Delica - the next challenge - help please me re weight issues

[ricc]

from what ive seen most vehicles will fail the elk test, but i've not seen any elks on the roads in the years ive been driving so its not something im going to lose any sleep over. no motor home, not even a hymer, is going to handle like a sports car

the wallowing camper in the video wasnt a standard spec vehicle, it obviously had major suspension issues ,no doubt partly due to excess weight , we can see the stupidly massive winch on the front but weve no idea what else the idiot owner has been up to , so its performance cannot be taken to be indicative of similar vehicles.

theres no way a std 4x4 camper is going places that a proper 4x4 like a landrover will go but itll cope with wet grass and sensible tracks, the thing to avoid is side slopes. any vehicle is easier to roll sideways than end over end.

 

[Channa]

Old saying , a little knowledge is dangerous , read into that what you will

Channa

 

[jeanette]

I sleep over the cab on a memory-foam 2" mattress on top of upholstered cushions. But the table becomes the middle of the downstairs bed if I sleep downstairs in the winter.

Collette your over cab bed must have a big enough headroom for you to sleep there does it would it be possible to see a photo of your van? I only ask as I can't sleep in ours so therefore we sleep downstairs,as we have a sitting area at the back of the van,

 

[mark61]

Lots of scare mongering without even seeing or driving the vehicle. Sure, you can have an educated guess, but thats all it is.

 

[Robmac]

I wonder if it actually was a Camel Trophy vehicle (As per the sticker).

If it was, that would suggest it may be quite a capable vehicle?

 

[delicagirl]

ricc, you are missing the point. There is no difference between a side slope and a swerve to avoid a child who just fell off a bicycle. A vehicle that is not stable is not safe to drive.

I hope that delicagirl's van is not as unstable as the one in the film, but it is clearly not appropriate to have a spare wheel on the roof of such a vehicle

HAVE A LOOK AT THE 6 PHOTOS OF MY VAN IN MY PROFILE FOR ALL TO SEE. My van is not like this one in the film in many respects.

 

[delicagirl]

I wonder if it actually was a Camel Trophy vehicle (As per the sticker).

If it was, that would suggest it may be quite a capable vehicle?

I suspect the owner put all those decals on Rob - he was a definite show-off

 

[Channa]

I wonder if it actually was a Camel Trophy vehicle (As per the sticker).

If it was, that would suggest it may be quite a capable vehicle?

Only place that as come close to a camel is at Twycross Zoo, It says oxo on buses but never sell it I find.

As for kipping arrangements I have exclusively used the overhead bunk, I prefer to use the dinette for eating and teasing you lot








Channa

 

[Robmac]

Only place that as come close to a camel is at Twycross Zoo, It says oxo on buses but never sell it I find.

Channa

Ah, but that's an assumption Andy?

 

[delicagirl]

Lots of scare mongering without even seeing or driving the vehicle. Sure, you can have an educated guess, but thats all it is.

Thank you Mark - many of the folks on here have never seen my van, nor seen it move, nor have they driven it, yet some seem convinced that it will kill me.

I will not be bullied by people who are annoyed that I have not taken their individual bits of advice.

I have learnt an enormous amount from this thread - and it is due to all those who contributed, of which there are many, and I thank you all. If this thread helps others address their weight issues, that is a second great outcome of this story.

I made my decision about the future of my van based on the knowledge I had gleaned here, and as a result of researches I pursued as a result of the many suggestions. But also as a result of consulting with experts in their fields (who are not on this forum) who were able to help me sort the wheat from the chaff of the plethora of suggestions which I received in good faith from WC members. I have decided to keep my van and be far more aware of weight in the future - if something comes into the van, then something else must leave.

if you guys want to argue as to whose ideas are better than others, then feel free, but I wont be engaging with that.

Its been a steep but interesting learning curve.

We are all entitled to make our own choices, and just because I did not do what some suggested - I do not think that warrants posting unwarranted and frightening possibilities for my safety.

I think its time I moved on and returned to happy vanning. if anyone else want to private message me about weight issues, please feel free.

 

[mark61]

I wonder if it actually was a Camel Trophy vehicle (As per the sticker).

If it was, that would suggest it may be quite a capable vehicle?

Barring a few events (1 or 2) Camel Trophy vehicles have all been LR products. Great marketing, but Camel Trophy was dumped about ten years ago for the G4 challenge.

No one knows whats in the vehicle in the video, probably well over loaded, tracks always look much easier in videos too. L300 4x4's are great little trucks and have a good reputation for their off road ability. Of course chucking a huge box on the back ain't going to do it any favours, but that doesn't mean it's going to roll over at the first Elk, ;P

 

[delicagirl]

Collette your over cab bed must have a big enough headroom for you to sleep there does it would it be possible to see a photo of your van? I only ask as I can't sleep in ours so therefore we sleep downstairs,as we have a sitting area at the back of the van,

Hi Jeanette there are external pictures of my van on my profile, but I don't have any internal piccies. I can sleep in the cab bed, but there is very little headroom, and I don't have a ladder, so its a bit of an "art" to get up there and in the right place !!!! Its thanks to my pilates that I am this flexible.

 

[Robmac]

Barring a few events (1 or 2) Camel Trophy vehicles have all been LR products. Great marketing, but Camel Trophy was dumped about ten years ago for the G4 challenge.

No one knows whats in the vehicle in the video, probably well over loaded, tracks always look much easier in videos too. L300 4x4's are great little trucks and have a good reputation for their off road ability. Of course chucking a huge box on the back ain't going to do it any favours, but that doesn't mean it's going to roll over at the first Elk, ;P

Although I have seen many vehicles with 'Camel' stickers (maybe support vehicles) maybe I'm confusing it with Expedition Portal?

 

[YeoBlade]

Thank you Mark - many of the folks on here have never seen my van, nor seen it move, nor have they driven it, yet some seem convinced that it will kill me.
................./snip

I think its time I moved on and returned to happy vanning. if anyone else want to private message me about weight issues, please feel free.

That would be a brave person :lol-053:

 

[mark61]

Although I have seen many vehicles with 'Camel' stickers (maybe support vehicles) maybe I'm confusing it with Expedition Portal?

They give them away at shows.

Our shirts never caught on.

 

[vwalan]

you dont need 4x4 to go out and play with the camels though . it is possible in a mini artic .
these these are out behind merzouga in the desert.
if you like camels thats the place to go. mind you could go to a landrover show and see landrovers dressed for desert work that hardly ever leave tarmac.

 

[Robmac]

.......well I've seen Llamas alongside the A66!

 

[ricc]

ricc, you are missing the point. There is no difference between a side slope and a swerve to avoid a child who just fell off a bicycle. A vehicle that is not stable is not safe to drive.

I hope that delicagirl's van is not as unstable as the one in the film, but it is clearly not appropriate to have a spare wheel on the roof of such a vehicle

have you ever done any cross country off track driving? rolling on a side slope is a world away from swerving to avoid a child on a bike.
its possible to roll any vehicle on a side slope if the angle is big enough.

arguably if youve got to swerve violently enough to roll the vehicle to avoid a child falling off a bike you were driving too fast and too close to the bike in the first place,

dynamic stability of a vehicle is effected by speed and to some extent by driver input. for example a vehicle thats unstable at 70mph with violent driver inputs can be safe to drive smoothly at 30.

id be interested to know why youve decided that its "clearly inappropriate to have a roof mounted spare wheel",

personally id look at mounting it on the front, purely because i wouldnt fancy lifting it up onto the roof but its not going to make a blind bit of difference to the stability of the vehicle in normal usage. but front mounting will effect airflow over the radiator so could cause overheating in extreem conditions, not forgetting the weight of a substantial mounting bracket will eat into the payload.

 

[vwalan]

2005 barcelona dakar rallye. they didnt let me win . so i changed from the vw lt to put them off later years .

 

[delicagirl]

ricc - thank you for explaining about side slopes in a way I could not.

Re weight of the wheel - several people have said how hard it would be to get it down, and in fact when the spare was handed down to me (at my request) by the Recovery guy who came to change wheels when my tyre shredded, it was nowhere near as heavy as I had been led to believe (but I am fairly strong though). I have always carried a spare, and will always do so, as I feel that the Recovery will change the wheel and get me road worthy again, in an emergency situation, which then leaves me time, and calmness, to find a garage I can trust to do the repair. Women are much more likely to be taken advantage of my unscrupulous garage owners, than men customers.

I have had 4 punctures in the last 18 months on 3 different vehicles. If a vehicle is designed to carry a spare, and does not, then Recovery companies will be unable to do a roadside exchange of wheels and some will charge £120+ in UK to tow the vehicle to a garage ... another good reason to carry a spare.

But mostly a spare gives me peace of mind.