Oo errr!

BREAKING NEWS !

Today I agreed to take Nina to the Home Counties Boxer Welfare Christmas Party as a kind of Mobile Photo Studio ! Not only that, but as well as thinking of a theme for inside, she is going to have to look festive outside too ! Let's say she is going to need to light up the car park ! :P.

She is going to be used as a studio to photograph all the fancy dress dogs that attend the party in all their finery, and owners will get the chance to have the photo emailed to them for £5, or sent a 6x4 print for £7.50. 100% of the profits, ie £5 per photo sent will go to HCBW.

I've got three weeks to make it happen so watch this space :).




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Blinded by .... er....blinds....

Last time, for Scooby, I bought material that had lots of the colours in them to match the interior of my camper, which was blue, yellow, and kind of denim, with light coloured wood.

This time, I still have no idea what colour the inside is going to be, I did want the nice bright Yellow that I had last time, but all over, no blue on the bottom half, but the Yellow is no longer being sold in the amounts I need to do the whole inside out. There is someone selling 10 meters by 2 meters of Sand coloured ribbed carpet, which in all the places Ive looked, seems the most likely colour i'll be getting.

I didnt want curtains this time, I wanted nice neat looking blinds, motorhome blinds, I didnt want to go down the normal venetian blind or roller blind route, as they are too much like a normal house, and Nina aint normal :P. Motorhome blinds are pleated, and come in a frame which also acts as a catch to stop it from retracting etc. One small problem with this, is that they cost from £80 PER WINDOW, and thats if you can find them big enough for Ninas windows, which is unlikely, Caravan windows just arent that big, or plentiful. Sooooo I started Googling for pleated blinds, during my searches, I found out that you could get CORDLESS pleated blinds. I looked into this some more, and basically, like motorhome blinds, you just pull them down or push them up, they are on some kind of pulley system, so that there is no need for cords or bars at the sides. Making it all very simple and easy to use, and less to lose or break. So I started searching for Cordless Pleated Blinds. In my searches, I found some on the B&Q website, that looked like they would do the job. They came in about 3 colours, all pastel shades. All the blinds are smaller in width than Ninas windows, but I have a work around for that, all are more than long enough, which is fantastic. Now these blinds are normally expensive, but not as expensive as real Motorhome / Caravan ones, so I started putting them into my basket. I soon found that these blinds were discontinued, and that actually finding some in stock was going to be a challenge. My preferred colour was a white, I figured this would go with whatever I put in there after, the three colours were White, Linen (browny colour) and Aqua (greeny blue). They didnt do the white small enough for Ninas middle windows though, and they cant be cut down to size because of the pulley system in the head gear. The only colour that I could get enough blinds in the right sizes to cover 7 windows, the three side windows on each side, and the long window in the bulkhead behind the front seats, was Aqua, which was my least favourite, but beggars cant be choosers and I decided that maybe they could be sprayed with vinyl craft spray to whatever colour I wanted. Gloucester B&Q had the 4 longer side window blinds and the long bulkhead blind, but didnt have the smaller middle side window blinds, dont forget these are discontinued and they are running the stock down. I searched stores out of the area, and found that Birmingham had the 2 smaller ones in Aqua, so my friend Rich who lives up that way, was kind enough to go and pick them up for me and deliver the next time he was passing.

All in all, ALL SEVEN BLINDS, cost me £50 :) The five longer ones were £8 each in the end of line sale prices, and the two smaller ones were £5 each ! BARGAIN ! I cant believe I got them so cheap ! They work great too, in the up position, they are fairly solid and dont look like they'll fall down as Nina is driving along, and they feel positive when you pull them down too, and stay wherever you put them.

The sizes I got, if you are reading this and converting a long wheel base Renault Master Ambulance or Minibus, 4x 90cm wide, 1x 120cm wide, and 2x 60cm wide.

As I said, they are too small in width for the windows, leaving up to 3cm or so either side of the blind in the middle windows where the 60cm ones will go. I did say I had a work around. Well, what I intend to do, is fix a large board across the windows, so that they are completely covered, cover the board in the same wall lining carpet that Nina will eventually be done out in, and cut aperatures in the board where the windows are, but slightly smaller in width than the blinds, so that when the blinds are fixed into the normal window aperature of Ninas, then the board over the top of that, you wont be able to see where the edges of the blinds are as they will be sandwiched between the window and the board. From the outside, the windows which are dark tinted, will be normal huge size, from the inside once done, the windows will be a bit smaller. But from either inside or out, you wont really notice.

Sorry if that sounds complicated, but in my head I know what Im going to do, Im just not very good at explaining :P.

When you see the finished result, you will know why I did it !

So, thats the blinds bought and ready to be fitted. Lots of stuff to do first, but at that price, I couldnt turn it down, even the curtains I had in Scooby came to lots more than that, 3x more I think by the time we'd bought the material and got Robs mum to make them. And they look nice and neat when up or down.

Here I am just holding one of the middle 60cm ones in place to see how it looks :)

That will do nicely thank you ;)

Nina visits......

Busy playing..... erm 'working' down the field with the dogs, and Nina came to visit me on her way back from Gordano Services where she was on a food run. (our lot do have to be fed sadly, it kind of keeps them alive or something, really I think it's an excuse to get me using a scoop and spade !). Gordano Services don't sell our dog food by the way, she was meeting a man that does :P


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Frampton On Severn

Nu Shooz

A week or so ago I ordered some wheel trims from eBay, I'd been looking for trims for a while, and these were about the only ones I liked the look of.

This was the eBay seller's (the-best-price-for-you) photo from the auction.





In my mind all that would show through was the silver spokes. But they came today, and I didn't factor in my silver wheels lol.





As you can see it all looks a bit of a mess at the moment, but when I get a nice day I will rub the wheels down with a wire brush and spray the wheels behind black, will look a lot nicer then.





Not quite as bad from a distance, but the spokes will definitely stand out better with black wheels.

Speaking of wheels, I've been designing some advertising signs to go onto the spare wheel cover :).

I'm going to somehow make the cover magnetic, and get some round magnetic signs that I can interchange depending where Nina is.

This first one is the one I think that will be on Nina most of the time, give people the chance to go and read about her on this blog after they've seen her out somewhere :). Hello and welcome to Ninas blog if you are reading this after seeing her wheel cover ! :P.





This one is the one I will put on when we do the shows or go to any related events to photography...





There will be a couple more done, a Noahs Ark Rescue one, our rescue charity, www.noahsarkrescue.org.uk, and maybe one for a charity Jen is a trustee for, HCBW, or Home Counties Boxer Welfare (www.hcbw.org.uk), and maybe some more fun ones, depending on how much they cost of course lol.

Not sure how to get magnets to stick to the cover yet, maybe stick a metal disc to it first. Will have to do some research !

Did a quick mock up in photoshop to see how they'd look :P





Pretty cool huh ;)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Gloucester

Spare Wheel Solution

If you remember, the spare wheel I picked up from Trowbridge didn't fit Nina, so this was a fairly important thing to remedy before I got stranded somewhere !

I found a seller, yes on eBay :), 'vanservicesltd' based in Bristol, a commercial breakers, and he had a 16" wheel with the correct tyre size already on with plenty of tread on for a spare.

Although not cheap, I remember when you could go to a scrapyard and get a wheel with a decent tyre for around £8-10 ! He was cheap up to everyone else though, and his eBay photo made the wheel look worse than it actually was, although I didn't know this until I received it. I paid £30 plus £12 delivery. I could have gone and got it but would have spent the postage on fuel anyway.


The sellers eBay photo ....

Once ordered, I wondered what I was going to do with it, as in when Nina had her air suspension, they took away the spare wheel cage underneath. The answer is obvious really, where do you see the spare on most motorhomes etc ? Hung on the back door. So I found a bracket for the door, eBay seller 'wheelcoverbargains', for just shy of £38 delivered, they also had a website that sold the wheel covers too as their name suggests, which I got for £32 delivered for a semi rigid one. Seems a lot of money to house a spare tyre, but couldn't find it cheaper anywhere else, actually the bracket is really hard to get hold of full stop.
So when they came, I put them on our garden table and took a purposely bad photo to see if people would guess what it was, I think they were playing with me a little, satellite dish was mentioned, and leftover parts from Darth Vader ! :P


The Facebook picture ...

Well when it all came, the next thing was to fit it all ! So as we were out all day Sunday at a Boxer Welfare meeting in St Albans, I decided to set Saturday aside to do the job.

First job, decide where to put it :S ....


Well, this looked about as good a place as any, the drivers side rear door, as it didn't have the number plate on it, I was a little worried about the handle, but could see it would be workable. The next thing was to start destroying it...




So after lots of measuring and marking, you can see my pencil lines here still, I started drilling - eeeeek ! It's a scary feeling, drilling big holes out of a perfectly good door, And you are never quite sure you got it in the right place until you actually fit everything up to it.




The bolts were a little difficult to fit in, as inside the door there are various strengtheners that were getting in the way, but I managed it and tightened it all up, this is the resulting bracket fitted.

And now the finished result, wheel on and cover in place. Shes starting to look like a camper ! :). It sits nice and firmly, doesn't vibrate, dnt even know it's there when driving, so a good job done and another problem sorted :).















- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Gloucester

A Key Post......

One more problem we've had with Nina since the start (it sounds like we've had loads, it's not that bad, honest :P), is the fact we have only had one key. This has resulted in me breaking into Nina on more than one occasion to retrieve a locked in key ! Why does the key get locked in ? I think they must have put a locking timer on or something when converted to an Ambulance so that Nina could be left in a hurry and she would lock herself. Or maybe it's something Renault themselves do. Anyway, a couple of times I have left the key inside while ive popped out for something and Nina has locked herself, most probably with a cheeky grin on her face !

I rang Renault and asked for the price of a replacement key to give us a spare. To get the same key that we had, ie a remote and programmed key, they would need a week to order the key, then need Nina for an hour to program the key, which is obviously an inconvenience. On top of that, they want £170 for the privelage PLUS vat. As much as we wanted a key, I just couldn't pay that for a key, it's a rediculous amount of money for something that probably costs them a couple of pounds.

After locking the key in when I fitted the tow bar, it was dark and I scooped it up with my tools and put in the back of Nina accidentally, I decided to call Vern from Vern's Autoparts in Tredworth, Gloucester, and see if he could cut me a key that would just unlock a door if it were to happen again. It didn't need to be programmed to start the engine. He said yes that was fine, so I popped in with my original key. He asked if I'd like it programmed, I was a little surprised he could program it but asked the price and said I'd have to pop home and get Nina for him to do it. He said he didn't need the van and it would be £24 !!!! £24 for a key that would start the engine, unlock the doors, only thing it wouldn't do was remotely unlock the doors. Within 5 minutes the key was cut and programmed and I was on my way !

Tried it in Nina when I got home, and the physical key fitted all the doors fine, AND it de-immobilised her and started the engine ! Result :).

Saved myself £150 in the process and now don't have to worry about locking the key inside :).


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Gloucester

Knocking noise ......

Since we've had Nina, there has been a knocking noise coming from the passenger side front. As she has been through two MOTs and neither had thrown anything dangerous up in that area, I wasn't overly worried. That was until we went to Devon. As we drove through Tanyas estate, the knocking sounded worse than ever. I even had a good look underneath to make sure nothing was falling off !

The knocking was consistent with a worn driveshaft, a problem we had once before with our small Ambulance. I had been looking at driveshafts on eBay for a couple of weeks, and had contacted one seller about a used one that was being sold via a breakers. It was from a similar aged Vauxhall Movano, with the same body and engine, so would have been exactly the same. It was advertised for £35 plus £12 postage but had a Best Offer too. I offered £30 and that was accepted, so with postage it cost me £42. To buy a new one where I would have to exchange my old driveshaft, so that it could be reconditioned and sold again, was £119.99 plus VAT, so a lot more.

I could have done this myself, but I really don't have a love for mechanics anymore, despite being a mechanic for around 5 years, so I gave the job to Jon and Malcolm at Bedford Street Motors. Whilst they had Nina, I asked them to fit the Brake Valve Compensator that I had removed from one of the vans in Trowbridge. To do this they had to make a bracket for the valve and weld it to the chassis just forward of the rear axle.


This is the valve and linkage (unit with spring middle right, and rod to bottom left bolted to axle) just before I removed it from the Trowbridge van....


And this is the same valve and linkage fitted to Nina with the newly fashioned bracket welded to the right side chassis. It's also had a clean up and a coat of protecting paint against rust.

I hadn't thought the driveshaft had cured the problem during the drive from town to home, I could swear that I felt it knocking still, but driving it since, I think it is cured, and what I was hearing was something else :S.

The new brake compensator valve works just fine, as it was before with the quick fix, the reason I wanted it done was so that next year, it wouldn't be a problem on the MOT again, and I also wanted it put back to original as much as possible.

So all in all it was a good visit to the boys at Bedford Street, and a couple of jobs less to be done :).

She's getting there !


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Devon / Gloucester