Project Van: Solar Struggles

We'd always planned to add a couple of solar panels to the roof - to provide us with power for a leisure battery - particularly important for us, as this is intended to be an 'electric' only van, (i.e. without an onboard gas supply for cooking, or diesel heating).  

We duly ordered two 200W panels - then just had to work out how to fix them securely in place!

After reviewing the options - and watching a lot of Youtube videos of how other people had done it - we settled on a diy unistrut 'roof rack' as our preferred solution.  

While this proved relatively straightforward - working out how to attach the  solar panels was a bit more of a struggle.  We got there in the end (kudos to Martin who did all the hard work) but it was a fiddly and annoying precision job - as tightening one fixing point, often put another out of alignment, and so on . . .

Then there were holes to be drilled for the wiring - and a 'gland' box to be fixed to the roof to feed the cables through and prevent any water ingress.

  

 

Et Voila - the finished article - ready to be wired up to the electrical system - a job for another day!

The Order of the Slipper

Time to head across country from Wales for a few days - to dog sit and visit with family - while my sister and her husband travelled to Wales for a short break to climb Eryri (the mountain formerly known as Snowdon).

Waved them off and enjoyed a couple of days of sunshine, dog walks, and helping out with shopping, household tasks, etc.

Was honoured to find one day that my slipper had made it to companion status on the sofa!

Still, lovely to be home again - back to our own bed and a beautiful sunset on the prom.

Project Van: Window Woes

I suppose we couldn't expect everything to run smoothly - and this week both our 'new' windows in the rear 'barn' doors presented us with issues.

First off, we noticed a crack in the 'inside' of one of the double glazed windows - basically a manufacturing fault which had emerged since installation, and after the minimal driving around we've done thus far.

Then a couple or so days later we noticed that the other window had developed a leak.

So it was back to the 'workshop' again for a few days - while we happened to be on our travels visiting family.*

* The leak was soon fixed - the crack is still awaiting satisfactory resolution with the manufacturer, who keeps sending the wrong sized replacement window!

Town Tales

 It's been an eventful weekend in town . . .

Rali Ceredigion was back on the streets, with some interesting 'advertising' from the rally sponsors on Castle Point.

There was also a beer festival, which took over some roads - and the sun actually shone, so that people could sit outside.

Unfortunately, we were too busy with van and other stuff, to stop for a beer!

Did see the conclusion to the rally, as prizes were awarded and the cars paraded past.

Until next year . . .