Thread: Should I, or should I not?

Have you still got the dog?

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Originally Posted by wrinklearthur

Have you still got the dog?

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No, she's gone back to Guide Dogs. I miss the little so-and-so (sometimes). Even with all my foibles, she still liked me.

I've been a bit down for the past few days but I'm a lot better today. I've been thinking I need to get back into fitting out the P38A for camping, not severe off-roading. I started but never got very far. I did have drawers in it but they were a bit of a nuisance so I sold them. Ditto with the bull bar.



I think I need something like I had in my Classic ....



... but access to under the floor of the P38A is a problem. This is how I did it with the drawers I had (the second battery is in there):



I'm tempted to remove the single passenger seat in the rear and to fit the fridge there.

I need to make up a way to support my Fiamma awning. The awning is this style:



I recently sold my roof rack but I still have my Thule roof bars so a metal tube with the rope track riveted on may work.

Do I fit the Codan HF or take it to Uluru in a couple of weeks and sell it to Numpty? If I do fit it, I need an aerial mount to fit the Kaymar rear wheel carrier.

Good to see your coming out of your slump a bit Ron. Hope the Black Dog lets you run free

Gary

Tourer is a good move Ron. Go double swing aways and get a second spare too. From memory you have a Brown Davis LR tank so wouldn't really need a jerry can holder when touring.

RovinRangie down here in Melbourne has a very nice drawer set up he made himself. Two drawers on the right and fridge slide at floor level on the left. Makes accessing the fridge easier, and you could still do similar with the old one and access the dual battery/wheel well behind fridge slide.

Get the HF Antenna mounted at top of one of the swing aways and a LED work light at top of the other. Forgetting the safety aspects, I reckon you also want to be able to talk to people for as long as you can when touring, so definetley get that HF mount happening!

From memory they are worth a bit, so try and have it as a removable/quick release set up... Not sure of the theft rates, but I imagine there would be a few people around and about that would want to flog off with it when your not looking!

Originally Posted by 33chinacars

Good to see your coming out of your slump a bit Ron. Hope the Black Dog lets you run free. Gary

Hi Ron

Its probably was the dog going back to the guide dogs that had upset your applecart. Pets are great company, although in my case with the dogs I have been left with to look after, by my daughter and others, they are not my choice of Boarder Collie and definitely not of the working dog type that could be used for sheep dog trials!

Its good to see that you are discovering another use for the P38.
I would be looking at the possibility of accessing the fridge through the passenger side back door with the rear seats taken out.
To cart your water and to keep the weight down low, I would use something like one of those water bladders laid across the foot well, then make a shelf to protect it, the self could be then an extension of and at the same height as the rear floor.

To protect the back of your neck from any objects that are harder than a swag, fit a cargo barrier behind the back of your front seats, with the top support straps going back to the car's frame well above the door opening. How do I know this? ouch!
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Originally Posted by DT-P38

Tourer is a good move Ron. Go double swing aways and get a second spare too. From memory you have a Brown Davis LR tank so wouldn't really need a jerry can holder when touring.

That's why I was interested in the wheel carrier Bushrover had for sale but it was in Perth. It was for the RHS, too. Yes, I have a long range tank but I was thinking of pulling it out as I haven't been able to get it to seal around the fuel pump. I can't fill it as it dumps the fuel out onto the ground.

Originally Posted by DT-P38

RovinRangie down here in Melbourne has a very nice drawer set up he made himself. Two drawers on the right and fridge slide at floor level on the left. Makes accessing the fridge easier, and you could still do similar with the old one and access the dual battery/wheel well behind fridge slide.

Hmm, I'd like to see pics of that. I'll send him a PM.

Originally Posted by DT-P38

Get the HF Antenna mounted at top of one of the swing aways and a LED work light at top of the other. Forgetting the safety aspects, I reckon you also want to be able to talk to people for as long as you can when touring, so definetley get that HF mount happening!

I've got the work light on the wheel carrier. I bought one of the LED lights in an AULRO group buy. The HF would be good to talk to ex-colleagues from OTC. They have a regular daily sked. I'd need to see about getting an amateur licence. I have a broadcast operator's certificate of proficiency (BOCP).

The Kaymar antenna support for their wheel carrier is bloody exxy so I need to look at making my own. I did see one for sale on the 'Net but the seller never responded to my email.

Originally Posted by DT-P38

From memory they are worth a bit, so try and have it as a removable/quick release set up... Not sure of the theft rates, but I imagine there would be a few people around and about that would want to flog off with it when your not looking!

Yes, that's an issue, for sure.

Originally Posted by wrinklearthur

Hi Ron

Its probably was the dog going back to the guide dogs that had upset your applecart. Pets are great company, although in my case with the dogs I have been left with to look after, by my daughter and others, they are not my choice of Boarder Collie and definitely not of the working dog type that could be used for sheep dog trials!

Could be. I suggested to my wife that we buy some black clothes, balaclavas, and bolt cutters and do a raid on Guide Dogs to set a little black dog free. But Elisabeth reckons they'd know it was us as no one else would want the little black beast we returned to them!

Originally Posted by wrinklearthur

Its good to see that you are discovering another use for the P38.
I would be looking at the possibility of accessing the fridge through the passenger side back door with the rear seats taken out.

Yep. Much lower and easier to look into.

Originally Posted by wrinklearthur

To cart your water and to keep the weight down low, I would use something like one of those water bladders laid across the foot well, then make a shelf to protect it, the self could be then an extension of and at the same height as the rear floor.

I like the thought of a flat floor so I could possibly sleep in the back. I've got some pics of Discos set up like that (at Cooma in '98). I'm a bit worried about having a bladder, though. A litre of water weighs 1kg so a full bladder is rather heavy thing to have unrestrained in the car.

Some sizes here: FTA flexible drinking water bladders available from Flexitank Australia

Originally Posted by wrinklearthur

To protect the back of your neck from any objects that are harder than a swag, fit a cargo barrier behind the back of your front seats, with the top support straps going back to the car's frame well above the door opening. How do I know this? ouch!
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A barrier would have to be a custom job. One cannot buy any accessories for the P38A. I have a Commodore half barrier which Hardy told me can be adapted to fit behind the rear seats. My storage box frame shown earlier had a barrier that I made as part of the frame. The P38A has some restraint mounts at the top rear above the upper tailgate. I think these could be utilised. (Pix taken before roof was relined.)





There is a dog guard fitting kit but I've never seen it. Those fitting points might be useful.