Domestic Duties

Well it's been another busy week & still we have a long list of things to complete before we leave Napier hopefully next Monday, but possibly a day or two later.

We spent the first few days after arriving & in between catching up with Mum & Dad doing a total spring clean inside & out of both vehicles after the wild weather we'd had at the Mount had coated everything in salt & sand. It also made me realise that the hand-held Electrolux vacuum wasn't going to cut the mustard in keeping all the sand & dust out of the interior. I'd already been keeping an eye out for a cheap lightweight cleaner that didn't take up too much space. If I could have found a brush to fit the end of the handheld vacuum that would have done fine as there isn't too much carpet to vacuum, but I hadn't had any luck. It didn't have to be 12v as I could to do the vacuuming whenever we're plugged into the grid. I was in the Warehouse yesterday getting some plastic boxes & found this;

Butter pack for size comparison

Cheap as chips @ $40.00, works a treat, very noisy but boy it's got some suction for 600w & hey if it only lasts a year it's cheap enough that I can throw it out & buy another. Best of all it folds down to very small!

David also found his bargain early on in the week at Super Cheap Autos. The right size & perfectly coloured light-weight steel storage box for the rear of the fifth-wheeler. We 've been looking for a storage box for quite some time but to get one made to measure was going to be far too expensive. We'd found a "tool box" at Super Cheap earlier on in the year but the measurements weren't quite right; it wasn't deep enough to take all we wanted to store in it. It was also a little too wide, the number plate & tail lights would have had to be moved to accommodate it so we gave that away & have been on the look out for something more suitable ever since.

And we finally found it & just in time too! We wanted to be able to fit most of the "leisure" gear in the box, gear that we didn't need to access too often; golf clubs & trundlers, tramping boots, fishing boots & packs, diving fins, snorkels & masks, beach tent, gumboots & wet weather gear etc. 

We had to pull the van forward to release the citrus tree!

The support frame was built, powder coated & fitted in just over a day thanks to a contact that Dad had, Alan & Vanessa at A&V Engineering (06-844-1309) in Tamatea, Napier. Fantastic service & very reasonably priced too.

So of course with all the free space I now had inside the van, I spent the next couple of days rearranging & shuffling just about the complete interior storage about. A major job but one I was looking forward to as everything has been a little too tightly packed in & hard to get at too. We are now sorted & have space to spare!

Yesterday another major player in the ever growing Evans roadshow arrived in the driveway. One we've been eager to see since we ordered it back in September at the Covi show; our 3.4 Takacat inflatable dinghy. We hadn't actually seen this length in the flesh but we're thrilled with it & once the wheels are fitted to the transom it'll be very easy to handle. Next (& hopefully the last) major purchase will be the outboard.

We have two hard seats that can be fitted too.

 It hasn't been all work & no play, the next post will be the "fun" things.....

Heat, Glorious Heat

This down time we've had in Tauranga has had a few benefits; David has been able to carefully research a few things that need to be done on the fifth-wheeler & ute before we are back on the road. First up and most importantly (after spending a cold night at Lake Okareka) was the heating system in the van for when we are off the grid.

The two choices were LPG or diesel. One of our concerns with LPG was the effect very low temperatures can have on the bottled gas & also we would be putting all our eggs into one basket by relying on one energy source for cooking, hot water & heating. On the other hand, diesel offered a considerably lower running cost albeit a more expensive installation & especially now that we have elected to run with two smaller units instead of one big unit.  After a lot of thought & discussion we now have two  Eberspacher Airtronic D2 (2.2KW )diesel heaters fitted.

Underneath inlet & exhaust installation

One has gone under the stove & vents out under the fridge to heat the galley & lounge area & the other is located in a below floor compartment under a side cabinet in the bedroom.

It vents out through the shoe storage box which forms the step up to the bed. We have lost a small amount of storage space but gained a drying container for the shoes from the small amount of transferred heat as it passes through the hose to the vent.  But best of all, we can use the shower box as a drying room by opening the door & directing the vent straight in there. In the future we may need to add a flexible hose to the vent & run that into the shower depending on how quickly things dry.

The heaters run independently so we only need to use them as & where we need the heat. There's a small amount of noise in the initial start up but nothing compared to the heater on the air conditioning unit when that is on and once the heater has reached temperature they are very quite.

The only area of concern for me so far is the small ticking noise as the diesel is pumped through, it's hardly heard when you're up and about in the van but I think you will be able to hear it in the dead of the night if the heater is running. Like a rain drip.......drip.......drip...... Maybe it'll put me to sleep, who knows but it'll be a small price to pay to have glorious warmth on tap! Especially next winter. Down south.

There is no noticeable diesel smell outside & again just a small amount of noise that drops right off once the temperature has been reached. A 20lt tank has been installed into one of the outside forward side storage cabinets & this can easily be filled each time we fill the ute. 

And finally the ute has arrived

One Ford Ranger XLT 4x4 Super Cab 3.2l Utility with our name on it has finally arrived on the Ford Dealership's yard after six months of waiting.  Due to the popularity of the automatic gearbox NZ only get a few vehicles in each shipment; one of the negatives about being a small consumer country.

We were keen to see the super cab configuration as we'd only been able to look at the double cab when we placed the order. Our ute has the "suicide" doors; no door pillar which is great for access to the back, and with a bigger well side for the hitch and also with enough room to have a lockable storage box across the back behind the cab. As we won't be carrying passengers that often we felt we didn't need the comfort & room of the double cab seats in the back. We may remove the small "dicky" seats and build a solid floor in so we can store more gear behind the front seats.

The colour is " Sparkling Gold" and while we know it's not quite the same as the van we're hoping it will tone in nicely.

 

 

 

The ute is now having the hitch & electirical wiring fitted before it will be deliver to us late next week.

 

The Ford Ranger is so popular & in short supply (it was the best selling vehicle in the Ford range, even ahead of cars, for a number of months last year) that our dealer has already been approached  to see if we'd be prepared to wait so others could jump the queue. Not likely!!

Just In Time....

for Christmas!

Today the Fifth Wheeler was delivered to our drive after it's pre-delivery inspection & requested mods were completed. It sure looked huge as it appeared down our little right of way.

  



But will it turn easily in the turning bay at the end of the way? No problems & with room to spare!

And luckily our drive was made for it! Nice fit & still enough room for the cars.

 

"And now if I can just work out this hitch..."
 

And this is where it will sit until our ute(utility) arrives, originally the ute was due in October along with the van but it has twice been delayed, now 6 months in total, and is due in mid January. It is lucky that we hadn't planned to head off full time until March, 2013 but it would have been nice if we'd been able to take it to Napier & go camping with family over Christmas & New Year.

 

Oh well at least we'll be able to set the inside up at our leisure, learn all the ins & outs & different switches & maybe have a few trial nights in it while it's parked safely in the drive.