Our Touring Past

Did i say bigger challenges to deal with??

Up early this morning.. cool overcast day..
Hmmm.. a good day to attempt erecting the pop up roof and see what happens..
Should have said... hmmm.. a good day for swearing !!!

Found a good level spot in they yard .. put the 2 rear stabilisers down and slid the drawbar support bracket i made the other day onto the drawbar... As you can see i have removed the old "Ball joint Coupling" and inverted the flat bars that make up the gooseneck. Geoff had scrounged up an old couplng that i figured he was planning on using on the van. so .. wth a bit of grinding and fiddling it now has a safe coupling.

Fitted the triangular outriggers that support the beds either side, Unlatched the four corners and started raising the roof .. It can be raised one side at a time ... with a bit of care...easier with 2 people but i figured i would be OK on my own.. what could go wrong???

So... i made sure the internal guy ropes where set up to prevent the toppling over past centre when pushing up from one side..
Almost had the side up and locked into place .... when one of the guy ropes snapped...
End result was the roof pivotted over too far and done some seriuos damage to the new side roof rails i had built... If anyone thought they heard swearing this morning around 8:00am .. please dont blame your neighbours... it was me..
Sat and wept openly for 5 minutes ... Hey.. i dont mind admitting to it... its better than giving the whole thing a bath in petrol and throwing a match on it...

Sat in amongst the wreckage and replaced the rope with something a bit more substantial...( closing the gate after the horse had bolted ..)
And then set about trying to right the wrongs..

Reddo

The second attempt at raising the roof was only marginally better than the first..
But eventually i succeeded..

Until you swing the front and back window frames down and lock them into place the whole thing is a big wobbly "Jelly".. The guy ropes are the only thing that stops it all going pear shaped ..
The front window hinges down from up in the roof section.. and once front and back is locked into place the whole thing looks and feels safe enough to wander around inside.. More pix coming
Reddo

The canvas is still the original stuff.. it use to be green but has faded with time and wear.. lots of patches and rips.
But when attached to the press studs and turn buckles it sits fairly neat.. ignore the holes... Gunna take a while for me to get over the great crash of "17... not sure if i ever will.
Anyone keen on picking up the splinters and carying on the resto should get in contact with me.. get me while i am "Vunerable"

Hmmmm... seen a nice little 10ft Don on Facebook that needs some loving.. no canvas or guy ropes involved
Reddo

Good work so far Reddo, stick with it, I see a 'better man' in the making.

Certainly an unusual little beast, all you need now is the Model T to tow it with.

George

OK..
So the doctor is happy with my progress..
I am allowed sharp implements again and apparently i dont posed a threat to anyone now...
Although......I still get little voices saying.."Go get the matches"

Have repaired the roof by adding a duplicate beam down either side.. through bolting the hinges etc.....then raised /loweredthe roof .. with just a bit more success than last time. Guy ropes could be shorter still.. and ideally... to erect the roof i should use two people to raise it equally from either side to prevent "hyper extending" the hinges and splititng the beams again. In all the haste to get down to Geoffs place.. load up and get back across town before the traffic madness got too bad in Melbourne i loaded the van and forgot to check wether the back step was there...??.. Turns out that and the radio is missing..
So.. deciding i had a better chance of building a step that making a radio i set about designing something similar to the original..
End result... if it looks like a duck !!! The tread is made from a very old Mantlepiece.. maybe silky oak or similar ?? Hard as a bulls forehead.

The original .. from memory folded flat..
So does the Reddotel version... It will do... until by some quirk of nature or shear good luck the original step can be retrieved ... maybe the next motorbike rescue mission might put me close to Bentleigh East??.. who knows.

Have also finished off the wiring underneath.. have mounted to miniture indicators well up under the floor.. easily seen from behind .. but not when you walk around the van

I sat down the other day and took a heap of measurements of the 4 canvas triangles on the front and back of the camper.. no 2 are exactly the same. turnbuckle holes in different spots. It would be a bit of a challenge for the canvas man.. but if they pay attention to the measurements it can be done!!!

Having said all that ... something keeps telling me to keep working on patching the old stuff..
Thats all well and good.. have you ever tried pedalling a Singer treadle sewing machine in the vertical position while working 2 metres off the ground ..... naaa didnt think so

I think the easiest way around all that is to just leave as is..
When camping .....drag the 6m X 4m tarp i have over the lot and set up the same as i did with the teardrop.. The whole thing is protected from the rain... but not the mossies...
Hmmmmm ... i could "Go get the matches " and have a nice fire in on the thick floorboards... that would keep the mozzies out aye.....
go get the matches...ooooo ... bugga.. the doctor isnt gunna be happy when he finds out i have been showing signs of "slipping back a bit"

Reddontellthequack

The Title of this story mentions.."The second coming"..

To witness "The second going"... You best search "Vintage caravan / camper" on ebay after 7.00pm tonight
Listed at $900 start....

Open to offers.

Reddo

Morning Reddo,
May be you better think twice about that ad. Here's some inspiration to help you keep going. Don't give up yet.
https://www.facebook.com/lostinthe50smu ... 5409012612
Might give you some encouragement. As it says, "even a moron mechanically can set it up."
Johnny B

Hi Johnny B
Yup.. interesting stuff...
However... it appears that thier design also has issues with Wobbling hinges halfway up the sides just like the Eugowra van. If there wasnt two people there to erect it , it would suffer the same demise as the Eugowra camper.

A few other interesting points besides the comment made by someone on facebook about...
"Why does the 2 parents have helmets and the little girl doesnt??

Little girl not restrained in side car seat.

They lift the little girl out of the sidecar and let her run feral while setting up tjhe van.. could have slipped into the water and dissapeared without anyone noticing ?/

Set up the van at the waters edge with no consideration of tidal changes... or bow waves from passing ships??

Just drop the van on the towball and go... No lights to plug in??

Ahhhh... obviuosly these where happier days !!!

I will leave the pop ups to the mechanical morons

But i wouldnt mind the scooter and sidecar

Reddo

Mechanical morons ?? does that mean electricians??

Aproudfitter.

Ssssssssssssssh... Dont mention the proudfitter and the black Honda at South West Rocks that needed a simple carby gasket ???
Did i mention i have a 1920s camper for sale ???