Shake down run No 4

Well I am definitely mad!!!!I am sitting in XOX at 5 in the evening on my last shakedown run, at a campsite approximately 6 miles from home and it is blowing a gale so hard that I haven’t dared put up the roof.  XOX just has a shudder now and again when the gusts catch us even in this sheltered location, but Ash and I are as warm as toast with the night heater just on tick over keeping everything nice and warm.  Unfortunately I need to do this bit of madness so I know what I am in for next weekend as the forecast for Ardnamurchan (yes!!! that’s where we are off too next Sunday. Glasgow turn northwest and keep on going until you run out of road) is for very strong winds for the 5 days I will be there so I am just getting used to it and with the lid down it is not too bad at all, The gusts are running at 30+ mph just now at a guess (I must get an anemometer just to see what the wind speeds I am experiencing actually are).I think it will be sleeping plan “B” tonight this is where the lid stays down and the mattress and my sooooo warm sleeping bag go on the floor. the forecast is for it to improve overnight but just now at 7 o’clock there is no way I am putting the lid up to get at the bunks in this wind.

All sorts of things have been happening to XOX since out last trip out.

The curtains are fitted now and they are great, Sue has made a grand job of them and the double thickness is helping to insulate us from the cold.

A huge improvement in the driving lights has been achieved by fitting a second hand “A” bar with 2 driving lights fitted to it and the head lights now have tarmac burner bulbs in (80/100) so dip is wonderful and main beam has to be seen to be believed. What a difference it has made, all of these lights are switched through relays and that itself will have helped a lot. We also have 2 new 18 watt LED work lights fitted to the rear cross member running off the leisure battery. I use these as reversing lights as well and it is just like having head lights at the back, just so I can see what I am backing into very clearly.

New lockers are made and fitted (with a folding table DVLA requirement, a "fixed table" and this is the best I could do), not enough storage space of course, in the new year I think I will have another go at them and incorporate a high locker to use as a wardrobe  but for now  clothes will have to just stay in a bag

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The new back step has been made and fitted that has made a big difference to getting in and out of the back door.

Due to delivery problems the silver screen for the windscreen and front side windows has been delayed so I will not have it for this trip but it will be ready in the New Year and I will put it to good use on our 1^st outing of 2014. For this trip I have bought a re-usable space blanket and with a few well placed magnets and clips to hold it in place and it is working fine.

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What else have I been buying to fit out XOX for our expeditions? Well Halfords provided a snow shovel and I have found a home for it behind the front passenger seat.  I also got a tyre pressure gauge just in case I need to reduce the tyre pressures if I need more grip (I already have a foot pump to put them back up again). A tow strap was also on my shopping list and after a lot of Google/YouTube time and thinking about what to get, I bought a 4 meter long 3 tonne strap and 2 bow shackles both the strap and the shackles are rated and certificated and they are almost the only bits of kit that I hope I never need to use, the other one is a bottle jack. I decided I wanted to see how difficult it was to change the gas bottle, not too much of a problem disconnecting it (although gloves are needed as it is very dirty from the spray off the rear ty

re) but I could not get the gas bottle between the wheel arch and the tyre without jacking up XOX a little bit, that is when I discovered the jack I had was useless, so a new bottle jack was needed and the replacement will lift 4 tonnes almost 2 feet so I should be OK for tyre changing as well as gas bottle changing.

One of the other things that I have been up to is taking photos of  XOX inside and out for DVLA to get them to re-register XOX as a Dormobile/camper, this is important as I want my insurance company to recognize it as a camper so they will insure it for a value that reflects the work and investment that has gone into XOX and not just the value of the base vehicle. All the photos and forms have been sent off now so I hope in the New Year I will have a result.

So that is about it for the test runs the next one will be for real, 5 1/2 hours from home. Otters here I come just be there for me.