"BIG FOOT 23"

or 

2004_07_11

 

Only one week left before we start for the first real, longer holiday. My family fancied England, for myself it wasn’t that high in priority because of several earlier trips when I was a coach driver and the regular business trips 2 – 3 times a year in England. The last weekends I was again busy with finishing details at the camper. Most of it is nothing spectacular but here now the most “visible” bits.

 

 

A fixation for the 85 cm digital satellite receiver was made. Although I am not too proud of it, it finally works and we can watch satellite TV. Within the next few years I can try to find a more professional solution. If not in use the antenna is stored in the rear garage. Of course I am still dreaming of a fully automated Oyster but the costs of EUR 2.500 or more will move this dream several years into the future.

 

 

The 15 litre capacity of the toilet reservoir was even less than in the former camper. So I had bought right away 3 more spare tanks for the toilet to prevent the need to look for a dump already after 2 or 3 days. To store them separate from everything else and prevent smell in the cabin a further door was installed. If the performance will be as expected or if we need another “Sog” vacuum system for the spare tanks because we don’t use any chemicals the future will prove.

 

 

The access to the switches, levers and drains of the water system, the refilling of the hot water system etc. was so far only possible if I removed the complete board underneath the kitchen. Meanwhile I am able to remove it within 15 minutes, same for installation but for the time being it is getting boring. So a small door was installed where no wires or tubes were causing conflicts. So the important and sometimes used parts can now be accessed easily.
The photo of the open door shows the isoltion (3 cm thick) which I mounted just a few weeks earlier.

 

 

Another modification was necessary for the air-conditioning . The mounting in a 45° position in the upper corner of the cabin was a mistake. Die inner part of the airco has a kind of reservoir for the condensed water, which is led by a tube to the outside. The 45° mounting prevented the drain of the water and by the first move all the water would have swapped into the cabin. So an edge was required to allow the vertical mounting of the airco. To gather precious 4 centimetres a triangular cut was made in the upper part of the cabin. This made the construction much more complicated but the access to the smaller seat is easier and the last of the upper cupboard-doors swing open as good as possible.
On this photo the extension of the water drain tube is still missing.
The outside design with the 45° edge looks much smarter but if I would have thought about all the problems with the airco, the wardrobe etc. I definitely wouldn’t have it! As usual with such a project there are always lots of things to learn and improve – at the next camper something similar will not happen again!
(Attention, the issue with “next camper” was just a joke!)

 

 

What we are still missing is the control of the electric Venetian blinds (in front of the outer part of the airco) to move them automatically up or down when the airco is switched on or off.  
If we are lucky and really manage to install this control before the holiday we will not require it at all due to Murphy’s law but will desperately desire for a quicker position of the rain wiper of the windscreen"