caravan
More caravan pictures in Krakow
25/05/11 20:59 Filed in: Travel
Some friends asked for more pictures. Here they are saying more than 1000 words. The camping place is about 5km south east of the city centre. Beautiful, clean and with WIFI!
What do caravans and camels have in common?
16/05/11 15:30 Filed in: Travel
On the way from Prague to Wroclaw (Breslau) had again a flat tire of the caravan and spent more than an hour to replace it... OK, now I don’t have any old tires anymore. I hope that’s it to that topic.
Several roads were closed and my GPS navigated me through little roads and towns. I didn’t expect that, because I had chosen the option to use easy ways for trucks. Maybe there are no easier roads? Anyway, together with the flat tire, the whole trip took me a whole day although the distance is not that big. The A4 in Poland is in very good condition with very little traffic.
Arriving in Wroclaw, I must say the centre, the old town is quite beautiful and full of life! The only problem is the quality of the roads in the old town. They seem to be just as old as the town and the driving in first gear through it felt like riding a camel... I think it is still OK for a normal car and is also OK for my bicycle, but with a caravan, it is shaking wildly
Several roads were closed and my GPS navigated me through little roads and towns. I didn’t expect that, because I had chosen the option to use easy ways for trucks. Maybe there are no easier roads? Anyway, together with the flat tire, the whole trip took me a whole day although the distance is not that big. The A4 in Poland is in very good condition with very little traffic.
Arriving in Wroclaw, I must say the centre, the old town is quite beautiful and full of life! The only problem is the quality of the roads in the old town. They seem to be just as old as the town and the driving in first gear through it felt like riding a camel... I think it is still OK for a normal car and is also OK for my bicycle, but with a caravan, it is shaking wildly
Caravan
13/05/11 16:26 Filed in: Travel
An old Caravan is like an old house. Charming, but repairs, repairs and repairs..
Here are some lessons learned after a week of spending quality time with my caravan:
The water pump: It needs to be under water all times. After refilling the canister I found that the pump was working from an electrical point of view, but not pumping any water. The guy next door told me that it has to have a screw that I need to open and fill with water. Well, mine doesn’t have a screw, so I had to put it first in a different water bath where I could turn it upside down under water. Indeed I could see a lot of air bubbles coming out and then it worked fine again. Now I will refill the canister without moving it out of the caravan.
Parking: Last day in Würzburg I had parked it AND disconnected from the car uphill. Bad idea. The handbreak of the caravan barely kept it stable. That was almost OK, but putting it back on the hook of the car... Well I am certainly not strong enough to move it around in that situation. I had to move the car precisely to the spot to get the two married again..
An old caravan with lots of screws has many loose screws..
It is a good idea to have spare lamps, just like the car. When the cars behind you can’t see you blinking left or right, you might end up in exciting situations...
The water-tap: Well, normally, a water-tap is either blocking the water or allows some water to flow all mechanically right? In a caravan, you don’t have that water pressure. So you need a pump to be switched on and off at the moment you turn the water-tap. So there is also a switch. Exactly that switch was not working anymore. Luckily, I had my multimeter with me and I could find that the problem was indeed with the tap and not with the wiring anywhere else. So it is good to have one of these multimeters with you too. And an other tip: Do not try to repair it. It took me 1,5 days of improvisation. One solution lead to an other problem. Just buy a new one and replace the whole thing...
I hope that is the end of repairs.
One last word about the tires: New tires are really, really good. After I had them replaced, I had not only a better feeling, but also realized that the car was pulling the caravan much easier!
Here are some lessons learned after a week of spending quality time with my caravan:
The water pump: It needs to be under water all times. After refilling the canister I found that the pump was working from an electrical point of view, but not pumping any water. The guy next door told me that it has to have a screw that I need to open and fill with water. Well, mine doesn’t have a screw, so I had to put it first in a different water bath where I could turn it upside down under water. Indeed I could see a lot of air bubbles coming out and then it worked fine again. Now I will refill the canister without moving it out of the caravan.
Parking: Last day in Würzburg I had parked it AND disconnected from the car uphill. Bad idea. The handbreak of the caravan barely kept it stable. That was almost OK, but putting it back on the hook of the car... Well I am certainly not strong enough to move it around in that situation. I had to move the car precisely to the spot to get the two married again..
An old caravan with lots of screws has many loose screws..
It is a good idea to have spare lamps, just like the car. When the cars behind you can’t see you blinking left or right, you might end up in exciting situations...
The water-tap: Well, normally, a water-tap is either blocking the water or allows some water to flow all mechanically right? In a caravan, you don’t have that water pressure. So you need a pump to be switched on and off at the moment you turn the water-tap. So there is also a switch. Exactly that switch was not working anymore. Luckily, I had my multimeter with me and I could find that the problem was indeed with the tap and not with the wiring anywhere else. So it is good to have one of these multimeters with you too. And an other tip: Do not try to repair it. It took me 1,5 days of improvisation. One solution lead to an other problem. Just buy a new one and replace the whole thing...
I hope that is the end of repairs.
One last word about the tires: New tires are really, really good. After I had them replaced, I had not only a better feeling, but also realized that the car was pulling the caravan much easier!
Project Status
28/04/11 20:29 Filed in: Travel
Car to caravan interface test - check (mechanical & electrical)
Caravan training - check
Keys - check
Driving lesson - check
Car inspection - check
Paper work - Done
Packing - on the critical path
The transfer of the ownership of a caravan was the fun of the day. You need to do it at a post office. Of course the first one you go to tells you they can’t do it. So you need to find one with this capability. Then you need to prove where you live in the Netherlands, if you are a foreigner. Maybe this is a well meant security measure, but given the fact that it was not needed when I bought a car or even a house, it seems a bit exaggerated to me.
The transfer of the ownership of a caravan was the fun of the day. You need to do it at a post office. Of course the first one you go to tells you they can’t do it. So you need to find one with this capability. Then you need to prove where you live in the Netherlands, if you are a foreigner. Maybe this is a well meant security measure, but given the fact that it was not needed when I bought a car or even a house, it seems a bit exaggerated to me.
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