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Thu 28 Aug 2006

It's time for some new batteries.

I've decided to go for AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) type as I'm sick of doing the maintenance on wet cells. AGM batteries are sealed and therefore do not emit gasses or require any maintenance, and for someone like me that's a really good feature.

I order the batteries ($2500 ouch) but they are on a slow boat from China (literally, they are Chinese batteries) so won't arrive for some time. Meanwhile we're running the generator every night.

Tue 20 Sep

Geoff and Margaret arrive. They are two fellow 4x4 motorhome owners who we have met on several occasions, mostly while I was building the truck.

They stay for a couple of days, it's good to have a like-minded couple to chat with.

Thu 5 Oct

So we borrow a brush cutter from our neighbour and set to creating a small cleared area around the truck and container.

 Burning the grass, my flat-packable barrow in the foreground.


 
 The reason it's not a good idea to leave your shoes out at night.


 A cute little gecko I disturbed while raking the grass.

Tue 17 Oct

Wed 18 Oct

Luckily we cleared a good area around the truck. I ring the local fire chief and learn that they will be burning off in the district to reduce fuel. She had already been to our block and was pretty happy with the fuel reduction we had done. She said they would be burning on and around our block tomorrow and would be careful with our gear.

Sat 21 Oct

 A thing of beauty and joy forever.

The party guests include many friends she hasn't seen for a while but of most importance is her brother has also been flown out from the UK. He arrived a few days ago and apparently their meeting was a real "This is your life" event.

I've been drinking beer since 2 this afternoon, plus somewhere along the way I consumed a full bottle of wine because no one else liked it.

By the early hours of the morning there's just myself and Marie's brother still going, but I'm running out of steam and retire.

Thu 26 Oct

Sat 28 Oct

Go figure.

So we're visiting some other friends in Brisbane who have a high bandwidth connection that will make the job easier.

While on a role I have also implemented PayPal as the payment method for the multitudes that purchase my photos.

There's been a few small technical hitches but overall I'm astounded at how smoothly the job has gone.

Tue 31 Oct

Today however we are back at Peter and Marie's and they have a nice big MIG welder which is suitable for fixing the problem.

Unfortunately Peter has not got the workshop fully operational and the MIG is not yet working, his stick welder is working but I cannot stick weld to save myself, so Peter will do the job.

I prepare the area and create a plate to weld over the rusted section. Peter welds it in place and the Cruiser is as good as new.

While under the vehicle we also fix the broken sway bar.

Back to our block tomorrow.

Mon 6 Nov

We hear a strange popping sound and walk to the front of the truck to investigate. Not finding the source of the noise I am about to return to my comfy chair when I catch the smell of beer in the air. This causes me to look more thoroughly.

We don't use glass, preferring the PET bottles sold by the homebrew kit manufacturer, and they've been great so far. But I guess they are getting a bit old. It seems that one exploded and took out it's neighbour.

Looks like we'll be buying some new bottles.

Tue 8 Nov

I amuse myself by counting the time between each lightning flash and it's associated thunder clap. You know the story,

FLASH, one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, BANG. That's about three miles away.

But how far away is it when you get...

FLASHBANG

"Not far enough" is the correct answer.

Thu 9 Nov

So, as CDMA is being phased out it makes sense to upgrade. But what's on offer?

Quite a lot as it happens. I get a new phone for free and the remaining contract on my old phone wiped. I get broadband speeds whereas CDMA is only 14kbps. My new plan is a data-driven plan whereas CDMA was time driven, this means I can take my time looking at web pages without constantly worrying about the clock ticking.

All in all it's a great deal I think. I also get an in-car hands free kit worth $200 thrown in, but this wasn't made obvious from the start.

All I really wanted was a method of connecting both a large external aerial (or broomstick as they are often called) AND the computer at the same time. However nobody could tell me if this was possible with the hands-free kit, including the people at the manufacturer's technical section.

I inspect the kit and it looks to me as though I can do what I want by simply not plugging in the wire that connects the phone to the cradle, but instead plugging in the computer cable. It seems that, as long as you don't want to use the hands-free option at the same time as the computer it should work.

But nobody can confirm this.

"I'm not spending 200 bucks on the off chance it will work" I say.

"Well we can throw the kit in for free" was the instant response. Telstra is obviously very keen for people to swap to the new technology.

The phone we are interested in is available in black or white, we got a black one, not because of any real preference but because the woman asked Chris which we would like, and Chris doesn't hear very well. Thinking she is being asked if she would like a cup of coffee she replies "Black please".

In total it took us 5 hours and several calls to various technical bods at Telstra to get hooked up to NextG and get the data connection working.

And just to show you how easy it is, one of the strings that must be entered when setting up the connection on your computer is

+cgdcont=1,"ip","telstra.internet"

I still can't believe I didn't get that one without some help.

Thu 10 Nov

Well we're having a similar problem on the block.

We started clearing the tall grass as a purely practical fuel reduction exercise in the area immediately adjoining the truck and container.

However the cleared area looked much better than the other 99% of the block, so we thought we'd do a bit more. We've cleared about 3 acres now, mostly with a brush cutter, but I've also chain sawed dozens of fallen trees and moved the resultant logs to a wood pile. We never have fires for recreational purposes so the wood pile is really just in case we have visitors who do.

Most of the grass is transported to our fire spot using my trusty home-made collapsible barrow, but at the far reaches of our realm it is simply cast to the winds.

And speaking of wind we had a doosey today, 100MPH or I don't know nuthin' about quantum physics. Needless to say we stopped burning when the wind arrived.

Mon 27 Nov

 Burning off again, this time the dead logs that litter the area around the truck.

Fri 22 Dec

Of course there is a final hitch, they reckon we owe more maintenance payments, and we reckon they didn't correctly calculate the depreciation of the items my parents added to the house.

So the saga continues.

Never the less we're feeling rich, so we decide to buy some bananas for the first time since cyclone Larry devastated most of the Australian banana crop a year or so ago.

For some time they were over $20 a kilo because there was little supply. At that price one assumes there was even less demand, certainly we haven't bought a single banana lately, not when you can almost buy a leg of lamb for the same money.

I saw a great cartoon the other day, it depicted a fruit and veg shop that had closed for the night. On the door was a sign that read "No bananas kept on the premises".

Fri 29 Dec

Thu 25 Jan 2007

In answer to the last question I reply "54".

"Is that five four or one nine five four?" the operator asks.

"54, you know, as in 1954"

"But is that five four or one nine five four?"

"Waddayumean 'five four or one nine five four', is was born in 1954!, it can't be 2054 and I'm not 152 years old. Nineteen fifty bloody four!"

Maybe it was the tone in my voice, or maybe something I said, but at this point she decides to handle my query.

They say that money is the root of all evil, well I don't know about that, but it is certainly the root of much frustration. Without money you wouldn't have to deal with banks, and that has to be a good thing.

Sat 27 Jan

The main oil leak offender is the side plate on the engine, it's leaking like a sieve. That should be a simple exercise, just unbolt it, get a new gasket, and bolt it back on.

That's probably how it works for you, but life is never that simple for the Graynomad.

Three of the bolts had been snapped off and the heads just glued in place, presumably by the previous owner. After several hours attempting to drill the bolts and remove them with "Ezi-Outs" I give up and just drill them right out to the next size which is 7mm. Now the tap and die set has a 7mm tap so that's a standard size right? I'll just duck down to Bolts-R-Us and buy some.

"Nar mate they don't make that size any more", says the young fellow behind the counter. "You could try the wreckers, the old VWs had 7mm bolts".

After drilling the holes out to the next size (8mm), and waiting a day for the gasket the job is done, and I'm pleased to report that the plate leaks no more.

While I have my head under the bonnet I noticed that the vacuum advance doesn't work ($165 for a new one) and the clutch slave cylinder is hanging on by one loose bolt.

Now let's check out the spark plugs.

On removing them I find they are coated with a hard deposit. I'm not sure exactly what this is a symptom of so I consult the manual.

"Caused by bad fuel or more commonly 'old fogie' driving" it states.

Hmmm, old fogie driving indeed, they've got a nerve.

Sat 10 Feb

But what to build?

We love just about everything about Wothahellizat, but our recent 4x4 trip taught us that we can be quite comfortable in a smaller vehicle. And the freedom we had in the Cruiser was great, we were comfortable exploring any track we came across, secure in the knowledge that we could almost certainly turn around at the end, and we could camp on any square metre or so of flat ground.

On the other hand, when the weather turned against us the Cruiser wasn't that comfortable, and of course we can't carry all our worldly possessions in such a small vehicle.

A large vehicle is definitely more comfortable to live in, but a real hindrance in many other situations.

It seems then that something larger than a Landcruiser, and smaller than Wothahellizat would be the best of both worlds.

So we start looking in the trader magazines.

 This International 510 is fantastic to drive and has a very small turning circle. I am quite smitten but it's petrol, a little bit small, and the owner wants too much ($19,000).

Sun 11 Feb

 
 
 These ACCOs are all owned by one person. They are in poor shape but still cost up to $16,500, maybe we'll stick with the one we've got.

Thu 15 Feb

To this end they have just purchased an imported Japanese 4x4 bus.

 Alan and Sharon's 4x4 bus, it's still a 20-seater so they will have to clear everything out and start from scratch.

Sun 18 Feb

It's a huge project, partly because the new motor has a turbo and doesn't fit in the same place as the old one, and partly because Peter is also swapping the the gearbox for a 6-speed Allison which is much larger than the Road Ranger previously installed in the truck.

 
 The empty engine bay of "Slineaway", Peter and Marie's International S-Line 4x4 motorhome.


 Peter working on the engine and gearbox.

Peter does all the work himself with the exception of the electronics required for the gearbox.

While here we check out an Isuzu that is for sale. It's more modern than I'm used to and quite nice to drive and we get quite serious about buying it. At $20,000 it's more than we had in mind but at least most things are done, for example it already has a good diesel motor, if we buy another old ACCO we will have to re power it and that would be a very time-consuming and expensive job.

 A nice Isuzu we nearly bought.

Of course we don't have anywhere to build a motorhome, but Peter and Marie do own a huge shed, and they are going away for six months soon. Maybe they need a caretaker.

We float the idea passed them and they agree.

So we now have somewhere to do the job, but on what chassis will we build?

Mon 19 Feb

We decide to dismantle our beloved motorhome and rebuild it as a smaller version, a sort of Son Of Wothahellizat.

Fri 2 Mar

It doesn't matter though, we'll be pulling the whole thing apart before long. Despite this Chris scrubs the floor for days to get it clean.

Sun 18 Mar

Mon 19 Mar

We camp for the night just north of Gympie.

Tue 20 Mar

As we drive through the town of Glasshouse Mountains we drop in on Dave, another friend. Dave is in the business of modifying trucks, and we need to get some advice on our chassis.

Fri 23 Mar

Wed 28 Mar

Peter takes Slineaway for a test run and I go along for the ride. The performance is impressive and there are no problems with cooling, driveline alignment etc.

The conversion appears to be a success.

 Slineaway goes for a test run with the new motor and gearbox.

Thu 29 Mar

 Wothahellizat's final camp site.

I'm a little sad, it's been nearly ten years since we bought the truck and over six since we started living in it. This is definitely the end of an era.

But it's also the beginning of a new era, hopefully in a few months we will have a vehicle with most of the same features but in a smaller package.

Sat 31 Mar

Goto the Wothahellizat Mk2 construction diaries

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