It's been two weeks since I dashed to Perth and bought the little Mercedes MB100D van for my new camper conversion. I allowed two to three weeks to fit it out, not a lot of time but then I don't have a lot a lot of time. I had planned to be in Blackbutt Queensland by the 17th of July to visit one of my brothers before continuing on to Cape Palmerston Holiday Park for another brother's 70th birthday on the 22nd July.
Mrs M is busy at work and since we just had four weeks up north she can't get the time off to travel. That's why I've gone for a little camper. It's around 5000km to Cape Palmerston if I take the shortest path getting there so the saving on fuel alone will pay for the van.
When I set the time to carry out the conversion I didn't factor in all the hold-ups in between. Firstly I had to return to Perth to collect Mrs M's car that I drove down in to buy mine. The 650km either way usually takes 8-9 hours, add an eye test and a bit of shopping and I lost a couple of days. I hadn't counted on spending a few days away prospecting last week but Mrs M might miss out for a while and it was a very enjoyable trip.
The photo above shows the Vitrifrigo 12v fridge installation, the first thing I fitted. Then the second battery and the DC to DC battery charger and solar controller. Under that is the 12v power socket, 2xUSB charge ports and the volt meter. The 110w GE solar panel is on the roof. On the right of the fridge is the 240v 600w pure sinewave inverter. The gas cooktop and kettle go on top, at least to travel but it will most likely come down to boil up.
The RH ramp houses two of the jerry cans, room for odds and ends and some food storage. Above that is just a big empty storage bin that will most likely hold bedding, clothes and that sort of bulky stuff.
The LH ramp houses another jerry can, some odds and ends as well as the water tank. All the aluminium lids will be sitting on a strip of self adhesive felt to reduce the noise on rough roads.
The 55L water tank is lined with liquid rubber because aluminium doesn't last long with some water. That meant that I had to fasten the top on after the inside was coated. The hose allows me to easily fill the kettle or water bottles and doubles as a water level gauge.
The load ramps are a bit of an overkill so I might unbolt half and leave that at home.
The chassis of the quad is elevated to about 500m above the floor to give me room to sleep without unloading the quad.
The whole job has progressed quite well so far but I'm going to lose another couple of days. We bought Mrs M a new laptop from Officeworks while in Perth but it's not what we asked for. They will happily take it back but the only way to get a credit is to hand it over the counter. That will add 400km to my trip as well as the time lost. Then there's the little treasure hunting trip that I agreed to take before I leave. It might only take a day but each day is eating into my travel time.
I had a little niggling problem. The 2.9L diesel was dropping a little bit of oil on the driveway and I couldn't see where it was coming from. Everything underneath looked dry so it was a mystery and I don't like them when heading off on a big trip. I shouldn't have worried, it's just the sump plug washer and I have to change the oil and filter before I go so that's an easy fix.
But then, that that often hits the fan struck......
While I was looking for the oil leak I spotted a groove in the front crank pulley that shouldn't be there. On closer inspection it looks like an idler or belt tensioner has failed and is clashing with this pulley. On most vehicles this is an easy fix but not the forward control Benz.
Finding the front of the engine requires major surgery. I have to remove the bumper, lights, AC condenser, radiator and a lot of other bits and pieces, And then I can't just slip down the road and buy parts. This is the time to replace the serpentine belt, radiator hoses and anything else that would normally be changed during a major service.
My scheduled departure this coming weekend seems to be in doubt...
