Actually, that depends on the design :-)

Back in the mid 70's when I worked in Australia I fitted an home made Bull-bar to our new (secondhand) Ranger Rover and then drove from Ballarat Vic to Derby WA via Sydney and Darwin to start a new job above the 23rd parallel. Roo-Bars were an essential protection in the outback where there is no fencing between the road (read track) and the open range. Unfortunately, we had no money left, you see, the Range Rover was a covetous purchase of the sort made by the very young in conjunction with greedy banks who love HP :-) so I had to make my own RooBar from free bits.

I was short of bits (and very short of time) so I liberated (with permission) a set of hardened spring steel undercarriage legs from the quarantine store that had been removed from a two seat trainer aircraft made in NZ and Australia called a Victa Airtourer. The legs had been replaced because one of the pair had developed a hairline crack and, although still serviceable were now surplus. I managed to bolt the wheel end of the legs to each of the chassis members of the rangee at the bumper mounts so the leg sloped up and forward and then welded two pipes across the legs to make a Roo-Bar. I had to do it this way as the legs could not be drilled or otherwise modified due the hardening treatment. We then set off as only had a few days to drive the few thousand miles to Derby.

On our way across the desert at speed (140K) one dark night. We were running late you see, almost totally :-) late....
We met a herd of black cattle bests sleeping on the eight foot wide seal, we were still doing about fifty five mph when we connected with the side of one of these poor dumb animals. When it landed about two car lengths up the road its legs collapsed under it and it sat on its belly for a second before jumping up and running off into the night. At this point we collapsed into hysterical laughter as we realised the headlights were all still working, we were still running in a straight line down the seal, how-be-it all the wheels were locked up solid; and even the steer had run off. At that point I just planted the gas pedal and kept going.

The moral - fix a trampoline to the front of the MH and everybody is safe :-)

- Neil


On Thursday, May 29, 2003, at 10:47 Pacific/Auckland, Steve Latham wrote:

So do Pedestrians,Cyclists and motorcyclists.
Bull bars should be illegal

Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: dave harrison
To: motorhome-list@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 5:50 PM
Subject: [MH-list] invisable


Hi All,
If you remember last year I asked if anyone had any Bull-Bars for
Express/Ducato 1989, well I am still looking for some! <snipped>

-----------------------------------------
Some days you're the bug,
Some days you're the windshield.

One thing to be careful of is your e-mail address. If you have more than one
account set up then make sure you select the one registered with Yahoo when
sending. If not then the mail doesn't bounce, it just disappears.
Having said that, it would affect the other list as well so I suppose it's
not the answer in your case.

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

I see in C&C magazine May 2003 issue that a recent French law has

made

wild camping illegal in France. Is this taking people by surprise,

or

has it been expected?
--
Alan Cocks Berkshire UK

Alan, I had no problems at all wild camping in France over the Bank
Holiday but we were carefully looked at by the gendames on more than
one occasion. Whether there is a law or not, as in the UK, I would
have thought the police would not bother you if you park sensibly
and not create a nuisance.
Chris

I wish you luck with your ROSPA test but would advise you to check with the
highway code as to the purpose of "flashing your headlights" before you take
the test.

Maybe its not 'highway code', but can you suggest a better way of attracting attention in this scenario?
Or would you just follow them until they hit something because the highway code does not allow for flashing lights at other road users?

* on camping sites, what is the average distance between mains

hookup and pitch, and

* what is the longest such distance you feel you have to cater for?

======================

We carry a 12.5 and 25 metre leads, 12.5m works for most CC sites.
The other half of the 12.5 is semie permenantly connected up at home
so that the batteries of the van can be charged when required.

wild camping illegal in France
--

Alan, I thought wild camping had been illegal in France for years!
Mainly because of the fire risk in summer from cooking outside. It is
rigidly enforced.
This has nothing to do with parking a motorhome (overnight) &
enjoying this beautiful country.

There is a difference between what most motorists would do in normal driving
and what they would have to do to pass a ROSPA test.

Tony:

We carry a 12.5 and 25 metre leads, 12.5m works for most CC sites.
The other half of the 12.5 is semie permenantly connected up at home

Sorry ... didn't really understand this. You're saying that the lead that is 'semi
permanently' connected is also the one that works best at most sites. Is this correct? If
not, which lead is which?

Buff:

One is the longest and one
the shortest length we could find.

But what are the lengths please?

Alan:

steve, most hook up leads are 2.5mm2 not 1.5mm2, most uk ehu are 15a
so bigger cable safer bet.

The Maplins site has the current capacity of the 1.5mm2 arctic cable as 15A. That's a
wapping current, and some 2A greater than the rated capacity of the UK plug I'll be
using on the front when at home. I reasoned that the 2.5mm2 would be overkill, and
behave like a ship's hawser when being coiled.

most ehu leads come in 25m lengths which
are ok for most sites.

Whoops. And I thought I was overdoing it when I bought 15m :-)

Many thanks to all,
-Steve

Buff:

One is the longest and one
the shortest length we could find.

Steve:
> But what are the lengths please?

Im sorry Steve, but I don't know . . . and I am not going to unpack them to
find out for you !!! :0))))

You could go on line to one of the camper van accessory retailers and see
what is available. We were all given details of an on line catalogue in the
thread to do with Bar B Qs yesterday, perhaps they sell cables. We just
bought the shortest available and the longest available. I expect that more
options/lengths are available these days.

If you are going to get a long one and a short one you just need to
determine how short the short one could be if you are going to use it at
home. (I used a piece of string to measure how long the short one needed to
be in order to make sure it would reach to the van when parked up outside
our garage at home . . but that was years ago and I don't remember the
details)

We are very glad to have a very long one as it means we can be where we want
to be on the campsite. We use CLs and CSs sites a lot and the informality
means you can pretty much park whereever you want, cable permitting.

Buff :0)

Tony:

We carry a 12.5 and 25 metre leads, 12.5m works for most CC sites.
The other half of the 12.5 is semie permenantly connected up at

home

Sorry ... didn't really understand this. You're saying that the lead
that is
'semi
permanently' connected is also the one that works best at most sites.
Is this
correct? If
not, which lead is which?

==============================

Apologies !! For one reason or another I ended up with two 25 metre
leads, I thought that carrying 50 metres was over kill and cut one
lead in half. So I carry a 12.5 metre (used 7 times out of 10) and a
25 metre (used 2 times out of 10) and on the tenth occasion join the
two together !!.

The "spare" 12.5 metre lenth I wired up with a 13amp plug and use it
as a wander-lead for the M/van to charge the batteries, run the
hoover in the van after returning from a trip, etc.

As we are preparing for our first trip abroad and being aware that
some sites have only low amperage supplies, I purchased a clamp on AC
ammeter from screwfix for £20. Also measures AC/DC Volts in a 20 volt
range (possiblibly DC current as well ?) to test and see what the
electical bits are actually pulling.

A fine little gadget for the money.

What do folk do regarding CL's? Ring ahead and book or just turn up?

Thanks,
Danny

Something the meaning of which eludes both me and a friend is an odd
sign which we have spotted on things as diverse as old buildings -
colleges, churches, and mileposts. It looks not unlike an inverted
War Department sign stamped on any piece of WD cutlery - that's going
back some, and the cutlery was purloined by my father when he was in
the RAF, so don't blame me!

It has a straight horizontal line, central to that is a line dropping
downwards at 90 degs, and either side of this central line are lines
at 45 degs. If you take the points of the compass, the main line
would read W to E, the central line (which meets but does not cross
it N) to the S, and the lines either side ESE and WSW (I think!).

They usually seem to be carved in stone, and we thought at first they
might be the mason's mark, but there is a diversity of age and
situation - some in Oxford, some in Huddersfield and Manchester. Any
light to shed on the subject?

Hilary

We phone ahead, either the night before or on the day. Saves a lot of hassle
when turning up unannounced to find sites closed for one reason or another
or full.

David

Depends whether you want a pitch or not.

One of the big disappointments to me in motorhoming is the constant need to
book if you want to be assured of a place.

Alan, I had no problems at all wild camping in France over the Bank
Holiday but we were carefully looked at by the gendames on more than
one occasion.

I agree with what Chris says . . . and yes, we are often looked at by the
police in France when we are parked up to wild camp, but we just smile and
wave and actually are very pleased that they take a note of our number
plates. We like the idea that police are cruising around and have never
ever had any problems. We always try to spend the latter part of the
evening where we intend to spend the night and just see how the locals
respond. We have a VW with the sliding door and in the summer leave that
open and smile at everyone that goes by.

Buff :0)

--- In motorhome-list@yahoogroups.com, "Hilary" <musicalj2@y...>
wrote:

Something the meaning of which eludes both me and a friend is an

odd

sign which we have spotted on things as diverse as old buildings -
colleges, churches, and mileposts. It looks not unlike an inverted
War Department sign stamped on any piece of WD cutlery - that's

going

back some, and the cutlery was purloined by my father when he was

in

the RAF, so don't blame me!

It has a straight horizontal line, central to that is a line

dropping

downwards at 90 degs, and either side of this central line are

lines

at 45 degs. If you take the points of the compass, the main line
would read W to E, the central line (which meets but does not cross
it N) to the S, and the lines either side ESE and WSW (I think!).

They usually seem to be carved in stone, and we thought at first

they

might be the mason's mark, but there is a diversity of age and
situation - some in Oxford, some in Huddersfield and Manchester.

Any

light to shed on the subject?

Hilary

It sounds like markings people have made to show where a "wireless"
internet conection can be made. ie pirating someone elses internet
connection. - there was a news item about it some months ago.

Any other thoughts??

Steve (Hilary's better half) :-))

Hi

I think you will find these are bench marks. If that is the case if you
look at an Ordinance survey map there will be a spot height associated
with it. It is a mark that was used to indicate how high above sea
level that particular place was.


bob

And this might be of interest as well, as motorhomes are based on these
chassis.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------

Euro 4 Light Goods Vehicles - New Tax Class (36)
From 1 March 2003 light goods vans, first registered in the UK which meet
Euro 4 emission level standards, will qualify for a lower rate of vehicle
excise duty (VED).

The Chancellor announced this concession in his budget in April of last
year. The changes reinforce the message to both the motor industry and the
general motoring public that 'the less you pollute, the less you pay' for
tax discs.

The new tax class (TC 36) only applies to those light goods vans, weighing
less than 3.5 tonnes, which meet the required Euro 4 standard as detailed in
the EC Directives.

The rate of duty payable for the new tax class will be 105 for 12 months
and 57.75 for 6 months, a saving of 55 and 30.25 respectively on the
normal vans rate (TC 39).

The manufacturer needs to provide voluntary confirmation that the vehicle
meets the Euro 4 standard at first registration in the UK. Without this you
will be charged the higher rate of VED. The manufacturer will add this
information at first registration either via the Automated First
Registration and Licensing System [AFRL] or on the paper V55. If this
information is not available, you will need to contact the manufacturer to
obtain evidence that the vehicle meets Euro 4 standards. This should be a
signed declaration made by them on formal headed paper.

Vehicles registered in the UK before 1 March 2003 will not be eligible to
claim the new concession.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------

Marty

-- The Camper House, sole UK importers of new Autostars & approved used
Autostar imports via network .
-- Tel. 01865 427900. Fax 01865 427576. P.O. Box Oxford 432, Oxford, OX2
9WJ.
-- http://www.thecamperhouse.co.uk e-mail to enquiries@thecamperhouse.co.uk
-- All comments herein are only the personal comments or opinions of the
author.