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Thought I'd make my own adventure trailer...
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
lol
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Heinz looks familiar.
Well the old trailer's been going great but unfortunately at Lincomb, the water boiler decided to try and kill me. Seems the gas valve wasn't shutting completely when the water was off. Not sure the fireball could be seen from space, but I need a new fleece now and the hair on my arms hasn't grown back yet.
I love camping and will do everything from the whole glamping thing to sleeping out on the ground. But one of the real luxuries that just makes the whole thing that bit more bearable, is hot water. There's just something about hot water, especially on tap that makes life so much better. Well the old boiler was only £53 delivered a year ago, but prices seem to have rocketed. So after some searching, I found something a bit better, with a host of UK reviews and UK sales support too. £145 and a couple of days waiting, the new Eccotemp 5l arrived.
I decided to plumb it in with copper this time as on the first water test, the rubber pipes just ruptured. It's a very similar sort of unit, but much better made and the heat output is staggering. After a few seconds on full, with the tank water pretty cold, it's scalding. And I mean far too hot to hold your hand under. As you turn it down of course, the flow rate goes up. Easily enough for a pretty decent shower. The handset has an / on switch off so it shuts down the boiler when the water isn't flowing. The handset is a bit poor to be fair and will probably get replaced. I have run one feed to the hot tap and another threaded outlet specifically to couple the shower hose onto. The shower (might turn that into a trigger gun) is dead handy for rinsing plates and such like.
The cold tap is a separate feed from another pump. Staggering I know but it's taken me all weekend to get this done. There's just been quite a few hurdles to overcome and one of my pumps died. I mean stone dead. So, a Shurflo top of the range unit is on its way.
At the same time, I decided to rewire the control panel. I didn't like the way it was configured and the non-gen Carling switches were a bit suss. When I was taking them out, 3 of them simply flew apart. So now we have a set of new illuminated, dedicated switches with some changes in the panel with a sort of Master-arm which kills everything that can draw current. This is better than having to constantly use the main isolator just to turn off the back light in the water gauge.
I also got the solar panel stowed away properly on top of the trailer. I had to sacrifice the jack idea to make room, but despite being neat, I decided on balance that I'd probably never use it given the range of other options I had to hand. It's the perfect place for it. Sorry about the filthy corner support. It will wipe clean!
Last bit of work was to make a NATO hitch lock. OK nothing is ever fully theft proof, but this would slow someone down I think.
I love camping and will do everything from the whole glamping thing to sleeping out on the ground. But one of the real luxuries that just makes the whole thing that bit more bearable, is hot water. There's just something about hot water, especially on tap that makes life so much better. Well the old boiler was only £53 delivered a year ago, but prices seem to have rocketed. So after some searching, I found something a bit better, with a host of UK reviews and UK sales support too. £145 and a couple of days waiting, the new Eccotemp 5l arrived.
I decided to plumb it in with copper this time as on the first water test, the rubber pipes just ruptured. It's a very similar sort of unit, but much better made and the heat output is staggering. After a few seconds on full, with the tank water pretty cold, it's scalding. And I mean far too hot to hold your hand under. As you turn it down of course, the flow rate goes up. Easily enough for a pretty decent shower. The handset has an / on switch off so it shuts down the boiler when the water isn't flowing. The handset is a bit poor to be fair and will probably get replaced. I have run one feed to the hot tap and another threaded outlet specifically to couple the shower hose onto. The shower (might turn that into a trigger gun) is dead handy for rinsing plates and such like.
The cold tap is a separate feed from another pump. Staggering I know but it's taken me all weekend to get this done. There's just been quite a few hurdles to overcome and one of my pumps died. I mean stone dead. So, a Shurflo top of the range unit is on its way.
At the same time, I decided to rewire the control panel. I didn't like the way it was configured and the non-gen Carling switches were a bit suss. When I was taking them out, 3 of them simply flew apart. So now we have a set of new illuminated, dedicated switches with some changes in the panel with a sort of Master-arm which kills everything that can draw current. This is better than having to constantly use the main isolator just to turn off the back light in the water gauge.
I also got the solar panel stowed away properly on top of the trailer. I had to sacrifice the jack idea to make room, but despite being neat, I decided on balance that I'd probably never use it given the range of other options I had to hand. It's the perfect place for it. Sorry about the filthy corner support. It will wipe clean!
Last bit of work was to make a NATO hitch lock. OK nothing is ever fully theft proof, but this would slow someone down I think.
Looks great. Very neat work, as per usual
The trick with the lock thing is that it's very hard to access and get a swing at it with a hammer. I picked a square lock and machined the hole in the pin so that the lock is held flat against the plate. It's pretty snug. If you whacked it and pin the pin even slightly, it just wouldn't come out of the hole in the pin. Now, if you were smart, you'd just take the 2 big bolts out of the A frame of the trailer and put a new hitch on. But who comes prepared for that?
ON the gas front, I came across these snap in gas connectors. Like the ones for air, only they don't leak. They're bloody brilliant. I've put them on the boiler, the BBQ and the gas hob. I can swap between appliances in as second. Great for plugging in my new CADEC Safari Chef 2
ON the gas front, I came across these snap in gas connectors. Like the ones for air, only they don't leak. They're bloody brilliant. I've put them on the boiler, the BBQ and the gas hob. I can swap between appliances in as second. Great for plugging in my new CADEC Safari Chef 2
It did Chas. There was no smell of gas or anything. It was a small amount but within the casing it was sort of confined. When the burner ticked in, it all just went up in one along with my dreams of hot water.
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2013
- Messages
- 16,231
If removing the A bar doesn't feature in the grand scheme of things and welding seems a rather messy solution why not pop a cap full of body filler over the nuts .
Ahh well, that's a good idea Shayne, but I only have a NATO on one vehicle and I want to tow with at least two if not three others. I'd rather not have to either buy 3 more hitches or swap them on the towbar every time I need to pull it. I have three trailers too all with std hitches. The big bolts in the A frame were the ones that hold the hitch on BTW not the A frame itself. Now removing THAT would be a brilliant deterrent.
OK I could go back to a std hitch on the 80 but there's something to be said for the ring hitch on rough terrain.
OK I could go back to a std hitch on the 80 but there's something to be said for the ring hitch on rough terrain.
Yikes, that's not good Chris. Not keen on this gas stuff. Still, could have been worse, you could have been all set for a shower…
