the black rubberised matting is easily vacuumed, swept, or (as I’ve often done) blown out with both doors open wide using a cordless blower.
The mat can easily be removed now and then and hosed off or scrubbed with soapy water to remove marks and the like.
Hack Four - CUP HOLDERS
Although later Fiat Ducatos have a cup holder tray in lieu of the former excellent and generous lower glove box, (I know which I’d prefer, as the later tray seems to impede leg room), the earlier models had nowhere to put cups other than an ineffective centre holder which was for a small squat cup-cum ashtray receptacle.
Yes, one can buy cheap cup holders which affix (precariously I might add) to an air vent — but vibration being what it is, they can soon fall down, spilling the contents. Further a cup of hot coffee blasted with cool air is not hot for long!
Instead, I installed a pair of fold up and adjustable marine cup holders, which can take a drink can both with or without a stubby cooler, and being adjustable, the holder can hold a decent takeaway coffee cup or tall thickshake container.
They’re available through marine chandlers (Whitworths mail order) and possibly SCA or Repco.
We chose to install them forward on the door itself. They are unobtrusive both in colour and position yet are within easy reach. But be aware if a full lidless container of liquid is there and you slam the door!
They also come in white if you prefer.
Hint — don’t use long screws, only long enough to poke through the mounting holes and plus a few millimetres.
When drilling the holes in the door trim, be careful to support the drill with two hands to prevent the drill bit suddenly rushing through to potentially do damage internally to the wiring, glass window or the mechanism.
