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Post by kiwijim on Oct 21, 2012 11:33:36 GMT 10
Thanks Guys, The work would have been done faster if I got back that Electric Screwdriver that the Mongrel stole out of the caravan. (pictured further back in this tread ) I don't stand much chance of seeing that again. I'll post some more pictures in due coarse as the rebuild continues, it maybe a little time away as the heat is starting to build up here in the West, besides we don't intend to use the Coromal before Autumn comes, so I have a few Months up my sleeve. kiwijim ;D
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Post by kiwijim on Nov 24, 2012 18:22:39 GMT 10
After receiving a directive from ADMIN to Post some more Pic's of the Coromal, Here's the latest........... I had some luck the other day, spotted a 3 way fridge for sale on Gumtree, Scored it for $ 200.00 After a bit of a clean-up and a test ( All O.K. ) here it is ready to install........ The rear Bedroom is almost complete now, I just have to add the new head board.............. All the windows have now been removed and resealed, this last one had a broken glass so, I replace both pane's with Poly Carb....... I then fitted the new H.W.S......... I've still a heap to do so, more Pic's will follow. kiwijim
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Post by millard1399 on Nov 24, 2012 21:24:10 GMT 10
G'day kiwijim, Good score on the gas/elect fridge. I see in your photos of the rear bed area, that you've done away with the hanging cupboards that were originally either side of the bed. Does that mean you have another hanging cupboard elsewhere in the van, or are you just not having any hanging space? cheers, Al.
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Post by kiwijim on Nov 25, 2012 11:17:42 GMT 10
Howdy AL, Yes, there is another double hanging wardrobe, This one is opposite the shower room, just as you enter the bed room.............. Another angle from the front door........ One thing this Coromal has is plenty of storage space. To the right of the front door there is a large bench top with double shelf storage below.............. And just to keep SWMBO happy there is over-head cupboards all around the lounge and kitchen area. "God Knows" what the van will weigh if She loads all the available storage space with "Might-be-handy " junk. kiwijim
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Post by millard1399 on Nov 25, 2012 13:43:20 GMT 10
Ahhh, now I understand. Struth!, you sure do have a lot of cupboard space, and bench space as well! I gather this van has been designed more for a couple, rather than for a family. I presume the dining setting can be converted to a double bed, but otherwise there's nothing for any littlies. Not a bad layout at all for two travellers. Another question...did you increase the width between the bedside tables to allow for a wider mattress, or is it still the same original width? The more I see of this van, the more I like the set-up. ;D cheers, Al.
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Post by jeff on Nov 25, 2012 14:49:44 GMT 10
It certainly is a very well laid out van, what length is it kiwijim?
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Post by kiwijim on Nov 25, 2012 15:57:42 GMT 10
Howdy Jeff, The Coromal is 6.7m or 22ft in the old scale, that's body length, overall she's around the 7,6m long from tow hitch to the rear bumper, holding two spare tires. To answer your question, AL The Coromal was actually designed for a single bloke to live in permanently. That was the biggest problem, it only had a single width bed in the rear. I therefore Had to rip out the side wardrobes, using the bottom half of them I narrowed them down to 400mm wide then fitted a new laminex top to each. When re-installed, it gave me enough room to fit a 4'6" wide bed with a bit of a squeeze so I decided to go for a 4'3" width. this will allow a bit of room for sheets and blankets to hang over the side easily. In the picture below, if you look closely you can still see the staple holes from the original wardrobe wall, you can then see the extra width I have gained, 200mm....... . The dining table is a fixture ( at the moment ) so the van will only be good for a couple of people at the present time but, if I make the table drop down, that will make a single bed of 3' wide and well over 6' long. Giving it a rest today ( Sunday ) it's too flamin hot outside to do anything except check that the fridge is keeping the lemonade cold. ;D ;D ;D Just as a matter of interest, I was having a casual squiz through the local Sunday Times ( Caravan Section ) today, Got a bit of a surprise, spotted this advert......... Guess the old boy couldn't handle it after all. kiwijim
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Post by kiwijim on Nov 28, 2012 14:53:10 GMT 10
I had just about given up on trying to get a decent sound out of the Soniq T.V. We bought for the Coromal, Thought I would read the instruction book once more, ( Good idea when all else fails ) While hunting through the sub-menu of the sub-menu of the menu for the sound, I found there was a speed control for the D.V.D player, this was wound right up and bring it back to the normal position,..... all was fixed, the sound was no longer like a 45 rpm record traveling at 50 rpm's. I still had the Budgie sound coming out of the small 3w speakers so, Off to the local Charity Shop and found these Speakers with built-in amp ( cost $ 2.00 ) I plugged the Speakers into the Ear Phone out-let of the T,V, and switched on, "WOW- WEEEEEEEE" ;D ;D No more budgie sound, there was a full throttle roar of a Super Charged Ford and the sound just about blew the windows out, I pushed a button for the Bass and the sound was so good the speakers were vibrating along the Table Top. ;D ;D I'm more than happy with the T.V. now, roll on holidays. ;D ;D kiwijim
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Post by millard1399 on Nov 28, 2012 16:08:41 GMT 10
Oh-oh, kiwijim, I don't think that's a good idea. Next time you're in a caravan park, the other folks are gonna think Slim Dusty must be putting on a live performance somewhere in the park! ;D "But wait a minute...!", they'll say. "Isn't he dead?!""Yeah, so it must be that bloody kiwi fella and his two-dollar speakers!!"
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Post by kiwijim on Nov 28, 2012 20:58:26 GMT 10
"Yep" Ya could be right there Al, The last time we were up in Kalbarri camping in the Caravan Park with the old Thomson, we had a D.V.D. playing on the front table , the front window was open, so the sounds of Slim were heard for a bit of distance, When we looked out the front window, there must have been half a dozen "Oldies" standing outside with their wine in hand, listening to "Good Ole Slim" belting one out. Now I reckon the whole Camp will come to a stand still, when we head back there next year, What. with this new T.V. and the amplified speaker, The local D.J. doesn't stand a chance D ;D ;D I think, if you have a look around the local Charity shop and find some speakers the same, Your troubles will be fixed as well. kiwijim
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Post by bobt on Nov 28, 2012 21:34:15 GMT 10
aaah now I can say I'm proud of ya. The innards of the back end r looking good, like the new panel work seems to be cut just right. Gotta confess when I saw no wardrobes I thought hmm what this fella doing . .. better not ask.. I mightn't wanna know.. Then we saw the middle bit.. Yep it is a long one... The fridge was a nice score. Ya must be in the old retiree group, worrying so much about ya TV and the sound that comes outa it. Guess when we are off next I will have to check out my TV and check out what angle I can see it, if for no other reason then to satisfy the curiosity. It works for us, has for a couple a years. I know the sound is OK I can hear it too well, I think swmbo is going deaf. So what is happening at the front end..? bobt
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Post by kiwijim on Nov 29, 2012 16:19:29 GMT 10
So, The man asks...... What is happening at the front end, !!! At my age Mate,..... "Not a heck of a lot" "OH", You mean the front of the Caravan, Well, I have finished installing all the wiring for the H.W.S. then fitted the Ignition switch on the panel beside where the fridge will fit, as well as that I also fitted a two way switch to turn on and off the water pump, Flick the switch up and the power comes from the car battery, flick it down and the power comes from the 12v transformer....... After that, I fitted the new upholstered head board for the Double Bed....... Then all new curtain Pelmets in the Bed room and kitchen...... I was working on the last pelmet in the dining room when some-one stuck his great hoofer through the 1/4" seat base, "DUH" So I've had to tear the lot out and will replace the flamin thin Chip board with some stronger M.D.F........ It's blowing and raining like mad here at present, temp only 20deg, giving it away for now, 2.00pm time for a Nanny Nap ;D ;D ;D kiwijim ;D
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Post by bobt on Nov 30, 2012 21:51:58 GMT 10
nice Nice bedhead. Like the mirror, makes for great reflective moments. I have a window as the bed head, tis amazing the amount of cold you can feel in winter. Nice in summer. glad the pump switch is easily accessible. You need to be able to turn it off in a hurry if something goes wrong.. Gotta love playing with the 12volt wiring stuff. Strikes me you should know better then to stand on the seats... they don't hold up to so much weight in one spot. Hope you did not hurt yourself as it was letting go. The old box was painted chipboard the new box is raw ply, and the ply aint that thick. Think I should paint it, seal it or something. It never ceased to amaze me how the seat frame was assembled and it stood the test of time too. Take a look at yours and the use of stables to hold it together. What is stranger is that in most cases it does not fail? Hope SWMBO appreciates the effort your going to with this one.
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Post by kiwijim on Dec 1, 2012 13:52:23 GMT 10
G'day Bobt, An old Carpenter told me some years ago that it's a hard job to find a true Carpenter today, There are plenty of assemblers around, as the furniture in the modern caravan proves, No chisel and mitre box used today, all they need is a ton of tube glue and a hand full of staples. My hated joint is the Butt joint as is evident in the picture below..... It's no wonder the frame couldn't stand a bit of extra weight, I have now reinforced the frame and covered the top with all new thicker M.D.F....... kiwijim ;D
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Post by Caprinut on Dec 2, 2012 16:10:24 GMT 10
KiwiJim, Nice effort and I don't want to criticize, but you should know better than to use dreaded MDF. Shame on you! The stuff weights a ton and does not have the tensile strength of ply, does not like screws, plus it hates moisture. I found in my rebuild that to go to a board supplier and purchase several sheets of 9mm formply and cut and replace all that nasty particle and Mdf feels good and is not that expensive in big sheets. Like my wife always says. Lift your game Mate! Cheers Pete
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Post by kiwijim on Dec 2, 2012 18:09:04 GMT 10
Howdy Pete,
Don't worry Mate, I am well aware of the problems with M.D.F.
I only used it because I had a couple of large new sheets getting in the road in the workshop.
If it should get wet, I will do my nut after re-sealing all the windows, and if a beer should get spilled on it, that person will pay for it.
I have made a note of your dis-approval of it's use and will probably replace it with some ply if it starts to disintegrate or I run out of things to do in the future. ;D ;D
Cheers kiwijim ;D
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Post by bobt on Dec 3, 2012 20:05:31 GMT 10
hey young fella Like the improvements. certainly better with covers. hinges!.. bit up market for me ;D nice little bit of extra framing too. see ya got ya mates to climb inside the seat and take the photo. Dunno about you westerners but the mdf we have way over ere in mexico is nothing like the chip board stuff. stuck a bit of mdf in a bucket of water once to see what would happen. was amazed it did not disintegrate like that other stuff. I have a sheet of 12m thick mdf sitting on my car trailer, parked in he open, apart from the fact it has got scraps on it it is holding together just fine.. go try the bucket test tell me what ya find..
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Post by kiwijim on Dec 6, 2012 15:44:02 GMT 10
Well another week slipped by and a little more done in the Coromal. I have spent the last week in the Workshop, re-upholstering the Back rest for the Lounge area. Before upholstering, I had to re-enforce the backing with strips of MDF to give some thickness for the staples to grip the strings that hold all the Buttons in place........... Next I used one piece of upholstery material which measured over 3 m x 1/2 m to cover the foam and frame.......... A rough estimate of the staples used is around 800 for this covering, back to the big green shed tomorrow for more supplies. kiwijim ;D
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Post by Caprinut on Dec 6, 2012 19:51:26 GMT 10
Strewth Jim, Your shed looks as bad as mine I can hardly cut a piece of timber without re-arranging something else. Nice upholstery job there. Pete Attachments:
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Post by kiwijim on Dec 7, 2012 3:46:13 GMT 10
Howdy Pete, Yep. you're sure right there, the old shed could do with a good clean-out. Ya know, when I built the workshop I thought I had gone on the rather large size, being 10 x 18, just shows you I should have doubled it then but, I suppose it would only house more junk and I'd be just as hemmed in as I am today. It's still amazing what I find hidden in there a times, all sorts of old caravan bits and pieces that I thought I'd thrown out years ago. Now, if you think that shed is getting rather full, you should see the shed behind this one, I have another 10 x 10 shed sitting there that I can only manage to get just inside the door, that houses a ton of " Might-be-handy " junk as well. I just gotta have a big clean-out very soon, kiwijim
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Post by kiwijim on Dec 17, 2012 16:26:36 GMT 10
I've been chasing a good heavy duty wall mount bracket for the T.V. in the Coromal. We have Been To a heap of "Big Name " shops and were stung by the price they were asking, all around $128.00 So, I climbed into the Chariot this morning and said..... To the big Green shed "Nissie" ;D ;D Took one look at this wall bracket on sale at $39.99, couldn't get it through the exit fast enough ........ It's as solid as anyone would want....... Included in the box was all the screws, bolts & nuts anyone would want to attach to any wall.... This bracket should be just what we wanted, the next job will be to install it. Certainly can't complain about the price of this unit. cheers Kiwijim
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Post by kiwijim on Dec 19, 2012 16:29:37 GMT 10
"Boy" the heat is sure building here in the West, Out of the Sack at 5.00am this morning and got stuck into a little bit more upholstery, here's the arm rest going on for the central Lounge....... Up to the front of the van now, There is some evidence of water damage around the front window, caused by a leaking vent behind the extractor fan...... I will now have to remove the front window and reline the whole front wall, I will be removing the glass from the window and replace it with some poly carb. The original glass is so under cut that there is double rubber at the base of the glass to hold it up so the top rubber seal can get about 5mm of cover... Another find in the Big Green Shed was this indoor-out door temp gauge, I have made a 3.5mm hole in the rear of the fridge where the probe from this gauge will fit and give me a reading of the temp inside the fridge and also give the time and out-side temp, "OK" for $13.00...... kiwijim ;D
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Post by kiwijim on Jan 15, 2013 15:52:19 GMT 10
Another step towards a Brighter Coromal was the purchase of the roll of LED lights which were mentioned on ForumMod's page, ( confessions of a Traitor) After gathering all the good advice from Al, I found a transformer in the shed which was 12v x 0.7ampI thought it would be under rated for the job but, hooked it up anyway and switched on........ "Man" talk about brightness, the whole string ( 5m ) of LED's light up the whole lounge room, and this is in the middle of the afternoon.............. Next step will be to cut up the string and make some out-side lights and probably a few under the pelmets, thanks for the idea Al. ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2013 7:57:29 GMT 10
Looks good Jim, I reckon my numbers on Al's thread might be a decimal place out! More like 6 watts for the whole lot and 0.5 amp although I dont know why it would be 60 (a Chinese thing??) - as I said LEDs draw such little current pretty much any 12 V adapter will probably be fine. Did you run it for a fair while to make sure the adapter didn't get hot? I would suggest turn it on for a couple of hours at least warm is OK but not hot!
Just did a quick Google on LED specs and they are generally talking max draw about 5 mA (0.005A) so a grouping of three (about 4 or so volts each in series) to make up to 12 V, each series of three would draw 5 mA. So 100 series of three would still only be drawing .5A, well within the parameters of your .7A adapter.
Cheers
Doug.
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Post by ForumMod on Jan 16, 2013 10:07:36 GMT 10
"Brilliant job!" kiwijim, heh heh ;D I looked on ebay and one seller said his 5m strip of 3528 LEDs has a working current of 0.4A per metre, or 2.0A for the whole 5m strip. You could check your transformer with a multimeter to see if the Amp rating is correct. The transformer I bought is rated 12V/2A, but my multimeter says 12.18V/3.8A, almost double the Amps. A couple of other trannys I've picked up from the Salvos during my visits have also been checked... #1: Rated 12V / 1.25A - Actual 12.15V / 2.2A #2: Rated 13.5V / 0.85A - Actual 18.8V / 5.0A (Yep, that's not a misprint - it is 18.8V and 5.0A. Maybe they put the wrong sticker on it. ) Big difference between what they are supposed to be, and what they actually are. When used outside in exposed conditions, the strip should be rated at IP68. If used outside in covered conditions, it can be rated at IP65. cheers, Al.
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