Sweating the Small Stuff -

 - and it's all Small Stuff. According to a book I once read that reckons that nothing's really important except death...

So, on that uplifting note, we'll carry on. This week has been taken up with fixing the little things - the Small Stuff - that became quite annoying while we were away. The Wobble was due to a massive imbalance of the front wheels. I had the NS one sorted out, as I said previously, and thought that would be enough. Wrong. We still had The Wobble, but not as bad and not at the same speed. Back to McConechey's to get the OS wheel done. I expected that it would just be a small adjustment. No, Kenny put almost as much weight on as he'd done on the other wheel last week. Now, though, the feel is transformed and Elly drives like she should without trying to shake my teeth out or giving my biceps a workout.

This time I paid for the job - be rude not to, wouldn't it? A careful look at the wheel rim revealed some witness marks where previous weights had been, so it's possible (likely?) that we lost these on the trail somewhere.

An oil change was due. 6000 miles is the recommended interval and we'd just gone over that, so 6 litres of Castrol GTX went in as well as a new filter. Getting old one off was a right b*stard of a job. I had to get a chain wrench on it in the end. I suppose I could've just bashed a tent peg through it, but that always seems a bit Agricultural, even for a Landrover. The mag plug was completely clean,which is reassuring. I'm wondering whether I can just filter the old oil and chuck it in the fuel tank like the bloke we met at the HUBB meet suggested.

My research suggests that it's not as simple as this, but he seemed to be confident and experienced in this way of reducing fuel costs. More thought required, methinks, so I'll just save the old oil instead of taking it to the disposal as usual.

Fridges. The Engel is a great bit of kit but is twice the size of the Waeco and takes up the space that we'd prefer to use for sleeping, should we need to, so we didn't take the Engel to Spain. We now have a bit of a dilemma. A new Engel is very expensive, mainly because they're excellent kit. The Waeco is half the price but still expensive. We could have a use for either, but not both....We might be appearing on e-Bay sometime soon with bits for sale unless we get a prior offer. Anyone need a camping fridge?

Tim (of Stitch it...) has had a look at the tent cover and come up with some ideas for a replacement.
Obviously the present, original, cover is well past it's best. The outer layer of the material has been ruined by UV light and has begun to delaminate.

Water is now penetrating the fabric but can't evaporate quickly enough to avoid staining whatever is unprotected underneath. His expertise has suggested some improvements that I hadn't thought of so we should end up with something that is both waterproof but, just as importantly, easy to use. Added to the problem with the fabric, the whole cover remains attached to the base when it's open since one of the zip toggles has jammed in place. Somebody's attacked it with pliers but just made the problem worse. Normally it would be possible to roll the cover away, I assume, but we can't do that and it just lies on the roof collecting rainwater. This then gets deposited on the folded tent when we try to stow it away dry.
The present arrangement is unworkable and needs to be sorted out. Tim hasn't given me a quote for the work yet, but I spoke to the UK importer of Hannibal gear this week and he quoted me £175-ish for a new one...for a plastic/canvas cover with a heavy duty zip? I don't think so.

I re-jigged the arrangements for the curtain between the sleeping zone and the front. The aluminium pole we used before was awkward to tension and the rings on the curtain wouldn't slide along it easily, so it's been replaced with a bungee cord that hooks into P-clips on the siderails. This means, with the front seats folded forwards it's suspended in the right place to block out the light (and people looking in) but can be de-rigged, otherwise it gets in the way of normal operations. The bungee could do with another suspension hook in the middle, perhaps,to raise it a little.

While I was taking the photo I realised that the bottom of the curtain had some drops of water on it. As it'd been folded away behind the driver's seat there had to be a leak somewhere....

This shows the curse of an enquiring mind or the advantage of curiosity, each depending on your point of view. If I hadn't gone looking for it I wouldn't have made this job for myself...the water leak that I thought I'd fixed months ago isn't. Fixed, that is. Water is running down behind the insulation and soaking the woodwork. The advantage of having a good look around occasionally, though, means that I'll have another chance to sort this out before the Tin Worm eats through the steel bits and the seat falls out...or something. Anyway, another Small Thing to be done.



...and finally, for the folks in Poland who've been looking in: "Witamy, mamy nadzieję, że cieszą się Państwo z wizytą!"