New Year - New Resolutions

I freely admit that the blog got into July last year and then forgotten, partly due to doing other things. This year I promise to try harder!

I'm afraid this first post of the year is quite a long one.

 

Holiday Plans

The 2015 holiday plans have been made, changed, cancelled and remade again due to outside factors. I'd planned a trip to Devon and Cornwall to coincide with an event down there when a "do" involving Mikron Theatre Company was announced for the same weekend. As one can't do everything I decided to leave the South West for another year and revert to an earlier plan to visit Norfolk.

I'm hoping to get away most months from Easter onwards this year, I've got the means now so need to make use of them. The plans so far are:

April

I've booked a site in Derbyshire for the Easter weekend. It's fairly close to Crich Tramway Village who've got a 40's theme for the Sunday and Monday so they'll definitely get a visit.

May

A friend has organised a bash near Leeds towards the end of the month so I've decided to make a long weekend of it and booked a couple of days off work. On the Friday I'll travel up to Castleton for the night, finding something to do on the way. I'm hoping to find somewhere in Leeds to park up for the Saturday night and then on Sunday I'll end up at Hebden Bridge before wending my way home on Monday.

June

Late in June I'm off to Norfolk and Suffolk for my main holiday. There may be an event in Lincolnshire on the way, I'm then starting off near the North Norfolk Coast before heading to the Broads via an overnight stop at Thetford Forest*. I finally end up on the Suffolk Coast before the drive home. This trip is largely planned around preserved railways (of course) but I also plan to take in the Royal Norfolk Show.

*The two sites in that area are no facility. I can manage for a day or two with my internal facilities but wouldn't really want to make it any longer.

After That

I'm waiting to see if anything else is organised after that. I've got at least one non-camping weekend in August and a boat rally in September where I will be camping.

Jobs to Do

Of course there's always something to do. I spent last weekend doing some minor electrical work, I've installed a bypass switch for the radio so I can turn it on without the ignition switched on and I've also added a cutout switch on the intruder alarm LED - the darn thing is very bright and starts flashing when the alarm isn't set so I was having to cover it up at night. I can now just flick a hidden switch instead.

The next relatively minor work is to provide a 12v & USB charging point adjacent to the back seats. I'll probably mount the bulk of it in one of the seat lockers and just have an external socket handy for where I'm sitting/sleeping. The intention is it will be switchable so normally charging will be when the engine is running but I can switch it over to the leisure battery when required. I'm also looking to improve the lighting a bit. I want to upgrade the two existing lights to LED bulbs but I also need some lighting over the table/seats/bed area. The tricky part with the latter is getting the wiring tidily in place - I guess some trim may be due for removal and refitting.

I want to locate a rechargeable torch somewhere accessible and also provide a bottle holder (the existing cup holders are OK for a can or coffee but don't really hold by Ribena bottle). The other think I've never properly resolved is what to do about rubbish. At the moment I tend to chuck a bag in the bottom of the coolbox cupboard but this isn't ideal and the space keeps getting filled up with odds-and-ends. One thought for longer trips was a bin in the awning but...

Awning - To Be or Not To Be

I've decided that I'm not going to buy an awning this year. I'll see how I get on with the long holiday and then decide if I really do want one. Reading around on the 'net has suggested a good proportion of the campervan owners who've bought awning have then rarely or never used them.

I'm happier with not having the hassle of having to put the thing up when arriving on site for the first time and I still hadn't really worked out how to attach it to Dai. The downside is I did have some stuff that would stow in the awning, freeing up space and storage inside - that just means I'm going to have to be more careful in what I take and how I store it.

One of the things on the awning store list was the spare Gaz bottle though. There's only space for a single Camping Gaz 907 bottle which leaves me wit the prospect of either it running out at inconvenient times (generally when the bacon is half cooked) and then having to try and find a replacement or I'll end up buying refills before it's empty. As the darn stuff is expensive enough to start with I really don't want to waste it. I've concluded I can just about get one of the very small 901 cylinders into the gas locker space, they're horrendously expensive relative to other gas bottles but at least it will give a reserve.

Curtains for Dai and other jobs

The curtains I'd ordered last week arrived as promised. I'm very happy with the look, it was a good choice of material, but slightly disappointed by the blackout linings. I might be being unrealistic though, heavier linings on the small curtains would be an issue and the curtain Fabry's itself is light coloured and open weave. They're still a big gain on the previous cream coloured ones which were virtually transparent.

I'd ordered tie-backs but decided fixing these to the camper would be a good idea so a quick shopping trip for press-studs and an hour or so with the drill, punch and pliers means I'm now happy the windows won't be unduly obscured while I'm driving. I also added studs on the back doors to hold the curtains back, without them there was quite a gap right where you're sleeping.

The custom cushions now have the right sized pads in them which is a big improvement but I also decided to do something about the tops of the back seats. You'd have thought experienced converters would know that sticky Velcro rarely stays stuck, as a result the cushions tended to slide off. It's been reaffixed with super-strength double sided tape and 5 staples a side.

Photos of the end result will follow.

One of the downsides of what is effectively an oldish van is the lack of gadgets such as a clock. I ordered a cheap multi-device and spent longer than planned fitting it, however I've now got the time and temperatures available. Not sure how accurate the later will be but what can you expect for under a fiver? I've got some longer term thoughts on doing something more sophisticated.

I now reckon everything is ready for the next weekend away to Cambridge, it's not a site I've been to before but there's a bit of a do to attend on the Friday and I'll then visit the City on Saturday.

Bikes have been taxing my brain. Finding a bike rack that will fit is difficult - I've found one but at nearly £300 it's not cheap. Even then I think the mountain bike might stick out a bit far. For the moment if I Di want to take some pedal transport it'll be the folder.

Are we nearly there yet?

The answer is a definite yes!

A rain affected weekend, coupled with being down in MK on Friday night, meant I haven't been able to get the sorting out done on the old folding camper. The plus point of that is I've been able to finish nearly all the jobs on Dai instead.

Electrics

The mains electrical wiring is now finished and tested. I'm happy with how it's all worked out. Since the main purpose is to run the small fan heater I doubt I'll need it for the next trip to Cambridge, and I haven't got hook-up for the one after that, but it will be useful sometime I'm sure.

I had assumed I'd got everything to do the job, but it turned out the mini-trunking I'd bought wasn't self-adhesive. That meant another trip to B&Q! I needed some other stuff so not too much of a hardship. I did manage to buy the wrong carpet tape though, so the mats still aren't fastened down. I must remedy that before I go away.

Cushions and Curtains

The first cushions I'd bought to go inside the custom covers were too small, I ended up giving them away (they were really cheap) so whilst out shopping today I bought two new, right sized, cushions at Dunelm Mill. Not quite as cheap (they were around £8 each) but they fit nicely and they're a shade of green that will match the curtains if required.

Having decided I wanted some new blackout curtains I'd searched the 'net and come up with a couple of possible suppliers. One was a real cottage industry the other a slightly larger business. The online estimates were comparable so I thought I'd try the smaller business first. Having picked out a fabric I thought would work I asked for a sample and a final quote, she did say in the email that she'd be going on holiday and that would push delivery out a bit but I wasn't too bothered. 3 weeks later however the sample still hasn't arrived which doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

In the mean time the other supplier had followed up the enquiry so I arranged for some samples from them as well. They arrived promptly, I chose one and placed the order. They're in the book for production this week and she's promised they'll be with me in time for the next trip. That's good because I want to try them as they hang first before I decide if they need press-studs in the corners to fasten them back (I think they will but we'll see).

To Level or not to Level?

Having read various forums there seems to be some dispute over the need for level ramps and whether they actually get used if you carry them. Coming from a caravan background, and from the days when all fridges were gas and needed to be really level to work, my feeling is that being reasonably level is a "good thing". I'd already bought a smallish set of level ramps (the ones from the folding camper are huge) and had them stowed under one of the back seats.

I decided to rethink some of the packing though and took them out, adding them tot he "take away when you've got the awning" kit. Now they're back in again! A further packing rethink has got them back in a different place - there's  a narrow stow-space behind the front seats which now has the ramps, table leg, car defrosting kit and my walking stick in. It's full, but I consider that a positive.

A Chair, a Chair...

To continue the Shakespearean headings! I nearly got caught out during the week as I forgot to put a folding chair in when going to see some outdoor theatricals. I have a variety of outdoor furniture but none of it is really small enough to carry in Dai permanently or even when away without an awning. A trip to Go Outdoors in MK didn't help (it did provide various other things though) and neither did a local camping shop. I'll keep thinking on that one but I suspect what I want just isn't available (i.e. something that will fit where the level ramps are currently stored but unfold into a full size comfortable chair).

We got the power...

Well 12 volts of it anyway!

When I bought Little Dai I wasn't too happy about either the 12v power setup (which was close but not close enough) or the 240v (which was simply a camping power unit). I knew what I wanted to achieve and also that the cost wouldn't be prohibitive. Orders went in to both Screwfix (for the mains stuff primarily) and Towsure (for the caravan specific bits) and I also had to pay a visit to Maplin.

Saturday

The leisure battery and much of the 12v stuff was buried away behind a panel. I'd removed this previously and thought there might be room to get all the mains stuff in there as well, but it quickly became apparent that there isn't. So before I'd even started plans changed! There was plenty of space in the cupboard next to the coolbox though, I did have to remove the shelf someone had put in there but that's no great loss. A couple of hours of general sorting out, drilling holes and setting up wiring left me with the consumer unit, input and first single socket ready to install. They basically just needed screwing to the panel:

I'd decided to put a socket inside the cupboard as it may come in useful for charging stuff I don't want on show and also I can plug the mains adapter for the coolbox in. I also decided that there was little point in using an expensive fancy socket here!

One of the things I'd needed was something to make a new switch panel out of. The simplest thing turned out to be an aluminium door push plate from B&Q. I could have found something better with time, should have though of it sooner. I cut this down, cut out the holes for the two switches and made up a vinyl overlay (useful having a laser printer at home). It's not as tidy as I'd like but will do the job until it annoys me completely.

Doing all of that took most of Saturday afternoon so I decided to leave the next step until the Sunday.

Sunday

I got a decent early start on sorting the 12v side out. There were two primary aims here, firstly I wanted to be able to leave the coolbox permanently plugged in and have it run with the engine but be able to switch it on manually (previously it ran entirely off the leisure battery when you switched on the power from that) and secondly I wanted to be able to switch the supply for the lights, pump, etc. between the leisure battery and the vehicle battery. I wouldn't want to do the latter for very long, it's quite a  small battery, but useful to have the capability. The simple way to achieve this was a voltage sensing split charge relay from Towsure, I've used these before and they are simple to install.

I had to slightly bodge the existing wiring from the engine compartment (under the passenger seat) but with that done the relay works fine. It provides a permanent feed from the engine and two switched feeds for charging and for the coolbox that come on when the engine is running. The fun part was then making the relevant holes in the panel to take the existing 12v "lighter" socket, the new switch panel and the 240v mains socket. Some moving about, drilling, sawing and sanding achieved the required result. I'm fairly happy with it. It's all a bit cramped but that was a necessity as it all had to clear the battery behind.

It may not be entirely clear from the photo but the left hand switch controls the coolbox with choosing between Auto (with the engine running) and On (running off the leisure battery) whilst the right hand switch swaps the auxiliary power between the leisure battery and the car battery. Here I did use a fancy socket, the only nuisance being I'd forgotten to order longer screws to go through the panel so that was another quick shopping trip.

With that all in place I could complete the 12v wiring. It's a bit of a rats' nest but with the panel back on it's not an issue. It wasn't strictly necessary to trunk the mains cable but I decided to do so for tidiness.

It nearly all worked first time as well! I'd reused the existing fuse box but hadn't noticed one of the fuses was already blown so that was easily sorted. I also wondered why the coolbox didn't run when I started the engine until I realised I hadn't switched it to Auto (they're centre-off switches).

It then just remained to get the panel back on and tidy everything up. The remaining job is to run the cable for another socket by the back seats. I know where it's going but just ran out of time. That's also why on the last picture the cable under the worktop isn't trunked yet - it'll all get done together.

All in all a successful weekend. Shame I wasted time on a couple of shopping trips, without that I might have finished completely.

Dai Gets Alarmed

One of the things I wasn't too keen on was the fact that Dai has no immobiliser or alarm as standard. Whilst this shouldn't be a problem it does leave things a bit vulnerable. I had a hunt round and considered doing my own fitment, however I found a local auto electrician who quoted a very reasonable price for a full alarm and immobiliser install, including the additional door lock motor for the central locking interface.

I liked the fact that his website gives clear information and quotes all-in prices directly, none of this "call for best price". As he lives about a mile from where I work it seemed to make sense to get the install done there. It took about 2 hours (so would have taken me a lot more I suspect) but is now all sorted.

I might do a little bit of a change to the programming, as standard you have to start the engine within 45 seconds of unlocking or the immobiliser rearms itself. With it being a motorhome I think this may be a nuisance but it's easy enough to sort.

If anyone in the East Midlands area is looking for a similar job I can recommend Alan Smith, www.alansmith.co.uk

Dai's First Trip

As I'd got a bit of a do to go to in Lincolnshire, for which I'd already booked the Travelodge for the Saturday night, I decided to book a site for the Friday as a bit of a shakedown. This nearly didn't happen when I had a call on my way home from work on Thursday (which proved the hands free on the new radio works). The grass pitches at the Caravan Club Stamford site were extremely wet and the warden asked if I'd mind canceling my booking. Obviously I said yes, he doesn't want his pitches being damaged and I didn't want to get stuck!

A quick search on the website as soon as I got home turned up an affiliated site very near to where the party was, a quick phone call and I was booked in. Having pasted this on Facebook I discovered friends would also be on site.

After leaving work I was on site in just over an hour and, after some faffing about, I was sat with a cold beer 15 minutes later! With practice I'll get that down to under 10 minutes I reckon. I decided to investigate the local pubs for beer and dinner but got delayed when I met my friends, had a beer in their lovely caravan and then we all headed off to the pub. A lovely meal followed and the drinks flowed.

Once back I set up the bed, sorted myself out and tried to sleep. I did manage but as I expected the curtains don't keep any light out. The thermal blinds on the front worked fine though and I will stock to the planned arrangement, with new blackout curtains to be ordered.

Cooking breakfast, making coffee, etc. all worked as it should, it gets very warm with the burners going but there's a zip in the back panel of the elevating roof so getting ventilation in is easy enough. Packing up only took a few minutes and I headed off to Grantham for a while before picking another friend up at the station and going to the Travelodge to get checked in. The advantage of being car sized and under 2m high proved useful as I got parked easily on the edge of Grantham centre. I can recommend the museum there, if only for the large cup of fresh filter coffee for £1.

Sunday I drove down to the friends who'd hosted the party for breakfast and, inevitably, had to show a few people over Dai. After we'd spent the morning talking, eating croissant with bacon and drinking coffee I dropped Carol back of in Grantham and headed up to Brownhills Motorhomes near Newark. There were two aims there, look at awnings and perhaps buy some bits. Both were achieved! Awning wise I've all but decided on the Vango Airbeam. The quality looks very good and they're easy to erect for one person. I'll probably wait until early in the new year when the 2014 ones are in the sales.

I was just firing up to leave there when a couple in a Nissan people carrier flagged me down. They'd just bought the vehicle with a view to doing a DIY conversion and had noticed Dai in the car park. I was happy to give them a quick look over and hopefully it will give them some ideas - I think this may happen a lot!

Ultimate conclusions are that Dai will do what I want. I've got a few things to sort out but nothing major, curtains being the most urgent probably as they'll make sleeping so much better. Everybody who looks over her (all machines are female even if they have male names) is impressed by the quality of, and thought that's gone into, the conversion.

Radio Gaga

I thought when I wrote the previous post that I'd given up on any further work for today, however it didn't quite work out that way.

One of the things I'd decided on straight away was to replace the radio in Little Dai. I wasn't too keen on the one installed when I bought it and I fancied going for a DAB one as I tend to listen to Smooth Radio these days. Having a DAB car radio saves carrying a separate one for camping.

I'd found a Philips radio on special offer with money off and the DAB adapter thrown in. An added bonus is that not only does it have front and rear USB ports it takes an SD card as well. There's no CD player but I can't remember when I last put a CD in the car. I also picked up an active windscreen film aerial. Reviews on these are a bit mixed but I felt it worth a try.

Having tried, and failed, to get the radio out yesterday the first thing today was to head to Halfords for the correct Sony removal tools. That proved to be a total waste of time and money! At that point I decided to give up, particularly as it was raining.

After lunch I decide to give it one further go. It turned out that instead of being mounted in a cage as normal the radio is bolted in on two brackets which also hold a dashboard storage bin. The only way to get it out (and the new one is) was to remove the front of the dash, although this proved quite easy. Once that was done I could get everything unbolted. I had to modify the brackets slightly to get them to fit on the new radio but at least having the dash out made routing the aerial lead relatively easy.

A quick test before putting it all back together proved successful, with a decent DAB signal. I had some further modifying to do on the bezel and it may need a dab of glue just to hold it in place but overall I'm very happy with the job. Later on I'll sort out an SD card (I have plenty) and get it programmed up with all the required music.

In the mean time I did also source some cheap floor mats from Wilkinson which I've cut down for the back to protect the carpets and make it easier to keep clean. I will get some proper fitted floor mats for the front though.