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Post by snoops on Sept 29, 2015 19:34:34 GMT 10
Oh, I also fished the HWS installation and tested it tonight. Still waiting on some quick connects to arrive, so it's plumbed in with hose clamps at the moment so it will take a few extra minutes to set up and pull down. The sink gets hot water within 10 seconds - and if you fill the kettle with the cold water that comes out first, then you don't waste a drop. Running the shower for 2 minutes uses around 5 litres of water, so the 20 litre drum I'll carry for filling at the river just for showers should last fine. Heading out on Thursday for 4 or 5 nights, so I'll report back on how good a hot shower each night while bush camping is.  I won't have the shower recess 100% finished by then, so I'll tack up a tarp tomorrow to get me out of trouble. |
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Post by myarrow1 on Oct 1, 2015 20:18:33 GMT 10
Mate, that looks fantastic ! It's been a day for it... I've spent the whole day on mine too. Removed the RHS J Moulds (did the rear one last weekend) but removed the rest of them today, so the entire right side is sealed up now. What a mongrel of a job cleaning all the old concrete off the van !!!! Will start on the LHS tomorrow. Has got the rail track on it, a little more work there. Beer o'clock now, I'm knackered, and sunburnt, lol |
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Post by myarrow1 on Oct 1, 2015 20:22:44 GMT 10
Hi Snoops. Whats your plan for the upper damaged cladding ? Mine has a big dent from the bad head wind driving home with it. I reckon it will pop back in when i remove ply and give it a tap. Gonna need to support the cladding from inside i reckon otherwise it will bend out of shape in the next head wind.
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Post by snoops on Oct 5, 2015 13:40:50 GMT 10
Well, my repair on the front top cladding will need redoing. It did indeed pop back in by the time I got to my campsite on Thursday. I will glue a couple of bits of ply in there to hold it I think. The HWS performed well, and being able to have a hot shower easily while free camping is very nice - I was away 4 nights, so would have been very pongy if I hadn't... Really want to get it looking nice on the outside soon, so I'm going to get stuck into the windows and body prep which I'm sure will take a long time as I want it to look as good or better than new. |
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Post by planner on Oct 5, 2015 16:18:02 GMT 10
Well, my repair on the front top cladding will need redoing. It did indeed pop back in by the time I got to my campsite on Thursday. I will glue a couple of bits of ply in there to hold it I think. Towed ours about 100km this weekend. The 100mph tape held firm and didn't let the cladding buckle/flex, but all it succeeded in doing was shift the dent to a new spot.  How much tape can I plaster across the front?  |
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Post by snoops on Oct 5, 2015 16:39:14 GMT 10
Yeah, it will need reinforcing from the inside I think, same as mine will. I'll probably have a crack at this in the next week or so - I'll post pics of what I do.
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Post by myarrow1 on Oct 5, 2015 16:42:28 GMT 10
Looks like te HWS is a success !!! Nice work..... I'm 3/4 through sealing the roof. (Geez I'm over that job !!!!!!)I will have a go at strengthening the front cladding when I rip out the ply etc. I'm wondering if I can use 2 pieces of an MDF or similar shaped to to the cladding, and somehow screw it to the inner wood frame ? I reckon I can patch/disguise the cracks, and paint, but it needs to be strengthened/stable, otherwise I'm wasting my time. I don't really wanna have to replace it.
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Post by myarrow1 on Oct 5, 2015 16:43:57 GMT 10
Excellent Snoops, sounds like a plan !!
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Post by doublechevron on Oct 5, 2015 18:50:08 GMT 10
Looks like te HWS is a success !!! Nice work..... I'm 3/4 through sealing the roof. (Geez I'm over that job !!!!!!)I will have a go at strengthening the front cladding when I rip out the ply etc. I'm wondering if I can use 2 pieces of an MDF or similar shaped to to the cladding, and somehow screw it to the inner wood frame ? I reckon I can patch/disguise the cracks, and paint, but it needs to be strengthened/stable, otherwise I'm wasting my time. I don't really wanna have to replace it. That's hilarious .... That's all I've done every spare second I could find for the last 5 months  On the bright side, I'm almost done ... just the water tank filler and power plug to go from what I can tell seeya Shane L. |
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Post by myarrow1 on Oct 5, 2015 19:01:42 GMT 10
Lol......it's abit like, when I'm bored, might as well go and seal something up on the Franklin !!!!!!
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Post by snoops on Oct 18, 2015 17:25:48 GMT 10
Had a new toy for the van turn up yesterday - a small Bluetooth amplifier that runs off 12 volts. It's a cracking little unit and I had it hooked up to a couple of speakers outside near the spa today and it really packs a punch despite being tiny. I've ordered a couple of outdoor speakers from fleabay which I'll hook to it so I can listen to some Dave Brubeck or similar in the evenings while having a cold beer. I can also crank it up with some doof doof music if someone cruises by looking for a campsite near me to scare them off.  . Bluetooth connects easily and it has a range of about 10 metres. It packs 50 watts per channel and didn't get warn today with it sitting about 1/4 volume - which was quite loud enough, it really gets going when the volumes cranked up. Total cost was $18 delivered from our Chinese friends. Here's a pic - I placed a walnut next to it for a size comparison. I'll mount it in a small box near the batteries somewhere. <<<Pic gone due to photbuckets policy change>>> |
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Post by snoops on Oct 27, 2015 18:43:44 GMT 10
No pics, but I finally mounted my 150 watt solar panel on the roof of the van. I've ummed and ahhhrd about doing this for a couple of reasons, but the pros have outweighed the cons. Weight was a concern but I've ditched the microwave and one of the batteries so that's all good. The other concern was about their charging efficiency but working it out, I only use around 5 amp hours a day, so even mounted flat, the panel will still provide plenty of power.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2015 6:52:55 GMT 10
It's amazing how cheap Solar equipment is getting, one of the products I can order in from a supplier is a solar powered bore pump. The whole system with the pump, controller, panels, cables, sensors to make sure the bore doesn't pump dry, sensors to make sure the tank doesn't overflow, pipe work, etc etc is only a few grand RRP and we make a reasonable markup on them. I intend to ask the supplier how much he'll charge me for just the panels when it comes time to put some solar on my Franklin I do a bit of shopping from China as well, www.dealextreme.com is a place you might want to poke around for things like that amplifier |
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Post by snoops on Oct 31, 2015 17:01:21 GMT 10
Sitting up on the Murray this weekend with friends. Cooking a lamb roast I the camp oven tonight. There are a few other classics here - I'll get some pics. There's a really nice Franklin that I've been chatting to the owner of - he pretty much lives here. There's a couple of others (not sure what they are yet) Here's a pic from my seat - (let me know if you can't see it - I've linked it from another forum so not sure if it will show up)  |
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Post by tasmillard on Oct 31, 2015 20:40:18 GMT 10
bugger snoops, cant see pic. But great that youre enjoying the outdoors mate. Look forward to some pics.
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Post by doublechevron on Oct 31, 2015 22:11:45 GMT 10
Yep, I can see it But if you have hosted it at aulro ... I'm a member there too .... hang on I'll try an icognito window.... No go, it doesn't work unless your cookies have you logged into aulro seeya, Shane L. |
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Post by mickmarsh on Oct 31, 2015 22:24:22 GMT 10
Sitting up on the Murray this weekend with friends. Cooking a lamb roast I the camp oven tonight. There are a few other classics here - I'll get some pics. There's a really nice Franklin that I've been chatting to the owner of - he pretty much lives here. There's a couple of others (not sure what they are yet) Here's a pic from my seat - (let me know if you can't see it - I've linked it from another forum so not sure if it will show up) Wish I was up there. One of my favourite places. As you know, I was up there a few weeks ago. Spent many a weekend up there camping on the banks of the Murray. Enjoy. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2015 17:20:46 GMT 10
Nice place there, the last time that we camp in that area was in 199 when we toured in a motorcycle.
have to come back soon.
Going to log in AULRO to see the photo.......
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Post by snoops on Nov 1, 2015 18:38:37 GMT 10
Just finished cleaning up from the storm that hit us this arvo. Wind nearly 100kph - local news says up to 10 houses in the area lost roofs, so just having the awning ripped off the van wasn't so bad. Sustained a minor injury (I'm going to bleed this one dry with SWMBO while she still has sympathy for me) . Lots of damaged awnings, tents, etc all around the campsite - I'll post a couple of pics when I'm back home as the Internet is a bit slow here to be doing that. I'll also post a couple of pics of some other classics sharing the area. |
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Post by doublechevron on Nov 2, 2015 10:15:08 GMT 10
We had the same thing happen the first weeks our caravan was down at Portarlington last year. Massive wind gusts off the bay .... Took out a lot of annexes across the park. The caravan behind us had it's roll out awning torn off and was left bashing againt the side of the caravan.
The wind gusts caused one of the wooden "tensioners" on the annex ropes to split in half.... Once one rope was release, all the extendable annex pole bent releasing the other ropes... The wall tie-downs are also torn clean out of the caravan cladding. What save any damage to anything was the fact the annex then just "fell down flat" out of the wind. Unlike all the poor b@stards around the park with modern roll out awnings.
seeya,
Shane L.
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Post by Mustang on Nov 2, 2015 16:48:46 GMT 10
Just finished cleaning up from the storm that hit us this arvo. Wind nearly 100kph - local news says up to 10 houses in the area lost roofs, so just having the awning ripped off the van wasn't so bad. Sustained a minor injury (I'm going to bleed this one dry with SWMBO while she still has sympathy for me) . Lots of damaged awnings, tents, etc all around the campsite - I'll post a couple of pics when I'm back home as the Internet is a bit slow here to be doing that. I'll also post a couple of pics of some other classics sharing the area. Sorry to hear Snoops, seems you fared better than others. |
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Post by snoops on Nov 2, 2015 16:55:00 GMT 10
I had similar luck - the canvas was ripped over the top of the van - where it stayed as it stayed in the sail track and just stuck to the roof of the van. The force of that whipped one of the poles over 75 metres behind the van - the guys behind us saw it take off and said they couldn't believe how high it went, and one of the tent pegs (a big thick bugger - brand new as well, so I knew it was mine) another 10 meters past that - it ended up next to the tent of another camper. One of the other poles hit me in the chest somehow as it was ripped up while I was trying to hold onto it - it has left a bloody big bruise and it hurts when I breathe... SWMBO said it looks sore, but that I should just 'suck it up' |
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Post by snoops on Nov 2, 2015 17:20:28 GMT 10
Just saw the news - it showed some pics and videos of a 'mini tornado' that hit Strathmerton - only a few KM form where we were. It showed the green sky we saw and took pics of before it hit.
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Post by snoops on Nov 2, 2015 17:46:30 GMT 10
Here's a few pics of the campsite. Before shot - a pano taken from under my awning just before it hit - shows the green sky - I have never seen this before, and was told later that this means bad weather.... Like I needed to know that afterwards.  Our friend setup after.  Our van after - the side of the van was directly facing the oncoming front.  The almighty javelin - recovered nearly 75 meters away!  |
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Post by snoops on Nov 2, 2015 17:52:23 GMT 10
Oh, and I forgot to mention - you can see in that first shot we had a campfire ticking away nicely - part of the fire - some pretty big embers - got blasted into the van almost instantly. It took a bit of quick work to put those out, and I had to make 4 or 5 trips to the river with said bucket to put the fire out so it didn't happen again - then onto helping our friend rescue her awning. Got wetter than when I was swimming in the river only an hour before. |
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How much tape can I plaster across the front? 
On the bright side, I'm almost done ... just the water tank filler and power plug to go from what I can tell 
. Bluetooth connects easily and it has a range of about 10 metres. It packs 50 watts per channel and didn't get warn today with it sitting about 1/4 volume - which was quite loud enough, it really gets going when the volumes cranked up. Total cost was $18 delivered from our Chinese friends. 
