I remember when I was a kid & my dad stopping at Port Wakefield for petrol & lunch. We were heading for Moonta Bay via Wallaroo.
After lunch we took off and about halfway to Wallaroo Dad says "why are all these idiots passing us pointing behind?" He looks in the mirror & sees smoke & pulls over. We had driven all the way from Pt Wakefield with the caravan hand brake on.
So there is dad with a bucket pouring water over the wheels while the steam flew off.
And another Dad moment.
We pull up by the side of the highway going from Mt Gambier to Nelson. Dad puts toast on. 15 minutes later he says "that toast is taking a long time". Several minutes of silence is followed by "you silly prick, there is no power".
Well done, good on you for smiling though these unwanted test of adventure.
We also come home with some maintenance on our last touring adventure.
En-suite door fell off, needed re mounting the runner, holding shut latches needed attention.
Found at one camp our 15 amp lead was short one end, after I had set up the caravan, pegged the awning out, privatise screen on, caravan level and on ramps, water on.
Had the rear water tank off to find out why the water run out the top when full.
Replumbed the 3 tanks separately to the water pump, hopefully will now understand how much water I have.
Meeting other GNs, sharing a fire with them was great.
Beats me & I have forgotten to do almost everything that you can forget to do .. but it took me years .. eg.
Left van plugged into house 240v .. this was even before we got on the road.
Wound up a corner steady too far & broke the sheer pin.
Frequently forget to turn off gas to hot water system
Drive off after setting up with one WDH spring bar still attached.
forgot to lock down the coupling onto the ball.
Left handbrake on
Almost every window & hatch left open at one time or other.
Forgot to latch entry door
Left Winegard antenna up
But on the positive side I have never left SWMBO behind.
We have got into the habit of stopping about a Km out and checking everything & after 50k or so do another walk around & check the wheel temp & tyre pressure (by sight) on tug & van.
Yep have to be VERY vigilant with things . Double and triple checking things . TV arial is one of my things . Oh driving with hand brake on . Iâve replace brake drums on rear of trans . Lucky it was easy . Then recently the circuit breaker on generator.Aha Atleast we can laugh at ourselves !!
We left our mates after 6 weeks together for them to travel along the coast. They cooked their brakes in their motorhome coming down Thunderbolt Way. Thankfully RACV total care put their van on a tray truck and took them safely to the repair place. $4000 later but that included a service. They said the view was nice though.
We left our mates after 6 weeks together for them to travel along the coast. They cooked their brakes in their motorhome coming down Thunderbolt Way. Thankfully RACV total care put their van on a tray truck and took them safely to the repair place. $4000 later but that included a service. They said the view was nice though.
Yep that's the thing .... You've just got to learn how to drive big rigs down ranges without relying just on the brakes.
I just get my 2.4t Jayco in behind trucks & use the Patrol's gears with an occasional touch on the breaks, to control speed. My original van shoes lasted >200,000 km & still had lots of meat, circa 40%, left when I replaced the whole assembly after a couple of magnets went O/C. I get good mileage out of the Patrol's pads too.
Yep . Itâs often hard to keep 40 kph when cars can go much faster down hills . I can see why speed limit is there for heavy vehicles though . Thinking of fitting exhaust brakes on my rig ?? They worked very good on my old Fuso . Simple, and work !! Yes try to apply brakes in sections rather that trailing brake all down a hill . Heat builds up !
Of course you are right dieseltojo. We did exactly that, had a laminated sheet used it religiously for tens of thousand of kms. We felt confident in our routine so gradually discontinued use.
The occasion in question where we drove off with the legs down, it was a couple of metres into the sun, hope we'Ve learnt our lesson. Thankfully hubby is a handyman. Ordered replacements on line and will be fine fitting them.
Watched a guy meticulously pack up his motorhome , he went about his business in a precision like manner , he was cross referencing with his wife on the inside at the same time . All set they drove out the park, as they went out the drive you heard a crunch, I looked round to see his TV aerial hanging off the side of his rig , he jumped out the drivers seat and tore into the office screaming abuse about the branch overhanging the driveway . The manager came out to survey the damage and pointed out the aerial had been fully extended as he drove out . He then proceeded to send a tirade of abuse at his wife sitting in the vehicle . Jumped into the drivers seat and tore off with the aerial dangling in the wind .Wish I had videoed it I could have put it on U tube.
I had a check list & followed it for years with no mishaps. So I decided that I 'knew it all' and stopped using it. That's when the issues started.
A check list wouldn't have helped me when departing a particularly tight older style CP in Melbourne (Beautiful hedges between sites that took up space & some narrow roads and a poorly designed exit. Might have been OK for smaller vans but not so good for today's 20' + ones.
Anyway, as we were exiting the park where it was necessary to take a rather exaggerated sweep to the right as we approached the exit barrier, I was distracted by looking for my sunglasses that were not in their usual spot on the dash, while asking SWMBO 'did you check .... ... ' and you guessed it, I didn't swing wide enough & took off the centre support pole for my awning. Clatter .. clatter ... clatter. It contacted a large orange painted steel post that was strategically placed to protect the boom gate mounting from people like me.
My fault, but I made sure that the CP operator was aware of my view that signs & appropriate zebra markings on the road surface to guide dills like me safely out of the park would have been more appropriate.
It had been a bad start to the day as I had woken up to my first flat tyre on the van & I had to find a local tyre place to repair it before we got away. So I was probably hurrying to make up time & mentally distracted by that too.
Just can't protect people against themselves can you? ****e happens. It's all part of the great adventure. etc. etc.
Yep there are always ''challenging events'' when you travel extensively. We should imagine that all of us have had a few while on the road. There's no such thing as the perfect rig.
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Cheers Keith & Judy
Don't take life too seriously, it never ends well.
Trip Reports posted on feathersandphotos.com.au Go to Forums then Trip Reports.
Hmmm well since were confessing our sins I had the dreaded tv aerial up in our driveway changing fittings ect when it looked like it might rain overnight so silly me decided to back it into the she ova night , crunch , sh.. what was that, oh sh.. I know what that was , yep wiped the aerial off clean as a whistle .
Woody
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When the power of Love becomes greater than the love of power the World will see peace ! 24ft Trailblazer 5th wheeler n 05 Patrol ute and Black Series Dominator camper trailer ( for the rough stuff)
My procedure is to use coach screws to secure the awning to the ground
I have a 50 litre plastic container with my cordless hammer drill, coach screws, pulldown straps etc, in storage under the bed.
I recently got use to just leaving this container under the motorhome, after securing the awning
At a free camp in Kimba SA, in January of this year, a limb of a tree fell about 20 metres away, so I decided to move away just a few more metres.
After removing the coach screws, I put them, and the drill, back in the container, under the motorhome
I went one meter more than I should have done, and ran over my container.
My outlook on life is that, if I am not prepared to laugh at myself, then I should not join in, at laughing with others
I remember when I was a kid & my dad stopping at Port Wakefield for petrol & lunch. We were heading for Moonta Bay via Wallaroo.
After lunch we took off and about halfway to Wallaroo Dad says "why are all these idiots passing us pointing behind?" He looks in the mirror & sees smoke & pulls over. We had driven all the way from Pt Wakefield with the caravan hand brake on.
So there is dad with a bucket pouring water over the wheels while the steam flew off.
And another Dad moment.
We pull up by the side of the highway going from Mt Gambier to Nelson. Dad puts toast on. 15 minutes later he says "that toast is taking a long time". Several minutes of silence is followed by "you silly prick, there is no power".
I remember when I was a kid & my dad stopping at Port Wakefield for petrol & lunch. We were heading for Moonta Bay via Wallaroo.
After lunch we took off and about halfway to Wallaroo Dad says "why are all these idiots passing us pointing behind?" He looks in the mirror & sees smoke & pulls over. We had driven all the way from Pt Wakefield with the caravan hand brake on.
So there is dad with a bucket pouring water over the wheels while the steam flew off.
And another Dad moment.
We pull up by the side of the highway going from Mt Gambier to Nelson. Dad puts toast on. 15 minutes later he says "that toast is taking a long time". Several minutes of silence is followed by "you silly prick, there is no power".
So dad cranks the gas & we have charcoal toast.
Good times!
Dad sounds like a Russel Coight!
If he were alive today he would p**s himself laughing at Coighty. We had so many moments, but these were the caravan ones that came to mind. How I miss those times ~deep sigh~
