A tent against heating up

Now after the winter months I again can devote some time to working on the camper. The first issue is to create a "tent" which provides a shadow in which the van can stand. My idea is to mount a kind of tarpaulin directly onto the camper, which can provide this shadow.

So I get a tarpaulin that is large enough to cover the whole roof. The 4 strong wooden poles, 4 tennis balls, and 4 flag holders.

Here is how this went:

First I mounted flag holders onto the outside of the vehicle.

Then I screwed tennis balls onto strong wooden poles ant placed these poles into the flag holders:

Then came the difficult process of putting the tarpaulin on the roof and attach it to these 4 poles.

And that is how it looks when the tarpaulin is attached:

One problem though: the tarpaulin is very sensitive to wind:

But my method of affixing the tarpaulin is not final yet... I need a way of stretching the tarpaulin so that is is straight and less affected by the wind. 

Expensive Service

The last documented service had been in 2016. So I brought the camper to HAASS in Ludwigsburg,

Several issues:

• leaking wheel hub
• defective hardy disk
• brake disks worn
• brakes stuck and rusty
• warning light re engine: something about the ignition

All needed to be fixed.

Took a whole week.

But now the camper is in top condition, for all the challenges that it will expect in 2025.

Trailer

 Had ordered online a trailer.

Munich - Octoberfest

Despite the warning lights I decided to use the camper to stay 2 nights in Munich.

First a stop at the Dickmanns family.

Then staying at a special campground at the Messegelände, only for the Octoberfest.

Travel to Switzerland

Looking for a holiday home on camp sites.

I tried in vain to get Socks into the camper. Flint was OK, but Socks jumped out. 

So I left without the two cats.

Staying at a campground in Ticino.

Driving along Lake Como. Small towns in Italy.

Short stop along Lake Como.

Up the Simplon Pass.

Simplon Pass.

Campground Bella-Tola in Susten.

Two warning lights on the way back:

Flint and Socks ride with the camper the first time

I managed to get my two cats into the camper cabin. And we did a 1-hour ride. Socks hid somewhere at the bottom. Flint was a bit more attentive to the traffic.

 

Both cats seemed to be relieved when we arrived back home.

Weak blinker

My brother had noticed that my lane change blinkers in the rear were kind of weak. I opened the lights, and there was no reflector at all! Just white plastic.

I added a bit of foil. But later I realised that the weak light was due to some corrosion at the rear bulb contact. So I removed the foil. But I spray-painted the interior of the blinker case with a reflective paint. Seems to work well now.

Travelling to Hamburg - Miniature Wunderland

Travelling to Hamburg with my brother Winny. Two campers.

Staying two nights at the camp site "Krautsand":

Breakfast in the camper:

Winny has a nice water kettle:

It's hot in here! A few countermeasures.

 I think this is the record temperature in the Luton box:

I need to do something about it. One measure is to add a portable air conditioning unit. It consists of 2 parts: one to be mounted inside, the other at the outside. Is supposed to be hung out of a window. I use the upper half of the emergency door as a window. Needed to cut a ark plexiglas screen which is to be inserted into the opening of the window.

And: success. The temperature went down.

Another attempt: using a blue tarpaulin outside over the roof. 

But the effect was negligible: 

Need to mount the tarpaulin higher, so that there is at least 10 cm air between the tarpaulin an the roof.