Tam & co the great winter escape

Parked up now at the garage in an industrial estate. My home for the next possible 2 nights. I have a very chatty neighbor who fulltimes in this big RV ...
20220607_185809.jpg



He's a friend of the garage owner so stays here on site free and looks after things... Only he talks fir Scotland and i nearly burnt my mackerel while he was telling me all about his previous motorhomes. I think the old fellas lonely


Anyway ...tonights dinner yum yum
20220607_184311.jpg
 
Northernraider said:
Parked up now at the garage in an industrial estate. My home for the next possible 2 nights. I have a very chatty neighbor who fulltimes in this big RV ... View attachment 627188


He's a friend of the garage owner so stays here on site free and looks after things... Only he talks fir Scotland and i nearly burnt my mackerel while he was telling me all about his previous motorhomes. I think the old fellas lonely


Anyway ...tonights dinner yum yum View attachment 627189
Click to expand...

Looks nice, but for me too much salad, as for the last 10 years I have had salad rammed down my throat even in winter, so have now rebelled.

In Poland they seem to like cold salad with everything, therefore no hot plates. If you want to eat your meat/fish hot you have to eat quickly, which cuts down the conversation.

No complaints this evening because Basia is cooking a nice tart with spinach and cheese filling - one of my favourites, especially since she cooks it so well. Yum - just 5 mins. to wait.
 
Things are never simple eh

Garage called at 4pm ...clutch is not worn , but instead its soaked in oil , the crankshaft oil seal was knackered hence the oil leak mentioned on mot. They couldn't get a seal today and the van is just inside their workshop door with the wheels, driveshafts and gearbox stripped out. New seal arriving from fiat in the morning ,so im sleeping inside the garage tonight. Hopefully they will get it all back together tomorrow but they haven't done the cambelt yet as thought they would do the clutch first. It means the other 4 vehicles they have in the garage are also stuck in here till they get my van done.

So it will probably be a bit more expensive now than i was quoted originally but hopefully not too much . Im also having all the additional belts replaced. But at least hopefully the leaks will also be fixed. Ill still do the sump gasket when i do an oil change just to be sure.

Sods law but what can you do.
20220608_174331.jpg
20220608_174341.jpg
20220608_174350.jpg
20220608_174358.jpg
 
Just smiffy said:
At least they said…. Could of cleaned it all up and said job done ££ … sounds like a good competent garage…👍🏼
Click to expand...
Oh yeah im glad they found it and are fixing it . Same with the auxiliary belts they said they would have been changing them anyway as its common sense. Unlike the garage that did the hymer.

I dont mind paying the extra to prevent issues. But the garage needs to point out the issues .

The pain is that the clutch isn't worn at all but because of the oil its useless. Although the thrust bearing is knackered and the pressure plate will no doubt be weakened so it makes sense changing it anyway. Hopefully once all back together there's a noticeable difference in how it drives.and I'll have peace of mind.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Hi Tam your new neighbours RV looks familiar 3 or 4 years ago on winter break in Spain we were on Camping Raco in Benidorm,and RV same as that came on site and scrapped the low wall coming round corner near the play park and damaged his bottom locker doors. He was from Scotland and lived full time in his van on his own and enjoyed chatting a lot wonder if it’s him ?
 
Bobandfay said:
Hi Tam your new neighbours RV looks familiar 3 or 4 years ago on winter break in Spain we were on Camping Raco in Benidorm,and RV same as that came on site and scrapped the low wall coming round corner near the play park and damaged his bottom locker doors. He was from Scotland and lived full time in his van on his own and enjoyed chatting a lot wonder if it’s him ?
Click to expand...
Its possible
 
In other news ive provisionally bought a scooter. Picking it up on Saturday ...i still want a ktm duke 390 but till one comes up nearby at a price im willing to pay at least I'll have a wee bike. If i don't get a duke this year ill pick one up next year. And this will do for now.
Screenshot_20220608-214917_Gumtree.jpg
Screenshot_20220608-214933_Gumtree.jpg
 
Langtoftlad said:
where do the dogs fit ?
Click to expand...
They stay in the van. This is just to get me to places i can't take them inside anyway. Like cathedrals , supermarket etc . Sometimes i want to go inside buildings and can't take them in or leave them outside. And walking them round towns etc isn't much fun for them. So we have our walk then they guard the van while i do the tourist stuff.
 
It went off around 12.15 ..not sure if it did it automatically or if someone came and turned it off. I was in bed


Aannnd we set it off again this morning at 7.15 ... can't help it as gotta take tye dogs out. But i can hear movement out there now so i think they are coming in to work .. just having breakfast then we will get out the way and let them get on .

Hopefully they crack on and get finished today but if not ill be back here tonight i think

Fingers crossed
 
Just for information ...this is how low my battery banks get in 24 if the solar is getting absolutely nothing .

20220609_074238.jpg


That's just with fridge on 24/ 7 and then 3 lights and the tv on for 5/6 hours last night.

Lately with the late light nights. Im still at full capacity at around 9pm and its down to maybe 375ah and 285ah each morning and fully charged by midday.

Obviously with this being inside i had all the lighs etc on from 6pm last night and theres no solar while inside.
 
I swear if it wasn't for bad luck id have no luck.

Hadn't heard from the garage today so thinking that was a good sign i headed up to the van . Found it still inside the garage but turned the other way and the front wheels still off and the mechanic under the drivers side wheel arch .. ....i assumed he was working on the belts.

Unfortunately not ...he had reassembled the clutch etc and taken it out for a test drive but its slipping. So he thinks either he's done something wrong or the new clutch is faulty. Either way he's currently stripping out the gearbox etc again ☹️ he's working late hoping to remove it and if its something he's done fix it and refitt it tonight. But if faulty clutch he cant refitt it tonight obviously. Not looked at cambelt yet .

So its going to be here another night and possibly all day tomorrow which is going to bugger me up for work tomorrow night as i cant leave the dogs in the van if its still here 🤦‍♂️

Bloody nightmare.

The mechanic and the garage owner are of course full of apologies etc but its still a big problem.

Hopefully its something simple and he gets it put back together tonight. Then he can do the belts tomorrow.

Its also the fuel driving back and forward from here thats costly. Im now heading back to mums for a couple of hours to let him work away on it as the dogs would be restless.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
I had a faulty clutch unit fitted once, a local garage fitted it for me, but I supplied it. The motor factors took it back, exchanged it and contacted the supplier who reimbursed me the garage's fitting costs. Apart from the delay hassle, I actually came out ok financially as when they reimbursed me, they added VAT onto the cost ! :LOL:
 
CazPaul said:
Sounds like a decent honest garage though.
Click to expand...
Aye but unfortunately the mechanic has now stripped it out again and says he did fit it the correct way so hes currently not sure what the problem is ☹️

But from what he says its now slipping real bad which it wasn't before .

Im in the van now and hes still under the front of it .
 
karalal said:
Just had a thought tam
Where is Jackie these days
Click to expand...
Not heard from her in a bit but last time i knew she was in a beach carpark in wales

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top