Davie's french attraction.

[Dormouse]

Excellent choice. Exactly the type of van I recommended to our God Daughter from Aberdeen to use for her Triathlons. She wanted to use a Berlingo but I convinced her she needed a LWB van for the room - Two people, Two Triathlon bikes and all her gear in a Berlingo! She was advised to use a single sided layout not a rear bed layout but rear fold up bed is popular.

[Dormouse]

This is the kind of bed I recommended to my God Daughter.

[Dormouse]

There was also this kind of bike storage bed too

[white exec]

Coincidence, Davie. My son and his wife bought a Caddy about a year ago for just what you're intending - transporting stuff, and going away for short camping trips. Both of them are no mean drivers (Hannah was a professional driver trainer), and they're really chuffed with it. Mind you, they do have an A4 each (no accounting for taste...) and a 1970 Mini with Clubman front end in the garage.
Good luck with the Caddy!

[daviemck2006]

I am intending getting or making a bed which will fold up onto the drivers side, with a box under it which will house the toolkit and Jack I keep in it. A leisure battery under the passenger seat charged by a split charge relay to power led lights in the rear, probably the radio and a couple USB sockets. I do not have any intentions of putting in a kitchen unit, and a couple of plastic storage boxes will suffice for drawers for holding clothes etc. This will allow it to be still used as a van with the bunk clipped up if I need to carry stuff, and I have the yeti when I want to carry grandkids or tow anything.

[Dormouse]

That's not far off what I said to my God Daughter as she planned to use campsites for overnight. I suggested a basic 240v circuit for a small heater, one usb/mains socket and battery recharges/top ups.

[daviemck2006]

I'm thinking about a diesel heater for being off grid. Depends on the cost of buying and fitting said item.

[Dormouse]

I'm thinking about a diesel heater for being off grid. Depends on the cost of buying and fitting said item.

Funnily enough, I was looking at mounting one of these into the Sliding Side Door with a plug in/touch pad electric harness. If the all in one unit is too big, you can get this as a kit of separate bits and mount them where convenient.

[Dormouse]

That's not far off what I said to my God Daughter as she planned to use campsites for overnight. I suggested a basic 240v circuit for a small heater, one usb/mains socket and battery recharges/top ups.

You can get units intended for Tents which don't need permanently wired in

[Dormouse]

This is the kind of bed I recommended to my God Daughter.

I have a double flap version of this I drew up if you want to make your own.

[daviemck2006]

A little update.

My health has not been the best lately, it's far too cold for me to even consider doing any car work outside. I'm not even able to wash then, which to those who know me it's almost unheard of for me to have a dirty vehicle. It does not help that both are white, which doesn't agree with Scottish roads I'm the winter, and I do not do automatic roller washes. So mucky car it is then. It is just as well that both vag products are working faultlessly.

The 205 is going to get advertised on the dreaded Ebay shortly as an unfinished restoration project, I see total basket case gtis for over 2 grand so hoping I can get something close to that. Shaun's pug 107 is abandoned in my garden with a knackered clutch. I am certainly not even thinking about looking at it, if he doesn't pull his finger out shortly it will be scrappy or car take back for it.

I also have decided to stop buying cheap cars to sell on just for fun. Again, it's due to me getting older and not being able to do it. My part time job has also had to be stopped, so now just a man of total leisure. As appealing as being a man of leisure sounds, I can assure you that's not what I want. However there is nothing I can do about it, if my health dictates that I have to retire totally at 58 then so be it. I have had nearly 8 years of delivering part time that I thought I couldn't have when I first had to go off work unfit.

This maybe sounds like a sob story, but in truth is isn't. There are a lot of people a lot worse off than I am, and I try to focus on the good points of my life and what I still have. The best of it is the immense pleasure I get from my grandchildren, seeing them develop and growing up is magical. They are far more important to me than the few quid I will lose not working at all or mucking about with old cars! I cant wait until spring so I can get the van sorted and go for a wee tour about, the NC500 is looking for me again, and a trip to the hebrides looks good to. This will be the purpose of the van.

[daviemck2006]

I forgot to say I've had a good time with MOT passes in the last few months. In October the sons 107 got a pass, with no advisories which surprised me. It's not a pretty thing underneath, there is plenty of rusty looking bits. However it is all just surface and although it was mentioned verbally it was not advised on. The advice was though to get the wire brush onto the grinder then appropriate rust remedy and underseal. I'm not doing it. I took it for test I had nothing to do with the prep.

Daughters seat leon was next, also gaining a clean pass, and proclaimed a really good well looked after car. It has only done less than 45k in its 5 and a half years. It did get a service at another garage, and discs and pads all round. It wasnt much more to fit the brakes than it would have been just to buy them so that saved me a job.

Then my yeti was next this last week. 8 years old, 59000 miles, clean pass with no preparation at all. But then it had a big service last February when I bought it, with cambelt, waterpump, dsg oil, haldex oil, discs and pads all round along with the usual service items. Done less than 6000 miles in the year. There is nothing to see underneath it, every inch is covered with exhaust heat shield and plastic covers. The only corrosion noticed is the powder coating on the rear anti roll bar is cracked exposing the steel which is turning brown. Another good car, and is fulfilling its purpose of being maintenance free for me personally. Service interval is 2 year or 20k, but it will get done in the summer which will be 18 months and less than 10k.

The caddy is also proving maintenance free for me. It got two new tyres, one developed a big bulge after 5 weeks and 600 miles and was replaced free of charge. Another good vehicle.

[bxzx16v]

Result on the MoT passes Davie

Mark

[daviemck2006]

The conversion of the caddy to a camper is on the back burner for now, as I am unable to do the work myself just now, being in a major relapse of my back and legs not willing to work properly. I'm waiting on an mri scan to see what has happened in there. I have also sold my car trailer, having made an executive decision to not buy crap to fix and sell for little profit. I got slightly more for the trailer than what I paid a couple of years ago. The money I got for the trailer has been spent on a caravan so I can take the grandkids away for a few days when I am able. The skoda pulls it no problem, and it is fitted with a motor mover so is no effort required to move and hitch up etc.

Shaun's 107 has been abandoned in my drive broken for far too long. A few weeks ago he was told get it out of my way or else I would scrap it. He made no effort to do anything so last week I got a few quotes from online breakers, and a couple locals. The best price was from cartakeback, £401, so was collected by a copart lorry last week. It is now for sale on copart website, with a suggested retail value of 2595! It will need about 2grand spent on it to be a retail car! It's at copart whitburn if anyone is wanting to look it up. I think we were lucky to get 400 for it, a non runner, abused, both bumpers ruined, the alloys nicked and rusty wheels off daughters c1 on it, interior mouldy, needs brakes all round, clutch done, new battery, quite a bit of paint etc. I did own up to all of this when they agreed the price, apart from the loss of the alloys. They only asked if ig had wheels, not the alloys it should have. The alloys had nearly new uniroyals on them, and Vals c1 had lost its wheel trims and needed 2 and not far from the other two tyres. So my only french connection now is Vaks 10 plate c1. It will be kept until it disintegrates. It's in far better condition than Shaun's 12 plate was, its low milage and doesn't get abused as it's really like a kiddie carrier around Elgin, to the school, nursery, shops etc.

[daviemck2006]

I was very surprised at the localish skoda dealer. I have had the yeti 19 months now and done 10k in it now. I thought it's about time it got serviced. As I'm not fit to do much myself now I decided to phone the dealer I bought it from. They do not have fixed service intervals, but rely 100% on the car telling when it wants serviced. So I asked how long is it generally before it says so. I was told it would usually be about 2 years for low mileage users, which mine is, and 20 to 24k for higher mileage users, and dont worry about it just contact us when the car tells you to. I'm surprised really that I didn't get get it in for a service before it self combust by neglect, then get a bill for £300 or so for what they would do little more than an oil change. Mind you this garage has a really good reputation, including awards from skoda for customer service. So I've decided it will go there when it asks for a service. It is still running perfectly, cannot fault it at all.

The caddy blotted its copy book at the weekend in refusing to start. Jump leads off the yeti it went instantly. It then didn't start the next day either so I called the AA out, his diagnosis is the same as mine, needs a new battery. So one is on order. So it's not really a fault of the van, it is 8 years old and bone 130000 miles so it's highly likely that that is its second battery given up the ghost. MOT is now within the month, so time to get it booked in. Apart from that it is also performing well and uses less fuel than the skoda, probably due to being a remapped 1.6, a manual box and not 4wd.