Fixings and Inversions

Work progresses on the van. I'm determined that everything in it should work as intended, or better.

Two of the windows had faulty stays that wouldn't allow the windows to remain opened - a major drawback in making stowing the kayaks into a one man job. I had bought 3 replacement catches, which all the literature maintains are easy to replace. Rubbish!

The catches are held in place with 2mm pins made from scrolled steel. The instructions say they can be removed with a small screwdriver or 2mm drill bit and simply pull out. Nothing could be further from the truth. It took me 3 hours to replace the first one, an hour to do the 2nd one - and only after I'd hacksawed through the plastic - and 15 minutes to replace the last one, having learned than a hacksaw is the only and fastest method.

Found a 1kW 12v DC to 230v AC inverter on Facebook Market yesterday and went into Bath to collect it. Nice piece of equipment for £85, which I decided to position as near to the leisure batteries as possible - which was on the bulkhead behind the driver's seat, in such as position that it doesn't interfere with the seat being slid fully back. I've ordered some cables which, with my luck, sill take a couple of weeks to arrive from China (I've given up on checking where eBay stuff comes from as, even when it says UK, it's still invariably China.

Had a minor setback with the 12v socket supply further back in the van. I had purchased a 12v 2pin to cigar lighter adaptor for a 12v travelling hairdryer I'd bought for Hay, only to discover that it went phutt on first use. At first I though the plug had fused, but there is no fuse in the adaptor and it's merely a socket converter. I then delved into the fuse cupboard and found the 5A fuse to the socket had gone west. Looking at the hairdryer wattage I calculated that it actually needed at least a 17A fuse. I wasn't going to replace the 5A with a 20A, as the wiring probably wasn't capable of supporting that amperage. Now the hairdryer works fine on the cab cigar lighter, so the natural conclusion is that the cigar lighter has a much higher amperage fuse (and hence more robust wiring) than the 12v supply socket - it is, after all, designed to operate a cigar heating coil. If Hay wants to dry her hair after a swim, it will have to be in the cab.