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First of all I must apologise for not writing on here for a couple of months.

Ifyou have read me previous posts you will now that I bought a caravan with damp, stripped it out and resealed it and basically rebuilt it.

So friday afternoon we decided to go away for the weekend as a try out we got an awning and wanted to make sure we could do anything and see if we find any faults so we can fix them before we have our main holiday in it.

I may put things on this that you dont agree but please tell me i wont be offended I want to learn.

First thing we packed the caravan, put awning over the axles and put clothes and food in bags and didnt pack any of the cupboards until we arrived.

Now when we got this caravan it had no stabillser and I found towing it not a problem and everyone recommecned an alko so i bought one, and found it made no difference towed not a problem took it easy and was very carfeull, after all i have my kids, 2 dogs and wife in car, took it easy and even found myself doing 70mph on motorway no problem.

Anyway got to caravan site, it actually takes a good 10 minutes to lower legs, put elctrics on, sorted cassette toilet out and then filled water up, then problems began, the pump would not stop working and it was leaking out of the cascade, this was at night so we switched the pump of when we did not need water, even so in the first 24 hours went through 160 litres of water, everything was bleed correctly etc, so in the morning purchased a new water pupm and new pressure switch fitted them and still no difference anither £70 for nothing, got home and stripped it down and after alot of reasearch, found out it is the fusibale nut, which apperently you cant get any more, but i found some ebay, but can not untighten it, but if it put too much pressure on it i may shear it. Half thinking of bypassing the water heater and just have cold water in the caravan, after all we will never use the shower,washing up i found it easier to use the sinks on site, and to buy a secound hand heater would cost about £200 and second hand and no guarntee it would work.

Then I put the awning up, the poles were a 10 minute job, but to get it through the awning rail took about an hour, but i understand you can buy some liguid to make easier so will have to try this.

Also the heater would not iginite, but as this is gas I have an engineer on tuesday to look at it, I will try my hands at most things, but because its gas and i have kids I am not going to touch it.

Also is it law to have the extended mirros on your car?

James

hi paul, thank you for your feedback.

To be honest i didnt know about the 60mph limit on motorways, till saturday so on today, i put cruise control on at 60mph

Andy

Quiet agree with you, but we all have to start learning from some were. I think i am doing pretty well considering i knew nothing about caravans 7 months and now I have managed to rebuild and reseal one.

And, of course, you are not allowed in the overtaking ( 3rd ) lane of a 3 lane motorway !!

DaveS1

3 penalty points and a £60 fixed penalty notice for failure to use mirrors when towing a carvan that is wider than the car. The mirrors must be "type approved" and carry the EU "CE" mark, so not just any old heath robinson combination. You must have a mirror on both sides of the tow car.

No mirrors and you just draw attention to yourself and your outfit. When spotted by Mr Plod he may just point his speed gun at you as well just for good measure. Oops another few points and a penalty. Then, if you get pulled up they could always prevent you from going any further until you get some mirrors. Milencos are a good make.

Phil

engineer was unable to come today, but I have some success.

The heater system was down to a loose wire on the ignition which is fixed, and also the sight glass was dirty so cleaned it all up and now the heating system works.

With regards to the water heater, managed to get the fuisbale but out, which as expect an hole in it, so filled it with filler and put back in, this did the job and every thing works fine, however as i have just botched it it is not safe so took it our again and i have just found one on ebay which I have purchased, also the pressure relief valve, which was snapped i managed to cut it out and purchased another on ebay for £10, the fuisable bolt cost £30 whilst on ebay I purchased a carbon monixide detector only £15 and you can never be too careful when you ahve kids in the caravan.

Also I noticed when using the caravan this weekend, that to put my lights on in the awning i had to run an extension out of the caravan and all the plugs are on the opposite side to the caravan, so I ran a wire from the back of one of the plug sockets through and air vent, under caravan and secured it, back through another air vent and drilled a hole in the floor to put the wire back down, then used an IP66 plug socket and screwed under the floor, so now I have an out side socket without having to put one in to the wall of the caravan.

Thanks for all the advice, when you do something new their is so much to learn and if you have been doing something along time you take it all for granted.

I have now purchased some mirrors, and now know when i travel from yorkshire to the isle of wight in june its going to be along run at 60mph, just as well I have cruise control.

Only thing i have to do now is get the knack of putting the awning through the awning rails.

James