2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,400 times in 2010. That’s about 8 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 7 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 30 posts. There were 41 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 32mb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was October 27th with 163 views. The most popular post that day was Windows.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were sbmcc.co.uk, en.wordpress.com, motorhomefacts.com, z6.invisionfree.com, and campervanlife.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for iveco daily camper, iveco camper, wheel horse 1075, laying vinyl caravan, and iveco camper van.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Windows July 2009

2

Battening & Insulation July 2009

3

Ply Lining July 2009

4

Ceiling, Lights and Internal Walls July 2009

5

Seat/Bed and Kitchen August 2009

HGV Passed!

I haven’t mentioned this so far as it was three years in the asking, but eventually my employer pulled their finger out and put me on a course to do my C+E HGV license.  For the last few days I have been travelling to guildford to take lessons and today I passed the C category.

I am returning later in the year to do the C+E category, initially it was meant to be a full articulated lorry license but I think it has since been downgraded to a drawbar trailer which means there will be a restriction on my license to stop me driving artics.

This means my next conversion (yes I know I haven’t finished this one!) could be a 7.5t horsebox-camper to replace the camper and horse trailer we currently have.

Exmoor 2010

Took a holiday in Exmoor at Burrowhayse Farm, a site we have camped at many times before.  Met our parents there who had booked static caravans, so we only really used the van for sleeping.

Drove the van to Lynton and Lynmouth which involves negotiating Porlock Hill, a 400metre height gain in just two miles, with a gradient of 1 in 4.  The girlfriend managed to get a nice bit of wheelspin during a rushed gear change mid-hairpin which was amusing.

Only issues during the holiday was the battery isolator on the leisure batterys kept vibrating loose, which mean that we ran out of power a couple of times as the battery had failed to charge whilst driving.  Oh, and an exciting progress report, we now have graphics on the van!  They cost a grand total of £10 thanks to a generous motorhomefacts member.

Scotland 2010

We have just returned from a trip to Scotland, largely without any problems.  Wipers that we bought last year in Scotland had worn out already so will be buying some flat bladed type wipers that we have found to be great on the car.

Had to buy some extra parts for the heater, it was missing a pressure relief valve, and we had to buy a one way valve as hot water was exiting from the heater cold inlet and travelling to the cold tap which isn’t helpful.  Also bought some internal silver screens which is much better (and warmer) than trying to rig up a makeshift curtain across the cab, and a kitchen bin.

We also learnt that its not a good idea to gloss paint the woodwork a few days before going on holiday, we had mild headaches from the smell during the drive and we discovered that if the rooflights are accidentally left ajar they will start slamming up and down on the motorway requiring a momentary stop on the hard shoulder before they blow off!

We refilled the gas tank for the first time since fitting it, very pleased to only get about £6 worth of gas into it!  Not bad over seven months with regular weekend use of the cooker.

Memory foam mattress upgrade is still a little on the firm side, but much better than before.

Bonnet Respray

If you’ve wondered why there haven’t been many photos of the van recently, its because it looked a real mess after the paint started peeling off the bonnet.  At some point shortly before I bought the van it must have had a new bonnet and the painter hadn’t prepped the bonnet properly.  Every time I washed the van or it rained, more paint would flake off.

Quotes had been sky high as the paint needed stripping off before re-painting, up to £350 with no one really interested in taking on the work.  One garage quoted about £150 based from a description of the problem and I arranged to remove the bonnet and take it in (as the van wouldn’t fit in their workshop).  I turned up with it and they decided it needed stripping (as I’d already explained) and the quote doubled so I walked back out.

Finally a found a local garage that did it for £117, its not a perfect finish and I seriously doubt that they stripped it as I can see a slight outline of the old paint, but it looks fine for van and importantly, has been completed the day before we are due to go away in the van

Apologies for the poor quality photo…thats the ‘before’ by the way!

Water System

I’ve been trawling various supplies for suitable waste and fresh water tanks, custom made or specific to my van.  I’ve decided to devote some precious storage space for an internal fresh tank as we will be using the van throughout the winter.  The fresh tank will go under the seat, and after measuring up I was surprised to find that a standard Fiamma 70L tank was a perfect fit and also the cheapest option.  Shortly afterwards I realised another would fit between the chassis rails under the overhang for the waste water, so the tanks ended up being cheaper than expected, plus I could buy them locally.

Other bits purchased were kitchen tap, sink, pressure switched pump, accumulator, water pipe, waste pipe and tank fittings.  For now I haven’t bothered with a fill kit, I will just fill the tank from the inspection hatch.  Water heating is via a secondhand Truma Ultrastore, unfortunately it was missing £70 worth of parts so that was an expensive exercise.

The Truma (as expected) required a whole day of jiggerypokery to fit, I had to cut away some internal ribs so the flue could reach the outside wall of the van, I also had to cut the bumper trim outside, and use two flue extensions from Truma to span the cab between the van ribs and outside wall.  Another gas pipe had to be run from the supply under the van, with another gas dropout through the floor.  The pipework, accumulator and pump were then fitted around the heater, with the fresh tank taking the remaining space.

The waste tank has been fitted between the chassis rails using M12 rod, plenty of threadlock, and unistrut to support the tank.  It was recommended to me to use a water butt tap to drain the tank, I was doubtful and rightfully so, I quickly tired of waiting 30 minutes for the tank to drain and managed to find a 3/4″ drain tap which does the job much more quickly.  I also had problems with the waste pipe from the sink, any uphill sections prevented the sink from draining which surprised me as the sink is so much higher.  Some careful re-routing through the chassis rails fixed this.

All fitted just in time for a trip to Scotland next week

Spare Wheel Mounting

The spare wheel has been rolling about in the garage for several months now, along with the spare wheel for the trailer.  The trailer wheel has been mounted into the trailer with a single M12 stud, the van wheel is a bit more complex.

I had bought an underchassis spare wheel carrier on ebay a few months earlier, but seeing as there is a waste water tank in the way now I decided to resell it and mount the wheel on the rear of the van.  This required some steel panel, M12 threaded bar, M12 dome headed bolts, nuts, washers, primer and a new number plate light.

I mounted the wheel low down so it is only a few cm’s clear of the rear step, this also means it rests against plastic trim top and bottom without touching the paintwork on the van.  Three M12 studs take the wheel, with a steel panel inside to reinforce the van skin (secured by the four dome headed bolts) and another steel panel between the inner door ribs.  The M12 studs pass through both these sheets to reduce stress on the door skin.  Liberal use of threadlock ensures the studs don’t rotate when trying to remove the nuts securing the wheel, and the eyebolt protrudes through the centre of the wheel to take a hockey puck style padlock.  Finally I extended the number plate wiring to the top of the door where the number plate was reattached.

The door is now quite heavy so I need to make a stay to stop it swinging open too far as obviously the door cannot open past 90 degrees now, if it does the wheel could crack the light lenses.

Electrical System

Due to lack of space in the van I have decided to change the air filter in the van, this has allowed the removal of the airbox.  In its place I can fit two 85ahr leisure batteries side by side, and if I need extra to cope with the fridge I can squeeze in two more, one underneath and another above.

Other benefits include keeping weight off the rear axle and its close to the starter battery for charging.  The split charge system uses 80amp fuses and 35mm sq welding cable through a voltage sensing relay, which means the leisure batteries will only start to charge when the starter battery voltage rises towards 14v from the alternator.  This removes the need to run a wire from the alternator charge output as with a basic split charge setup.  When the engine is off, the voltage drops and the relay disconnects the batteries to prevent the starter battery being discharged.

35mm sq cable is then run through the bulkhead behind the dash, and up behind the A pillar trim to a fusebox above the cab.  From here I’ve run conduit to various areas of the van, each appliance will have its own fused feed from the fusebox.  I have chosen to run a negative wire to most appliances rather than local earthing points simply because I don’t want to screw into the bodywork any more than necessary, and also because although I had to buy all my red cable, I have a couple of reels of black already so its free!

The radio and 12v socket in the cab have both been rewired to the leisure fusebox to save the starter battery.  Eventually there will also be a supply to the 12v ‘S’ grey (supplementary) towbar socket so the trailer internal lights and camera will run from the leisure battery.

Sliding Door Abuse

Ever since buying the van, the sliding door has never fitted properly.  It was relatively easy to adjust it enough to stop the rattling (same with the rear doors) but it has always leaked, delaying the lining of the door.  Daylight can be seen through the top.

To date I have adjusted all the catches and door gear multiple times, bent the top of the door in using brute force, spaced out the lower front arm, angled grinded 15mm off the length of the top arm and drilled and tapped a new hole, replaced the receivers along the front edge, hammered in the distorted centre rail where it turns into the door frame, jacked the door up from below and sworn at it.

Most recent attempts look hopefull, I bought some Fiamma Drip Stop to divert water away from the door (a 300cm length is perfect to do both the side door and rear doors) and a new door seal from Iveco, this combined with a bit more fettling and swearing appear to have closed up the gap along the top edge and initial tests suggest it is now sealed!  Downside is that for some reason the leading edge of the door is about 6mm proud of the body, which makes it look like the door is adjar in the passenger mirror, but I am scared to touch it any more.

The only other things I could do is buy replacement rollers to replace the graunching old ones (at £160 just for the lower arm, this would be very expensive!) or buy ‘P’ section rubber and glue it along the top edge of the door frame so it seals the panel gap before the main seal.  Fingers crossed I won’t need to resort to this…

Gas System

To save space in the van I’ve chosen to fit an underslung 30L gas tank, this will be refillable from LPG pumps at garages and can be topped up rather than waiting to run out of gas and then exchanging a cylinder.  The tank is vulnerable to stone chips and surface rust so I’m painting it in Plastidip clear primer and clear softcoat, this gives it a clear rubberised coating and also a tacky finish which means the straps have a much better grip on the tank.

I’ve installed the tank inside the nearside chassis rail, partly to leave space if I want to fit a folding step under the sliding door, and also as it is better protected in an accident.  Its common to see the tanks fitted with the connections tucked just under the edge of the van, which is risky as the connections are the most vulnerable part of the tank.  A bolt on gas regulator connects straight to plastic coated 8mm copper tube, at first this will only supply the Spinflo Triplex oven and hob via  a 3 way gas manifold, but eventually a water heater and blown air heater will be plumbed in.  Liberal use of leak detector solution is used to check for leaks.  The fill point has been fitted into the B pillar trim, this was relatively easy as earlier version of my van have the diesel filler here.  Handily, the fill point colour perfectly matches the existing bumpers so is nice and discrete.

Eventually I want to fit a Truma Drivesafe regulator as this means the gas supply (and heater) can be left on whilst driving…at the moment I have to kneel under the van to remove the cover and turn on the supply.  The Drivesafe will cut the gas supply off if it detects excessive flow rates, stopping an serious leaks.