The End pt.2*

Two men, by the roadside frantically scrambling around a big, yellow campervan that appears to be on fire. All doors are wide open and smoke billows out across the street, disrupting traffic and generally attracting unwanted attention.

1st Man- "JESUS CHRIST"
2nd Man- "Where's it coming from!?"
1st Man- "I think it's the horn? The horn's on fire!"
2nd Man- "The horn's on fire?!"
1st Man- "The fucking horn's on fire?!
2nd Man- "What's it made of?"
1st Man- "Metal?!"
(In  unison)- "Jesus Christ"

A car suddenly arrives on the scene, pulling up behind the big, yellow campervan. A man steps out and approaches the two men. 1st Man is laying underneath the vehicle, trying to ascertain exactly which part of the horn is so flammable.

2nd Man- "Shit, I think the police are here"
1st Man- "Jesus Christ"

An overtaking car swerves to avoid 1st man's legs which poke out into the road in a similar fashion to the wicked witch of the west in Wizard of Oz. The stranger has now reached the big, yellow camper and tries to get the attention of 1st man

3rd Man-"Alright mate?"
1st Man- "Um..." (thinking.....'oh god, this is it, the dream is over, we're never going to make the Isle')
3rd Man- "Is this yours?"
1st Man (straining to blow out the fire) "Yep" (thinking...'I'm going to prison, what was I thinking?')
3rd Man- "Is it 1975?"
1st Man (slightly taken aback and momentarily forgetting the fire, pokes his head out from under the vehicle and looks up to see 3rd Man) "Umm...yes it is."
3rd Man- "I've got one exactly the same!"
1st Man (relieved, but wary once again of the fire) "Oh....well yes, they're very good....but, I mean.....ummm.....mine's on fire at the moment...."
3rd Man- "Jesus Christ"
2nd Man (to himself)- "Jesus Christ"

It was Thursday afternoon and my friend Graeme and I were finally heading out on the 164 mile maiden voyage from Birmingham to the Isle of Wight. We were all packed, The Supercamp was ready-ish and we were generally filled with pioneering spirit and the potent sense of adventure. So far we had gone 0.8 miles (up the road, to all intents and purposes) and had come to an abrupt and firey stop. By that roadside, I learnt a valuable lesson about the importance of fuses in averting electrical fires......let me explain, lest the same foul fate fall upon you.

What does a fuse do?

A fuse is inserted into an electrical circuit to act as a 'weak link' If a short happens within the circuit (when the +ve and -ve come directly in contact) the fuse will 'blow' breaking the connection and stopping the whole circuit becoming very hot and eventually setting on fire. It is 'rated' by using a certain thickness of metal that will withstand a little above the normal current flowing through the circuit. If this current increases above it's threshold, it -somewhat nobly- throws itself upon it's sword and saves the day. It is the canary in the mine. An indicator that all is not well....

So, when a fuse blows is not wise to simply replace it with a much thicker piece of metal (a 25mm wood screw for instance) as a 25mm wood screw is not rated to 'blow' when too much current flows through it. Doing this would be the same as resuscitating the canary, putting a little gas mask on it and marching proudly into the darkness.


We managed to extinguish the fire, opened all the windows to get rid of the smell and drove on, hornless. Although shaken up by FlamingHorn, a fortnight before I didn't think we would even get this far. Let us rewind..........


She had just passed her MOT and I was fully geared up to get on with the conversion. On the premise I would be working from the floor up, I had a final bit of rustproofing to do on the subframe before being able to put the floor in. So I was happily angle grinding away when I heard a loud CRACK....

I AM JACK'S BROKEN HEART

Finally making it WATERTIGHT, SECURE and MOT'd
Finally ready to start on the inside
Finally getting somewhere......

And yes, dear reader, I will happily admit that I actually shed a tear. Desperation and disappointment is a terrible thing. It was a big, window-smashing punchline from the universe. While one hand giveth, the other taketh away.

PLACES THAT YOU CAN'T SOURCE A 1975 MERCEDES 206d WINDSCREEN FROM

1. eBay
2. Classic Camper Club forum
3. 206d Facebook page
4. Professional windscreen repair companies
5. UK scrapyards
6. The Internet in general
7. Anywhere you can possibly think of

HAIRBRAINED SCHEMES YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU CAN'T SOURCE A WINDSCREEN

1.Making a plastic replacement that you will heat bend and sort of bodge into place

2.Use a smaller windscreen and make up a frame to bridge the gap

3.Wear goggles (It is worth a mention at this point that the only good thing to come of not having a windscreen is that when your passenger -Joe- is asking you what all the controls do, you delightedly await his coming to the windscreen washer button, knowing fully well that the passenger side washer always comes on before the driver side one......Ha!)




HIGHLY UNLIKELY SOLUTIONS THAT COME FROM NOWHERE

Remember FellowHanomagOwner? I had found him through watching a youtube video of his campervan earlier on in the year. Since then we had been in contact and so I asked him what he thought of my hairbrained schemes and indeed whether he may have any of his own. He (quite rightly) dismissed by ideas as fraught with problems, however he did pass me the contact of a man who -as it turns out- had what must be the only windscreen for a 1975 206d in the whole country......A quick trip to Cardiff, a lot of quilts in the back of Joe's fiesta and I had a new windscreen! 

I AM JACK'S CHILDLIKE DELIGHT

If any life lesson can be taken from this episode, it is clearly that-

Gold can quickly turn to Shit, however it can just as quickly turn back into Gold. Though don't hold your breath, because it is more than likely to turn back into Shit again.

How do you fit a windscreen?

You will not believe that this works so well until you see it in action. It is almost worth smashing your windscreen to have a go. 

1. Fit the rubber seal on the windscreen and wrap a length of string twice around the groove into which the frame will sit. 

2. Place the windscreen up to the frame, mounting it in on the bottom edge

3. As you pull the string out from round the windscreen, it pulls the inner edge of the rubber seal over the lip of the frame. The whole process takes about five minutes.... It is just missing a huge POP! sound to make it the most satisfying thing ever......

So, where were we? Ah yes, vehicle fire. So, apart from FlamingHorn the SuperCamp sailed straight and true right the way down to Portsmouth (via Gloucester to pickup a leisure battery) and then onto the Isle of Wight, all at a very respectable 55mph.

Whilst waiting in this ferry queue, we took the opportunity to wire in the internal lights. The next morning, we plumbed in the gas (also picked up on the way) so as we could have breakfast. We then wired in the water pump when we needed to wash up. Once again, necessity is the mother of action. 

Eight months after The SuperCamp came into my life, broken and tired as she was, she was now alive again, doing what she was born to do- taking people to places far away from their house and making them still feel at home. We made fresh coffee, we cooked huge breakfasts, we listened to music, we played cards, we slept soundly. I could finally look back at all those steps along the way- the welding, the sanding, the researching, the panic, the delight, the apathy and the obsession and I could feel how every part had made these simple pleasure not only possible, but worth much more.

7th September 2012, Mercedes 206d MWW102P is officially christened on her maiden voyage-

Heidi Von SuperCamp

*I fear I was too hasty in calling these latest few  blogs 'the end' There is still much to do and much to write about. Let's see what happens.

The end? pt.1

We last left our tale with the Death of Perseverance and the LossOfTheWheel. I have always warned of my caprice, of my tendency to obsess and then lose interest. Well, it seems that this blog has nobly born the brunt of this and thankfully The SuperCamp has escaped unscathed. What I am trying to say is that the progress of The SuperCamp has far outrun the progress of this blog and I come to you now only with good news. As much as I don't imagine you waiting on the edge of your seat, I also don't want to leave this story open ended and hanging in cyberspace. If this may well be the last entry, let's at least end on a good note.

I think the best way to cover the substantial ground of progress made is by a series of pictures, and chronologically seems as good a way as any. 

After securing all wheels, this time she made it to the MOT...she failed- the main point was brakes 'registering little or no effort'

Getting to the rear brakes to find out why they were not working proved horrendous. Five of the ten nuts were completely seized. I battled with sockets, mole grips, scaffold bars, blowtorches, monkey wrenches before finally accepting the fact that I would have to cut and cold chisel them out. Each nut took two hours to remove whilst the constant danger of damaging the threads from the wheel hub bolts loomed.....

This is my (ingenius) method for balancing breaks. Place a socket and bar on the central nut of the wheel whilst the brakes are locked on. Then add weights into the bucket to find the point at which the wheel overcomes the brakes and rotates. Then adjust all the brakes until they take the same weight in the bucket.

With the brakes now bled and balanced and several other minor issues addressed, I put her in for MOT take 2 (3 if you count the wheel falling off episode, but I hardly think that's fair) Unbelievably, SHE PASSED!*

*Between you and me- I can't be sure, but- I think I overhead the head mechanic saying to the junior mechanic who carried out the MOT (in hushed tones) "The thing is, if you fail it, then you have to fix it, that means you have to find parts. Do you really want to open that box?" Either way, I am definitely going back there next year.

Remember the original goal? well 7 months in and The SuperCamp was

MOT'd, Watertight and Secure

The last bits of welding on the front end

At this point I shall regale you with a tale of a hard learnt lesson. In this picture you will notice I am wearing a full face welding mask. Unfortunately, sometimes I get this small voice inside my head that goes a little like this.

Me- "Right, better get my mask on"

Little Voice- "Ha."

Me- "Pardon?"

Little Voice- "Nothing."

Me-"No, what did you say?"

Little Voice-"Nothing" (it turns away and I know it's smirking)

Me-"Have you got a problem with me wearing a mask?"

Little Voice-"No, not at all" (this is sarcastic, I can tell from it's tone)

Me-"You don't think you should a wear a mask when wielding white hot, UV emitting electricity?"

Little Voice-"No, no, you do what you want. If you think you need a mask...."

Me-"Oh yeah, maybe you're right! Maybe I won't use a mask!" (I'm trying sarcasm now, but I lack Little Voice's subtlety.

Little Voice-"Whatever, you do what you want."

Me-"Oh yeah, I bet you'd love that wouldn't you? well maybe I'll do what you want. Keep your mask!"

So, cutting my nose off to spite Little Voice's face, I threw caution to the wind and my mask to the floor. I then spent 4 or 5 hours welding through squinted eyes. I finished the day and left for home, happy that I had wiped that smug smile off it's imaginary face.......

This picture was taken at 4am after a trip to A&E with SuddenBlindness AKA ArcEye. It was incredibly painful and pretty scary, especially the first 15mins between waking up blind and realising that it was from welding. Funnily enough, LittleVoice was nowhere to be seen.

Once the last of the welding was done, it meant I could treat the underside with Waxoyl, get the floor in and start on the interior.

This is the original inside. The starting point.

This is the final plan. The end point.

Carpeting the cab using Veltrim. Joe cut, I fixed.

Repairing and treating the original floor to go back in.

Insulating the walls and floor using double foil insulation.

Battening around the windows for the plywood cladding to fix to

3.5mm WBP ply for cladding the walls. Joe again.

The passenger side bed using 18mm ply

Top priority....soundsystem

Milestone

Two single beds and underlay on the floor. Cushions, kitchen unit and cooker from a Mk 1 Ford Transit.

This is the very basic skeleton of the inside and was the milestone point from which she would make her maiden voyage.... Just like the MOT, sometimes you need a deadline to kick yourself into shape. So when this photo was taken, there was 5.5m long space reserved on a Wightlink ferry to the Isle of Wight. Does she make it? does she make it back? what does she look like now? We are certainly nearing the end of our SuperCamp journey, but there is definitely one more installment left in it..............