Boatyards make good pitstops

RONS TECHNICAL TIPS NO - "AHOY THERE!"

Caravan and Motorhome repair and accessory shops can be few and far between when you are in far away places (or Scotland!). 

But don't forget that boats use many of the components in our vans - or very similar. Boatyard people also will have the skills and understanding to try and help you out.

So if you are near the coast, or a big lake - a lake big enough to have plenty of boat activity - then head for the nearest town and search out the local boatyard. They always have bits and pieces - "chandlery" and fibreglass skills.

In the UK, and countries like Holland, Germany and France which have extensive canal networks, you will also find boatyards and repair places inland - so check your maps for canals.

In an emergency there is a good chance that a boatyard can sort you out or effect a running repair. They will also know the best local places for diesel work - most boats have diesel engines.

Just don't park on the slipway - especially if it's green!

Fixing a broken blind.

The plungers that you squeeze together with your fingers, to operate the blind, have a plastic pin which locates into a hole in the slider. The pin shears off the body of the plunger, so no longer moves the slide - technically it's a weak design, although not many actually break, we get a couple each year. The solution is to either buy a cheap blind from a breaker and cannibalise it for parts, or you can repair it. Basically it needs skills similar to model making. The usual approach is to take it apart and then locate where the pin used to be. Then drill a hole in the plastic and glue in another pin. You don't even need glue if the pin is a good fit. This could be a bit of broken drill, or a small "seloc pin" also called "roll pins" from a model engineering shop, or anything that your ingenuity can come up with. It's only the equivalent of a finger in a hole! The bad news is that you have to disassemble the whole blind just to get at it. I once spent hours of my life that I will never get back thinking that I could drill a hole from the front and then insert a screw so that the tip would locate in the hole. The trouble is that you don't actually know where the flipping hole is, so it's guesswork and easy to ruin the whole thing. So easier to just bite the bullet and disassemble. You then can see exactly where the hole needs to be drilled because there is a mark where it used to be. 

If you look for spares from a breaker, then you need to know that the blinds are made by a company called "Seitz" - "the ones from 20 years ago that you squeeze together to pull them up" - most breakers should know what you mean. It doesn't matter what size blind it comes from, as the part is the same on all blinds. It is unlikely that you will just be able to buy the part - most breakers will charge you for the whole blind. The going rate (2016) is around £30 a blind. If you have a choice, buy a blind bigger than yours, then you will have spares that can be cut down.

Have fun!

USING A TABLET INSTEAD OF A DEDICATED SATNAV

RONS TECHNICAL TIPS NO "WHERE AM I?"

USING A TABLET INSTEAD OF A DEDICATED SATNAV

People seem to like dedicated satnavs, but even the cheap ones are expensive. I use an android 7 inch tablet - you can get brand new ones for £69, and s/h ones for buttons, and I run TomTom for android which costs £15 a year. The latest version of TT is really very good - not perfect, but very good. You don't need a connection to the internet, but if you do, then the traffic information is really excellent, and because the screen of the tablet is so big, it's a really nice display.

The icing on the cake with this solution, is that you can use the tablet for other things. Mine is basically setup as the vans mission control. It is mounted on the dash and isn't used for anything else - it lives there just like a dedicated satnav. In addition to TomTom I have the Wildcamping app, Google maps, and I also have the entire UK set of OS maps, which isn't cheap, but worth it for me. Because mine is always connected to the internet I can do research, messaging, facebook - anything I want really, and all from the drivers seat, while doing 90mph in the outside lane operating the phone with one hand and a beer in the other while steering with my knee. Obviously.

The Wildcamping app is particularly cool if your tablet is internet connected, the map displays the nearest spots, and with a single press it fires up Google street view and displays a photo of the wild spot.

Having Google Street View at your fingertips while on the road is also incredibly useful - saves having to get the laptop out or squint at the phone. As an example, I use it to check if there are any height barriers at shopping centre car parks. The only problem with it is that you have to put the beer down in order to operate the tablet. 

If you buy the right tablet, and spend a bit more on one that has a sim socket, so it basically becomes a big mobile phone, and then shove in one of the cheap PAYG data sims from Three or EE, not only will you get real time traffic info from both TT and Google, you can use the personal hotspot feature of the tablet and provide wifi in the van for all your other devices. It is worth remembering that a tablet generally has a better antenna than a phone or a little mifi unit, and when mounted in the clear at the front of the van (see photo) will generally get a better signal in remote areas. Not as good as a dedicated external antenna, but better than a small phone.

So basically a dash mounted tablet/phablet is a very versatile jack of all trades and much cheaper than all but the cheapest Chinese sat navs.

I am very picky about satnav, and have tried them all except Garmin. I must say I am very quietly impressed with TomTom for android. It updates itself and is pretty much always up to date and maintenance free. I am more than happy to pay their reasonable annual fee.

Apple users can achieve all of the same buy buying an old Ipad mini, but unfortunately it has to be one with a sim card, because only the sim card Ipads have GPS. You don't need to have a sim in it for it to be a decent sat nav, but having a data sim in it, or tethering it to a phone will give you TomTom's traffic info - which is rather good. Most Android tabs have GPS - but do check.

Mine is mounted with Velcro, and fed power from a USB socket on the dash, and can be removed in seconds for security.

Finally - I was joking about the beer and operating while driving. They have now doubled the fine and points for operating a device while driving, so even I am now behaving myself, after years of knee steering I now have both hands on the wheel! It's weird! Mine is set up so that while driving it only needs a glance, and the voice instructions are really good. I even have it set up so that I can voice control it - I can say "Hey Google, navigate to the nearest Tesco", and it works. But usually it's just easier to do all the research and set up the journey before driving away. And of course your copilot can also do all the button pressing while you are driving.

I am not saying this is the best way to do things, but it is my favourite solution in my van. It isn't particularly technical, and quite easy to set up. Even if you only use a tablet for satnav - you still get a huge screen for very little money.

TomTom

OS Maps from Viewranger app

Wildcamping app

Photo view of wild camping spot

I have now also added a second tablet to cover the speedo. The app is called DigiHUD Pro, available from the Android app store.