Slow Build in Oz

[featherliteCT1]

I like those wind shields on the sides of your stove.

Wow, those 1 lb propane bottles are expensive where you live. They cost about $4.00 each here in the States where I live. I bought one of those $20 adapters and find it very easy to refill the store bought 1 lb bottles from a 20 pound propane tank. I also bought some of the empty refillable bottles specifically made for refilling. Lots cheaper to refill!

[TimC]

The teardrop looks great Mick. I've been watching the build and I like your ingenuity! Love the black wheels. It really makes a nice touch. Anxious to see what your plans are for a tongue box if you are going that route.

I bought one of the refill adapters for my one pound cylinders as well but could never get much gas into the empty cylinders. I tried the freezer method of prepping the cylinder, tipping the 20# bottle upside down, etc. Never got much gas into the bugger. Since then I've scraped the small Weber Q grill idea and no longer use the Coleman three burner stove. I've found I prefer the Cobb charcoal grill more than the gas grills because of the Cobb's small size. As far as a gas stove I use the cheap one burner that you can find by various brand names. The butane cylinders are not too hard to find (when I see them at the big box stores I usually grab a couple) and last a decent number of meals.

Tim

[MickinOz]

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen.
I too have survived for years with a single burner butane stove. The canisters here can be had for as little as $1 US.
But, I was keen for a two burner setup. and the 2 burner butane canister stoves are really long.
That little primus two burner is a little less than 18 inches long when packed. The 2 burner butane stoves are more than 25 inches long.
So, with the stove costing less than a beer at the pub, I decided I must experiment.
I'm not sure of the next steps, but I've got 7 of those propane cylinders, so I have a little time to ponder.
The other day, I succumbed to temptation, and bought an adaptor on Ebay. It is supposed to allow the connection of one of those long butane canisters to the 1" Coleman fitting.
A lot of the stoves sold as LPG stoves here in Oz are rated for both propane and butane.
I'm going to try it. I'll fit it, spray everything with soapy water, and if there are no bubbles I'll light it.
I have doubts about the ability to supply enough gas, but we'll see.
I am somewhat driven by altruism, believe it or not. Someone has to try it and report back. My turn to risk a few bucks un the name of furthering the knowledge.
That's if the fitting arrives - we are currently having a massive political dispute wit China, and trade is disrupted. Our politicians are sticking to their guns, but I do wish they'd use more conciliatory language. Don't poke the (panda) bear.

I think the tongue box will be very conventional.

[MickinOz]

My day job has been somewhat hectic.
In 7 weeks, we've pretty much developed a new metallurgical process using a plant that was built in 1956 and decommissioned in 2019.
Management seem pleased.
So, I haven't used the camper since the maiden voyage on New Year's Eve.
Not much has occurred in the teardrop building sphere since then.
I've developed the stove installation a little and purchased another sheet of 7mm plywood. Hope to further develop the galley and get a tongue box happening soon.
It won't be big, just enough to hold the camp chairs, table and maybe a toilet seat, axe and shovel.

In the mean time, I do read a few trip reports etc.
When I see reports of people having visited nearly every one of the lower 48 states of the US, I'm in awe.
So I just hit google maps.
Here's the deal:
South Australia, my home state, adjoins four states and one territory.
Distance from my home to Eucla, the closest settlement in Western Australia - 652 miles.
Kulgera in the Northern territory - 648 miles
Birdsville in Queensland - 605 miles
Broken Hill in NSW - a mere 245 miles
Mildura in Victoria - 280 miles

I wonder if I might eventually wear out a set of tyres.

[edgeau]

Central to everywhere. convenient

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[MickinOz]

Today I started thinking about the box for the drawbar,
This required pulling the 'drop out of the shed t o access the plywood offcuts that I stored on the floor under it.
So, I thought I'd tidy up the galley. Just check the battery electrolyte level (it was fine), put away a few stove bits I've been playing with, etc.
So, I figured I'd address another little issue.
Watching youtube to learn how to perc coffee in the pot, I discovered the upmarket ones have a little clip to stop the lid falling off when pouring the coffee.
My budget special camping kit doesn't run to such luxuries.
So, I grabbed an old bike spoke (I knew those springy little buggers would come in come in handy one day) and my fencing pliers and bent up a lid retaining clip.

Coffee Pot.JPG (72.08 KiB) Viewed 3930 times

[MickinOz]

Was in two minds about posting this.
No one enjoys admitting their build isn't perfect.
However, it's more in the spirit of the forum to post your problems and what you do to fix them.
So here it is:
The missus said, "I'm going out to visit the grand son, wanna come?" He's 5 months old and the novelty of being able to pass the kid back to mum or dad for a nappy change hasn't worn off yet.
I left the trailer in the drive, still hooked up to the ute.
It was just starting a few drops of rain as we reversed out.
The missus asked if I should put it away.
"No," I said. "Gotta find out if it it's OK in the rain sometime, may as well be now, not on a trip."
So we went to the kids' place, ooh'd and aah'd over the baby for a while, reiterated my threat to teach the kid to do all the things my son did that tested me when he was a teenager, and came home an hour or so later.

It rained (lightly - it is South Oz after all) most of the time we were away.
So I opened the hatch for a look.
Water inside!

Devastated.

Closer inspection, it looks like the water is coming straight through, under the forward edge of the hurricane hinge.
Looks like the bond between the Sika 252 and the hinge has failed.
This is a trait I have noticed with this material. It's great when it's a fillet filling a corner where two panels meet, but flat surface to flat surface with a thin layer in between, it lets go of the side with the weakest bond. Very easily.
It's like the movement in the joint is too much in terms of percentage stretch for a thin layer.

I consider unscrewing the hinge lifting it and putting in some more Sika Flex, but I've done it once pretty carefully and it has failed.
So I figure I'll try the easy way first.
So, I'm off out side to remove any squeeze out with a tile tool I found that is the perfect shape for the job.

Then I'm going to lightly sand the surfaces and tape up and install a new fillet of sika.

Reseal Hinge.JPG (37.49 KiB) Viewed 3924 times

[MickinOz]

My "cure" seems to have worked. I installed a fillet of sikaflex as illustrated. I repainted the roof section leading down tto the hinge. Sanded the old paint, put on 1 coat of Zinsser primer, two coats oil based enamel. Seems to have done the job.
It's not raining, but liberal application of rainwater from a watering can seems unable to penetrate.

[edgeau]

Good on you. Posting problems and fixes is really valuable content for others.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[MickinOz]

Life has been a bit busy.
Work is going crazy and I find myself with little remaining energy after a long week.
Just to top it off, I bought another boat the other day. He who dies with the most toys wins, they say.

I spent most of Easter trying to get the boat ready for the winter season. Here in South Oz, there is a usually fairly productive winter fishing season.
So I greased control cables and steering, swapped out a few mild steel fasteners, inventoried the safety gear.
That wasn't hard - no life jackets, no oars, no flares, no anchor rope and chain, no fire extinguisher, no floating flashlight/torch, not much of anything.
Easily rectified though.
I had a brand new set of Australian Oak oars in the shed (garage sale )
Bought a dolphin torch (garage sale. )
Had rope in shed.

I've long wanted a single handed centre console boat. In a lot of ways, pretty much a teardrop philosophy.
Small, light to tow, easily handled by one person, but surprisingly roomy and functional.
Needs to be an "off roader" though.
We get a lively wind driven bay chop here that really tests some boats.

I'm not a big fan of aluminium boats, so when a little 13 feet 8 inch fibre glass cat was advertised locally, I acted quickly.
I'm now the happy owner of a 4.2 metre centre console "shark cat" with drive on trailer and twin 25 hp mercury motors.

It's a "sharkcat" in the same sense my trailer is "Benroy".
i.e. my trailer is shaped a bit like a Benroy, but old Ben never saw it.
Same with my cat - it's shaped like a Sharkcat, but old Bruce Harris never saw it.
Cats work well in a chop, those that were drawn right. We'll see.

Went to a garage sale today - found myself a nice little timber case I think will work just fine as a utensils case in the 'drop.
$4. Can't grizzle.

Case 1.JPG (46.56 KiB) Viewed 3695 times

Case 2.JPG (40.53 KiB) Viewed 3695 times

[MickinOz]

Rockin' a severe case of too much to do, too little time.
I knocked off from work pretty late last night (Friday night). Wife had dinner on the table when I got home, so I ate that, then suggested we grab the 'drop and go sleep out at a RV park about 8 miles out of town.
She said, "see you in the morning."
So I grabbed some breakfast supplies, a quilt (it's starting to get a little cooler at nights), and a couple DVD's and went by myself.
Had a great sleep, and learned a little more about my galley needs and wants.
1) Galley works much easier if the table and chairs don't have to be lifted out of the way - I bought some ply but haven't got around to making time to build a tongue box, but I've just about decided it isn't optional, unless I'm happy putting stuff in the bed of the truck.
2) Little 2 burner stove works pretty well, but being unregulated cylinder pressure, adjusting one burner affects the other - gotta learn the magic touch.
3) Coffee is one tbsp per cup, plus "one for the pot", perc gently for about 12-15 minutes. That makes a very satisfying brew.
4) Breakfast is much safer if one pays proper protection to the local magpies. Good thing they are by far my most favourite bird.
5) DVD player was a little loud mechanically - wasn't like that during the test run - maybe it doesn't like travelling?
6) Cabinet sliding doors bunding a little - may be some wax or silicon spray in their future.

Park.JPG (158 KiB) Viewed 3637 times

[Shadow Catcher]

We had a problem with our galley hing leaking and it was cured by using a section of rubber roofing.
Good job btw.

[MickinOz]

Update - fixed two problems in one go.
Looking for the source of the horrible scratching noise the port side cabinet door was making as I slid it open, I found that the safety label on the back of the TV was peeling off the case and the free end was pushing on the face of the door. This label is actually on the back of the section where the DVD player is contained.
I pushed it back down into place, where it has stayed for now, and the horrible dry scratchy noise the door was making as I opened and closed it miraculously went away.
Hmmm, said the little voice in my head.
So I put a DVD in the TV and hit play.
Suddenly the mechanical noise of the DVD player was back to what I expected it to be!
The reasonably stiff plastic label was apparently transmitting the sound of the DVD to the door which was acting as a bit of a sounding board.
Seems so, anyway.
No doubt that dodgy label will peel again, at which point it's going in the bin.

[MickinOz]

Started a box for the draw bar this weekend.
Using up off-cuts where I can, so the box is around 11 inches wide inside, 53 inches long, and 16.5 inches deep.
Not very big, about 135 litres, but enough for the folding camp table, two folding chairs, axe and shovel, wheel brace, jack, poles if ever I need some, etc.
Lid will just drop over the top and pull down with a couple draw latches.

Box 1.JPG (120.53 KiB) Viewed 1836 times

Box 2.JPG (98.64 KiB) Viewed 1836 times

[MickinOz]

Got a call from a workmate over the weekend.
"You at work tomorrow?"
" 'Fraid so"
"You know where I always park me ute?"
"Yep, walk past it every morning on my way in."
"Well tomorrow, lift the door on the canopy and look in the back, there's a present in there for ya."

So I did. And there was.

Four ol' skool polished aluminium hubcaps.

Hubcap.JPG (167.98 KiB) Viewed 1773 times

Dunno exactly how I will fit them to the modern rims, but I'll find a way.