Van Repairs...

A frustrating day of repairs. A few days ago Steve broke his kitchen water tap, which we tried unsuccessfully to replace at a caravan dealers. Yesterday while out for a walk we found a large Chinese shop that sold practically everything under the sun, including a domestic multi tap, which we were sure we could adapt to fit. Steve bought the new tap together with two new connector hoses and a couple of unions. Not wanting to start working late in the day we decided to carry out the repairs this morning. All went well initially and within an hour we had everything stripped down and the new pieces connected up. It was then that things started to go wrong. Turning on the water pump and opening the tap we discovered that one of the new connecting hoses was leaking, there was nothing we could do the pipe was faulty. So after cursing loudly we stripped everything down again and took off in Steve’s camper to the Chinese shop. Unfortunately it was market day and the main road was closed so we had to drive around narrow back streets trying to find an alternative route. Eventually we arrived and without any fuss the pipe was exchanged for another. Back at the campsite we started work again. The tap was fixed to the worktop by a rubber washer at the top and a thin brass fixing at the rear. Unfortunately Steve dropped the washer which disappeared down between a mass of pipes and wires. We spent an hour searching for the illusive piece, taking apart bits of cabinetry, without success. Frustrated by our ability to find the missing piece we thought about an alternative. The old tap fixing was different, but we found we could use the old bracket, if only on a temporary basis, to get us out of trouble. It seemed a simple enough solution until Steve  dropped the small spanner he needed to tighten the nuts, into the same place the new fixing had disappeared into. No amount of searching could either find the fixing or the spanner. Eventually we did manage to get everything fixed back together and Steve’s waterworks were once again functioning as they should do. The strange thing is that a couple of weeks ago Steve decided to check the level of his brake fluid. Having removed the top to look inside he knocked the top which fell down into the engine bay and has never been seen since. Steve is a great guy, who’s company I’ve enjoyed, but I think I’ll wait until I’m alone before I carry out any repairs or maintenance work to my own camper.    

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