HINTS and KINKS.

GIVEN ALPHABETICALLY.

ANTI SKID RUBBER SHEETING.
A thin open mesh rubber sheeting material is obtainable from rubber supply houses, also, at times, discount
supply stores. Works extremely well. A piece on a table or benchtop enables items to be placed on that rubber
and they will not (normally) move while travelling. It is also useful:
a) in cupboards and draws to place items on .. plates, cups etc. Also, between plates.
b) under the foam dinette seat to help prevent the traditional movement of the rear seat when travelling.

BREAK DOWN SERVICE.
Came across this on the "web". National Assistance Service Australia, for various fees,
provide various breakdown services for vehicles up to 12 tonnes. Caravans, trailers and
motorhomes are mentioned. Ph. 1300 550 161. Web address www.nrta.com.au

ELECTRICAL.
Need to fit a small (up to an amp or two) 12 (or 24) volt polarized socket .. a low voltage outlet
suitable for plugging in the odd piece of electrical / electronic equipment?
Consider the commonly available, inexpensive electronic 2 pin DIN plugs and sockets. They used to be
commonly used as speaker connections on small audio amplifiers etc. The plug outer diameter is about
15mm. They have one round pin 1.5mm diameter and one flat pin about 4.5 X 1.2 mm in section.
Available from Dick Smith stores .. plug part no. P1520, socket (panel mount) part no. P1523.
Altronics .. plug part no. P1120, socket part no. P1688. Jaycar .. plug part no. PP0300, socket part
no. PS0340. They are all priced at less than a dollar each. NB. Suitable for indoor use only.

GAS CERTIFICATES .. QUEENSLAND.
There seems to be some confusion among authorized inspection stations about the requirement of a new gas
certifiacte at annual inspection time for vehicles over 4.5 tonnes. The transport department advises that
a new gas certificate is only required if the registration is transferred to another person.

GREY WATER.
Folks make comments about grey water "being on the nose" .. odour coming up via sink, vanity, shower outlets.
Seems to happen after the water has been stored a few days. Solution .. in most circumstances .. let the water
go, not after it's "on the nose", but continuously while camped. Most parts of Australia can do with the extra
water .. however, it is a no no in certain parts of Tasmania .. a local authority! in the area to the west of
Wynyard told us he had to chastise a couple of Qld. registered motorhomes for dropping grey water in his area.
Like most activities .. use descretion when continuously dropping grey water while camped.

KITCHEN BUSINESS.
FREEZER.
When packing the freezer, more so at the beginning of a trip or a major reorganization, Sue discards
the packing trays in which most meat is packed .. saves a lot of space. The meat is put into plastic
bags .. where practical, a meal size quantity per bag. Meat, like bacon, sliced ham etc. is always
packed and frozen in meal size quantities. She agrees labelling it would be a good idea, but says she
normally remembers what is what!
SAVING WATER.
Using the sink for washing dishes requires a lot of water .. just to cover the bottom by a couple of inches.
By washing dishes in a large "U" shaped plastic bowl placed in the sink, far less water is required for the job.
LETTUCE.
Most times we buy a lettuce we seem to freeze it accidently .. thus it, or a lot of it, is wasted. One answer seems
to be to just keep it wrapped in a damp tea towel .. contained in an uncovered plastic bowl and kept in a cool place.
By wetting the towel daily, the lettuce has been kept in good condition for quite a number of days. Thanks Hazel.

MAIL FORWARDING (a).
Noted from the Post Office booklet on "charges".
Pensioners (as they define them) get free redirection (also mail holding) up to 12 months.
What is not clear, is what happens after 12 months? With luck, it may carry on?
MAIL FORWARDING (b).
Maintain a PO box, have a relation or friend collect the mail. Alternatively, have your mail sent directly to a
relation or friend. You phone that relation or friend a few days before you travel into a selected town, have them
tie the accumulated mail into a bundle and readdress the top item C/- Post Ofice at that particular town.
That bundle of mail is just dropped into any convenient mail box.

SOLAR PANEL BUSINESS.
On a recent trip, having carefully parked in the sun, I noted the output from the solar panels to be only about
3 Amps instead of the expected 10 or so. We had been in dusty conditions, so I climbed up prepared to clean them.
They seemed reasonably clean, but I noticed a smallish shadow on them caused by the TV antenna. I cranked the
antenna down and the output from the panels was then the expected 10 Amps or so. Obviously, if only a small area of
the panels is in shaddow, their output is greatly reduced.

STONE GUARD.
Sorta necessary in these parts .. Central Qld., where those working on/repairing the road seem to
delight in leaving gravel on the road after the job is finished. Equipment is available to sweep it away!
I sometimes wonder if they have shares in the windscreen repair companies!
Anyway .. I found it necessary to build my own stoneguard .. so, what to do about the required material?
The required deep, but narrow U shaped aluminium section is available from aluminium supply houses,
and is called "perspex edging".
The galvanized square steel mesh is available, in a variety of sizes and wire guages, from rural suppliers.
I used 12.5mm square mesh made of 1mm diameter wire .. this seems to have worked out well.
Without going into the detailed construction used, I built up a rectangular frame of the required size
from the al. channel section. The corners mitred and held in place with triangular shaped pieces of
3mm thick aluminium screwed in place with 4mm stainless screws and nuts.
The mesh is cut to be a neat fit inside the built up aluminium frame.
Different vehicles will call for different mounting arrangements, but aim to use existing holes and clamps,
thus avoiding drilling un-necessary holes in the vehicle body.

STORAGE.
Suggest .. obtain a variety of different size (mainly small) plastic baskets .. obtainable from discount
suppliers. Juggle the various quantities and sizes so that they pack nicely into various cupboards ..
keeping in mind just what items you wish to accomodate in that cupboard. Having the items in those baskets
has the advantages of catagorising items into one basket, being able to lift a particular basket out
containing the items required, fitting more material in the cupboard as the baskets retain material which
would normally just fall out when the cupboard door is opened.
In refrigerator door .. to stop noise and to stop items scuffing the plastic .. fit soft drink cans,
stubbies etc into those thin walled stubby coolers before placing drinks etc. in fridge. Thanks, Val.

SAND FLIES. Can be a real menace at times!
If there is any sign of sand fly activity, we light a two or more mosquito coils inside .. main idea is
to discourage them from entering the motorhome .. thus us having refuge inside and the chance of a good
nights sleep. Remedies for bites .. metho, have tried .. ammonia solution, been suggested .. another
suggested but untried one .. place a whole lemon in a small container of metho, leave forever, metho
turns yellow, use fluid as required.

SILICONE SEALANT.
This sealant offers the most desirable properties .. in my opinion. However, there are (as far as I
am aware) two distinct types .. neutral cure and an acid based one. The neutral cure one is labelled
so, but the acid one has nothing to indicate its acid nature on the labelling. The neutral cure type
has no specific odour. The acid based type has a strong sharp acid odour .. ? acidic acid (vinegar).
I have seen the results of the acid based sealant when used on electronic equipment .. it really loves
solder .. reducing it to a form of unreconisable paste! I strongly suspect it would attack other metals.
I have used the "neutral cure" type on electronic equipment for years and suggest it for all common
applications .. unless you have contrary knowledge.

TENT PEGS.
Motorhoming, caravanning, camping etc. often calls for the use of "pegs" driven into the ground.
These are quite dangerous with the potential to cause injuries to legs ..
particularly so, when steel (often sections of star pickets) are used.
A good form of protection I noticed was the usage of tennis ball, with holes or slots
cut in them .. so they could be pushed over the ragged tops of steel pegs.
The common practise of tying a used plastic grocery bag over pegs could be still used ..
with the tennis balls underneath.
The plastic bag, of course, makes the peg a lot more visible .. which is important!

TOILET.
Loo Brew .. passed on by another CMCA memeber. Ecnomical and we have used it with success.
1/2 cup borax .. dissolve in 500 ml of warm water. Let cool.
1/2 cup Pine-O-Clean.
1/2 cup ammonia.
Mix above and add sufficient water to make a total quantity of 2 litres.
Use 30 ml per 5 litre of holding tank or casette.
Lasts 1 week.
In our situation, with a 90 litre holding tank, I simply add the three 1/2 cup quantities
directly to the holding tank.
MORE CONTROVERSIAL .. and my experience has only been with black water holding tanks .. use nothing!
On our trip to northern Canada & Alaska we were not able to obtain toilet chemicals. No problem encounted!
But, weather mostly (but not always) cool .. and we tended to dump the toilet about every 3 days.
Also, on our recent 3 1/2 month trip to Tassie and return .. during the last couple of months we didn't
use any chemicals. No problems! Weather also generally cool, but dumping periods extended to 5 to 6 days.
Am intending to try the "no chemical" thing in our tropical weather. Results to be advised "after summer".
UPDATE .. Sept. '04. Still not using any chemicals .. sometimes notice some odour after about 5 days ..
if so, add a dash of Pine-O-Clean and empty as soon as possible. UPDATE May '05.
Have returned from a 5 week trip to Western Queensland .. no problems .. but was winter time.
Spoke with a friend who has a casette type toilet .. he advised that he wasn't using ANY chemicals, dumped
it almost daily, thought the casette should be "vented" .. and was going to organize some form of venting
by modifying one of the caps. Thanks to another Ron.

WASHING CLOTHES DEPARTMENT.
Various methods are used by those without a washing maching .. or not visiting a laundramat.
a) having clothes, water, soap suds, optional chunk of wood (or similar) as an agitator all in a
bucket which is jammed in the shower recess. Vehicle motion does the washing!
b) having clothes, water, soap suds in a bucket and using a manual (human) agitator .. in the form
of an inverted plastic funnel fitted to a stick. I think a disk of wood would work as well. A number
of large holes are drilled in the funnel or disk of wood.
Drying clothes also presents problems at times. I have made up some specially designed aluminium pieces
which fit diagonally across the hatches used in our Winnebago. One is fitted in the hatch above the show
recess and used to hang wet clothes. Another is fitted in the main part of the motorhome (where there
is better ventilation) and damp clothes dried while driving. Other people have fitted hooks etc. in the
motorhome ceiling. My aluminium brackets don't require drilling holes and enable a number of coathangers
to be held firmly. Just enquire, if you want one.

WATER.
Guess lots can be written about water .. for starters..
We have saved a number of 2 litre plastic fruit juice bottles. These are used as follows:
a) about a dozen are filled at home with our good rainwater. These are stored under the sink and
kept for making tea and coffee.
b) 6 or so are kept in an underneath bin as an emergency water supply.
c) 2 fit neatly between the toilet and a side partition. These are used as added water for
toilet flushing .. saves some tank water! They are refilled when opportunity permits from parks,
services stations, creeks etc.

Pressurised water systems .. be aware of any changes to the periods that your water pump cycles on and off.
Any prolonged "on" periods indicate a strong possibility of a leak. We had a cracked plastic fitting
(interior of external shower fittings) that became obvious when we noticed a wet section of the carpet.
We managed to dry the carpet after a few days with electric fans, but feel if the leak had of continued,
the carpet would have been permantely damaged. There is also the possibility of water damage to other items.

Maybe a bit pedantic .. thinking about it is probably worse than practical effects .. passed onto
us by another member. Note, he says, when people have emptied their cassette toilet, they often wash
out by poking the hole in the cassette over the threaded portion of the water tap. Thus, there is a
chance that "foreign matter" from inside the cassette can become embedded on the tap .. particually
in the external thread. This generally happens where there is a water tap outside a toilet that is
commonly used for dumping cassettes. Remedies .. use water taps that aren't close to toilets when getting
water for your unit (no guarantee that tap hasn't been used though) .. clean tap outlets, particually
threads with a small wire brush, dedicated nail brush, ? soap. As suggested, the chance of picking up
a bug / disease or whatever is small, but it's no doubt worth keeping in mind.

WINDOW SREENS .. REMOVING WINNEBAGO ONES.
Open louvre window .. using a Philips screwdriver, remove screw .. then pull off louvre window adjusting
knob. On the outside, feel up into the gap at the top of the screen. You should feel 2 or 3 thin plastic
sections about 40mm long .. they are free to move lengthwise. Pull them out and take particular note of
which way they need to be refitted. Back inside the vehicle, it is now possible (just) to lift the screens in the window frame and remove them starting at the bottom.

More to follow when ideas + time become available.

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