Your intrepid travellers managed to make six months without having anything really fall apart or breaking anything. But all good things come to an end, and a small series of items have broken in quick succession.
Our first little disaster was windblown, in that the door blew back into the fly screen and the catch on the bottom shattered. So though the fly screen still works there is no runner on the bottom. We have searched online for somewhere that sells the part but to no avail.
The next item to fall apart was one of the pan clips on the (Thetford) cooker, again have struggled to find replacements online.
As we drove along yesterday the fridge door (Dometic RML 9330) swung open and the bottle tray on the bottom of the door broke off. Again searching online for a replacement proved fruitless. As it is a new model.
None of the above are any fault with the build quality of the Van just bad luck, but what is really annoying is the impossibility of getting spares while on the move, or actually finding them online. Anyone with ideas, we would love to hear from you.
All in all, not good so we will get David busy with the glue in the short term to repair the shelf with some epoxy resin and hope that will last until we get back.
So what else is going on, well Spain is now on holiday and so the price of campsites has shot up. So we have switched to using Aires and freedom camping. Galicia has some amazing spots to stop your van and just look out to sea, all free. But what makes this possible is having a solar panel and refillable gas cylinders.
If you intend to park away from hook ups a 120-watt minimum solar panel is a must, we have been off grid now for over 10 days and the leisure batteries are fully charged every night. True luxury an inverter is another requirement for us as we have quite a bit of objects that need power. Pure sine inverters are best, more expensive but everything works! The pictures are where we stayed for the past few nights for nothing we even had fresh bread delivered
every day!
John Salkeld says
For what it’s worth Gorilla glue fixes many/most stuff. As long as you let it cure 24 hours minimum.
David says
Have not seen it here but good idea!
David says
Most items now repairs John!
Chris says
Try:
http://www.leisurespares.co.uk
David says
Have looked on the site but they only seem to have parts for older models. We will try emailing. Thanks for the link.
Michael Watkins says
Regarding the pan clips on the (Thetford) cooker. If you mean the 4 hard plastic U shaped fixings that go in each corner, I had 2 break on my hob and had them replaced under warranty. All 4 were replaced with a newer type. They look the same but are a flexible rubbery type material which is much better as they are not brittle and won’t break. I know that’s not going to help you now but there is an improved type available.
Mick
David says
Oddly enough that is the type we have but one split. Looking online I have not been able to find them.
Nigel Webber says
RML 9330 Fridge door catch replacement on my blog: http://www.veletron.com/?p=311