Our friends at Just Kampers have reduced the price of the excellent and regularly recommended Propex heater.
Make Heat While the Sun Shines (or tries to).
Save money on the Propex HS2000 heater unit at Just Kampers and install a new gas heater in your camper before the weather really takes a turn for the worse. The JK Team are offering £55 off their Propex HS2000 bundle kit (J19842), which gives you the super popular Propex heater as well as the gas fittings you’ll need to get it installed.
While they’d always recommend you get gas appliances like this installed by a registered professional, fitting a new heater is one of those jobs that’s better done in the summer, and you’ll be able to enjoy off-season trips in your toasty new camper!
Just a week away is the ABC, our annual AGM, BBQ and Club Camp – are you going?
Get together with members and hear what’s happening in your Club at our short AGM. The Barnstones site has served us really well over the last several years, and is located in Great Bourton, Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX17 1QU, just a couple of miles off the M40.
Scene of our earliest club BBQs, which are free for members, we’re very much looking forward to going back. We will be using a local hall to host the AGM part of proceedings, along with light refreshments. Just bring your membership card with you.
Price per night is £15 for a pitch (van with or without awning), but electric hook-up prices cannot be quoted at the moment, due to uncertainty in the market. I’ll share this information as soon as we have it, but please be reassured, we will be able to power the BBQ food storage safely 😊
I will be making all the bookings, just let me know your dates, how many adults, children and dogs, whether you need electric, and whether you’re bringing an awning. Places are limited so contact me soon to reserve your spot! Please do not book direct as there may be insufficient space on the rally field.
The site itself says, “Barnstones is a very attractive 4 star AA award winning site situated on the edge of the pretty village of Great Bourton. 3 miles from the historic town of Banbury, other attractions nearby are Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick Castle, Oxford, Blenheim Palace and the very beautiful Cotswolds area all within a 20 mile radius of the site. The site is very mature with beautiful landscaped grounds, full serviced pitches and hard standing pitches are available, all pitches have hook-ups provided, the high quality toilet block provides free showers, dishwashing facilities and a full laundry room. Wi-Fi and a children’s play area are available. A local pub serving very good food is 200 yards from the site.”
230V electric hook up allows you to use campsite supplies to give you mains 230v sockets inside your van, meaning you can use those everyday appliances whilst on your travels.
The easiest way to tackle a 230V Mains Hook Up in your van is using a kit that comes with all the parts you need. These are readily available and Just Kampers sell two great kits (don’t forget your discount) that have either a surface mount socket or flush mount socket.
The kit should contain: • Inlet Socket (Flush or Surface Mount) • Consumer Unit (25amp Draw) • 2 x 13amp Sockets • 2.5mm2 Cable (Socket to Consumer Unit) • 3 Core Flex (Consumer Unit to Sockets) The kit should be installed by a professional, unless you are confident with wiring and we would still suggest that the install is tested by a professional following self installation.
Father’s Day Weekend – Club Camp and Display at Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
It’s an extra-special one – bring along your Dad, or Dads, or just join us anyway 😊Ride on a steam train, take afternoon tea, and discover a new obsession! We already have several members signed up to join us at this exciting event, but there are still places, so get in touch to secure yours!
On the very edge of the Yorkshire Dales and within around 50 miles of the Lake District lies this wonderful piece of mechanical Victoriana.
The railway dates to 1888 and there is a mile and a half easy walk to the Priory, which is supposed to be rather gorgeous. We will camp at the station on the Friday and Saturday nights, the loos will be left open overnight, and daytime snacks will be available to purchase from the onsite café. I hope to be able to BBQ on the Saturday night but there are logistics to work around – more on that nearer the time. You are welcome to bring other generations of Fathers with you, there is a pub within a very short walk that offers accommodation – http://thecavendisharmsembsay.co.uk/. We are asking for a minimum £10 donation per van per night to go to help support this volunteer-led piece of history. If you would like to ride on the train and/or enjoy afternoon tea, please pre-book on their website.
Prices seem reasonable – train rides are available from £13.50 for a one-hour adult journey, £20 with breakfast thrown in, or £29 if you include afternoon tea. There’s also a Rail and Sail option plus dining choices – see loads more on their web site!
Indicator and Wiper Switch Assemblies Removal and Repair
The first step is to remove the steering wheel from the steering column. Before you start, it’s worth straitening the steering wheel/front wheels so that when the steering wheel goes back on, you know where to line it up. The steering wheel is fitted to a splined shaft within the column and is fixed with a single 24mm nut. To access the nut, the horn push in the centre of the steering wheel has to be removed. The horn push is usually made of plastic and is often brittle, so prizing off with a screw driver or metal scraper is not the best idea. I found that using a finger nail was sufficient, working my way round the horn push and lifting upwards (see pic 1). With the horn push removed, the 24mm nut should be revealed and there will also me a lead and crimp connected to a spade terminal. Remove this crimp to disconnect the lead and move to one side to create some space for a spanner. Using a 24mm ring spanner or socket and ratchet (an open ended spanner can slip easily), loosen the nut but do not remove at this point (see pic 2). Mark the position of the wheel in relation to the shaft using chalk, pencil or paint pen to assist in lining the wheel back up on fitment. Now, with the nut still fitted, give the steering wheel a tug upwards to free it from the splined shaft. It should become loose but the fitted nut will prevent you from smashing your face with the steering wheel (believe me!). With the wheel loose, remove the 24mm nut and lift the steering wheel off too. This will expose the indicator and wiper switch assemblies fitted to the top of the column (see pic 3). At this point, you want to remove the cap from your windscreen washer bottle to depressurise it (otherwise you will create a drinking fountain later on!) if you have pressure in your tank, you’re the exception
Now you can begin to remove the switch assemblies. Undo and remove the 4 small screws that hold switch assemblies inside the steering column and keep them safe with the 24mm nut from earlier. Now it’s time to disconnect the electrical connectors from the switch assemblies. Around halfway down the steering column, the plastic shroud ends. Underneath this shroud is three electrical connectors. The two nearest the driver seat are the two plugs for the wiper and indicator switches. Give these a gentle tug to disconnect them and tuck them to one side, they can’t be mixed up so don’t worry. With the electrical connectors removed, you can now begin to pull the switch assemblies up and out of the steering column. Do this slowly though as there are two pipes connected to the back of the wiper switch assembly for the windscreen washers. These can be disconnected at this stage and should have been depressurised earlier (see poic 4). Now you should be able to remove the switch assemblies, but be careful not to break the plastic wiring sleeves as these tend to quite brittle with age. With the assemblies removed, I could now see what had happened with my indictor lever, the bottom part of the lever mechanism that operates the switch had snapped ( see pic 5). The indicator and wiper switch assemblies are joined to form one piece but are easily split. They are held together with four metal sleeves and the two parts can be split easily using a screw driver (see pic 6). Once they are split, you can replace either the indicator or wiper switch assembly (or both) and fit the two back together using the four metal sleeves. Once back in one piece, fitment is the reverse of the removal. The hardest part of the fitment for me was locating the wiring plugs under the plastic shrouding into the correct location to push the connectors home. This picture helped me to locate the plugs and they are shaped in such a way that they can be guided into position (see pic 7). Once reconnected, I would recommend that you test all of the functions of the switches before refitting the screws and steering wheel, in case you have to take it all apart again! Don’t forget that you have marked the steering wheel to line it up when you refit it too. The last test should be the horn and don’t forget to re-pressurise the washer bottle!
Display your van and attend this smaller show for free, with an option to camp for just a tenner (advance booking essential). Stay all weekend or just a night, it’s up to you, the price is the same. It costs £7 to attend the show, but if you’re exhibiting your van, it’s free to get in, you just pay for your camping. What a bargain!
Here’s more from our Chairman:
”I was chatting to the organizer of this local car show. We went as an exhibit last year and were one of around 200 cars. The show is one day but it’s on a farm with entertainment barn music on the Saturday night and an adjacent pub with meals. There will be a few stalls with varied items for sale.” Well, thank you, Malcolm, sounds great! Visit vintageandcountryfair.co.uk more details, and email me if you’d like to be part of our Club Camp and display: events@vwt2oc.co.uk
Long time member Ian Crawford had issues with his van that he bought in 1972 at a year old. He still drives it! I should point out the van was a year old, not Ian.
Ian says:
An unusual problem solved the other day. My van would only turn over 2-3 times when ignition switched on, then it just refused to do anything! I connected my battery charger to the terminals (before switching on) and the lights showed the battery was 20% efficient. I then switched the charger on and literally within 15 seconds it said 100% charged. I disconnected and switched off the charger and attempted to start the van. As before, it only turned over 2-3 times then it wouldn’t do anything. Reconnecting the charger it again showed only 20%! Once again, charging for around 15 seconds showed the battery 100% charged. Time to retreat and think hard as to what the problem really was and how to solve it. I slept on it and the next day I had a brainwave! I decided to remove the battery earth strap from where it is bolted to the chassis. Using a steel wool pan scourer, I gave the bare metal a thorough good scrub as well as the underside of the fixing lug of the earth strap. I also smeared Vaseline over both surfaces. I then refitted the earth strap into the chassis fixing hole and went to start it up. Surprise surprise, it started first time!! So if you have experienced problems with starting, maybe removing and cleaning the metal around the fixing of the earth strap will solve it. Hope this gives members some useful tips.
