Paint Like Confettii and Fridge fitting

Whoever painted Katy did a really awful job of it. some strange pink undercoat put on in places over the several coats of army camouflage paint.

The paint is peeling and flaking all over the place and she really needs a complete respray, but for now she's going to have to put up with me doing some scraping, sanding and painting where it's really bad

I've got about 75% of the worst bits scraped and sanded now and a coat of acid etch primer sprayed on just to cover it up. she looks like a Dalmatian at present

As it started to rain I had to stop doing that, but it did mean that I completed most of the wiring for the fridge we bought recently as well. Just need to complete the earth connection and it will be ready for fitting and then cold beers galore

The fitting instructions for this fridge include a pair of large vents, but I've decided not to do that

What I've decided to do is to fit a powerful 12v PC cooling fan over the existing small vent hole. This is rated at only 20 dB which is good because the fridge is completely silent when running. I've fitted a switch to allow this to be turned on and off so we can turn it off in the extremely unlikely event that this quiet sound is disturbing our sleep. in that case we may also need to turn off the fridge so if that happens I'll probably end up fitting the larger vents

Cooling Systems

When we bought Katy there was one item that really stank .. that was the fridge that had been closed for a long time. It also rattled, was rusty, had missing bits, didn't keep cool and only ran on the 12 volt supply, so we bought one of these

It's a Dometic RM123 which according to the sales blurb ...

The Dometic RM 123 copes with 12 volts DC, gas as well as mains power and comes with an electronic reignition device which automatically relights the flame if blown out.Features include

• Super-compact outside dimensions (Yes it will fit that was a key factor)
• Door with magnetic seal and security latch (To keep Rhian away from the cold beer)
• Flexible arrangement of shelves (To be able to store more beer)
• Thermostatic control for 230-volt and gas operation (it can even make ice cubes for her G&T)
• Electronic reigniter ignition (something techhie)

I'm planning to fit it electric only for now as all the cables are in place. and see how we go before fitting gas which I think we would only use on a long travel in non sunny climates

Please Note 

This fridge has been removed as we could smell gas fumes when it was running. Whilst we suspect this may have been something due to the installation, we are not in any way now recommending a fridge of this type (3 Way) regardless of the manufacturer

Interior Decoration & Less Rock and Roll

It's been quiet on here for a while for 2 reasons

First because it's been the winter and that's not a pleasat time for working on a vehicle

Second because I'm in training for a long distance walking challenge and wallking up mountains with my camera instead as you can read about on the photoblog if you are interested

However spring is coming so it's time to get ready, so this weekend we measured up for curtains and Rhian did a mamoth amount of sewing and we're ready for a nicer place to be in the evening and won't be woken by the sun streaming in so ealry in the morning

One small step towards a happier camping life

Also I popped up to the corner shop (Bearmach) and purchased a new set of heavy duty shock absobers to hopefully reduce some of the wobbles when driving. I'm still taking advice on what springs to order so expect an update on that soon

MOT 2012

She Passed, She Passed, She Passed

2 Advisories... Number plate on the back is discoloured (so what!), and track rod end gaiters starting to split

Both jobs that cane be done on a nice sunny day when I feel like it

Yippee a whole summer of fun coming up

MOT Time

I'm scared ....

It's Katy's 1st MOT since we bought her and quite simply the MOT she had on her when she was sold to us was a joke !

In the last 12 months I've: -

• Replaced all the tyres which had cracks the size of the grand canyon in the sides
• Replaced 2 sections of Exhaust which were blowing
• Replaced all the electrics that worked when they felt like it
• Repaired a leaking fuel line

Now all I can do is hope

More Tyre problems

I had a call from the Security guys at work today

"Is that your truck? Do you know you have a flat tyre?"

That wasn't what I wanted to hear, but it got a lot worse from there and once again I've learned a lot

This was the sight that greeted me...

OK I thought get the spare down and change it...

First I had to get the car in the space next to Kart moved and then I got the wheel down.

Out with the jack and started lifting her up only to discover that the jack wasn't tall enough to lift her off the ground. So I had to call GEM to get someone with a bigger one to lift her up

After work I popped over to Celtic tyres who diagnosed a problem with the inner tube caused by a label on the inside of the tyre. Apparently when a label is present it causes friction on the inside of the tyre onto the inner tube to be concentrated in one place and is a common cause of issues. The tube was shot with a small tear along the side of this label mark.

So they fitted a new inner tube  as you can see below, refitted the tyre and all seemed well...

Until Friday ...

All looked OK from a distance, but when I got closer it was clear that tyre was soft. I really didn't want to call the breakdown people twice for the same fault as that just makes you look dozy so I went hunting for a solution at work 

I found a nice large breeze block that proved to be too big and then some paver bricks that were just fine to get the wheel off, but when I tried getting the fully inflated one back on the lift had been just a little short, but with some kicking of the tyre it popped into place and we were away 

So today (Saturday) I'm going shopping. First to another tyre garage to get to the root cause and then to get a bigger bottle jack

Commuting

I mentioned a few days ago that I'd dropped the car in for a service so used Katy to go to work.

I had no idea I would be still using her as a regular commuter vehicle a week and a half later :-(

I'm starting to get frustrated by not having my car back, but here are a few thoughts that have occurred across the time we've been sharing the 20 miles to work and back each day

1. I can be mellow driving at 60 - Honest
2. Isn't it frustrating when you are trying to pass a slower vehicle, but one that has more power uphill. I have found that I've had to slow down in order not to be a road hog in the middle lane. it doesn't come naturally as I'm used to shooting past in the fast lane

And when it comes to other road users

1. Why do 7 Series BMW's pull in front of you when you are just about to go up hill, slow down and then accelerate just after you've had to lose all your speed?
2. What sort of person buys an Audi TT and drives it at 50 MPH in the middle lane on a motorway and why are there so many of them in South Wales?