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BOC BLOG: A day in the life of a technical officer...
'Plastic' Windows on Caravans and MotorhomesPosted Sunday, January 18, 2015
When considering replacement of damaged caravan and motorhome (habitation) windows, there are several factors to consider.
Scratches. If there are only light scratches, they can usually be polished out. But if they are too deep and you can't live with them, replacement is the only option.
Firstly, measure the size accurately.
Secondly, check the colour. There are pink and grey tints fitted - which is yours? And the colour tint does change with time, so if you are thinking of replacing the existing window with a new one, the sooner you do it the better.
Second-hand windows might be available from a caravan breaker. If so, are you sure they are in better condition than the one you wish to replace? If the window has been taken from a 'van the same age as yours you are likely to get a very good colour match.
If thinking of buying a new window through a dealer, it is much cheaper if it is a window from a current model rather than a superseded model (£140 rather than £600) so again, don't delay in replacing a window once you decide it is needed.
If you only have some of the pieces of a broken window there are firms who will build a perfect match from the bits you have left. They will also repair a delaminated window.
If you notice any crazing and cracks during the summer - not unknown and you might want to make a warranty claim - make a note of which window and exactly where the cracks/crazes are. One member of the Club reported they were very difficult to find again in the colder weather when his 'van was due to go in for repair.
Posted by: David Williams Category: Mechanical
Roadlight ChecksPosted Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Now the nights are drawing in, we need to pay more attention to the roadlights on our outfits. We spend more time in poor light and in darkness when we drive to and from sites at this time of year. We are quite used to checking the towcar and motorhome lights on a regular basis. But only usually give the towed vehicle (be it caravan or trailed car) a cursory check as we hitch up. And how many check the little high up 'elephant ear' lights at the back of the caravan? Towing back home on Sunday night(just gone) I noticed when I'd pulled up in a lay-by (to feed the cat...) that the nearside 'elephant ear' light - red to the rear, white to the front - was still working (just) but as dim as a Toc-H lamp! A gentle thump gave no improvement so on investigation at home I found the bulb had blackened to the extent that almost no light was escaping. It was the work of moments (with a step-ladder...) to fit a new 5W festoon bulb and all was then well again. The moral of this story is: don't just check the usual roadlights on the back panel when you hitch up - make a point of regularly checking all the roadlights on the outfit. And motorhomes have more of these 'extra' lights than trailed caravans!
Posted by: David Williams Category: Electrical
Recall of Calor Lite 6kg CylindersPosted Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Calor have recalled their 6kg Calor Lite gas cylinders for a safety check. If you check out the News and Comment on this website or Google Calor Lite Recall you will see their safety notice, which years are affected, and how to tell if your cylinder has already been checked. If you have a partially full cylinder which is subject to the recall, Calor will exchange it for a full one at no charge!
Posted by: Humph Jones Category: Miscellaneous
Summer is here at last!!!Posted Friday, June 7, 2013
I have not fitted one to my 'van yet, but several friends are reporting great success with the new Ecocamel Jetstorm shower head. Long hot Summer days call for relaxing showers without them running out of water when you are only just soaped up. You can now have a long relaxing shower without using more than half of the hot water, leaving enough for him to have a shower as well...!! It works by mixing air in with the flow and the resulting frothy water delivers the luxury shower effect, but uses considerably less water to achieve it. There is a special offer for this shower head (with money back guarantee) on Page 64 of June 2013 Caravan Club magazine if you want to check out their claims for an 'exhilarating shower experience'. You will need the Jetstorm E model - the low pressure variant suitable for caravan systems.
Posted by: David Williams Category: Miscellaneous
Motorhome Radio ReceptionPosted Wednesday, May 8, 2013
February 2013. I have had a report from a Bessacarr motorhome owner that radio reception when on the move is very poor. He has done some research and would attribute it to the aerial having been moved from the roof of the base van (which is no longer an option for a motorhome as that piece of the cab is removed during conversion!) to inside a door mirror. This is only satisfactory in areas with strong radio signals, but the joy of a motorhome is that you can explore the more remote regions of Britain and beyond.
The obvious 'fix' is to mount an aerial on the wing, but quite understandably, some are reluctant to drill holes in their new multi-thousand pound purchases - and why should they have to? Apparently, this has been an issue for some years now. The supplying dealer has tried fixing a standard automotive aerial within the body, but, if anything, this makes it worse, picking up stray electical signals from the engine ancillaries and even the lights. A likely solution is to fit a windscreen mounted aerial with an FM booster (the Blaupunkt tax disc model is available on the internet for £29.99 and gets good reviews) but if this is the solution, why don't Swift do that? I will try raising this with them at the NEC Show next week.
Update - May 2013. The motorhome owner has since been in touch and said he had great success when he contacted a FIAT Professional agent. After an extended road test, the engineer identified the problem as poor earth bonding between the aerial in the left door mirror and the main chassis of the vehicle. The mirror is mounted on a painted panel (hence poor earth) and the path to the main chassis is via the (painted & greased) door hinges. He rectified this by fitting a new earth cable from the mirror mount to a good earth on the door frame and another from the door frame (via the door harness grommet) to a clean chassis earth behind the glove box. FIAT had been aware of this earthing problem and I have now passed the information on to Swift.
Posted by: David Williams Category: Electrical
Logging in to the BOC WebsitePosted Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The Process
Open your ‘internet browser’ – Windows Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, whichever you use, and type in www.bessacarr-owners-club.org.
What you will see on the Home page is of interest to Members and non-Members alike and gives you an overview of Bessacarr Owners Club information and activity. However, to get the full benefit of BOC Membership, you should ‘log in’ to the Members' area and browse what is available.
You should have a username and password from when you first joined the Club, but if you don't have a record of it, or it does not seem to work, e-mail the Webmaster to check, and if necessary reset it. If you have just forgotten your password, you can click the 'Forgot password?' link under the login box, and the system will send you an e-mail with a reminder of it.
On the left hand panel of the Home page is a column and the fifth choice is ‘MEMBERS AREA’. Click this box and you will be offered several more choices. The first one is ‘LOGIN & PREVIEW’. Click on this and at the top right hand side of the page will appear the ‘Username’ and ‘Password’ boxes.
Log in to the MEMBERS AREA and while you are there you may wish to click on ‘Update my profile’ and check that the information there is correct.
Other options are: registering for rallies, seeing which rallies you have already registered for, uploading photographs or advertising any item you have for sale.
Posted by: Reia Jones Category: Logging in
Caravan Movers - a Personal ViewPosted Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Having caravanned for many years now and become reasonably adept at reversing an outfit, I didn't feel any need for the new-fangled caravan movers when they were first introduced to market. They were expensive, used up precious payload, reduced ground clearance and, if you were 12 Volting, used up equally precious battery power. My first experience of seeing one in action was on a BOC Rally at Moreton-in Marsh when an outfit drove past my pitch, then a couple of minutes later the caravan rolled back on its own, seemingly out of control, which was immediately refuted by it executing a perfect turn into position onto the pitch next to me.
I soldiered on for years with the 'I can manage without one of those things' mentality, right up to the point when we changed our 9 year old Bessacarr for a new one in 2010. Whilst we were reviewing what we should have fitted to the new 'van, my other half suggested I might want a caravan mover. I queried why I would want 'one of those' to be told that a 10½ stone bloke with a bus pass shouldn't still be pushing 1½ ton caravans around. I had to admit she had a point and so checked them all out at the NEC Show. We had one fitted to our new 'van by Couplands...(and 2 out of 3 Bessacarr tourers supplied by Couplands now have motor movers fitted).
Having taken the plunge, I immediately started to reap the benefits. Although quite capable of reversing the caravan into most places, I had to agree that it was more controlled and safer to do it with the mover, particularly when doing it without an assistant. But gradually it dawned on me that the mover really was a game changer.
Unhitching. If you accept that the best way to fit the Al-ko Secure wheel-lock is to line it up by fine adjustment using the mover, then the first thing you do when you arrive at your pitch is to engage the mover (don't go near the handbrake yet). If the overrun gaiter is compressed, then use the mover to de-compress it, so that the hitch head doesn't try and bury itself in the rear bumper when you unhitch! Unclamp and drop the jockey wheel and then raise the nose to uncouple the 'van. Complete all the disconnections then 'move' the 'van into position on the pitch (saves cutting up the grass verges with the towcar wheels). Once clear of the towcar, drop the nose, but ensure the jockey wheel still has sufficient clearance to swivel the whole 3600. If necessary, use the mover to climb up a ramp until the 'van is level side-to-side. Finally, use the mover to line up the wheel- lock holes perfectly so that the bolt slides in easily, and assemble the rest of the lock. Level the 'van front-to-back and drop the legs. Chock the wheels if necessary. Now apply the handbrake. Disengage the mover and switch it off (putting the remote where you can find it again!). All much less effort and quicker than the traditional tugging and heaving.
Hitching Up. It is quite possible to hitch up 'manually', indeed most of us have done this over the years. But again, it is much easier with a mover. Just reverse the unhitching procedure (above) and you can be connected without any physical effort, without any near misses on that expensive rear bumper and your 'other half' can remain dry and unflustered! Just remember to warn anyone still in the 'van before you start moving it. Once again lower the nose (as described above) to reduce any shock to the A-Frame caused by the jockey wheel running into an obstacle.
And a Thought for Motorhomers. What is there to stop manufacturers fitting a mover to the rear axle to give you temporary 4 wheel drive to be able to creep the few yards off a wet pitch onto the track?
Posted by: David Williams Category: Mechanical
Solar PanelsPosted Sunday, February 17, 2013
Solar Panel - Initial Report - Nov 2011
Despite being fitted out with the latest low-energy LED lighting, the modern caravan or motorhome has a lot of 12V electrical equipment running constantly or for long periods in the background, such as relays, monitoring devices and 'wet' central heating systems. If most of your caravanning is done with an EHU (Electric Hook Up) then read no further. But if, like me, you also enjoy the freedom of less formal campsites, you will find that you just cannot carry enough 12V leisure batteries to keep everything you want operating for more than a few nights. In the various caravan equipment catalogues you will find several ways of replacing the charge you take out of the batteries, each with their advantages and disadvantages. I have tried all of them over the years, except the fuel cell.
The most satisfactory solution for me at the moment is the Solar Panel and as industry experts advise, you have to work out your daily power requirements and select one with an appropriately rated power output. But then there is the decision to be made between a free-standing panel or a permanently (usually roof) mounted one. The free-standing ones are cheaper, lighter and more efficient but need to be repositioned regularly (keeping them pointing towards the sun) be secured to the 'van and suffer from trailing cables. The roof mounted ones are 'fit & forget' devices, more secure against theft, keep the battery charged up whilst in store, but eat into the precious payload allowance, are only half as efficient (so need to be twice the size) and so are more expensive. At the 2011 Motorhome & Caravan Show, RoadPro announced a new type of Solar Panel – the 100W ApolloFLEX - which overcomes most of the disadvantages of conventional roof mounted panels. It is a lightweight (3.6kg) flexible panel which is stuck directly onto the roof, virtually eliminating wind drag and 'whistle'. It is less sensitive to the angle of the sun and designed to be more 'shade tolerant', so runs at a higher efficiency.
I had been quite happy with a 45W mono-crystalline folding panel throughout the summer months, which didn't quite replace everything I took out of the battery each day, but significantly extended (at least doubled) its life. But the shorter days and lower light levels at the end of the year (8 hour days and 16 hour nights instead of 16 hour days and 8 hour nights) meant there was more being taken out of the battery and not enough going back in, so I needed a bigger and better panel. I was reluctant to leave a more expensive item sitting beside the caravan, just chained to it. I didn't have enough spare payload to have a sufficiently large conventional panel mounted on the roof. So I asked RoadPro to fit the ApolloFLEX to my caravan.
I travelled to Daventry and presented the caravan at the start of the day. Their fitter confirmed I had enough clear roof space (about 2m x 0.5m) and worked methodically to attach the panel and connect it up through the appropriate regulator. All the work was to the highest standards, taking care to conceal the cables internally. Just after midday, the sun came out and the panel performed every bit as well as expected. I could now look forward to a worry-free, inexhaustible 12V power supply in the future!
I went away in the caravan (at the end of November) and there was enough power to last the 4 day weekend, whereas the previous year I had to arrange to have the battery charged up halfway through the same event. The ApolloFLEX does what I wanted and what RoadPro said it would.
Update on ApolloFLEX Solar Panel - Jan 2013
Having had the panel fitted for just over a year now, how has it performed? In the 4 summer months you cannot run out of power, no matter what you switch on. Even if you do use a 240V hook-up (to save gas on the 'fridge, or to run some mains appliance) you don’t need to bother the on-board battery charger. And that’s with a single 86Ah battery.
In the spring and autumn, you can get by without a hook-up but you have to keep an eye on how much power you are using. Sunny days are noticeably better than dull days. It is wise to carry a second 86Ah battery in case you want to watch an early morning Grand Prix when you’ve already been away a few nights.
In the 4 winter months you are very aware that instead of 16 hours of daylight and 8 hours of darkness it is the other way round. So if you are frugal, and use the second 86Ah battery you can get by without a hook-up. Over the New Year down at Wareham, there were days when not much at all was going into the battery.
To summarise. I am delighted with the panel. It has taken all the worry out of rallying without hook-ups. I can’t remember when I last took the Honda generator along, just in case, and the car smells all the better for it. And you can put the 'van back into (uncovered) storage with the battery on half charge and it is fully charged, ready to go when you collect it for the next trip out. RoadPro replaced the controller box last July when it went ‘rogue’ and started letting too much voltage through, causing the caravan 12V circuit to trip; no recurrence of the problem, but we were not troubled by an over-abundance of sun in the second half of the year! I have not detected any drop off in performance, nor did I expect to. Having it bonded to the roof with such a discreet fitting gives peace of mind when it is left unattended (ie that it is very unlikely to be stolen) and that no dirt can build up between it and the roof.
Posted by: David Williams Category: Electrical
The Problem of the Falling 'Fridge ShelfPosted Thursday, February 14, 2013
The Thetford ’fridge fitted in recent (but not current) Bessacarrs has many good qualities. But it also has a couple of bad habits! One of its more irritating habits is that the upper shelf can come loose on tow, particularly if the ’fridge is only half filled. This does no favours to the food on the shelf below!
I have raised this with Thetford staff on their stand at the Caravan Show in the past and they were evasive about the problem or any cure. At the last NEC show (Oct 2012) I was unable to demonstrate the problem with the ’fridge on display. So I took in my own shelf and compared it with the one on the stand. It was fractionally less wide, so allowing the securing clip too much room to spin round at will. They agreed to send me a replacement shelf. I left details of my ’fridge (a photo of the data plate).
They sent me a shelf for the wrong ’fridge, which fitted perfectly but was too short front to back, so losing valuable storage space. I rang the helpline who agreed it was the wrong shelf and said they would put the correct shelf in the post. It arrived and had exactly the same problem as my original shelf – it wasn’t quite wide enough to keep the securing clip in place. Having exhausted my options with Thetford, but now knowing the problem, I worked out how to cure it.
The Fix?
Bind a couple of turns of hygienic tape (Rescue Tape is ideal) around the rail at the left hand of the shelf, the rail that fits in the groove in the casing. This will make the action of the securing clip on the right hand edge a little stiffer and it will now have an ‘over-centre’ action – just as it was always supposed to. Use as few winds of tape as will achieve this effect – one may be enough.
If you use too many turns, that might produce too much force on the internal ’fridge casing. Better to ‘creep up’ on the ‘fix’ and keep adding turns until it feels right, than to over-do it and crack the casing.
I carry some white Rescue Tape in my caravan tool box so if we meet up on a rally anytime, I would be happy to carry out this ‘fix’ for you.
Posted by: David Williams Category: Mechanical
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