Tag Archives: Clever changes

Coromandel 2017, Preparation, Quirky things

Right on the Edge

We were right on the edge at Simpsons Beach by Whitianga.  A fabulous spot which we’ve been to a few times before.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a Slideshow

Ten steps to the water.

Its on a farm owned by the Simpson family which runs along the foreshore and behind which they’ve been letting people camp at for many years. They charge $10 per vehicle, Motorhome or Caravan per night and donate the money to a cause of their choice. A fantastic gesture and they’re super nice people.

The Beach

One of the quirky things about this area is the Netspeed Mobile Internet coverage. There is a 4G beam from Whitianga out over the water but Simpsons Beach is right on the edge of it but more in the beam for 3G. Because it is 1 click into the 4G, it can’t do anything useful and surfing the web or anything else is a waste of time.. nothing happens !  A lot more happens on 4 bars of 3G than 1 blip of 4G!

What I found you had to do is go into the Huawei App on your ipad or iphone and turn the “Auto” feature off to “3G” so that the router will settle for 3G and not be too ambitious 🙂

The Home screen on the app..Select the Settings Cog

The steps on a Ipad app.. Click on the settings cog on the right hand top of the screen. Then click on Network, then Network Carrier. You’ll see Preffered Network at the top.. click on that to get 3 G and select it and back out (without touching anything else 🙂 ) Its a good idea to reboot the router at this point and it will be away with plenty of throughput.

Click on the images below to follow the gallery in order.

Select Network
Select Network carrier
Select preferred Network
As you come out, you should see this.

This will affect any wireless carrier anywhere. Its all about your position relative to a transmitting tower.

There must be other spots around NZ where this happens too. Just remember to return the settings to “Auto” after you leave Simpsons Beach or another place like it.

Great spot

Despite this minor alteration to get Fiona her Netflix fix, Simpsons Beach is a fabulous spot and we love staying here. Once when it was chocker in the middle of summer, the local Mr Whippy van cruised through for ice creams 🙂

The Netspeed Speedtest from this site
Download: 9.11 Mbps
Upload: 4.01 Mbps
Ping: 69 ms
Connection Type: Wi-Fi
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=-45.872500,170.503600
Rafes Track to Coromandel from Simpsons Beach
From Simpsons Beach to Coromandel
Preparation

New Saloon Lighting

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Its interesting that while quite a few brands of Motorhomes have adopted tracklighting, many haven’t.

Click on the images for Hi Res

Nice lights in the track.
Nice lights in the track.

Rafe started out in life having three tracklights for lighting. Two on either side of the saloon and one across the top of the bed for reading lights. They were probably a great idea in that you can twist and slide the lights and put them anywhere you want them and also shift them out of the way. The only catch with them is that the ones that we have, have very flimsy plastic tabs on them which are so easy to break off, its ridiculous.

The plastic Tab
The plastic Tab

New Lights

To be fair to the manufacturers, they can’t be blamed for excited grandchildren accidently bumping into them with their heads when they’re standing on the seats but when the owners are reluctant to use them in case they break, to me means there is a problem.

The screws for the glass at the waist of the light.
The screws for the glass at the waist of the light.

The other issue is that we found that as we cruised around NZ, the screws holding the glass would undo and eventually the glass would end up smashing on the table below with glass everywhere.
In the end after breaking a few, we now travel with them in a box and tend not use them for fear of snapping the tabs or breaking them.

Now to get rid of the Track
Now to get rid of the Track

After looking for ages through lighting shops and RV places, I discovered some really nice LED lights for another model Dethleffs which I ordered through Vantage RV. They had to come from Germany and just arrived the other day  so I didn’t waste any time getting them installed. These ones are screwed into the shelves and I’ve set them back out of harms way.

I really wanted to remove the track but found that it was glued as well as screwed so I’m still thinking about this as I don’t want to butcher the cabinets getting it out.

And they can turn right around and direct light where you want it.
And they can turn right around and direct light where you want it.

The lights are fabulous. We recently had the first trip away with them and the light was awesome.

Int'l Motorhomes, My Motorhome

Classic American Beauty

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What an amazing vehicle. Brian bought this 1981 Revcon of EBay sight unseen and had it shipped to NZ in 2012. It was in his words, “a bit of a mess” so he set to and spent the next two years renovating it.

Enid and Brian with their Recon

Most of the furniture is the same but recovered except the bedroom which went from single beds to a centre island Queen bed.
Of course, you can’t have a vehicle like this without having a cocktail cabinet.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

The “Handle Bars” had to be shifted too to right hand drive which was a bit of a mission given its a 454 Chev V8 with a chain driven transfer box all driving the front wheels so there is a lot going on under the floor at the sharp end! Once it was all done, Brian and his wife Enid “the Nagivator ” 🙂 shipped it off to Oz where they spent a year or so clocking up over 25000 miles and loving every minute of it.

Brian with the Revcon

At 10 miles to the gallon, she’s a thirsty girl but what a great look and a comfy 30 feet of Motorhome history.

Bling and more bling

Brian is keen to do up a smaller GM and is currently looking for one to buy to get started with.

My Motorhome, Northland

Eagle Rock

I met Derek while he was doing the rounds of the Bland Bay Motorcamp offer complete strangers Tuna which he and his friends had caught off the beach.  He popped his head in the door of Rafe with a nice wooden platter with beautifully cut thick slabs of Tuna with a couple of sauces.  I later joined him for a drink and found we had lots to talk about with my family Army background.. .. Back to Derek!

Derek and June and Eagle Rock
Derek and June and Eagle Rock

Most of Derek and June’s live’s have revolved around his postings during his years in Infantry and Signals in the NZ Army.  After 20 years, in 1984, he retired and they bought a Tearoom business in Picton which they had for 2 years. For 5 years after this they had a Motels complex and Guesthouse, also in Picton. 

Don’t forget to click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

June and Derek in their lounge area
June and Derek in their lounge area

They then sold this and bought an RV in the US and spent 18 months travelling around there. 

Eagle Rock
Eagle Rock

Returning to NZ and after selling their house, they bought their Isuzu bus which they modified for their use and have since been living in and enjoying travelling all around NZ with their Dog and their Cat. They even have a custom made cat flap and ramp for their cat to come and go on. 

The cat Flap and ramp
The cat Flap and ramp
Bedroom
Bedroom

When asked their favourite spot.. NZ was the answer.

The cat Flap and ramp
The Living area
The kids from around the camp admiring the Marlin

While I was with them in Bland Bay, Derek with 4 friends in a 26 ft odd runabout caused great excitement when they returned to the beach with a 149kg Marlin. The whole camp got involved. A lovely couple enjoying their Motorhome.

Preparation, Quirky things

Fast Heat

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A couple of months ago, I found out that Philips had released a portable Induction plate and they were available via our NZMCA discount from Noel Leeming.

I had to try one and since using it, I’m completely sold.  Fiona loves it too. Its amazing.

Don’t forget you can click on the images for hi res!

Induction
Its a bugger of a thing to photograph .. almost like a piece of black glass!!

Just recently I got really brave and decided to try to boil the water for coffee on it with our scruffy old kettle. From a cold water start, in the time it took to put coffee and pills into a cup and a tea bag in the other,  and milk in both, the kettle was whistling its head off. Even with gas, this would take all of 5 minutes or so.

InductionCooking a steak… cold frypan, a little oil… chuck the steak in, hit the go button and the pan is sizzling within 5 seconds !!!! .. and it tastes sensational.

Admittedly you can only use it when you’re plugged in but its neat to be able to use this instead of gas and it keeps control of the heat instantly.

InductionThe only thing you have to check is that you have pots that a magnet will stick to and it comes with a magnet so you can check your pots. The unit will scream at you if you don’t have anything on it or the pot is incorrect.

Recommended Retail is $199 from Noel Leeming  .. my discounted price was closer to $120 !! …although this was a few months ago.

A Great Christmas present !!

My Motorhome, Northland, Quirky things

The Homebuilt Caravan

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While we were in a park in the north, Sculptor Nick and partner Tracy rocked in with their girls Mila and Ruby, and their Homebuilt Caravan.

matakoheThey found it in a barn in Balclutha and after recladding it and  modifiying their table so it could add extra beds for the girls, they’ve set off around the country for a year on the road.

Click on the images to see Hi Res or a slideshow

Tracy and Nick with their girls
They installed this heater as they didn’t really want the gas cooker to stay and the water is heated by the tank surrounding it.

They were not keen on going down the track of having a gas oven so they settled on a wood burner which also heats their water.

matakohe

Its all insulated and warm and toasty and it was nice to see them happy and getting around NZ.

Preparation, Quirky things, Waikato

The Laundry Chute

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Its amazing who you meet and what clever things they do to their motorhomes to make them work better for their lifestyle. During the recent Dethleffs Owners group meeting at the Classic Car Museum in Hamilton, I was fortunate enough to meet Walter and Nolina from Taupo and to see some of the clever things they have done to their Dethleffs Esprit.

Don’t forget you can click on the images for hi res !

Walter lying across the bed showing the top of the laundry chute.
Walter lying across the bed showing the top of the laundry chute.

Walter saw the need to have somewhere to put their laundry. In almost all the centre island bed Dethleffs models, there is a shelf which extends about 800mm along each side of the bed from the back wall.

In mine I have a speaker and some usb jacks for phones and ipads etc.   Walter very cleverly decided to use his on one side to install an opening round marine hatch which opens to a chute which Nolina made, that drops down into the garage underneath. The bottom of the chute detachs as a bag to cart away the washing.  Fabulous idea and a great way of getting the washing out of the way.

The chute in the garage with the detachable bag.
The chute in the garage with the detachable bag.

That’s an idea I’m going to use 🙂

They have also made use of waste space under a seat and in a cupboard for a glasses case and a drinks cabinet under the seat.

Nolina with the drinks cabinet.
Nolina with the drinks cabinet.

Great stuff! A great use of what could otherwise be wasted space.

Preparation

Sorting out the shambles in the Wardrobe

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I don’t know about you but when I’m away Motorhoming but I largely wear T shirts, Jeans and Shorts etc.  Stuff you’d stick in a drawer. The Dethleffs come with well set up wardrobes but not a lot of drawers in the bed room area for clothes.

The cloth basket with clothes
The cloth basket with clothes

So I set out to change our wardrobe into something that would be useful for clothes like drawers.

The first option we used lasted about 18 months which was a hanging basket type of arrangement which was suspended from the rail. It had cloth covered cardboard boxes which slid in and out like drawers. This worked quite well for about 8 months when it just collapsed to a point where it was almost unusable.

What we started with. You can see the top hangy bit straining on day 1
What we started with. You can see the top hangy bit straining on day 1

I set out a few weeks ago to sort this out with some shelving bits which I got from Bunnings.

The screwed rails with the first shelf in
The screwed rails with the first shelf in

The Steel supports screw in first using glue and short screws(also glued) and then the shelf brackets clip in with plastic locks which prevent the shelf or brackets from coming out while you’re driving.

All the shelves in
All the shelves in

I thought that I would possibly have to bungy cord the shelves in while we were moving but so far, I haven’t even had to do that. It works a treat. The whole things for these shelves cost about $240.00 so it wasn’t insignificant but the problem seems to have gone away 🙂

Close to home, Northland, Preparation

Our Netspeed speed upgrade in the sun!

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We were on our way back to Auckland from Kerikeri when we found out our old friends Gary and Chris were at Uretiti Doc park for a few nights. We thought we’d surprise them.

See our earlier meeting here at Uretiti in the pouring rain

Click on the images to see Hi Res

Gary and Chris's van with Rafe behind
Gary and Chris’s van with Rafe behind

As we arrived right on the dot for “elbow exercise time” (with a glass in hand) at 5pm. We started on some wine while Fiona made us all a nice chicken tea.
We weren’t far into the conversation when Gary filled me in on the new Netspeed Router firmware upgrade and what a difference it had made for him.
With all of my speed tests around the country and comparing notes with Gary’s tests, it became very obvious that his speeds were generally 5 mbs a second or so faster than mine. I put that down to the fact that the sides of his van are fibreglass and the sides of mine are composite with an outside shell of aluminium. I’d assumed from that despite us having external aerials, that the router in automatic mode with aerials, was favouring the internal aerials which gave Gary a better signal. Well. .. No more 🙂

The good folk at Netspeed have released a router firmware upgrade which gives you the option to tell the router to only use the external aerials. The firmware upgrade is free but you will have to install it yourself or get someone slightly techy to do it for you. Netspeed will also do it over the phone with you too. It only takes five minutes and is not complicated and well worth doing. The big thing with this upgrade is not to be rushed and let the upgrade finish before fiddling with anything.

Wait for that magic moment when you get the box pop up that says “Success!”

Back to our elbow exercise.. While chatting away, Gary brought out his laptop which had the upgrade file on it for my router and in a few minutes had it installed on my router.  In Uretiti, I immediately went from 2 bars of 4g to three and that added about 15 Mbps odd to my download speed as I was able to get my roof aerials really pumping rather than let the router do as it pleased with my useless internal aerials… Useless inside a metal cage anyway.

What a wonderful sight
What a wonderful sight

Thanks heaps Gary.. We had a great night. Nice to see you both again too.

The Netspeed speed test at Uretiti earlier
Download: 24.42 Mbps
Upload: 2.45 Mbps
Ping: 49 ms

After with the external aerials pumping!
Download: 46.62 Mbps
Upload: 3.39 Mbps
Ping: 35 ms
Connection Type: Wi-Fi

The upload speed is still awful but it is an iffy spot but it’s well worth doing the upgrade !!

How to do the upgrade.. Call Netspeed for the link for the download then download the right file for your router.

Log into your router as administrator.. For security reasons, I’m not going to tell you how to do this here but look at your router instructions.
Follow the instructions in the following screens.

The login screen on your router once you've logged in. Open browser.. Type in 192.168.1.1 ..
The login screen on your router once you’ve logged in. Open browser.. Type in 192.168.1.1  to get here.
This is in Settings. Click on Local update to upload your file and WAIT until it finishes!
This is in Update. Click on Local update to upload your file and WAIT until it finishes!
Once it has finished, you can go to this screen in Settings and set your aerials up. I've got mine on External only
Once it has finished, you can go to this screen in Settings and set your aerials up. I’ve got mine on External only

Have fun and enjoy the extra speed. Call the fine team at Netspeed if you get stuck or need help.

My Motorhome, North Island road trip 2016

Bruces’s House Truck

This is Bruce’s second do up Housetruck and it’s a purler. It has everything that you’d need and is very well setup with a proper fireplace, a full kitchen and a very comfortable lounge.

Click on the images to see Hi Res or a slideshow

Bruce with his Truck
Bruce with his Truck

It started as a partly built 1976 Bedford Truck and he has done it up and finished it off over the last few years.

The Lounge
Kitchen with sleeping up Te top on the left.
The Boudoir
Kitchen
The Fireplace

It is called Beats Walkin, which was named by his young daughter and he currently uses it as his home and office for Caroline’s Outback Holiday Park where he is the resident caretaker.

The Bedford
The Bedford

It’s a very comfortable and spacious home with all the mod cons. He’s also one of the nicest camp ground people you’re likely to come across too.  Nice one Bruce.