'Tis the Season to Be Jolly.

Tra-La - Lala - La. Doesn't feel too wintry here at the moment, though, and certainly not very white...unlike the smiles that we hope we've helped to give the kids in Morocco. 

And Malawi. Since Sue retired in September we've had her surgery chair taking up space in the shed.

 Too good to throw away, we wanted to sell it but given our location just on the Wrong Side of the Arctic Circle, no-one was interested in collecting it, even though it was worth ten times what we were asking for it. A chance conversation with our dentist provided the solution, much as a similar conversation had generatd the idea for "toothpaste to Tan Tan" earlier in the year.
To cut a long story short, Sue's chair is now en-route to Africa under the control of these guys:

We were very happy to see it go, not for the space it was taking up but more because it was going somewhere it was going to be useful.

Back in the workshop, things were not all going according to plan. 

1. Water supply. I had a long play about with the pump and decided, after dismantling everything related to it, that it was going to be more trouble than it was worth to rearrange plumbing etc to get the pump down to the same level as the bottom of the tank. It woud seem that the thing doesn't have the "suck" to draw water up through the filter so it's easier to remove it and use a submerged pump instead, like this:

 Not only did this work well, it's made more space under the sink for storage and maintenance, which is always a bonus.

2. The sink came in for some modification too, as I noted before that it didn't drain completely. Even mounting it at a slight angle wasn't going to solve the problem as it needed some kind of recess around the plughole to get all the water out. Having given this a bit of thought I did an experiment with a similar bit of plastic, the careful use of a hot air gun and a paint tin. This did the job and now the sink has the proper "dimple" around the drain. I thought I'd taken pictures of the process but they've gone Walkabout, so maybe these will appear in due course.

3. I'd congratulated myself a few weeks ago for overhauling the heater system and getting everything sorted for winter. Tempted fate a bit, there, I'm afraid. Not only was the air now coming out of the vents with some force again -a good thing - it wasn't exactly hot. In fact it was barely above body temperature for the first 15 minutes. Time to investigate the thermostat....

This bit of chewed-up plastic isn't normally found inside the thermostat housing. It's another Special Modification carried out by the Previous Owner. It's actually the remains of the top plug which has been broken off at some point in the distant past and left inside the housing. Since there isn't a lot of room in there and that which there is only just allows the thermostat to operate properly, I suspected that this bit of detritus might have affected matters a bit. I removed the old thermostat and, not surprisingly I suppose, the witness marks on the remains of the plastic plug matched the edge of the thermostat frame exactly. I think it got jammed under the frame and stopped the valve from closing. As it happened, when I tested it the thermostat was jammed open anyway so no wonder it was taking the coolant an age to warm up. With a new unit fitted, "hopefully that'll be the end of it"....I thought.

4. Wrongly. A few days later the fan stopped working on slow speed, and a few days after that stopped altogether. Fuse checked, nothing wrong. Ho Hum - yet more electrical fun to be had trying to track down the fault. I got back under the bonnet and luckily found the problem pretty quickly. While checking the connectivity to one of the funny little plugs the movement of the loom produced some reaction in the fan. A bit more pulling and twisting of the wires revealed a very iffy connection in the 3-pin plug. I pulled this apart to find 2 rather burnt connectors which I can repair but not with the wiring in place - there isn't enough space to work in for such a fiddly job. I found that by a bit of bodging and ty-wrapping I could get the connection to work, so that's how I've left it for now. A two-speed fan again, though for how long?

5. I had a thought about the heater control as well - the hot/cold air selector, that is. Any "slack" in the mechanism would lead to cold air leaking past when "full hot" was selected. I loosened the pinch bolt on the arm, pulled it hard over to the hot position and re-tightened the bolt. I gained about 15mm of travel in the process, which must improve the heat output....mustn't  it?


6. More mail-order fun. I bought a proper Landrover bottle jack - the one with the proper "horns" on the top - from a salvage yard which arrived as planned but a bit dusty.

In fact it was full of crud and cobwebs so hadn't been tested before posting...and it didn't work. I've done my best with it, of course, but the seal's gone inside and it won't pump.

  
7. The same day the new side locker arrived. 

Great, I thought, an easy job for the holidays. But no. Unpacking the box I found that somebody had been using the parcel as a seat while they ate their sandwiches. 

Not designed for some lard-arsed Hermes bloke to do this, it'd collapsed on one side and popped the rivets. Another mail-order disappointment. At least the company that sent it reacted quickly to my complaint but, of course, the last post had gone and it was a Friday, so I wasn't going to see the replacement "until Tuesday next week". Make that Thursday, actually. So, what with the wiper motor, the jack, the side locker...not scoring well with long-distance purchasing at the moment, not to mention the non-Landrover related stuff that Hermes have delivered, got a signature for etc etc...but not from the person it was addressed to, ie me.😠

Given nothing better to do, I started work on the side rack for the sand plates and fitted the jerrycan rack. The latter needed a bit of inventive thought since the original position just aft of the window relied on the gutter for support, and now that's gone with the old roof, I don't think the Alu-cab replacement is really up to the job of taking the weight of 20 litres of diesel at 3g+ as we hit the bumps. A few little accessories for the cargo rails has sorted it, though.

These work in the same way as the ones I designed for the seat mountings inside before I realised these were commercially available. The "proper ones" fit better than mine and have a load spreader, so they'll take the weight of the fuel can if it's hung off the tracks.

The rack for the sand plates is formed from 2 strap hinges, suitably bent to clear the tub cappings but able to hinge downwards. 

 









A bit of scrap aluminium plate will do as a table top for the time being until I can find something a bit longer which can be used as a flap-down surface outside the NAAFI flap, and it'll need some wires to hold it up or the hinges will bend. The space behind - presently packed out with a blue box lid -  will be used to store another folding table like we had before, but made of some kind of waterproof board, if I can find something suitable.

Two ratchet straps hold it all up, and all the screws are secured with Rivnuts, some of which were a real PITA to set. I think that, in future and despite their usefulness, they'll be the fixing of last resort due to the "hit-and-miss" nature of their grip. I had two of them spin when I ran the screws in but managed to save them by whacking the edges with a punch. This gave them enough "bite" to allow me to get the screws out and have another go at resetting them, but only one worked.
The sand plates are very light and strong, and have replaced the heavy, awkward and unpleasant-to-use waffle boards. Although I doubt the new plates have the bridging strength of the waffles, they are apparently rated to 10 tonnes so maybe I'll give 'em a bit of a test soon, just to see.

Inside, we've bought a folding seat to go onto the "library chair".

It's just the right width to fit the space and much more useful than the re-purposed lounger cushion we had before.Like the lounger, this also folds flat but can be set at all the angles in between without the need for a separate back support, so it'll provide a seat for relaxing, can be slid towards the table for eating and be laid flat for sleeping, if necessary.

The newly-discovered, by me that is, Facebook Marketplace has  provided 4 new tyres and some rather tatty modular steel wheels this week. The tyres are 235 BFGs - brand new, never fitted and half price!

The wheels needed sandblasting at our local outfit in Mosstodloch, and they put a coat of primer on for me as well for £25 a wheel. This is the first time I've had this type of work done - I normally spend a few weeks, wear out a few wire brushes and DIY it - but I think it's worth doing the job professionally this time. In fact as the wheels cost £15 each, by the time I've put more primer on and the topcoat and lacquer for the few quid I've saved I might as well have bought new ones.

Anyway, I've made another useful contact in the sandblaster and had some good tips on finishing the wheels so they won't rust as quickly in future, and maybe the final finish will be better.

These steels rust quite badly around the inner part of the rim,like the ones on at the moment:

The rust around the outer part of the rim is easy to remove, but not the stuff closer to the centre and around the dummy beadlockers.

Here I've been "striping" the areas where the sprayed primer won't have penetrated, as well as the sharp edges that always show rust more quickly..

...and a line of sealant in the gap ought to keep things cleaner for longer.

Finally, the Engel has a new coat:

Sue made these up - top cover, fridge and freezer - from the same material as we bought for the window insulation. They fit over the camping mat insulation we fitted previously and are held in place with velcro and thin bungee cord. I don't know how much difference having them on will make, but the insulation is now much better than the commercially available jackets which are marketed as mere covers "to protect the finish and enhance the resale value". A lot of money to spend on cosmetic protection, so a hell of a lot cheaper and better value to make than to buy.  
The Engel's being used, as I type this, as the overflow fridge for the Prosecco...Happy Christmas!

Wallas and Wipers...

...working in time for Winter. Which arrived at the weekend.

The hob arrived back with us on Tuesday last week, with a replacement fuel pump installed. I took it apart again to check it over, added a few tie-wraps and some cushioning on the places where the HP fuel pipe might chafe, and since we'd had a bit of practice it didn't take long to re-install. After 2 priming runs it fired up and everything worked as we'd hoped it would, so now it's time to plan our first outing in the new set-up.

The "new" wiper motor arrived, too. I got this off eBay from a scrap merchant - sorry, vehicle recycling enterprise - for about the same price as the Britpart junk sent by Cr*ddocks. The difference is that this part was original equipment made by someone who knew what they were about, not someone in a sweatshop in Nanking, making pattern parts using a kerbstone as an anvil.

A quick bench test - Learning Has Occurred, you see - and it was fitted and running inside 20 minutes. The (w)ear window wipes, washes and is weddy for Winter.
Sorry.

With that in mind, it seemed an excellent idea to do the first full test of everything on Saturday, the First Day of Winter. We have a viewpoint in the hills just inland, so I packed up the truck with a basket of goodies, a sleeping bag and DVD and headed off. Sue went South for the weekend with the dog, so I was solo.

Everything worked just as planned, with one exception which I'll come to later. The Wallas performed as advertised and I was warm and in shirtsleeves within minutes. The bedding was dry - I was expecting a cold damp feel to it after weeks without an airing  - and the insulating window blinds that Sue had made up worked well.

The material for these came some time ago from Vanguard Conversions in Fort William but there hadn't been any impetus to get them done since we had no heating. 

We ordered enough material to make an insulated cover for the fridge, too.

Sue used my measurements and her sewing skills to produce them at a fraction of the cost of the same thing I'd seen at the AO Show in September. One downside of these is that it completely seals the inside from outside lights and the "situational awareness" that being able to see out gives you. During the evening 2 or 3 cars came into the area, hung around for a few minutes and then left. I was aware this was happening, but felt a little uncomfortable that I knew no more than that. With the roof up it was obvious I was intending to stay for a while, and some folk don't like that much. My cover story, as if I really needed one, was that I was waiting for the Northern Lights. I had a camera just in case....

I made dinner on the Wallas, which did the job well. Positioning the pot on the hob controls the range of heat as well as adjusting the controls and probably more quickly. It's more important now to make sure the truck is parked level since the hob surface is polished, flat and offers no "grip" like the gas stove. The pot I chose had a slightly convex bottom and the vibration from the hob's fuel pump made it head for the low side quite quickly! I might add a small lip around the edge of the hob to guard against this . It wouldn't be good to have an unattended kettle of boiling water fall onto the floor, or anywhere else.

Being able to stand up to cook makes the whole job much more pleasant. There's very little condensation, if any, but I kept the top half of the rear window open anyway, with no noticeable affect on the temperature. The work we did to insulate all the metal inside has paid off. 

No, not a super-kettle..I needed a pot lid

After eating, I settled down in the sitting room with a glass of wine to watch a DVD. Luxury camping, this. In fact the feeling, with all that space overhead and no outside light coming in, was like being in a cosy cave. Come time for bed, I thought about leaving the heater running to test its noise level but decided not to. I wanted see how cold it'd get inside. In fact, the insulation we've put in and the Alu Cab quilted roof lining meant it didn't get really cold despite being below zero outside. In the morning - I slept for 8 hours straight - I could reach down and turn the hob on from the bedroom, and with the kettle in place already I could make breakfast from the bed. Big grins.

In fact, almost everything worked just as I'd designed it to work, which is really satisfying. There's nothing that needs major changes but, of course, it hasn't got the Soup Dragon's seal of approval yet. Only two "gripes":

1. The only thing that didn't do its job was the water pump. What is it about electrical stuff, pumps and me? It worked well in the last configuration so why not now? It makes all the right noises but won't pull water up the 300mm or so from the tank to the filter. I tried sucking on the tap to prime it, but got nowhere, so I pulled the drain plug out and filled the kettle from that. Hmmm.

2. Another thing that is sensitive to being level, or not, is the sink. This is the first time we've had a fixed sink and I hadn't really applied much thought to how a sink is designed. It's just a fancy bucket with a hole in the bottom, innit? Well, no, it's not quite that simple. If the bottom of the sink doesn't slope down to the drain hole in all directions, not all the water drains away. That's not obvious when you look at one - it all looks level and "square".  Our sink bottom is completely flat and the drain is at one end of it so I didn't have to run the pipe horizontally (a potential smelly grottrap) It needs to be set at a very slight angle, compared to the horizontal line of the hob, to get almost all the water down the drain. This is easily done but something I missed - we try hard to get everything square and level and some things work best when they aren't.... Never really thought about it before.

Later, at home, I played about with the pump again. 

I can get it to work if it doesn't have to pull water "uphill" more than a tiny amount. I recall that the previous pipe run was just over a metre and horizontally from the top of the tank, with a very slight bow in the middle. Once I'd primed the pipe the water stayed in it so became its own non-return valve. Maybe this is why it can't cope now? I could lower the pump a little but, quite frankly, it's way too big for the tiny job it has to do so irrespective of the reason it won't work, I think I'll replace it with something a lot smaller - then we can use the space more efficiently anyway.

The trip home was in bright sunshine, frozen puddles and ponds and the gorse white with a hard frost. A fair test of everything, I think, that I was warm, dry and comfortable all night. Job done. 

"Gromit, we have a problem!"

  After some frustrating days of headaches and diesel mouthwash, we finally took the advice of Mr B, the supplier, removed the whole Wallas unit and took the back off...

 

"Come on, Gromit. No time to waste."

 At this point I was glad I'd thought ahead a bit more than usual and made it easy to get the hob out. Releasing two jubilee clips on the hoses, two quick-release plugs and 4 Allen screws and it lifts out easily. I'd been told how to get the cover plate off so within 5 minutes we were looking at the insides.

I went straight for what Mr B and I had suspected to be the culprit - the fuel pump. He suggested that perhaps the union wasn't tight and was leaking....

This was a "Eureka moment" -surely that Gromit grommet or O-ring should be inside the nut? Confident that I'd found the problem, I relaxed, despatched the findings to Mr B...

...and set about working out what the rest of the hob's guts consisted of. This is useful knowledge if it goes wrong while we're away somewhere and anyway, I like to know how things work.
  Unfortunately, I was wrong. The O-ring is only there to prevent the union nut from slipping along the LP fuel line during assembly. Another theory torpedoed. We all decided, at that stage, that this was a Return-To-Base warranty job...a good thing I'd saved the boxes.

A quick exchange of e-mails, and the re-packaged hob was picked up the following day, which was a pretty rapid response. With a weekend in the way, it took a few days to reach the workshop but once it'd been inspected it was found to have a defective pump. This is apparently unheard of - certainly I can't find anything on-line that complains about this - so, once again, we are in the unique position of being The First One. How exciting it is to blaze the trail! The duff pump was what we'd always suspected but I wanted to cover all the other possibilities first since the problem seemed to be a bit intermittent. Also, while the installation is pretty straightforward there was always a chance I'd screwed something up...put the hoses on the wrong way round or some other basic mistake. This in itself meant taking some of the kitchen apart to make sure I hadn't somehow swapped the hoses around behind the water tank. Wasted effort? Maybe, but perhaps the lesson learned is to photograph the final arrangement before boxing everything in...ho, hum.

Time for some reflection on all this, I think. The Wallas unit is expensive but the engineering standards reflect the quality of the manufacture. Having seen some of the cheaper options available the difference is obvious, and you definitely get what you pay for. I have some observations regarding the installation of the electrical side of things which we've already mentioned but apart from those the major issue has been identifying the source of the ignition problem. The fact that the hob would ignite but then flameout within a regular timescale suggested an automatic "shut down" signal was being generated somewhere. This and the erratic behaviour of the pump had us taking longer than necessary to do the fault analysis and get it sorted out.

MrB wasn't overjoyed that I'd shared my frustration here, but I reckon he can be proud of the fact that he responded quickly and effectively with advice and service. The bottom line, for me anyway, is that anything mechanical can go wrong at any time and it's how this gets dealt with and fixed is as important a part of the deal as the hardware itself. I doubt that the supplier of any of the alternatives would have been as quick off the mark as he was.

So now we await Wallas's return, and in the meantime get on with something else. Time to have a go at the problem of keeping the back window clear enough to see through.

"Tell ya what, Gromit lad. Let's have a nice hot cup o' tea, eh?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Quotes are from "Cracking Contraptions" and "A Grand Day Out".

Three-Two-One....

...ignition. Blast off! With a whoosh and a roar, the Wallas hob is up'n away!

Or, in our case, not. If this was a moonshot, we'd have got about as far as first-stage separation before the mission was terminated with an embarrassing "phutt". We are dismayed....

But before we get to that, it's time to unveil our new rear end. So to speak. Elly has had a massive makeover over the last few weeks purely to accommodate the Wallas hob, some of which we've already shown. With all the trim and fancy stuff now in place, it's time for the Grand Tour of our Grand Design. Actually, Kevin McCloud probably wouldn't be that interested...more in the territory of George "Oh My Word" Clarke and his Amazing Small Spaces. 

So, cue drum roll, here is our new home-on-wheels, our latest room-with-a-thousand views, with sales pitch from Bodgit & Scarper, Estate Agents:

The view from the entrance hall

"Hello and welcome to this rare opportunity to view a unique approach to Pikey Living. From the street you could be forgiven for thinking that this is just another 110, but open the back door and...
The designers have thoughtfully provided space for 3 Wolf boxes along the entrance corridor which can form a bed base if the occupant is solo, unmarried or in trouble. There's room to stretch out too - the area under the drawers and storage box which used to have the wheel change kit is now clear, allowing a space to place the feet. Or foot, if pedally challenged. We like to be inclusive.

Moving along, on the left we have..

The kitchen

 This is mostly 12mm waterproof external grade ply with aluminium edging, sensibly finished with quick-drying, heat resistant woodstain varnish from Messrs Ronseal. The drawer and closet fronts are 6mm ply as they carry no loads. The rubber flooring which extends up the skirting boards (or where they would be) is waterproof, hardwearing and easy to clean and is insulated underneath.

And on the right, we have...

 

The lounge/diner

😃The tip-up seat won't be a pair - see previous on this - but it doesn't matter since the only time it needs to be is if we're carrying passengers, which almost never happens. If/when it does, someone's going to be sitting on the floor or on the guest chair:

This is a seat from an old Series which was thrown out from a mate's garage. I thought I'd never find a use for it and it almost went into the bin... The load rail can act as an anchor point for a lap belt in extremis. Probably not legal....must remember to take it out when MoT time comes around again. 😶

Ahem...excuse me, don't interrupt! Moving on along the corridor, on the left we have...

The sitting room

This cosy little nook is a quiet haven for the non-chef to relax and enjoy the papers while other activities take place.

😉It keeps me out of the Soup Dragon's way.

60 litres of drinking water can be stored under the desk top which  is removeable to allow access to the filler cap, as well as being a lap-top laptop tray.

 With the worktop folded into place, the kitchen is 1/3rd bigger without sacrificing anything. The view through the blind spot window isn't compromised whether the flap is up or down. It's supported by timber fold-out bracing which makes it capable of easily holding 30kgs.

 Retracing our steps and looking to your right, we have the sink, neatly covered by this bespoke worktop, just like they have on telly. This can itself be covered with an aluminium sheet, tailored to fit, that was lovingly crafted from an old computer cabinet. It can be used as a cutting board or a heatproof potstand.

 The sink is an innovative design feature which came about in response to the extortionate delivery charges demanded by The Usual Suspects in the caravan accessories business. The sink has 2 depths depending on how clean one wishes to be or how dirty one has become. In the worst case, the sink may be extended...

...to provide a hip bath. There is ample headroom should the bather wish to adopt a more erect stance.

 The slide-out fridge freezer is a masterpiece of the Skip Diver's art, using as it does items that have been carefully retained 

 he means "hoarded"

for many years. This re-use of materials doesn't reflect the previous, numerous and failed attempts to achieve this result, which have reduced the Materials Store 

He means "junk pile"


to a mere fraction of its former volume.

Kitchen storage has been imaginatively arranged to get a quart into a pint pot. Once again, recycling of various items has reduced the carbon footprint of the design and freed up space to accumulate yet more treasures from the Tip.

 A family-friendly dining experience is enhanced by this pull-out table which allows 3 people to dine in close proximity provided they are not over Size 10 or have big arses. Prospective occupants who exceed this criteria may have to dine Al Fresco. If he's open. 
We hope you have enjoyed your tour of this delightful bijou mobile residence."

All we need now is a bloody cooker that works! We're going to the Danny Boyle "Pages of the Sea" Remembrance event in Findhorn Bay tomorrow and had hoped to be able to provide tea and bacon sarnies to friends from our brand new kitchen but it's not to be; at least, not using our very expensive Wallas hob, it ain't. We can't get it to work. We'll be using the Old Faithful gas cooker instead. Hmmm.

We've spent a long time this week firing the Wallas up and trying to get it to stay lit. It works fine - up to a point - now that we've finished the fuel plumbing. I'm still waiting for some parts that might be useful to come from the supplier since he's happy to swap the "bean tin" for the VW T5 kit. In the interim I've plumbed the fuel line into the main tank using the redundant breather pipe I blocked off before since it was breathing a little too readily! I've passed the fuel pipe through some PVC hosepipe so it's protected under the chassis and now the connections are made the diesel flows properly into the filter and beyond. In fact the filter filled so quickly the pump must have quite a powerful suck to it.

This is the final Final Arrangement of the feeds to the Wallas hob. I think....hope?

The ignition sequence works just as the manual says, but after exactly 4 minutes and 50 seconds - actually plus or minus 5 seconds on that - we get a flameout indication and everything cools down. This time is consistent over the 15 attempts we've now made to get it going and suggests to me something other than fuel starvation; like some kind of auto-shutdown is happening. We've been through the fault-finding guide in the manual and eliminated all the listed causes, so we're stumped. Again. Not only that but I've had to run the engine occasionally to keep the battery up to charge and I've now got a bloody headache from the fumes.

Having got thoroughly fed up with playing about, I gave up and turned my attention to something else. 
In the box of bits that the PO gave me was the broken cover to the rear door latch. I nearly binned it but now that I've seen how much these trivial bits of plastic cost, I'm glad I didn't. Obviously nobody makes copies of these so we're forced to pay Landrover Dealer prices. You can add a nought or three to the actual production cost to get a replacement...so I've repaired it with a bit of aluminium trim left over from the kitchen.

 I intended to put the ally under the edge to make it neater, but this makes the cover stand so proud of the frame the chequerplate skin won't sit down correctly, so I had to put it on top. It's not too noticeable, though, and a lot cheaper than the alternative.

Another quick job now that the heater box and blower duct are back in, was to put one of these on...

We've replaced the cable grips on the drainpipes with proper p-clips too

This is called a Snow Cowl and hopefully will keep the water out of the blower duct and prevent the problem that the other one suffered from. Some people reckon that a ram-air duct on this intake works to assist the blower, but our experience doesn't support that theory. I reckon that you need to be moving at considerable speed for a small duct suchas anything that can be fitted here will have any significant effect; otherwise it just gets in the way and actually collects more water than the standard intake grille. Since we never get up to anything approaching Escape Velocity, we wouldn't ever get any benefit.
I thought I had some photos of the final stage of refitting the blower motor, but can't find 'em. Suffice to say that the resistor

arrived last Friday at 12 and everything was back together and blowing like the London Philharmonic by 2pm. At 2 speeds anorl 👍

 

I also made up a couple of these:

They need a slight dimple in the centre of the slot to make them easier to use, and a coat of, in our case, black paint to make them less obvious. If you're an Alu-Cab owner, you might realise why I've made them. If you're not, I'll not give anything away. 'Nuff to say that they address another security problem in addition to all the others that Defender owners have. If anyone wants an explanation, post a comment with your Alu-Cab receipt and I might tell you...

A short update for Alu-Cab owners...the slot that I cut in these was slightly too long and I've closed the gap a little with a washer on the back. The important thing is to support the channel by the lock so it sits high enough to guard the vulnerable area. I'm sure you'll know what I mean....

And finally, say Hello to the newest recruit to the Elisfor Overland Adventure Society:-

"Jess" is a Coxie - a cross between a collie and fox, we think. Anyway, she's car-friendly, lightweight, quiet and likes to travel. She's been in the Shetland Islands since birth 2 years ago and spent the last week in trucks, ships and strange places. She's been with us for 36 hours now, and has already decided where she likes to spend her afternoons!