# What is everyone doing ?



## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

In this enforced shutdown of using our MH, the vehicles are just standing there, unused and unusable at present without incurring the potential wrath of others in the area......

So, MH are standing idle, what are YOU doing to help keep your pride and joy in the best condition possible for the next time after the crisis has been relegated to a bl**dy nuisance.....

I am aware that starting the engine and allowing it to run for perhaps 15 minutes will help keep all the surfaces coated with a protective oil layer, but I am also aware from experience that leaving the handbrake on can lead to the discs seizing to the plates requiring a very unpleasant amount of power to be applied to break the corrosion.

I am keeping a check on the batteries - fortunately the solar panels are doing a good job there coupled with the BatteryMaster, but the spiders are having a field day inside believing that they have been given _carte blanche _ to throw threads wherever they wish (typically found by my wife have an "Arachnoleptic " fit as she discovers them. 🤣🤣🤣 ).

What else is being done by others ? Take it for a short drive every few weeks ? Spend the time polishing it to within 2.54cm of it's life ?

I am curious to hear other's views as to what YOU are doing....... :smile2:


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Keeping lead acid batteries fully charged extends their life Dave. Now we don't have the van I do put the 'second' car on a fit and forget charger to keep it's battery topped up. I haven't used it in 6 weeks now but I personally don't believe in short runs now and again. A good run of 20 to 30 kms would be better.

Ray.


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

The general consensus is NOT to start the engine and let it idle...

https://www.fiatforum.com/ducato/479730-ducato-laid-up-due-virus.html#post4526766

Graham


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

Thank you for those hints and links, some really god points there that I ought to have considered, but hadn't.

I feel a list coming on to remind me what to do....


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Yes there was a long thread on the Wildies I think the other day and running the engine was a big no no Dave. I just whip the battery lead off on mine and isolate the solar and leisure battery and thats it. I often leave it for months on end like that. I had it serviced and MOT'd just before the lock down though as I heard leaving it with old oil in is not a good idea and it was well over due despite the limited miles its done last couple of years. 

I might give it a run out at some point of this carries on for much longer. Our nearest supermarket is 7-8 miles away, 10 if I take the proper roads so that would be a good excuse. Might put the tables and chairs out in Morrisons car park just to see how much "tutting" it attracts. :lol:


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

I don´t have to worry about that because I can still take trips in the MH. at least every 2 weeks I take it on a 50 km trip.:grin2:
I just hope nothing mechanical goes wrong again, but this time I will have a full ADAC back up.

We realised, when it was too late, in October Heike could have used the ADAC, they were not to know which one of us was driving it at the time.:frown2:


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

I don´t want to rub it in, but I think I must be in one of the safest and less restricted places in Europe.
Down at the river this morning were 6 tents with fishermen, split up in 3 parties of 2 and a Motorhome.

The ZOLL (customs) police went past and took no notice, they just slowed up because of Motley because he looks so sweet sitting and waiting for them to pass.


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## bc109 (Sep 17, 2016)

Treated the rust on the slam panel, painted it with bumper spray and then with matt black. Looks a lot better.
Cleaned the entire front with G3 and intended to polish it, but then it rained gently for about ten days.
You have just reminded me it's unfinished business.
Repaired a tiny crack in the front bumper. I am annoyed that these motorhomes don't have a rubber strip and wraparound to soak up the occasional tiny bump.
Refitted the bike carrier 'cos Dorli has bought a larger bike and we must check whether it will fit nicely, or whether I will need a bigger hammer.
Must smarten up the wing mirror supports, and do something about those scratches on the skylight perspex.
Have replaced one of the sliding window catches. Have another one to do when I can find the right size.
Don't you just love this lockdown ?
Bill


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

I can only say what I do with mine.

Once a month I used to run several cables some 150 metres or so to charge up the batteries on mine in a barn in my field. Fed up with that and just as lockdown started I bought a "proper" heavy duty cable and dug it in across my lawn, down a hedge, across the field.... - a miracle to behold. The end result is that I don't have to worry about the batteries. I've pumped the tyres up way beyond what they need to be and that's it. The fuel tank was already full - which is recommended so as to avoid corrosion so I should be good to go! Famous last words!


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Pity about that Peter as I have been trying to sell 160m of .6 armoured cable for €100 for about two years. It went this jan basically for scrap money.

Ray.


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

raynipper said:


> Pity about that Peter as I have been trying to sell 160m of .6 armoured cable for €100 for about two years. It went this jan basically for scrap money.


You won't want to hear what I paid for mine Ray! Apparently though it's Arctic grade! Helpful for the south of England!


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Yes it must have been worth £700 to buy off the shelf.

Ray.


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

raynipper said:


> Yes it must have been worth £700 to buy off the shelf.


Fortunately less - by an acceptable amount!

I dug the trench across my lawn just before it didn't rain here for 6 weeks! So watched the trench dry out and shrink and therefore having to try to water it with a pathetic hose pressure!"


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

In answer also to Dave's question, we are using Zoom massively. 

Mrs P and I have Zoom meetings three times a week at 6.00pm (G&T time) with good friends of ours (three different ones) and then on two lunch times a week I have three hour virtual pub meetings with up to six friends - landlord nearly joined us today!

I'm retired but have maybe one Zoom meeting a week for one "non-retired" job I do - two weeks ago I had a Zoom meeting that started at 8.00am and finished at 3.30PM!


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

Thanks Peter, we have tried Zoom, unsuccessfully it was no better than Skype, or WhatsApp or FaceTime - the common problem is that we get our internet via a satellite and the service leaves a lot to be desired.

Sadly, we are too far for wired broadband, the Department went for wireless, the key thing being that the aerials broadcasting it are on top of the water towers so you have to be able to see one..,... we can't.

They are now rolling out fibre and we are supposed to get that by 2023.......

For that reason every house is being given a number which exactly matches the number of metres from where the road starts, we have not got one yet do it may take another year before we even reach that stage - even worse with CoVid delays.

For the privilege of satellite internet we pay 85€ a month...... so not cheap, not fast, it drops out when it rains or there are storms and the suppliers are superb at the Gallic shrug..,.,.

Hence my appeal for what people are doing - I meant about their MH being stationary for what may be months, but binding out other things is always great to hear, so thank you.

.


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

I sympathise Dave with your poor internet and I'm very lucky that I have a "fibre" box in my grass verge!

Two of the participants on my two hour virtual pub meeting today are having to self-isolate and for one of them, our twice weekly Zoom calls are the only contact he is getting! He says it's "keeping him alive" - probably an overstatement but...


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

We are also self-isolated for 12 weeks by UK rules, but there is no home delivery service from supermarkets here, or anything resembling food boxes being delivered......


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

I am resisting ZOOM in favour of something called "The Telephone" that seems to work very well and no appointments necessary.!!!

Plus as you have found Peter it seems to be very time consuming and for busy souls a rather inconvenient intrusion. Plus when we are chatting with family members on Skype one to one it allows us to discuss other family members problems and solutions privately.
I hate modern tech for new tech sake. OK it's great for some but one size really does not fit all situations. The only time we have time to relax and think about chatting is after dinner watching TV and often dozing off. Hence the convenience of recording most evening progs.

Yes Dave great hullabaloo when France Telecom ran fibre cables down the coast road from top to toe of the Cherbourg Peninsular 5 years ago. But only a few larger towns along the route have been serviced with fibre. The rest of the smaller towns and villages are still on 70 year old copper wire. We are fortunate in getting 6 or 7mbps and Skype is generally good at €38 all in. Cell signal could be better and we can almost see the tower apart from the trees. But as two other family members are hit and miss internet Zoom aint a good idea.

So far we haven't found isolation a problem. We can chat to neighbours and or visitors from our plot to them in the lane. No traffic to interrupt and sometimes fresh veg dropped off from over enthusiastic gardeners. It could always be worse as elderly friend in next village needed to get to doc urgently and his wife does not drive, so my wife did the ambulance service.

Ray.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Fifth Wheel just sits smiling at us. Apart from the tyres it needs no attention from us though we do keep it plugged in to the mains.

We nearly had to move in to it the other day. Since getting home we have discovered two lots of water ingress to the house. The porch over the original front door was sagging before we went but the storms loosened it more and we had water ingress all around the joints. That resulted in mould and peeling paint 

A couple of days ago, we were talking to our daughter on facetime when Chris, bored with all the baby cooing, looked up and saw a damp patch on the lounge ceiling. Investigations revealed a joint in the roof might be responsible. The roof is only a few years old and would be guaranteed by the, excellent, roofing company that did it but the owner killed himself a few years ago. Not related to his work unless it was caused by over work due to his popularity 

Then we ran out of heating oil! Of course it had to coincide with the recent drop in temperature! I had ordered it from Boiler Juice who give a good price but wait for enough orders to warrant sending out a large tanker. I switched to NG and saved about a hundred pounds as oil prices have plummeted since I first ordered! We sat with blankets over us for a couple of nights but gave up yesterday and sent out a plea on the Next Door social media site for electric heaters. The village were amazing and we now have a couple of oil filled radiators and a heavy duty fan heater to tide us over until Monday.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Sad for you Pat but at times it does seem the gods gang up against us all together. Usually in threes??
Water ingress was the bane of my life in UK until we moved to France. As a kid I often had to get on the roof of our third floor tenement to push the old slates back when we heard the plop, plop, plop from above. Crazy really as I was 10 or 12 and the drop was 40ft. 

Then our big house and tenanted Victorian houses were always having moisture problems from roofs, gutters and drains. It was a constant job to just keep everything dry and I dreaded rain storms.

But now this house although 30 years old is bone dry thankfully. The builder constructed it for himself and wife who promptly divorced as soon as it was finished. His loss and our gain as it's the best quality, warm and comfortable house of all our friends and neighbours. 

We are guilty of being belt and braces (hoarders) and rarely run out of anything, never leaving restocking fuel, gas or provisions to last minute. Mind it can cause storage problems and recycling when coming across tins and jars dated 2008/9.

Ray.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

I used to be like that and it is very rare we run out of anything that I am in charge of, but our holiday in Spain and the shut down here has sent me into laid back "don't worry about it" mode  It is good for my mental health but not good when I live with a "leave it until tomorrow" person  It is this person who is in charge of checking the oil tank!


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Ha ha ha, 

Ray.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

Had to put the flaps down on my hat this morning because its a very cold wind a blowing.

Just to show I´m not telling fibs about how life can go on in my part of the world. 
Yesterday there were 6 fishermen tents by the river and the MH. I walked the opposite direction this morning so only saw what was in and near the car park.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

It's a tough life....

Your freedom to act MIGHT be used by some to suggest that the German Government has handled this crisis more rapidly than the British.....

NB I did say "some people" as I would not want anyone to think that I MIGHT not believe the UK Government acted in a timely manner. 🙃











There is no "think" about it - I am 100% certain that the UK Government were slow to react to the possibility of a crisis...... 😢😰😨🤔😪🤕🙄


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

I think it´s more to do with the part of Germany I live Dave, a part where tourists are quite rare for a start.

I´m also in a village in Oderaue


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Is that activity not banned though, Jan?


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

patp said:


> Is that activity not banned though, Jan?


Obviously not :grin2:

I rang the police a few weeks back and asked if I was permitted to take the Navajo for a spin, the answer was yes.

Protection must be warn when shopping Roy (my shopper) tells me.
If you want to know how things are being done here.
https://www.wriezen.de/news/1/56933...el-gottesdienste-bis-50-personen-möglich.html

Heike and Jürgen still go to their caravan at weekends, Jürgen still goes to work, Heike is working from home.
Maybe its to do with following the rules, Germans are maybe more obedient than the Brits. >


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Yes I did wonder if the Germans level of obedience for rule following was key to their success rate in tackling this virus. Perhaps if the Brits were better behaved we might have been allowed to do such things in a safe manner.


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## H1-GBV (Feb 28, 2006)

To be fair, I'm amazed at how compliant we Brits have been! I think I saw somewhere that Boris' Social Scientists were predicting 20% non-compliance and that was a reason for holding off the Lockdown for so long.

Following an earlier tack, I sit here at the end of a country lane in a sleepy little Norfolk village with fibre broadband giving me 71.3Mbps download and 18.63Mbps upload (Ookla) despite two folk using it at the moment. We also get 24/7 phone calls (limited to 1hour) for £28 per month. :smile2:

Gordon


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Brilliant Gordon. I can only wait and see for speeds like that. But our calls are round the world with no time limit.

Ray.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Same here Gordon. Norfolk is the safest place in the country at them moment. The Norfolk and Norwich Hospital recorded no deaths the other day. Considering that we are a county full of elderly folk that is amazing!


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