Vehicle Fettling

I collected Julian from the garage today as next week I am going to take him to meet my dad for our annual walking trip. Thinking about it , that's another "for the last time" to take particular note of. I will blog about that when I get back. Julian had some new tires and an oil change, but is going to go back into the garage as soon as I get back for some other bits and pieces. While I'm away, Thomas will be in the garage having a service, and trying to work out what the strange high pitched whistling sound is when he first starts up.

Anyway, back to the point. As well as collecting Julian I have decided to have some practice reversing Thomas and Trailer in the car park of the studio. I have found out that as I passed my test after 1997 I do not have the required codes on my license to legally tow a trailer (which is just ridiculous but still) so I have found out about getting the code added and it will cost me about £500 for a course and test. I am determined to not fail this hence my practicing.

Thomas and Trailer

As pretty much anyone can tell you reversing a trailer is a bit different as you have to actually turn your car the opposite way to that which you are aiming. This takes some getting used to. You also find that it's hard to get the car and trailer exactly lined up which means you end up S-ing and continually having to correct yourself.

Reversing a Trailer

I did about half an hour driving around (collecting weird looks from the other business owners on the yard) and trying to reverse the trailer into car parking spaces, or up to shutter doors. My first few attempts were awful, I just couldn't get my head around the mechanics but, after a bit of practice, I got a bit better.

I think I will do this practice every week for a few weeks and then try and book in for the test.

While I was having a day playing with the vehicles I thought I would put the roof box (which you can see in the trailer above) on top of Julian.

This did not go so well.

The holes in the bottom of the roof box

Basically the holes in the bottom of the roof box are a maximum of 1040mm apart.

Measuring the bars on Julian

The bars on the top of Julian are 1300mm apart. It just won't fit as it is currently configured.

I have got a few thoughts around how to solve this. First of all I could talk to my friendly welder (who has quoted for some more work already; the ladder on the back of Julian needs replacing) and ask him to put some extra bars on to attach the roof box to. I don't like this idea as it will limit the future utility of the frame on top of Julian.

The second idea (which I prefer) is to move the existing roof box across to the side where I was going to put the other roof box, and put the longer roof box where the existing one is.

See what I mean?

The frame on top of Julian and t'other roof box

The frame is less restrictive on the other side so I am pretty sure this should work.

I will not do anything about this now until I have parked Julian inside the unit where I can mess about with him like this whatever the weather.

Nothing is simple, but this is why I am trying to get all these things sorted out so early; any problems then have a chance of actually being fixed.

I have also tried the mains hook up again, but with no joy. The concerning thing is it is tripping out the circuit breaker inside the building, but I do not know if this is immediate, or when I try and turn something on inside the van. I will have to wait until I have a second person here who can stand by and shout when it trips. Hmmmm.

The fridge is not working either, think it'll need to be binned, though I've put my food in for the trip next week with my dad so it is proving useful for now at least.

The (slightly incorrectly put up) awning

Last but not least I have had a play with the awning and, even though I used the feet that are supposed to go to the floor to hook into the side of the can I did get it put up properly relatively easily. It does need a ladder to do so and this vindicates my plan of taking a second ladder on top of Thomas to allow better access to the roof of Julian.

As an addendum to this post I received a very nice email from my contact with the architect today (well, yesterday as I post this). While I have no extra information or progress with the Project I feel a little more comfortable about everything. So hi to Ivo and here's hoping all that stuff can start to really progress efficiently. Thanks for your help :)