More Silky

 Another little job for the Silky arose today,

Tried it on the barbecue gas output lid which had become very yellow over time,

Came up a treat.

Not quite as new but much better than it was,

Incidentally I have no connection with Silky,bought it myself from my hard earned pension.

Ian

Bits and Bobs

 As mentioned in the previous blog the two rubbery corner pieces to the left and right of the two outer front windows,came adrift.

After soaking them in bleach for a week to clean them up ( came up very well ) decided to reaffix them today.

I used some of this from Poundland (£2):-

It seemed to work very well.

The bottom lip should fit in the panel gap between the body of the van and the panel where the light is but I couldn't get it to fit so just stuck it on and sealed around the edges.

It all looked OK when I had finished.

The Unicorn across from us in storage had also lost one I noticed,perhaps worth keeping an eye on.

New ones are about £8 a pair plus P&P from Prima Leisure.

Plugged in the new ATC light and all worked.

Just waiting for a new little plate as I buggered the original up trying to clean it up,all the lettering came off.

Whilst in that area there was a cable hanging down whose support had presumably come away.

Bought some of these from E Bay to reattach it:-

Seems to do the job,

The piece of body work under the front window ( the bit with the badge on ) always seems grubby for some reason and is difficult to clean.

Thought I would try some Silky ( £10 or so off Amazon ):-

It is non abrasive and did a good job.removed a lot of grime:-

You can also use it on a boat if you've got one.

Hope these little adventures might help someone,

Ian

Shower Fly Screen

 David Mantell,a subscriber of this parish,got fed up with the retaing lugs on the shower vent fly screen breaking.

He came up with an idea of using magnets to hold it shut.

I shall let David explain in his own words :

I got fed up with replacing the shower top vent mesh screen because the silly little fixing clips break off, leaving it flapping down.

My solution is to glue two small magnets (tiny coin shaped) on the frame and screen so they hold it up. Works well!

Bought a couple of small coin shaped magnets ( about 15mm diameter by 2mm thick) and broke one of them in half (just using 2 pairs of pliers) I then used these two halves to glue on.

If you don't want to break the magnet, then you could use a full circular magnet, but it would hang down below the bottom of the screen. Breaking the magnet in half is easy as they are sintered and hence brittle.

Anyone else with any hints or tips,get in touch.

Ian

CMC Durham Grange

Just returned after six nights at the above site,a perfectly maintained and well run site which we have visited previously,there is just one major drawback to it in my opinion and that is the lack of an on site shop.

There is absolutely nothing in reception apart from some toilet fluid,not even a lolly,asked about some gas ( more later ) nope no gas either.

It isn't as if it is near any shops,there.s nothing much before Durham itself.

Anyway with that off my chest  back to it.

It was incredibly windy at times,most of the time actually,with a bit of sun and rain in between. 

Had to take the canopy down after three days,it hadn't moved in the wind but the thoughts of getting up at 2am and fighting with it in the dark didn't appeal somehow.

Over the winter I checked everything in the van to make sure it was all ready for the new season,everything that is apart from the gas bottle.

Arrived on site,no gas,the servicing man must have used the last drop,

As mentioned none on site but luckily we also carry a small 3.9Kg  bottle so we had to switch to that.

Left the end panel for the Eclipse canopy at home,good start after the gas fiasco.

Had a slight problem with the water as it kept switching the pump off,if I turned it off and on again and it was OK till the next time,puzzling.

We are away again in a few weeks so will give it another go,the water pressure on the site was very low so perhaps that had something to do with it.

Will also try a different water pump.

The next little incident was that the two "bumpers" just to the right and left outer corners of the front windows both fell off,hardly surprising as they were both full of muck and crap.

Have put them to soak in some bleach to see if I can smarten them up a bit,two replacements from Bailey are about £8 plus I suppose their exorbitant postage,but delivery isn't until some time at the end of July,barmy.I

I can get most parts for the car next day.

The final problem was when we returned to storage,SWMBO noticed a loose cable end dragging on the ground under the draw bar.

This turned out to be the remains of the cable to the ATC light which had detached itself from the bulb.

Another one is on order,incidentally when I removed the small name plate to release the bulb it was absolutely filthy underneath it.

Well that's it another tale of pain and woe,and they say go caravanning for a relaxing holiday.

Ian