I thought we'd seen all the fellow CF Campers Northampton has to offer, but this one was spotted when we walked to the shops earlier today...
Plus we promise there will be more posts soon!!
Sunday 30 December 2012
Monday 20 August 2012
Bunking up in Devon
Just back from our first proper outing in Trevor this year - I know it's late but better late than never, eh! Besides, who'd want to have been beside the seaside with the wet weather we've been having?
There is basically no news for this blog post - in that, Trevor got there and back without incident, minor mishaps or roadside assistance - amazing, is this a first?! Having said that, as you know, all of our trips whether big or small, come with a few stories of their own....
1. Baby in the bunk
Our nearly two-year-old son made the move from the coffin sleeping arrangement to the bunk bed on this trip, without too much of a grumble. This felt like a major achievement as I was paranoid he would either roll out, climb out or sleep badly up there. None of these fears really materialised - although he did make a bid for freedom one night when he was adamant it wasn't bedtime yet:
We managed to persuade him otherwise (i.e. Husband refused to catch him when he was dangling over the edge and told him to get back up) and soon enough he went back up to his bunk, peered through the window and dropped off to sleep once he got bored enough. Amazingly we also managed to cook a meal and socialise "downstairs" round the table one night with him asleep above! That felt like a real achievement. Weirdly though, rather than be tucked up in a nice sleeping bag or with covers over him, he seemed to much prefer sleeping straight on the 39-year-old nylon bunk itself with no covers on, and found it hilarious that he could just about see through the fabric to say 'peep-oh' to us in the morning. Cute!
2. The natural foot coolant
Driving down to Ilfracombe, we went straight into an amazing lightning storm which although majorly spectacular to view, brought with it a bit of an issue at a local level. The near-horizontal rain seemed to sneak itself into a gap in the van's outer shell and create a spray/drip effect on the accelerator area. I was wearing flip flops so basically spent a half hour or so getting a very wet right foot - not nice at the best of times to be honest! But that was the only little leak we had and it didn't re-occur despite heavy rain later in the week - it was obviously something to do with the angle of the rain, our speed and the ferocity of the downpour!
3. What a view
We stayed at Napps campsite at Berrynarbour near Ilfracombe for the week and it was a good site with swimming pool, cafe, kids play area, clubhouse and the most fantastic views (when the weather played ball):
Our pals came along with their camper van and an awning which, although it collapsed once in very high winds, convinced us we could do with the same extra bit of space - it proved really useful for putting chairs, tables, pushchairs in overnight. So now we're on the look out for a decent awning which might suit the van - any suggestions from CF owners out there?
There is basically no news for this blog post - in that, Trevor got there and back without incident, minor mishaps or roadside assistance - amazing, is this a first?! Having said that, as you know, all of our trips whether big or small, come with a few stories of their own....
1. Baby in the bunk
Our nearly two-year-old son made the move from the coffin sleeping arrangement to the bunk bed on this trip, without too much of a grumble. This felt like a major achievement as I was paranoid he would either roll out, climb out or sleep badly up there. None of these fears really materialised - although he did make a bid for freedom one night when he was adamant it wasn't bedtime yet:
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| Dangling! |
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| These covers didn't stay on very long. But look - aaaaaw |
Driving down to Ilfracombe, we went straight into an amazing lightning storm which although majorly spectacular to view, brought with it a bit of an issue at a local level. The near-horizontal rain seemed to sneak itself into a gap in the van's outer shell and create a spray/drip effect on the accelerator area. I was wearing flip flops so basically spent a half hour or so getting a very wet right foot - not nice at the best of times to be honest! But that was the only little leak we had and it didn't re-occur despite heavy rain later in the week - it was obviously something to do with the angle of the rain, our speed and the ferocity of the downpour!
3. What a view
We stayed at Napps campsite at Berrynarbour near Ilfracombe for the week and it was a good site with swimming pool, cafe, kids play area, clubhouse and the most fantastic views (when the weather played ball):
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| beeeeeautiful! |
Tuesday 31 July 2012
Perseverence is key with a camper
Readers, you may remember that on our epic trip to Ireland we had the key stuck in the ignition in the 'on' position so had to resort to connecting and disconnecting the main electrics to start and stop the car. Not the best way to operate things.
So this was clearly high up on our jobs list for the Winter and using the expertise of the car locksmith at his work, Husband recently dismantled the key barrel and managed to fix it, this after being quoted £90 (because a working key barrel is like rocking horse poop according to Husband) for a replacement from Adrian Bailey (CF bods will know who he is). Here's how we (Husband) did it:
So there you go - easy, right?!
So this was clearly high up on our jobs list for the Winter and using the expertise of the car locksmith at his work, Husband recently dismantled the key barrel and managed to fix it, this after being quoted £90 (because a working key barrel is like rocking horse poop according to Husband) for a replacement from Adrian Bailey (CF bods will know who he is). Here's how we (Husband) did it:
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| Step one: drill 2 holes, one either side of the lock retaining pin |
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| Step two: prize the lock retaining pin out... |
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| Step three:...allowing key barrel to be removed |
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| Step four: lightly drill the rear retaining clipto remove the peened over metal |
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| Step five: now the lock mechanism can be removed and the offending key slides can be taken out |
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| Step six: this shows a badly deformed key slide and another one that snapped in half, this is what was causing the mechanism to jam |
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| Step seven: remove any redundant springs, I left only 2 lock slides in place to hold onto the key to stop it rattling out |
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| Step eight: re-peen the back plate on and re-assemble everything - knock the pin back in and it shouldn't fall out |
Monday 30 July 2012
We're back! Well, eventually...
It's been an age since we last posted about Trevor but things have been decidedly hectic over Winter - unfortunately not in terms of working on the van but other life events; we have baby number two due this Autumn so the need for the baby bunk has never been greater!
Husband returned from an extended work trip to Japan in June, and has now turned his attention back to Trevor with the first target to get that all important MOT. You'll remember last year how Trevor stunned us all by achieving an MOT pass FIRST TIME; well our fingers are crossed for this time around. We have got off to a shaky start though....
Amazingly Trevor started on our first attempt after over-wintering on the driveway - I for one was amazed when I heard the front door windowpanes rattling from the revs - wonderful! A week or so later Trevor was booked in for an MOT and we weren't sure to expect. One thing we certainly didn't anticipate was to get a speeding ticket whilst driving our ancient campervan!
On the way to the test centre the Husband was revving up and braking sharply with the purpose of bedding in the brakes. Unluckily, just as he revved the van up past 30 he got pinged by someone with a roadside speed camera! I couldn't help but laugh when I heard the tale; although I'd never condone speeding, it did tickle me that our slowest vehicle which sometimes struggles to get over 40mph had clocked up a speeding offence!!
Sadly Trevor wasn't tested at the MOT centre that day either, because the rear brakes were partially seized on, so all in all it wasn't a very productive time. By the time the van was back home they had freed-up, so back he went for his re-test soon aftger and it all went pretty much ok - failure on a few minor points which Husband managed to rectify quickly [Husband says: number plate light and one inch square area of welding on the floor]. The mechanics at the test centre know us and the van now and even commented when we took it back, how well it is doing from year to year, with the minor fails getting more minor!
Anyway, this time it was thumbs up so we're on for holidays this summer, hoorah!!
Husband returned from an extended work trip to Japan in June, and has now turned his attention back to Trevor with the first target to get that all important MOT. You'll remember last year how Trevor stunned us all by achieving an MOT pass FIRST TIME; well our fingers are crossed for this time around. We have got off to a shaky start though....
Amazingly Trevor started on our first attempt after over-wintering on the driveway - I for one was amazed when I heard the front door windowpanes rattling from the revs - wonderful! A week or so later Trevor was booked in for an MOT and we weren't sure to expect. One thing we certainly didn't anticipate was to get a speeding ticket whilst driving our ancient campervan!
On the way to the test centre the Husband was revving up and braking sharply with the purpose of bedding in the brakes. Unluckily, just as he revved the van up past 30 he got pinged by someone with a roadside speed camera! I couldn't help but laugh when I heard the tale; although I'd never condone speeding, it did tickle me that our slowest vehicle which sometimes struggles to get over 40mph had clocked up a speeding offence!!Sadly Trevor wasn't tested at the MOT centre that day either, because the rear brakes were partially seized on, so all in all it wasn't a very productive time. By the time the van was back home they had freed-up, so back he went for his re-test soon aftger and it all went pretty much ok - failure on a few minor points which Husband managed to rectify quickly [Husband says: number plate light and one inch square area of welding on the floor]. The mechanics at the test centre know us and the van now and even commented when we took it back, how well it is doing from year to year, with the minor fails getting more minor!
Anyway, this time it was thumbs up so we're on for holidays this summer, hoorah!!
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