Sometimes it doesn't all go to plan

Like all good things, when you do too much of a good thing, something is bound to go wrong.  Or, if you do enough travelling on rough roads, something is bound to break eventually.

We certainly had a great time on our last camping adventure.  Bendethera Valley is about as good as it gets, with perfect weather and the valley almost to ourselves.  The aim of our week down there was to relax away from society for a while to recharge our batteries, and get a bit of focus on the more important things in life for a while.

It was also a chance to try out a few ideas that had been in my head for a while.  My set up with the Coleman Hot Water on Demand was a great success...  but not everything else went to plan.

Many of you would realise by now that when I get a new toy - I like to try it out to make sure I can use it before having to use it in anger.  It happened to me when I bought a 'free hand winch'.  Our next camping adventure found us stuck on a remote trail with rain coming in.  Out came the winch to haul us out, and I found myself wondering if I had jinxed myself entirely.

So one sunny afternoon I decided that I wanted to see if the Camper's wheels would fit on the Terracan, and vice versa.  I thought it would be a good opportunity to see if the stud pattern was the same, allowing me to consider purchasing Terracan rims for the camper.  The little helpers were most interested in the evolution, and eagerly undid the wheel nuts (after they were loosened of course).

33 inch tyres fill up the Terracan's arches... I am not game to lower the jack!

The wheels did indeed fit.  I learnt how to lower the camper's spare wheel, and I hope I never have to do it again.  It was even more difficult to return the camper's spare tyre to its stowage.  I also took the opportunity to swap the left back wheel of the Terracan for the spare.  The spare was a little low on pressure, but I soon filled it back up using my compressor, and over the next few days all seemed good.  The boy's enjoyed their lesson on how to change a tyre, and I was pleased I had answered a few of my questions and practiced a necessary skill.

Until we stopped at Braidwood on the way home.  As we were about to get back into the car, the Little Fisherman noticed a hissing noise coming from the left back end of the car, and correctly identified it was coming from our left back tyre.  Bugger.  Still, lucky the tyre held up until we parked before letting go.  It could have been far more catastrophic if it had failed on the highway!

So for the second time that week, I swapped the left back tyre over...

Hmm... did I jinx myself or not?  Helper's were too busy enjoying an ice-cream to assist this time :)

The other great disaster availed us one afternoon when Jo tried to open the back of the Terracan to get something out of the back.  The rear door has never been quite right after our little lesson on the shortfalls of truancy last year, but this time it was locked shut and nothing we could do was going to open it.

The situation was getting desperate.  There was chocolate in there - lots of it, and when things get that desperate, I get assistance!

Tryting to remove the cargo barrier from the wrong side!

 The only possible solution was to go in from the front of the car.  No easy feat with kids seats and a cargo barrier to negotiate.  I was able to pull the kids seats out to the side, and then tumble the rear seats forward.  Jo was able to get her hands in far enough to remove the bottom bolts of the cargo barrier.

Now with access to tools, things worked a lot quicker.  The top of the cargo barrier was quickly removed, and we had access to all our food.  The urgent requirement to continue was abated as I had released the chocolate.  I decided to continue as we didn't need to spend the rest of the week accessing our stuff in the car through the back seat.  The next part though was particularly tricky.

My storage box (shown below from a previous blog entry) is secured by a couple of bolts to the floor.  My lovely wife being more flexible than me was able to contort into the required shapes to undo the bolts, and allow us to move the box about six inches forwards.

The Terracan rear door doesn't have an internal door handle, so we undid all the screws holding the cover in place, and with some gentle persuasion, finally we were able to remove the internal cover to the door.  Once access to the lock mechanism and striker was revealed - it was a simple matter to jiggle the rods and release the door!

Success!  The panel can be seen behind the car.!  

After a bit of jiggling, gentle realigning of the central locking mechanism and plenty of graphite powder, the system seemed to be restored to normal and I spent the next forty five minutes or so putting everything back where it came from.

Frustrating - absolutely, but also a little rewarding to know that despite our best efforts of putting a storage system in place, and a cargo barrier and so on, we were able to gain access and open the door from the inside.  I couldn't help but wonder if we had a permanent draw system installed whether we would have been able to effect the same repair.