Another tip.............. if you ever walk round the caravan to get something out of the car in the dark and crack your shin on the towbar hitch you will know how painful it can be ............

Solution put a solar light or two on the towball hitch or in the ground either side of it to remind you its there.

I remember at last years meet I had problems with a pair of locker hinges above the sink that got really tight and threatened to pull the screws out and damage the wooden framework. The only cure I had at the time was to remove the pair of hinges and the locker door and soak the hinges in a dish of cooking oil and leave them for an hour or so and keep working them back and forth until they freed up then refit them and the locker door.

With that in mind today I oiled all the locker and cupboard door hinges.

Method : pour some oil in a small container and dip a match into the oil then dab it on the hinges,........exercise the hinges by moving the door back and forth a few times to allow the oil into the hinge pins.
Then wipe off the excess with some kitchen paper, don't forget to put a plastic tray underneath each time to catch any drips.

While doing this check all the screws are tight my under sink door was half way to falling off when I oiled it today.

I used new car engine oil as I had some in the garage but something like 3 in 1 or sewing machine oil would do just as well.

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always check the new gas bottles for leaks at the threads before setting off on a trip, don't assume they are leak free.

A touring tip, when you go out for the day in unfamiliar territory if you have a removable satnav before you leave the car add a favourite select use my location call it "car" then turn off and pocket it and take it with you.

When several hours later you need to find the car again just turn it on and select navigate to favourite called "car" and follow it back.

I used to feel a bit of a fool doing that years ago but now everyone wanders round peering at a phone so no-one takes any notice these days.

To keep the door from blowing about when you want it open all the time a bungee from handle to handle will keep it nicely open.

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It's also very handy for hanging your carrier bag of rubbish prior to taking it to the bins (which is what I also do)

Almost every site I go to these days the hookup point is less than 10 m away and I get more and more fed up having to reel out and lay out behind the van my standard 25 m hookup cable, and dry it then reel it all up again at the end.
So today wallet in hand I set off to the local caravan shop to buy a 10 m one,the reply when I got there was sorry sir we only stock the standard 25 m one.

Hanging above them were spare plugs and sockets so I bought one of each. Back home I roughly measured 10 m and chopped the end off put a plug on one bit and a socket on the other (make sure you get that the right way round)

So now I have 2 leads one 10m the other 15m if I need to I can plug them together to get my 25m back, plug and socket were 3 quid each so a lot cheaper than another lead would be and I dont have the added weight of another 10 m of cable to carry in the triton.

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Hi Hob, I had the same only in reverse. Dom gave me a cable which has done me well for the year. Then I went to a site and I was approx 15 ft short. A camper van had only just pulled into the nearest pitch to the EHU whereas I was further away and had to go an buy a new cable. If only I had got there 5 mins earlier I would have been OK. When in the morning the Camper was packing up they stated the obvious, if we had that pitch there was no need for a new one I smiled

While cleaning my fridge I noticed the chrome on the shelves was deteriorating

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So I cleaned them with some fine sandpaper and hung them up with some fishing line to be painted.
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The paint I used was hammerite metal paint smooth silver which can be used without a primer.
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Important ...Always wear a face mask while spraying paint there is some quite nasty stuff in spray paint cans.


Leave them to dry for 24 hours then hang them up the other way and give them another couple of coats to get the bits that were missed during the first spray.


after another 24 hours or so they should be dry and can be refitted, not tried them out yet but the paint should be ok

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The rail in the bottom shelf pulls out and can be done the same
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If you have awning poles that just slot into each other there is nothing worse than grabbing the top section while trying to put the awning up and the bottom half just falls off

Before you start just tape the joints together with a bit of insulation tape and they stay together.
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Top tip from another topic

Zitat

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New tyre on my car today, it was suggested by the tyre fitter that the old one was damaged beyond repair by running over a tent peg



So its well worth a long look at the ground on a site anywhere where you may take the car (and the caravan),

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Good one Roger, I have one of those in the garage, must add it to the "must take" items

Wenn Sie hier auf Links zu eBay klicken und einen Kauf tätigen, kann dies dazu führen, dass diese Website eine Provision erhält.

Reversing on to the hitch, getting somewhere near and in line can be a problem even with someone helping if you don't know what "left hand down" means or like me you have no-one to guide you.

After much pondering and playing with mirrors that never seem to point in the right direction I came up with this solution, I remembered a tool a fitter had at work to pick up small bits of metal dropped in inaccessible places which looked like an old fashioned car antenna with a magnet on the end and a pair of them, one on the tow-ball (they all have a flat bit on top) and another on the hitch lets you line things up and gives an idea of distance between the two.

Get two long ones so you can see them above the boot in the rear view mirror.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=magnetic+reach+tool&clk_rvr_id=1120642435414&gclid=CKn2lv7Cl9ACFfQK0wodbwcGmQ&geo_id=32251&MT_ID=10&crlp=150010769518_113&rlsatarget=kwd-1388157829&keyword=magnetic+reach+tool&treatment_id=7&poi=&adpos=1o1&device=c&crdt=0&ul_noapp=true

Other outlets are available

Fit one to each and line them up while reversing and watch for the tops to get close to each other and you can get within inches of the hitch and in line every time.

I thought after fitting a motor mover I would not need them any more but it still gets me close.
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For those odd times where you might get it wrong one of these for a few quid may save a lot of damage.

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Hi Nev

How did the painting of shelves work out as mine are looking a bit shabby and was thinking of doing the same

Regards

Mike