Trailers & 'BWSOW's

[oldwheels]

I spotted this one, whilst out a few days ago
(Tues 13th)

View attachment 585031

There is one similar for sale in Oban. I am tempted to go and have a look at it but not too sure about it as the cooking facilities are outside and in this country with weather and more important the midges it would be impractical.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Wed 16th

I collected the BWSOW this morning
A friend let me borrow his Defender 90
(as the tow-bar won't be fitted to my Kodiaq, till next week)

I had to use an 13-pin - 7-pin adaptor, as the 90 is still 'old-school'

By 'borrow', I mean he came with me, & I drove to Wandahomes, &then towed it to the storage location


It was just like old times, driving a 90!

 

[DRHysted]

Wed 16th

I collected this morning
A friend let me borrow his Defender 90
(as the tow-bar won't be fitted to my Kodiaq, till next week)

I had to use an 13-pin - 7-pin adaptor, as the 90 is still 'old-school'

By 'borrow', I mean he came with me, & I drove to Wandahomes, &then towed it to the storage location


It was just like old times, driving a 90!


View attachment 594187

Mildly jealous right now.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Mildly jealous right now.

Of the 90?
(Td5)

 

[DRHysted]

Of the 90?
(Td5)

Naah.

If you want to drive into the jungle, drive a Land Rover, if you want to drive back out, drive a Toyota.

75% of all Land Rovers are still on the road, the rest made it home.

I do miss my old 4x4, but it was too thirsty, even on vegetable oil. Caravan looks rather nice.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Naah.

If you want to drive into the jungle, drive a Land Rover, if you want to drive back out, drive a Toyota.

75% of all Land Rovers are still on the road, the rest made it home.

I do miss my old 4x4, but it was too thirsty, even on vegetable oil. Caravan looks rather nice.

I thought it was an Australianism

"If you want to go into the outback, drive a Land Rover, if you want to get back out, drive a Toyota"

Veg oil
I used to run my 300Tdi on bio-diesel, if I passed it, or sometimes veg-oil, but the later Td5 wasn't keen on it
(neither, apparantly, the common-rail VAG diesels in my previous Octavia, or the present Kodiaq)

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Forgot!!


When we were collecting it, someone showed up with a Ford Ranger pick-up, to collect a serviced 'van
The workshop guys, & myself, were horrified at the hitch he was using, & tried to talk him into changing it before leaving, as they are dangerous & at best; damned stupid

I've seen the same type/pattern fail before, & the possible results aren't nice
He had one of these, that I mentioned as damned unsafe on page 1
Not this exact one, but the same style, where the pin is machined from the ball





If you look at it, all that actually holds the trailer to the towing vehicle is a 3mm over-centre ring!!!
There's some inherent play in the shaft.
All it takes is a rough road, & it could be fatal for someone if it goes its own way!!
If you know someone who uses one, advise them accordingly

IF it all goes ultimately wrong, the charge of 'Causing Death By Dangerous Driving/Unsafe Load' could be an end result

 

[DRHysted]

Veg oil
I used to run my 300Tdi on bio-diesel, if I passed it, or sometimes veg-oil, but the later Td5 wasn't keen on it
(neither, apparantly, the common-rail VAG diesels in my previous Octavia, or the present Kodiaq)

Yeah these modern engines are nowhere near as tolerant as the old lumps, and I could do all the repairs myself. Most work I can do on the modern things is check oil & water, and top up the screen wash (although I’m sure the car would prefer a dealer to do that as well),

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Yeah these modern engines are nowhere near as tolerant as the old lumps, and I could do all the repairs myself. Most work I can do on the modern things is check oil & water, and top up the screen wash (although I’m sure the car would prefer a dealer to do that as well),

Likewise.....

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Then, it's a local inaugural tow/camp, on Friday evening - Sunday afternoon

Well it is fairly local, even if we travel M62/A1/'old' A1, it's still roughly about 15 miles


https://www.squires-cafe.co.uk/

I did show her some pictures before booking, but not the really busy ones

PLUS, this coming weekend, there's an 'Auto-Jumble' on the Saturday, & a 'Ford Meet' on Sunday
That gives me something to do anyway..........

It can be empty, or fairly busy
I've seen riders get turned away before now, when there's no space left

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Question

Was it just the 13-pin plug on our BWSOW that was faulty, or do the internals actually twist to a new position?
The sales guy had to bring out a 'tool' to realign the internals

If it is commonplace with them, it seems a retrograde from 7-pin plugs, l can't remember it ever happening with a 7-pin plug (as they've located in place within the plug itself

 

[DRHysted]

Question

Was it just the 13-pin plug on our BWSOW that was faulty, or do the internals actually twist to a new position?
The sales guy had to bring out a 'tool' to realign the internals

If it is commonplace with them, it seems a retrograde from 7-pin plugs, l can't remember it ever happening with a 7-pin plug (as they've located in place within the plug itself

Not sure as I’ve not towed the unit since I rewired it to 13pin in 2019 then the country closed! The new wiring and plug came with a alignment socket that you leave on the unit to plug the pins into when not in use, so I suppose it could be a possible issue.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Not sure as I’ve not towed the unit since I rewired it to 13pin in 2019 then the country closed! The new wiring and plug came with a alignment socket that you leave on the unit to plug the pins into when not in use, so I suppose it could be a possible issue.

Probably the same principle

It just seems so damned daft, compared to the old (UK) style 7-pin plugs

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

After last weeks inaugural tow & the useless mirrors that didn't fit correctly, & were kicked/thrown around the compund when getting sorted..............
I won't go into details of the weekend, but I wasn't in the best of moods all the time we were there, due to silly problems with it

However, I did a bit of searching to try & find vehicle specific mounts
A Kodiaq forum revealed such an item, but they're Dutch?
https://www.caravanspiegels.nl/caravanspiegel-skoda-kodiaq-sp31-1388


Amazon could actually supply them
So, they were ordered (Sat 26th) ............. @ £97 delivered

They were here when I got home, so I tried them

They are long!!
I think the arms will need cutting down, once they've been set up correctly, to avoid 'opposing strikes'

They even come with a storage bag
(about the size of a pillowcase!!)

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Oh!!

And this was onsite at https://www.squires-cafe.co.uk/