Thursday, October 30, 2003, 5:50:58 PM, Peter wrote:

Incidentally, don't previously German supplied vans have to be converted
from 50mB.

If that is true, why bother? As long as the regulator provides gas
at the pressure the burners are set up for, it doesn't matter what
that pressure is.


--

Iain

http://www.townsend-records.co.uk/acatalog/Townsend_Catalogue_Blaster_Bates_
2132.html

Dave is this what you were looking for - personally must be too young ):-)
or lived down south....

Carol

Now that the dark nights are with us a little light

entertainment

would be nice, Blaster Bates produced a set of after dinner speeches the

are

very amusing, I heard them once, but can't seem to find them anymore! Has
anyone got them so I can copy?

Dave,

http://www.btinternet.com/~p.wilkinson2000/The_Hunt.htm
http://www2.thny.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A777107

Given it's also the way he tells them rather than the written word, you
might like to order CDs or cassettes online:
http://www.townsend-records.co.uk/blasterbates.htm
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/artist-search/Blaster%20Bates/ref=pd_sim
a_dp_1_2/202-9790597-9856664
or try your local library.

The following list may jog memories or help you search.

Dave

Hints On The Use Of Explosives
Big Mick From Connemara
The Pub That Changed Colour
The Hunt
Oulton Park - The Naming Of Knicker Brook
Saltworks and Canal
Shower Of Shit Over Cheshire
Badgers In The Wood
Batesy Develops Rockets
Behind The Scenes At BBC2
In Court Again
Ladies' Luncheon Club
Mammy
Pork Pies At The Crem
Presentation At The Palace
The Flying Shite
Thrutching The Pike
Widening The A5

1001 Gelegnites
Gelly Babe
Lift Off With Blaster Bates
Watch out for the bits
TNT for two

Friday, October 31, 2003, 12:13:13 PM, DABurleigh wrote:

I once again find myself in turmoil over the base-vehicle choice of Fiat
Ducato vs Mercedes Sprinter. Whilst this is not an invitation for list
members to indulge in venting their long-held biases (I'm as guilty as
anyone) I genuinely would welcome informed comment on the pros & cons of the
two CURRENT base vehicles for a quality motorhome conversion intended for 10
years' use as a multi-purpose leisure vehicle.

Quality, reliability, price (value-for-money vs niggles?) and width seem to
me the main trades.

It depends on the milerage you plan to do. The Merc is mechanically
great, but pricey, and maybe over-engineered for typical motorhome
use.

The snag with the Ducato is the huge turning circle.


--

Iain

Thursday, October 30, 2003, 10:33:23 PM, Gazz wrote:

Just another thought on the flourescent lights in your van, flourescent
tubes work best on AC current... however the flourescents in motorhomes run
off DC (the van's battery) while the lights will work perfectly well, a side
effect of the DC current is the ends of the tubes blacken over time,

That's not true. They run on AC - the fitting has a little invertor
inside it (you can hear the whistle they make)

The ends of all florescent tubes blacken over time.

No argument with the rest of the message, though. Good advice!


--

Iain

Thursday, October 30, 2003, 9:10:19 PM, Steve wrote:

I have an old Hymer with strip lighting, and while I realise this is
probably pretty efficient in terms of candlepower per kW hr, the
light looks a bit dim to me. That's to say, although I can read
directly under one of them, they don't seem to make the van sparkle
at all. Modern halogen downlighters OTOH look snazzier and give a
nicer light. So I think I'll be fitting a few here and there very
soon.

Try fitting new tubes: the light output falls as they age.

However it seems there is an alternative to the dichroic lamps
favoured by so many of the motorhome manufacturers.

Be careful - these are designed to reflect light forward and heat
backwards, so the holder has to be able to dissipate the heat.

These are so-
called 'halogen capsule' lamps. The advantages of capsule lamps are
that the bulbs come in a greater range of values (5w, 10w, 20w) and
the flush-fitting (er) fittings are considerably shallower. One sold
by Screwfix measures a mere 15mm.

They are still only light bulbs, and although slightly more
efficient than ordinary bulbs (because they are overdriven to get
more efficiency at the expense of life) they are nothing like as
efficient as florescents.


--

Iain

--- In motorhome-list@yahoogroups.com, "dave harrison"
<chippard@t...> wrote:

Hi All,
I note that Savapiont are selling a 17" LCD Flat screen

Monitor

complete with speakers for £289.99! Does anyone know where I can

get a tv

tuner to put to it? It may work out cheaper than a full tv.
Regards,
Dave C.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Yes Maplin Electronics do a range of tuners from around £60 - £120, I
bought the £80 one. They were also doing a 17" monitor for £200 so I
bought that as well. The set up works fine, and with a decent set of
surround sound speakers it's like being at the movies. Be carefull
though some monitor (LG ones spring to mind)do not work with these
tuners due to the refresh rate. The tuner can also take a PC input,
so at the push of a button you can flick from TV to PC, quite a
flexible set up for only £280.

Mark

Hi All,
Now that the dark nights are with us a little light entertainment
would be nice, Blaster Bates produced a set of after dinner speeches the are
very amusing, I heard them once, but can't seem to find them anymore! Has
anyone got therm so I can copy?
Regards,
Dave C.

Hi All,
I note that Savapiont are selling a 17" LCD Flat screen Monitor
complete with speakers for £289.99! Does anyone know where I can get a tv
tuner to put to it? It may work out cheaper than a full tv.
Regards,
Dave C.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi
I also would appreciate anyone else in this group has any links to solar panels info , replies without sarcasm most appreciated.
Lawrence (without a poncheon for flock wallpaper)

Carol,

The trouble with the Sprinter LWB (Morello is MWB) is that it is 3.5 ft
longer than the Fiat Morello, which sorts of defeats the object of almost
getting it in car parking spaces in town, etc.

Basically if I wanted something approaching 22ft long, it wouldn't be a
panel van :-)

As to providing your own base vehicle, that is indeed what I am looking at.
The first online quote I received saved me over £6k on the Murvi Merc Feb 03
prices.

Dave

Dave whilst at Shepton Mallet, I spoke to their guy there on the stand, and
asked why they didn't do it on the long wheel base version we have seen, he
says because we aren't asked..... They did quote apparently for it once.
From what I understood, you can buy your own vehicle (ie import from Ireland
where they were a lot cheaper at one time) and they will convert it, it
doesn't even have to be a new van.

Carol

I've been without my computer for a couple of days - been down in Taunton
getting an alarm fitted - so am struggling to read thru about 200 emails. If
you are waiting for a reply, sorry, but I'll try and get thru them asap.

The drive back from Taunton yesterday evening was thru some of the worst
conditions I have ever experienced. I averaged about 20mph overall. I have
driven thru tropical storms in Africa, but nothing like that. In the dips
the water was coming up out of the drains in 3ft high fountains. Rubbish was
being flushed off of the fields and out of the ditches. Visibility was so
poor that 20mph seemed positively un-nerving at times. And it wasn't just
me. There wasn't a single incidence of motorists queuing up behind or
busting a gut to get past me. Even when I deliberately slowed on dual
carriageways to let them pass, they stayed back behind me. I think they were
grateful to follow the big white rear end and the festoon of lights. I felt
like a pathfinder.

I was absolutely bushed when I eventually reached Bristol and very glad to
leave Metikos in the care of the Van Bitz alarm in one of the dodgiest areas
of Bristol. Hithertoo I've slept in it to keep the scrotes at bay.

All the little bits and pieces - gas adaptors, alarm, changing lights fore
and aft, telly, etc. not least finding out what is needed and what can be
left at home - are sorted and I'll be off on my travels before very long.

One thing.

Met a seasoned full timer at Van Bitz. Lady from Windermere with her fifth
van, a new Bessacarr. She was there to get an Alpine radio/nav system
fitted. She had previously bought a RAC tracker system at the show inYork in
the belief that it was a navigation system. She honestly believed that she
only had to phone the RAC for them to tell her where she was and give
instructions to get her to her destination. She admitted to just blundering
around the UK until she more or less reached her destination. She is off to
Orkney in December as she does most years, but she is taking the ferry from
Aberdeen this year. She usually goes to Wick or somewhere, but the snowfalls
seem to be getting worse in the Highlands and she got stuck last year. It
wasn't too bad, she said, provided you've plenty of gas to keep warm. But
you can't run out of fresh water. :-))

Ernie Bull
Bristol

--- In motorhome-list@yahoogroups.com, Alan Cocks <aec@c...> wrote:

In article <74.341803bb.2cc3e8dc@a...>, Chrislyn2602@a... writes

We have a good offer from Sea France (129 pounds) (going late on

Sunday

night and returning late the following Saturday night) ...but

have any

of you been over this time of year (ie second week in November)

and

could tell us how far down it would be necessary to go to get

reasonable

weather/places that are still open etc.

As I write this I am sitting in France (near Saintes in the SW - we
live here) so I can give you up-to-the-minute info. Until 3 hours
ago it was peeing down and had been for 3 days. Forecast for
tomorrow and Sunday is better though.

Forget campsites - get your France Passion book out or your guide to
Aires de Service. We spent last weekend in:-

a)(Saturday night) a car-park. Friends had invited us to a jazz
evening at the local village hall. They asked the mayor if we could
camp in the car-park in front of the church? "Pas de problem!" There
is usually no problem with this in most french villages.

b)(Sunday night) A France Passion site - the Ecomusee de Cognac.
Free camping and a trip round the museum - which was closed although
the owner opened it up for us to look round, gave us a tasting of 4
cognacs and a pineau and then watched as we weaved our way back to
the vans for dinner.

Make sure you have propane (last weekend was below zero at night)
and stay on Aires Communales (these are the small Aires provided by
local "Communes" (councils) in small towns and villages. There is a
lovely Aire on the bannks of the Charente in Cognac for example that
has water, a waste dump and 4 hook-ups - and it (like most of the
Aires Communales) is free. Right opposite the Hennessy distillery.
(Visit, tour, short river trip and tasting - 8 Euros)

Do not confuse Aires Communales with the Aires at Motorway Service
Areas. DO NOT stop overnight at these! You won't get gassed (an
urban myth) but you may have your van broken into. It isn't as
common as people make out but why take the risk? Anyway - the N
roads (equivalent to our "A" roads) are much more scenic and I don't
suppose you are in a great rush.

Arrive in towns in mid-afternoon (France is shut between mid-day and
2pm) find the local Tourist Information or, if that is closed, the
Marie (town hall) and ask where the nearest Aire is. La Rochelle,
for example, has 4 free Aires so you should find a space. Cheap
eating at the restaurants attached to large supermarkets (ALWAYS buy
fuel at supermarkets)or look for the "Relais" with lorries outside
them at lunchtime. Nothing like our transport caffs - the average
french lorry driver is very fussy about his food.

If you have time join France Passion. That gives you free camping on
vineyards and farms free. If you don't have time - look for the
France Passion sign and chance your luck anyway. The vineyard owners
and farmers are happy to welcome you - they are not in the scheme to
make money.

To guarantee (???) - well almost - good weather you will have to go
right down to the Med and probably Spain or Portugal. But if you
want great food, great wine and superb scenery stick to France

giving the feeling of a lot more space.

Michael,

Thanks. I had suspected this but I haven't had the opportunity to be in both
base vehicles with the same conversion layout to check this. The MMM review
earlier this year of the Merc Morello played down this difference, but in a
way that I wondered that dismissed it too readily.

Yes, the Merc Murvi is rear wheel drive. It is preferable, as is the
availability of a difflock and auto transmissions, but not such a swinger
for me as reliability/quality vs price vs space.

Dave

Well, at the very simple level, the Ducato is wider (by 3-4 inches)
and squarer than the sprinter (which tapers considerably to the roof)
giving the feeling of a lot more space.

Obviously the sprinter is going to be more money but I think the
Ducato is as reliable now as the sprinters (and cheaper to buy parts
for) - so is the extra cost worthwhile??

One element which might swing it is that the sprinter is available as
RWD (not sure if this is a Murvi option though) and Ducato is only
FWD.

HTH

Michael

Some of you might like to follow the links off this page:http://www.calormarineshop.co.uk/marine_gas/uk_yachtsman.htm.

Our water brethren would seem to have considerably more expertise at such things than probably anyone in the land-based regime.

I have to say that we have been motorhoming for the last 12 years and never had a problem with mixing Butane and Propane, apart from the fiddly bit swapping the regulators over. Generally only happens twice a year, unless I miscalculate the amount of gas for the current trip.

The gas locker in our 'home (1991 Eldiss Autoquest 320 on a Talbot chassis) comfortably holds a large Propane and two smaller Butane containers, a regulator for each type, spanner and screwdriver all to hand.

I haven't yet found any info on the new system. Anybody with a URL or newsgroup?

cheers,

Pete

--- In motorhome-list@yahoogroups.com, Brian Marsden <bmls05272@b...>
wrote:

I had a look in the CAK catalogue and the page on 'gas tanks and
accessories' about built in gas tanks they show two regulators for
30mB---one for direct connection to gas tank and one for remote

connection

to gas tanks. So it appears to be technically possible to supply

our

appliances with lpg at 30mB but politically/legally unacceptable.

Surely

this makes a case for retro-fitting to be permitted.
Regards
Brian M

I had gas tank fitted by mth some months ago, too wet to go outside
at the moment to see what what pressure the regulator is BUT things
take longer to heat up on the cooker, trauma water heater & blown air
heating all appears to be ok. Last week i put some more gas in tank,
24 litres which is about 12kg, cost £6.47 which is a lot cheaper than
refilling a calor type 6kg bottle
bertie