What did you do to your van today?

A couple of days ago, the hot weather forced me to get the cab Aircon regassed. Completely by chance, I landed at a garage with a polish mechanic who not only knew how to sort out a couple of issues with the Aircon, but also noticed a couple of other issues that other garages seem to have been unable to resolve. So it went back the next day (yesterday) to get the serpentine belt and tensioner replaced.
Back to scraping more rust scabs off the chassis tomorrow, unfortunately.
It's not a nice job, but I suspect that the acid spraying that follows it will be even less nice to do.
 
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Made brackets and cut a length of 7/8 or 22mm stainless tube to make a curtain pole . Hope to pick up our curtains when down at Kelso over the weekend. 20200918_094821.jpg20200918_110918.jpg20200918_112433.jpg
 
Scotia said:
Fitted a new under tray which had 2/3 missing. Purchased from a crowd in Poland full kit was less than a single genuine piece from Fiat , perfect fit and all fixings were included including the riv nuts or avdels as i know them. Hopefully this will help keep road noise and some of the drafts down. The engine runs cool so not too worried about heating issues especially in bonny Scotland.View attachment 56407View attachment 56408View attachment 56409
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I fitted the same kit last year yes nice bit of kit.
 
I have just had to replace the blower motor switch on the dash and it’s one really nasty job had the hole dash out to get at it thank god for YouTube.Hope none of you guys have to do it .
 
Insulated under one of the seats/beds. It’s hardly a cold box but 2” of insulation all round (once I’ve done the seat top) can only help to keep cold stuff cold.

To be honest this is more aimed at our monthly shopping trips over to Kirkwall than camping.

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Fitted 2 of these inside garage doors.

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Our second year water ingress / hab check is booked in for Thursday, so I spent a whole day emptying the van of everything.
Can’t believe how much stuff gets tucked away over the year. We’ll have to do some serious thinning out when we start loading up again after it’s check up.
 
snapster said:
Our second year water ingress / hab check is booked in for Thursday, so I spent a whole day emptying the van of everything.
Can’t believe how much stuff gets tucked away over the year. We’ll have to do some serious thinning out when we start loading up again after it’s check up.
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Had 3 different makes of motorhome over the last 7 years and have never had to empty any of them for the hab/water ingress check. Have always asked if it was required and all main dealers said not necessary. My present Pilote dealer who has given an excellent service over the last year did remove items from numerous cupboards etc to gain access where required and found a couple of problems I wasn’t aware of. Leaking window seal, Truma temp sensor faulty, gas pipe leak in cylinder cupboard so I’m well satisfied they do a decent job.
 
Snapster is right. Most dealers are currently asking vans to be emptied due to Covid 19.

I had to take my van to my dealer a couple of days before they would even enter it. They took H&S incredibly seriously, and in all honesty, I was pleased they did.
 
HurricaneSmith said:
Snapster is right. Most dealers are currently asking vans to be emptied due to Covid 19.

I had to take my van to my dealer a couple of days before they would even enter it. They took H&S incredibly seriously, and in all honesty, I was pleased they did.
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Makes sense, I had mine done before things kicked off thankfully. I would dread having to empty it, everything but the kitchen sink comes to mind lol !
 
Obanboy666 said:
Had 3 different makes of motorhome over the last 7 years and have never had to empty any of them for the hab/water ingress check. Have always asked if it was required and all main dealers said not necessary. My present Pilote dealer who has given an excellent service over the last year did remove items from numerous cupboards etc to gain access where required and found a couple of problems I wasn’t aware of. Leaking window seal, Truma temp sensor faulty, gas pipe leak in cylinder cupboard so I’m well satisfied they do a decent job.
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It did state on our booking confirmation that everything should be removed from the van , and seeing that all cupboards and drawers are fitted against outside walls, it seems sensible that they would have to be emptied for proper checks to be made. I never thought about the COVID aspect 😷
Still, it gave me a chance to thin out all the stuff in there. I’m sure we will have gained a good few kg of extra payload....
When we had the van serviced last week, the mechanic who took the van off me disinfected everything likely to be touched in the cab, then again when I collected it. I’ve since cleaned it all again. The van looks better than when it was new!
 
Weather forecast said rain overnight, so panicked and put some more paint on Murky this afternoon. Despite the gusts of wind it went better than expected.
 
Installed (or ratherVanBitz at Taunton installed) 2 x 120aH lithiums plus all the required associated Victron bits complete with charger inverter and new 175w rigid solar panel as the semi flexible had given up the ghost. Back to the workshop tomorrow for a lesson in how to use it all! Thanks for the recommendation Phil giving me a discount.
 
After replacing all the smoke alarms in the house with new ones featuring rechargable Lithium batteries, twas time to fit new devices in the new Motorhome yesterday :)

First was the CO detector. Understand these are meant to be fitted fairly low down, so chose a place that is also fairly close to the fire and fridge (hope it is not TOO close?)
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This has a non-replaceable 7-year battery. I hope it does not go the way of the last non-replaceable battery CO detector I bought? Alarm went off falsely (keep going even when I took the detector outside in fresh air and couldn't stop it - in the end had to take a hammer to it to silence it, so no chance of sending that back for a refund!)


Next was the Smoke Alarm. Just used the same place as the old one. Fairly close to the sleeping area.
Another one with a fixed non-replaceable battery - this one is a 10-year battery.
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Did a test and it is extremely loud! Could be heard in the house as well which could be handy :)
 
Good man! As it happens I checked and tested both my smoke and Co alarms last week. Keep forgetting to get the powder extinguisher out though to give it a good shake. I intend to upgrade to a water mist extinguisher at some point. They seem quite efficient.

Davy
 
I agree that mist is the way to go with extinguishers - if you use it the clearing up should be easier.
Mind you if you're not quick using it you may not need to clean up anyway 😀
 
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