Picking-up Monty

His Bit
So On picking Monty up, our first venue was a festival for one week, which meant parking in a field, I thought on this and made my own jack pads after being warned the plastic ones could crumble and wood would get wet and break-up eventually (Thank you Empire RV), and nearly 8 Tonnes slipping off its jacks was not a happy thought. I found some old scrap military trackway for tanks, which all slots together, cut it into small oblongs big enough for the jack feet.

Home made Jack Pads

Jack pads as ramp and wheel height adjusters

Jack pads stacked to help jack level

They can double up as sand ladders or stacking pads and can take far more weight than Monty. They worked well in the field and have continued to make me smile at every site so far. Monty’s size had us sent to a far flung area, and this was the first hint size was an issue and apparently did matter to some. That said, Monty was much admired and we gave many tours to fellow campers who came to gawk at the beast. We are thinking of charging an entry fee and hiring a tour guide.
Loading and unloading Mike was found to be a struggle, the ramp was prone to slipping or tipping and it was really a three man job that myself and the boss had to fill. Either an accident or a divorce was becoming likely and it made us hesitate to unload Mike, which makes Mike pointless and a heavy mistake to haul around. A quick redesign and a trip to a metal worker friend and we had the ramp modified with a pin to hold in place during loading, and a locking shoe slide for the side stand to hold Mike upright whilst I put the transit straps on. With the ramp secure and an end stop welded in place I could dare use Mikes engine to get up the ramp, the new end stop ensured no stunts were performed and the locking shoe slide ensured I maintained the same physical shape (Round is a shape) I started out with when putting the transit straps on. The modifications meant I had to move the number plate board back a little, which involved Hacksaws, angle grinder and large hammers and much grunting.

Modified bike rack

Innovation of Side stand shoe lock

The end product works well, but I think I see room for improvement if building from scratch, the central mount should allow the rack to tilt and lock in place to load, this would shorten the ramp (which would be lighter and make the incline less steep. Once loaded, tilt to level and lock pin in place, I will have to talk to my metal worker friend, I am sure he could make something really amazing. in the mean time, marriage saved and Mike is in full use, and it feels safe to load and unload.

So what else did we find our RV lacked or needed changing in the first Month of use?

1.       We needed tyre covers, motor homes are static a lot of the time and the sun perishes the rubber, E-bay had a Chinese manufacturer that did lorry wheel sizes, they were quick, very cheap and amazingly good.

Chinese (e-bay) wheel covers

 2.    The Rhino sewage hose is too short for some sites, and that is a mess you really do not want to see or smell, you will pull to stretch and the hose will part at the locking ring, really not nice. I found RV Medics did an extension and quickly got that and fitted it, and we have been so glad I did, the smell just does not wash off, it takes time to go.

Rhino Grey Black drain hose with extender fitted

3.       Power consumption, Monty is blessed with its own generator, but most of the time, Monty is on a site hook-up for power. Some sites charge for the power consumed, also if no hook up, its good if the batteries can support the water heater, pump and all the lights, so where can you save? The lights is the answer, fit LED lights, they are brighter and can cut by 90% the power draw from the lights. And they last, unlike filament bulbs.

4.       Power hook-up Electrical leads. You need a long one, 16 amp blue connector, by long 25 to 30 Metre. You also need adaptors, the French use the two pin on some sites and even one site in Spain used the two pin. Mark your adapters with your vehicle registration.

UK and Europe 13 Amp hook-up cables/adaptors

Also get a phase rotation tester, not all sites have their Live and neutral the right way round.

5.       Water hose. You will need to tank up with potable water, when you do, you need a clean safe potable water hose. I always drain after use and screw the two ends together to maintain its internal cleanliness. Also when I do top up, I run the hose to ensure any old stagnant that might be there is flushed before I put it in to the tank. So far, no Dhelli belly, so I must be doing something right. A friend gave me a cunning device, which is a bit of hose with a washing machine tap on it, so you can put the hose in the tank, go to tap, turn on and not have the demon spitting hose from hell. You can calmly go to the tank, turn on and fill, turn off when done and go to tap, so thanks Eddy.

Eddy's cunning water fill tap

LPG Adaptors and glove for Europe travels

6.       If you are LPG, then you need to get adaptors for Europe, there are the American ACME, British/Holland Bayonet, French Dish and Spanish Euro connectors. I forgot the Spanish ones and I now have to plead in every Repsol garage to use their “Just in case a dumb Brit forgets Spare” Usually it fits the French Dish so I have UK to French to Spanish, which is not good and asking for a leak during refilling, this is my particular piece of humble pie, no sweetener and served cold. I ordered from the LPGshop in UK and received the adaptors in 5 days. I have the pictures here of what I should of had with me in the first place.  Glove is to avoid cold burns. The centre adaptor threaded both ends in USA ACME to UK 14mm adaptor.

UK Bayonet with internal 14mm thread to Euro adaptor

UK bayonet internal 14mm thread to French dish

UK Bayonet fitting with the internal 14mm thread for adaptors

7.       Non slip rubber mesh. Odd one this, you will go mad with all the rattling and clanking coming from the refrigerator and cupboards. Cut to size and put on every shelf and between your plates. Silence is golden! the Boss lady will cover this in her bit.

8.       Same vane as item 7, tubular mesh for your bottles, slip it on and you no longer think your are trapped in a milk float. All available on e-bay and Amazon of course. its is one size fits all, but very effective.

Anti rattle bottle mesh

9.       A cutlery roll, its cloth with pouches, put your cutlery in, roll up and tie with a bow, and bliss, no metallic clanking from the draws. The boss has this so well sorted and will cover this in her bit, on one drive I could hear a tapping, it was my plastic water bottle by my driver seat in the plastic bottle holder, she wrapped the bottle base in kitchen towel and the silence was back along with being glared at for complaining about the tapping.

The next one is what did we pack and were immensely glad we did:

1.       Tools, something will need fixing, its guaranteed. I struggled to get my tools down to an acceptable bulk and weight. Electrical test meter (Digital volt meter), I kept my drill pack with screw driver heads and driver handle, its got it all and little weight and bulk. I put sockets on wire coat hangers and ditched the heavy containers. Pliers and snips, you just have to suck it up, you need the choice. I kept my rechargeable drill and use or used it much more than I ever thought I would. Junior hacksaw, tape measure and last but not least a set square and spirit level (small).

2.       Bits and bobs from the garage. Tape, its essential you need double sided, Gorilla, Foil backed, PTFE tape and the old favourite masking tape. WD40, 3 in 1, PTFE spray, solvent to degrease. Oh and tie wraps which I have used so much I have actually had to get some more. Bath sealant clear (great for keeping water out and in).

3.       Look at your vehicle and make a set of spares for fuses and lamps, carry a small amount of spare wires.

4. Glues (metal bond, araldite, super glue, Bostik, fixings, sticky back hook and loop (Velcro).
   Cleaning materials, the most important of which, a good glass cleaner, your windows will get coated in dead bugs, sand, dust and be targeted by birds (what the hell do they eat to make that purple cement?).

Remember, there are DIY stores all over the place, so you can take the approach of get it if you need it, which is ok if you are not on the side of a motorway, its an option and a gamble, but can save a lot of weight.

Her Bit

Forward Plans.

Deciding to leave the UK in September and return next May (MOT for Monty), meant choosing clothes, shoes, tools, kitchen equipment & medical and toiletries-for 9 months & changing seasons. This took some juggling for space and taking what was really necessary. We may not have this right and only time will tell, but I think I probably have too much 😉

The hardest thing was leaving the family behind for so long. It all sounds very easy as we are not far away, but I was used to seeing my daughter and my sister several times a week, and seeing my two sons and granddaughters very often-so it was a real wrench going away and knowing I would probably not see them for such a long time. It is fine keeping in touch by e mail, What’s App/Facetime, but not the same at all as just being able to drop in and see them in person. It is early days now-so I do not know how difficult this is going to be, but it is a decision we have made so at the moment, we have to stick to it. We had to do our traveling whilst we were both fit.

There is a lot to learn with driving such a large vehicle, so although it was not legally necessary, Steve took his LGV test (5 days intensive £1500). Steve was really glad he did and learned a lot of useful tips whilst driving 18-ton trucks around Bristol! He also did his Certificate of Professional Certification (CPC) which would allow him to drive for financial gain having got his HGV license. So, we upgraded the RV which was 7.5 ton to the original 8.1 ton-just to be sure we would not be overweight, this was just a paperwork exercise to change the registration document to match the permitted weight loading of the vehicle.

Learning Curve

Steve has ridden a motor bike since a teenager, in fact, he has raced motorbikes and done moto cross, so buying a scooter was a very hard thing for him to do. He had to completely change his style of riding to get used to the scooter, and even worse, to me being on the back! When we are out on the road and another motor bike or scooter goes past-I can feel the tension as he has to hold himself back from opening the throttle and racing past them. The increased pressure of my knees into his buttocks reminds him I am on the back-so keep the speed down so we can look around at the scenery.

 Marshalling.

 Part of my job, amongst others, was to learn to marshal Steve & Monty into spaces when required. Although Monty has side cameras, they are not very clear and distort the view somewhat. We practised at home with Steve holding a mop under his arm with the handle behind, to denote the length of the vehicle. If I marshalled him into a wall or doorway, it was, “that’s another scratch” or “£100 for re painting “ or ‘that is definitely a serious dent!’ I found it quite difficult so we also got 2 way radios so I could actually direct him by voice. We have had a few mistakes in the house 😉

Some good buys.

Like most people, deciding what you ‘need’ to have with you and ned to buy can be challenging. I had most kitchen stuff but one of the items I bought was a flat toaster. Basically, it is a metal plate with a top one with holes in and a handle. You put the toaster on the gas ring and turn it on with the bread on the top-and just toast as usual.

Toaster (Bright Spark) top view

Bright Spark underside view

I also bought from Amazon a cutlery roll-just like a jewellery roll really. It is black strong twill material with different size pockets in for cutlery and you can roll it up and tie it with the ties on the side. This stops a drawer full of noisy cutlery bouncing around and is easy to see what you want.

Cutlery roll

Cutlery rolled for travel

We also found the big plastic tubs that have protein shake in were ideal for cereals and I also used one for washing powder- they stop the packets spilling out and any insects getting in.

Tub used to keep the cereals fresh

Lining the fridge and freezer shelves and door with non-slip matting was also a good idea

Non-slip spongy mesh cut from a roll

and we got some nylon slip on bottle mesh for wine or any glass jars. My lovely husband has covered this in his bit.



Now.

So, this is how I find myself sat behind a German family on a ferry to France, and them serving out a lunch of prepared salad in bowls followed by a dessert of yoghurt- impressively very organised.

Have we had any disasters so far? At the time we considered them as such. The width of the vehicle presents some problems on the UK roads, especially as it is left hand drive. Sometimes the mirrors (which do not fold in), are passing through bushes/trees either side of the road. Once a branch from a hedge got caught in the awning arm mounting point and broke the catch, which had to be replaced (£20).

One camp site we stayed in UK had the sewage water too far away for our hose to reach so we had to lift up the manhole cover to eject the water, Luckily, Steve had packed a jemmy!. To do this we were stretching the hose somewhat and toward the end (mercifully) the hose parted company at the neck, Steve was delighted to be doused in the smelly fluid as you can imagine, fortunately he always wears arm length rubber gloves when doing this task. It did take some time to wash out the Grey and Black water bay. That made us decide to order an extension to the hose and we have used it several times since.

Another time our amazing sat nav could not find the wi fi in the vehicle and switched off instead of using the GPS signal, so we ended up on a narrow country road, and on turning to back track, broke the drivers mirror on a protruding twig-that cost us over £200 but it was a second hand one instead of the £1000 for a new one. Ouch!

After a problem with Aguri, we also bought a Snooper sat nav and we use them both to check routes and plan the best place to re fuel or stop overnight or longer.

When we bought Monty our one concern was whether it would go up our driveway so we could park by the house to permit loading and configuration. We lived in a cul de sac and the residents, who we had little contact with the 2 years we were there-were fascinated to see this huge vehicle arrive and then me marshalling it up the driveway.

We did get it there with a lot of shuffling and encouragement from the neighbours. They said they had not had such excitement in two years 😉 We loved having an audience on our first challenge as I am sure you can imagine.