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..............