March 18
By now we have been to and fro Olivia’s to finish sorting and disposing of various things and packing what’s left to store under her house. Also had a farewell lunch at Anna’s last Sunday which all the girls managed to get to.
As well as the sorting out we managed to get a few more things done on the van; we had always intended to fit a diesel heater for the free camping in cooler times and the one we wanted had been out of stock at the importer but became available again in early March, Having got this I set about to fit it under the lounge seat (where the water pump is already housed) and fitted the fuel tank under the front A frame with a suitable stone shield. The negative part of this was that it just didn’t go! Plenty of fan but no fuel/no heat and then a fault code of fuel supply problem. Speaking to the supplier in Victoria he told me how to test the actual fuel pump, which tested OK, so we returned the heater to be tested. See footnote*.
The other thing we had not done was organise our signwriting on the back of the van, wanting to put our names and also our personal catchphrase of “No Mortgage,,, No Mowing”. As it happened a mobile signwriter (Steve – signwriter and muso, on the road for 15 years!) turned up with his van and did the whole thing including putting the signs on the van for $40.
*Footnote added: The problem with the heater was actually the problem with our 12 volt system (see post ref Pine Rivers) and the heater was perectly OK, fitted while at Kenilworth and working great.