We last visited this venue 2 years ago and weren't greatly impressed with it. Having decided to give it another go, we were pleasantly surprised at the number and variety of trade stands, seminars and attendance from "PLU" - People Like Us - who really make an event like this special. Swapping ideas and experiences with fellow travellers opens up all kinds of possibilities and options.
There was so much going on we forgot to take pictures, so I guess you'll have to go to the site to get a feel for what was happening. Given the distance we had to travel we couldn't spend more than a day at the show, arriving on Friday evening and leaving very early on Sunday and some might say that the journey is too long for just one day, but what else is the truck for? We could've just gone down the coast and camped near the beach again, but this is a one-off and, as it turned out, worth the expense. It's certainly grown as an event since our last visit and we're glad we made the decision to go again. The only disappointment was a seminar that Mike especially wanted to listen to. Unfortunately what promised to be a valuable and informative session turned out to be nothing more than a "sales pitch" for the presenter's business. If that weren't enough the PowerPoint slide show was a shambles, with members of his support team trying to resolve it by crawling about the floor around his feet, pulling out wires, muttering suggestions and trying to be invisible. After 15 minutes of this we left, wondering whether we'd missed the point and it was supposed to be a comedy show....
We went down with a few bits and pieces of expedition gear that we had no use for - spare waffle boards, camp cots, ground anchors and the like that we hoped to sell. To carry the boards Mike made up a suspension system on the side, which is needed anyway as the only other place to put them is on the roof. We've found that if something is difficult to get access to, it doesn't get used, and having them on the roof makes this more likely. Moving them to the side means we're more inclined to use them than trying to manage without.
The side rails were put on a while ago, and the waffle board "sand ladders" are now hung between the rails. We started by fixing 2 gate hinge pins to the side, suitably backed by aluminium plates to spread the load. The slotted angle bracket is for a locking cable. 2 x12mm pin eyes fit over the hinge pins like this:
A bit of plastic pipe stops the thread from cutting into the board and the washer keeps the abrasive board surface from damaging anything on the hinge. The pins are long enough to pass through both of the 50mm boards and then large retainers - made from cutting discs - and wing nuts hold everything on. Extra support and security is provide by cam straps and a lockable wire. When not in use the pins lift off.
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| Extra support will be used with straps attached to the cargo rails. |
Sometime I'll get around to drilling holes for R-clips in the ends of the pins, otherwise we'll inevitably lose the wing nuts at some point.
We sold the spare boards and invested some of the cash in a side mounted jerry can holder. We made some of these out of steel mesh for Daphne and they worked well enough for us to consider making some more. Luckily - and a bit cheekily as the show wasn't officially "open" when we descended like vultures- we found a Front Runner carrier that was also being offloaded by someone else. It was a bit ratty and rusted, but since these things are well made to begin with, this wasn't going to be a problem. A couple of hours cleaning and painting and it came up like new. These things are quite expensive so we got a bargain, I reckon. It needed a bit of modification to fit our set up since we have a full length rack and the top clamp is designed to fit the roof gutter so with the gutter already full of roofrack rail it wouldn't fit, to begin with, at least. We changed the clamp around a bit and, with the bottom brackets bolted through the side panels it's as firm as the DIY versions we made for Daphne.
The set-up now looks a lot "busier" but at least more accessible in a hurry.
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| This retainer can be locked and the cap can't be opened without taking the can off the carrier. |
One little problem we've been fighting with is how to fill the onboard water tank. Because the tube between the filler and the tank has a curve in it, the air in the tank can't get out as fast as the water from a hose or other filler is trying to get in. The result is a lot of spitting and farting with a lot of water coming straight back out again unless we fill the tank really slowly.... We needed some means of venting the tank during the filling process. I tried a breather tube alongside the main filler tube but all we got was water spilling inside which largely negated the advantage of an outside filler neck. There was also no way of judging how much water was in the tank or when it was properly full.
Having deliberated for weeks on the solution to heating the awning with the Frontier stove, we made a protective "register plate" for the flue from aluminium sheet and fitted it into the side panel ...
It's cut into an elliptical shape so the flue pipe can exit at a 45 degree angle. There's a waterproof cover for the plate for when we're not using the stove. I should've taken some photos of it in use at Stratford, but it works perfectly. The only addition might be some kind of "drip catcher" to stop rain from getting around the side of the flue and dripping onto the floor inside. This will only be an issue if we bother with a groundsheet, which is unlikely under the stove anyway.
The Engel fridge got it's first real outing as well. It's very efficient but heavy and large compared to the Waeco we've used before, so this limits the options for using the "double bed" sleeping arrangements. This is a very useful feature which we've used several times and around which the entire interior was designed, so we wanted to have this option restored. Mike cut a 50mm strip from the end of the kitchen worktop and built a shallow support that covered the water tank filler. This gave enough room to let us have the Engel along the side instead of the centre.
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| A trial run for the Engel in it's new stowage. The platform underneath it could perhaps have some drawer runners added so it'll let the fridge slide out...heavy though. |
With the Front Runner Wolf boxes down the middle we have the double bed "Stealth Camper" option again. It would be nice to have the fridge slide out for easier access so we might look at some heavy duty drawer slides like we used before. The only real downside is the loss of access to the storage and, more importantly, fuses underneath. For that reason we'll probably only have this configuration when we definitely plan on using it. The rest of the time it'll be a possibility but would mean emptying the fridge before we can move it....lightweight it ain't! While we were messing about we moved the solar panel connectors for better access and tidied some wiring - all little snags discovered over the weekend. In this position the fridge does cover most of the blindspot window, but I can see enough over the top - just. Obviously we can't use the cool box extension on top unless we don't need access to the fridge at all, which isn't likely - the cold Prosecco needs to be available!
The heat insulation (camping mat) is beginning to fall off the roof. The bits towards the front seem to be OK but those over the stove don't want to stay in place. We'll have to experiment again with adhesives since the double-sided tape hasn't worked and neither did the spray-on "heavy duty" glue we tried after the first can ran out. That can worked well on the front pieces but the manufacturers have now changed the composition for (yawn) Health and Safety reasons and the new formula is hopeless.
Finally this month we gave some more thought to security. With Defender door locks being, shall we say, less than perfect I fitted a combination lock/sliding bolt thing to Daphne's driver's door, but this was troublesome if not used regularly as it tended to corrode just enough to make the tumblers tricky to operate. This time we decided to go down the "ugly but functional" route and use old-fashioned padlocks.
So, not pretty but pretty obvious (= deterrent) and needing some determination to break through. Quick and easy to use, too, so we're more likely to. We'll still use the Landrover door locks but the extra security defends against someone breaking a window and releasing them.
The back door has a similar arrangement but rather more robust. I'd have preferred similar locks for the front doors but there just isn't the room to fit them.
Next month we'll be starting the prep - slowly - for the next trip south to, well, hopefully the bottom of Western Sahara. We still need to do a bit more "camouflage" since some of the police in Morocco obviously thought we were something more than the usual tourists and we'd rather not make anyone suspicious enough to have us unpack the truck. Quite apart from the hassle, a few slabs of San Miguel exposed to the sunlight might get us attention we can do without. A few advertising stickers might do the trick so we've written to a few places in the UK who might be kind enough to help.
We began to collect flags and the like this year to enhance the "I'm just here for the beach" image, but I think we might cover up the Catalan sticker we picked up in the Pyrenees before getting to Spain next year. Might not be popular or even legal by then.
We're also starting our collection of stuff for the First Aid kits that the chap in Mhamid and elsewhere asked for.
I know a lot of us have a pretty cynical view of giving things to people down there and to some extent we agree, as you'll see from previous posts. However, our experience in 2016 suggested that there is a place for some carefully directed help. Have we, in our comfortable existence, ever been faced with a fifty mile walk to the dentist with a raging toothache? How about being stuck up on a desert plateau guarding the wildlife with a severe case of gutrot and nothing to help relieve it? A nasty cut on your foot that isn't going to heal unless you can keep the dirt out of it, but the closest Elastoplast is a 2-day hike away? We think a few carefully-targeted packages could make someone's life a bit easier. What's to lose?
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