eeeeek! So had one house appraisal, another tomorrow. Went away at Easter and not used the caravan since. its been sat in the cold and damp of The Dandenongs since. Took the cover off, hehe that was fun, getting the cover back in the bag!
attempted to grease the axles, nah, grease gun empty. Reckon the contents are in WA SOMEWHERE, where they melted, not going to carry one anymore, helluva mess. checked the tyre pressure, v good considering. Inflated one or 2. Starting to load up. Can't help wonder if tyre pressure gauge is accurate, should be, but v diff reading to the gauge on my air compressor.
Brake drums look rusty. Concerned about that, a friend said to stop stressing. But I have A Steep driveway to negotiate before I even hit the road, so I'll stress if I want to ;)
paid van rego, about to pay the insurance. Don't want a repeat of last time. Where I forgot to pay car rego. 16,000kms later got pulled over by the cops. I hadnt paid car rego, long story and $1200 later before car back on the road. And then the new rego on top of that. $1200 covered the fines n permits etc only . just lucky no incident/accident in those 16,000 kms. Wouldn't have been covered by insurance or TAC, or whatever's it's called.
this time, dogs will be harnessed to back seats, instead of in the very back. Figured too much cargo space in the back. Set up my car fridge there, much better. It has a bottle of wine in waiting to chill. I like to think it will have food in soon too.
Bought 2 new fire extinguishers, thanks to feed back on here ;)
my girlie pink tool bag is packed. And my man tool bag too!!! Haha. Need to save room for firewood, loads of it here.
my house mate is pissed off ( I can tell!!!!) that I may be selling up. Can't say I blame him, he's gotta find new digs. Oh but actually, I'm selling the roof over my head. No boner!
So all ready, I think, for a week on the road, to clear my head, catch up with a few GN's and make sure that selling up is the right thing!!
The lock to the toilet cassette isn't locking. Hmmm. I replaced that. It did work, After I replaced it is SA somewhere, but it's not locking now. Observed that water hoses leaking slightly. Best to get on the road. Driveway too cramped/ hilly to be really sure here.
Pulling out Tues morning. Late appointment at caravan repair place for quotes and especially to see why my awning won't retract. Its not ideal, rolling it in by hand, but it still serves the purpose, although I need to fix a tiny hole or 2 (puncture repair kit? Or duct tape for now!!!!!) forecast for Tuesday? Rain!
But I'm excited too!!!! Whoop, whoop, new folk to meet, and I can't wait!
Triple,
if you are going to a caravan repair place, might be an idea to have them check the wheel bearings on the van. Don't know how old your van is, or how long since you had it fully serviced, but wheel bearings can cause problems.
Thanks Wendy. It's booked in for wheel bearings etc, but they can't see me til November. Next week is a flying visit to quote for solar Panel, awning repair,etc. and I have spare bearings on board. Not that I know hoe to fit them. But I didn't know how to check for bad suspension til I took it back to Jayco in a huff😓😓 have to say, that although Jayco seemed to fib about a few things ( sales dept) the maintenance crew were ace. Let me get under the van with them and showed me how to fix things. Just a test run next week. The van is 4 years old and done about 40,000kms! Not all by me...... And it's not going back to Jayco..... I found a brilliant caravan maintenance nearby. Cheaper, more knowledge . I would recommend them to anyone so far.
Get as much done as you can before you start.
If you have new bearings get them put in now and then you know you have a few years that you dont have to worry about them. Remember to get the wheel nuts checked after 100K and 500K's after the job and jack up the wheels and test that the wheels have not worked loose. eg they should be firm with none or little wobble.
Check your tyres. The age is stamped on the sides of them as if they original they may be starting to perish as 5 years is the accepted life as far as I know. If they are Ok then just keep an eye on them.
When you get on the road you will meet many with experience and many will check for you. The biggest problem is finding the people who know and those that think they know LOL.
Many little jobs can be done on the road so get out there and start to enjoy your life.
Regards
Brian
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11 Mtr house Boat based at Mannum hoping to travel up the Murray as far as I can get then drift back again
