Roof Seal

Have been busy this week giving the Cadiz a wash and brush up for the new season.

Whilst up giving the roof and skylights the once over I cast my eyes over the plastic seal towards the rear of the roof which joins the two roof panels.

Now I have always thought that this join was Baileys Achilles heel both in the Unicorn and in our previous Orion.

It just looks like disaster waiting to happen although it has to be said that personally we have not had any problems with it both in the Orion or in the Unicorn but one or two on Caravan Talk have reported leaks.

This is one such:-
 
Unicorn Water In Top Cupboard

Anyway the sealant along the two edges of the plastic cover doesn't look brilliant so I am going to get my service man to have a look when he services it in May and apply some sealant if he considers it necessary.

So the purpose of this post is to suggest that an eye is kept on things regarding this join and perhaps reseal when a service is due.

Ian

Push-On F Connectors

When we are on a site with TV from the bollard we feed the TV in via the "satellite" input on the side of the van.

This emerges as the blue labelled cable attached to the Vision Plus amplifier in the near side front top locker ( it has been noted that it is not always the blue cable ).

It is then necessary to attach the bollard feed and the two TV outputs to one of these:-

Now as some of you may have found screwing and unscrewing these little buggers is a right PITA so after a bit of research I ordered three of these push-fit connectors from E-Bay:-

There are hundreds of places selling them for not very much so they won't take much finding.

The threaded bit screws into the lead(s) and the push on bit pushes on to the appropriate threads on either the amplifier or the splitter.

Will see how they perform on our first trip.

Ian

Shock Absorbers

There has been a posting on Caravan Talk by someone enquiring if they can fit shock absorbers to their Unicorn Cadiz 3.

Just in case anyone is unaware,and let's face it we are not all caravan nerds - just me,the Unicorn 3 range all come with Al-Ko Octagon shock absorbers.

Ian

Al-Ko Discount

Al-Ko are discounting purchases from their web shop by 20% until the end of February.

Al-Ko Offer

Ian

"Registering" A Caravan Service

There have been a couple of posts on Caravan Talk hinting that it is necessary to register a service with Bailey if it was done by a mobile engineer,in other words outside the Bailey dealer network,it was suggested that you have to do this with Swift.

I wondered if in fact this was correct so I have contacted Bailey with this question:-

If I have my Bailey caravan serviced by a mobile AWS engineer is it necessary to then “register” with Bailey that the service has been carried out or is it just sufficient to retain the service sheet should a warranty claim be needed in the future.

The reply was:-

Thank you for taking the time to write to us.

I am pleased to clarify that it is indeed sufficient to retain the service sheet should a warranty claim be needed in the future.

Kind regards

Darryl Wandless

Customer Service Co-ordinator

Bailey of Bristol

So  there is no need to inform Bailey if you have a mobile service performed.

Ian

 

 

Fiamma Pack Waste

SWMBO has decided as SWMBO's tend to do that she no longer likes the wastebin on the door as it isn't big enough.

I think it must be the time of life as I could digress into unnecessary residential kitchen and bathroom upgrades but I would be here long past my bedtime.

So being a dutiful husband I purchased the Fiamma Pack Waste which looked like it would fit the bill which it very nearly does ( that's not SWMBO by the way ).

Removal of the supplied bin was easy with the removal of four self tapping screws,two top and bottom.

Incidentally bin replacement or not it might be a good idea to remove the bin to clean behind it as there were bits of food and other grime lodged down the back of it and even a large rat ( joke ).

 The Pack Waste weighs in at 1Kg according to Fiamma's figures so with the removal of the original bin it will not be adding to the weight.

The fittings supplied are intended to be attached by screws,which are NOT supplied,but this would involve drilling the door which I wasn't too happy to do in case I  wanted to reinstate the old bin,oh OK the truth is that SWMBO might not like it.


I decided to use one of the original screw holes and use self adhesive heavy duty Velcro on the other side ( Velcro,proper branded Velcro that is,is very useful around the van ).

All went swimmingly until I tried to open the door when the Pack Waste caught on the frame as of course it is much longer than the original.

I eventually had to move the attachment points over towards the hinge side of the door and attached both sides with the Velcro.

Sadly the instructions with the bin aren't the best in the world as to attach the bin to the brackets there are two hooks but these hooks are blocked by two plastic pieces of which the instructions make no mention.

As I discovered these need to be removed with some pliers as originally I was using the bottom larger hooks to try to attach it,bloody Italians.

Anyway this is how it fits onto the brackets :-

and this is the end result:-

I then detached the bin as the Velcro instructions say to leave it for 24hrs for maximum adhesion.

Tried the bin again today and all seems secure.

There are some blanking pieces supplied to cover the screw holes in the brackets but I couldn't get these to fit whilst it was on the door without the danger of pulling it all off as they are quite tight,in hindsight it would be better to put these in prior to attachment.

Admittedly it is not precisely where I wanted it to be which is in the same place as the original but it can't be helped.

I put the four screws from the old bin back in the holes so they wouldn't get lost and to make it look a bit neater.

I will report on how it goes.

Ian

Wardrobe Tip

Put a piece of pipe lagging on the hanging rail in the wardrobe today,secured by two cable ties.

Hopefully this will stop the hangers and clothes falling off and ending up as a heap on the floor during transit.

The length of the lagging was 70cm if it helps anyone.

Ian

Fitted Sheets

Well finally got the fitted sheets from Duvalay sorted ( other sheet makers are available ),went to pick them up yesterday to save the postage,they are only about 20 minutes away but not the easiest place to find if you aren't using a sat-nav,they are only small,very small.

They fit very well ( better than they look in the photographs really ).

SWMBO didn't appreciate the colour I had picked as I thought I would surprise her.

She seemed to be of the opinion,strangely,that pale blue doesn't go with the green and maroon of the Duvalays.

Anyway after a bit of a "domestic" we are friends again.

Ian