The van page

Obviously when thinking about taking on a Saint Bernard thought needs to be given to vehicles.

Unfortunately sports cars, two seaters etc are not practical when it comes to transporting these gorgeous dogs! even if you have no intention on driving miles with them it is important that you at least have a vehicle that in an emergency you can move your pet around.

When we first collected Monty we had a Ford Escort (in fact quite a sporty model) but getting rid and going more practical was a no-brainer for us, we lved taking him places far and wide so bought an estate car.

With roof height soon a problem next on the list was a 4x4 (Jeep Grand Cherokee) unfortunately with its high boot floor and unreliabilty we changed fairly soon to a Citroen Berlingo van derived people carrier, this was a perfect Saint car as its roof opened fully and he had so much room.

After a bit of a whim and a Subaru Impreza WRX (we thought the back seats were perfectly adequate lol) and a motorbike we decided that we missed having a dedicated dog car, we missed jumping in the car with him and going places easily and stress free!.

We next went for a Renault Scenic and another good dog car, we removed the back seats and it was basically a van (although we had the option to put them back if needed) it was with this big car that we realised 2 Saints could easily fit!.

It was soon after getting Bobby that we decided to go the whole hog and get a van, we needed the room and we had a plan to show all over the country (and even Ireland) so the comfort of the boys was of upmost importance, we traded the Scenic for a 2005 Ford Transit van (swb, low roof, t260).

With a shiny new van parked outside with the world our oyster, I knew that I had a great deal of work to do!! so here is how it went

         

Cages

One of the most important aspects in modifying a simple van into a dog showing van is the design of the space in the rear, we thought about this long and hard and we took inspiration from lots of dog vans (mostly Kathy Lane's!).

We decided that we didnt want it segregated at all in the back as we had 2 very laid back boys who enjoyed each others company, whether it stays this way remains to be seen!

There are many companies that will fabricate cages for your van and even factry made kits that fit directly to your model but unfortunately this cost wasnt an option for us and luckily I am an engineer by trade so I sourced the materials and built our cages to my own design.

I used 20mm stainless steel box section for the framework, the reason I went for such an expensive material was the fact that I wanted the cages to be resistant to all weathers as a lot of time the doors of the van would be open and open to rain etc, for the wire mesh I opted for a stainless steel design that had regidity and strength saving me time and allowing me to use less structural supports.

      


all joins were tig-welded and custom catches fabricated so they can be padlocked shut.

Cooling / ventilation

A very important part of our vans design is its cooling and ventilation system, ideally air conditioning would be perfect but in our case out of the question due to cost and impractibilty.

I fitted 12 volt fans in each corner of the vans rear, these small fans are very good and I would recommend them to anybody, they are easy to fit and can even be run from a cigarette lighter socket as they have a very small current draw whilst in operation.

       

it was important to me to have total control so I wired each fan back to a control panel mounted behind the drivers seat high level, this allowed me to turn on each fan individually depending on weather etc.

       

We also bought 2 12 volt roof fans to fit in the rear, it is ok having fans moving air around inside that van but without any way for that air to escape and enter you are effectively moving the hot air around.

It was a very nerve wrecking job jigsawing out circles in the roof but with a bit of planning it turned out ok, after mounting each fan I wired each to my control panel for total control, I wired each fan through changeover relays inside the control panel so that I can reverse polarity to each fan so each fan can 'suck or blow' independantly.

        

In the control panel all fans are fused for safety, we also have a temperature probe and a digital display wired to the control panel to keep an eye on temperatures in the rear.

       

Solar panel and split charge

With all of the fans in the rear consideration had to be taken when it came to draining the battery, my solution came from a heavy duty secondary battery and a solar panel mounted on the roof.

        

I mounted the solar panel on the roof using stainless steel nuts and bolts and obviously I worked very hard to make sure there was no leaks! this feeds through a regulator (stops charging the battery once fully charged) and feeds down to a battery box behind the drivers seat (that bobby uses as a step to lick his dads ears) 

          

The battery is also charged from the vans alternator to keep it topped up, to save wiring to the vans engine bay I have wired a switch onto the control panel that switches a relay coil to switch between solar panel and alternator, this allows us to keep the secondary battery fully charged at all times and we have never drained it! 

         

It is a heavy duty battery so it can withstand the constant charging and discharging that it gets being in the van, the way it is wired also means that the fans can be operated with a flat secondary battery by running the engine.

The van battery is now completely seperated from the fans etc so we have never been stranded!!