What did you do to your van today?
- Thread starter Vanterrier
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rugbyken
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after our experience in april at dieppe we arrived early good job we did paperwork quick & easy but the Douane were immediately next to the barrier so everyone has to wait for the vehicle in front to clear , they were really thorough not looking for contraband but never been searched this well before they made me empty a 10 litre jerrycan i got about 5 litres in mine then had to go asking if anyone wanted the rest how easy is it to give away free diesel , hard ! on the personal search i have a small gardening penknife with a hooked blade not allowed on my person but passed inside the van to jan OK ? after we loaded they were waiting again on the top deck to search bags think they are being proactive for some reason ,
Scotia
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We were given a thorough search coming back in July at the Tunnel, One inside the van another in the garage, I was expecting some questions about the two 20 ltr beer kegs and co2 setup but nothing mentioned.
marchie
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We had the bag seach at Dieppe on 13th September at Reception on Deck 6 after the vehicle search prior to borading, so seems to be a new 'thoroughness' about the checking ...
Steve
Sonar
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When laying ours up for the winter that’s if we’re not using it .
Then it will be lifted with the new legs we had fitted this year
As for removing wheels were in a gold storage site.
Safe and never given it a thought while in storage
Exwindsurfer
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That does not surprise me at all Andy so much for factory build vans they are shit when it come to insulation.
gasgas
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I was very impressed with the insulation in the Pilote pvc I had a couple of years ago. Here are two cross sections of coachbuilt walls that I installed refillable LPG tanks in. The one on the left is from a Hobby, the other one an Autosleeper Nuevo. You can see that there are definite differences in construction and insulation. It's not totally clear in this photo but the Hobby one has thicker insulation, a plywoood inner wall and an aluminium outer skin and the A/S some sort of plastic on both.
gasgas
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A couple of years ago I went to some northern (If you call Yorkshire north) small van conversion company to look. They had a 'factory' open day. I took one look at the 3mm sticky back foam they were calling insulation, and came back home.
Exwindsurfer
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Hi Andrew did you get the toilet I sold you sorted ?
nabsim
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Take it you tried with the shroud removed?
gasgas
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The short answer is that it is in the shed. I haven't fitted it yet. I wanted it because the push-me-pull-you hand pump for the flush is useless.
I had a revelation.
1) we only think we need to flush a motorhome toilet because that is what we are used to at home. If we don't flush at home the stuff stays in the bowl. If we use the cassette toilet properly we don't need to flush it the stuff goes directly into the cassette, you close the flap and that's it . . . . . . unless of course a bit of stuff doesn't quite make it through the hole.
2) 98% of motorhomes have a shower on the end of a hose in the toilet department. Why do we need an electric flush built in to the toilet? Just unhook the shower head, point it down the bowl and turn on the supply to the shower. Unless you are driving a mobile Taj Mahal with separate shower and toilet. But then you probably aren't going to demean yourself by using the toilet in the motorhome, you are staying at a Premier Pitch at a camp site paying £65 a night, and using the provided facilities there.
Simples.
Think outside the box. In this case the cassette box!
If we continue to use the shower as a flusher, and I see no reason to discontinue it, then I will think about selling the one in the shed. We have just been round France and Bavaria and found using the shower hose as a flusher to be perfectly acceptable.
I should check the actual cassette capacity though - see which one is larger.
I had a revelation.
1) we only think we need to flush a motorhome toilet because that is what we are used to at home. If we don't flush at home the stuff stays in the bowl. If we use the cassette toilet properly we don't need to flush it the stuff goes directly into the cassette, you close the flap and that's it . . . . . . unless of course a bit of stuff doesn't quite make it through the hole.
2) 98% of motorhomes have a shower on the end of a hose in the toilet department. Why do we need an electric flush built in to the toilet? Just unhook the shower head, point it down the bowl and turn on the supply to the shower. Unless you are driving a mobile Taj Mahal with separate shower and toilet. But then you probably aren't going to demean yourself by using the toilet in the motorhome, you are staying at a Premier Pitch at a camp site paying £65 a night, and using the provided facilities there.
Simples.
Think outside the box. In this case the cassette box!
If we continue to use the shower as a flusher, and I see no reason to discontinue it, then I will think about selling the one in the shed. We have just been round France and Bavaria and found using the shower hose as a flusher to be perfectly acceptable.
I should check the actual cassette capacity though - see which one is larger.
gasgas
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That's an idea. Do you mean take off the door and its frame? Given that the refillable will never need to be removed, if I can get the big bottle in and then replace the door and frame, that will solve the issue. It would also stop, or at least slow down the thieving toe rags from pinching the bottle. My daughter's caravan had its gas locker wrenched open and two full bottles were permanently borrowed.
Thinking further, if I remove the door and frame and the locker isn't quite tall enough - it's certainly wide and front-to-back enough, I could just make a deeper frame to hold it but still with sufficient ground clearance. It is partly below the floor level so would not compromise the sealing from the habitation area.
gasgas
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TODAY:
Considering that we are about to roam the south of England - I have a date booked to fly a flight simulator in Shoreham, following the Dam Busters raid, flying a Lancaster simulator. . wooo hoo!
I will probably need some heating. Pity we couldn't bottle the Bavarian weather and bring it back. So I tried to fire up the Chinese diesel heater in my camper today. I gave up, and found the instructions. Swallowing my pride - it's shameful for a bloke to have to read instructions - I found the booklet that came with the camper. It was written by a Chinese man who found an English dictionary, tore out random pages and stuck them to a board and threw darts at them. Then he unpicked the darts and used the words that the darts landed on to write the instructions.
So I gave up, went to Youtube and found proper, detailed instructions on how to make it work.
Where would we be without Youtube?
Considering that we are about to roam the south of England - I have a date booked to fly a flight simulator in Shoreham, following the Dam Busters raid, flying a Lancaster simulator. . wooo hoo!
I will probably need some heating. Pity we couldn't bottle the Bavarian weather and bring it back. So I tried to fire up the Chinese diesel heater in my camper today. I gave up, and found the instructions. Swallowing my pride - it's shameful for a bloke to have to read instructions - I found the booklet that came with the camper. It was written by a Chinese man who found an English dictionary, tore out random pages and stuck them to a board and threw darts at them. Then he unpicked the darts and used the words that the darts landed on to write the instructions.
So I gave up, went to Youtube and found proper, detailed instructions on how to make it work.
Where would we be without Youtube?
wildebus
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Decided to have a think about my Cutlery Drawer.
Cutlery trays don't tend to be very deep and there is usually a fair bit of space above which is wasted due to the drawer depth. You then end up chucking the various other implements on top and then can't get to the knives and forks!
So I made a tray to put at the bottom of the drawer
Cutlery - Lower by David, on Flickr
Put this together from Foam Core pieces attached together with Hot Glue and made compartments to suit various items.
The original Cutlery tray sits on top and just clears (by design
) the storage cubby above and can keep that for the stuff need quick access to.
Cutlery - Top by David, on Flickr
To get to the lower tray, just an easy lift out of the metal tray
Cutlery trays don't tend to be very deep and there is usually a fair bit of space above which is wasted due to the drawer depth. You then end up chucking the various other implements on top and then can't get to the knives and forks!
So I made a tray to put at the bottom of the drawer
Cutlery - Lower by David, on Flickr
Put this together from Foam Core pieces attached together with Hot Glue and made compartments to suit various items.
The original Cutlery tray sits on top and just clears (by design
) the storage cubby above and can keep that for the stuff need quick access to.Cutlery - Top by David, on Flickr
To get to the lower tray, just an easy lift out of the metal tray
Fergie1061
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well over last three weeks started building the interior of van, after (nervously!) cutting the side panel out for the new seating area in the van. This one is being built in my fiat Ducato van, using a kit from Squarehaus. Apart from yours truly tripping over his big muckle feet and landing atop one of the rear bed boxes (ahem bits everywhere!! - nae suprises there you'd be in bits too if I landed on you!) Yesterday saw me start the rear bed boxes (reinforced!!) with both framing and existing kit wood. All going well, heater now sited (Truma water and hot air via the lpg) Gas locker constructed almost and battery box almost completed also. Long way to go yet but getting there as they say!
The laird
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Good on you Fergie mind folks like photos of progress
Exwindsurfer
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Have you not thought about an underslung gas tank Fergie free up space in the van .I fitted a 38ltr on my 6m relay.
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