VW Kombi.com

(AKA – A real life test/review of the Garmin Streetpilot C320)

What are camper vans for if they’re not for heading off, on an impulse, into the country for a spot of exploration? And what better to help you with that than a bit of in-bus navigation help? By that I am referring, of course to RatNav.

OK, I really mean SatNav, but Eugene, the van’s newest mascot (named somewhat unfairly after the Big Brother contestant on account of the oversized chompers) needs somewhere to sit and I don’t want to let that get in the way of a cheesy pun.

I’d always wondered what use these systems were. They were something that "other people" used, generally people in BMWs with plush leather seats. But then one day I found myself in the back of a car. A BMW, actually. With leather seats. And I was watching Tim‘s Satnav follow us and guide us all around the country lanes to John‘s place in Sezincote, delivering us right there on that spot in the middle of nowhere. I knew it was only a matter of time until I succumbed and bought me one of those!

I got a Garmin Streetpilot C320 about a week ago but this weekend was the first time that I tried it out for sure. I looked at a map (the old fashioned kind) and decided a bimble around the Forest of Dean would be a good idea. The unit seemed to fail its first test when I headed for the M4. I knew that I needed to head west and go over the bridge into Wales, but it was suggesting I go left, heading for London. Er … OK, let’s let it recover. Because the good thing is that if you go off route, it quickly recalculates a route for you. I worked out later that it was guiding me the right way, as I had set the unit to avoid tolls, so it was suggesting a route other than the M4 route I had headed out on (because you have to pay to go across the Severn Bridge). I unset that option then carried on my way. Oh, and paid the toll when we crossed the old Severn Bridge.

I cannot praise these things enough. It took the stress out of navigating to such a degree it was laughable. I was making my way around little towns like I’d known them for years, not once making a wrong turn. When we got to our campsite (located using the GPS), we immediately headed out, using the nearby points of interest facility on the unit to good use. By selecting one point at a time and letting the unit suggest a route, we found ourselves driving down pretty routes that we probably would not have done had we tried to navigate using the large scale map. The highlight of the weekend was undoubtedly Symonds Yat, recommended to us by some other people (kombi owners!) that we befriended at the campsite. I simply tapped in the town name, then looked for accommodation near to that town (on the basis that the accommodation closest to the centre would be a good place to start). It suggested a place called the Saracens Head Inn. Symonds Yat is a beautiful spot, and without the SatNav I might not have found it.

Bottom line – you may think that SatNav/GPS is for geeks (and I think I can qualify for that category) but it really was an excellent thing to have this weekend. I just know that it will help me find places I wouldn’t otherwise do and it will also make me feel happier about driving off down random country lanes because I know I’ll always have a guide to help me out. One that doesn’t get grumpy about being asked, too

Photos from Forest of Dean getaway are here

Had some fantastic weather for this year’s Beachbuggin’ event down in Southsea (Portsmouth). No time for a write-up right now, but here are some photos to be getting on with for now :

» Photos from Beachbuggin 2005, Southsea

I just took a look at Vanshack’s website and noticed a new message on the home page:

Consider this an open apology to all type 4 owners who might want to use their services – it was my bus that made them stop servicing type 4 engines!

It took a while to get the old girl out for a proper weekend away. Sure, since
bringing the bus back from Aus we’ve taken her to various places in the UK
but we’ve only slept in the van once (in Brighton) and never at a Volkswagen
do. This weekend marked a milestone then.

We travelled up the motorway (M4, M24, M1, map fans) from Swindon to Redbourne
for VW Action’s BeetleMania event, a 60s-themed event that looked promising.
The weather looked like it would be sunny, the theme of the party should stop
too many chav-like attendees turning up and I knew at least a few people before
coming up there.

The weather was a slight disappointment. The sun, or what there was of it,
dipped out of sight and was replaced with a biting cold. Even with a diesel
heater at our disposal to pump warm air into the van (Eberspacher D1LC), the
night looked like it would be a cold one. Never mind, a bit of dancing about
to the old skool rave tunes helped take my mind of things (I say dance it was
more of an animated nod and foot-tap – I never can quite let go when I know
I’m being watched by the other [more sensible] half!).

Saturday day revealed that there had been a few more vehicles (and people)
arrive during the night, but it was certainly not busting at the seams; it
was not as busy show as I imagined it would be. Perhaps the cold weather was
to blame; perhaps it was the fact that there are so many VW shows to pick and
chose from (there’s another VW Action event next week); perhaps people wanted
to stay home and watch Dr Who instead?

The Fab Beatles played a blinder in the afternoon, and again in the evening.
It’s amazing how many hits they had and how you can sing along to even the
least known of their songs. The Rolling Clones (no prizes for guessing who
they were a tribute band for) were also pretty good, with ‘Mick’ doing the
whole impression – the singing, the strutting and the accent/voice (between
songs). Also making an impression on the Saturday night were fellow Swindonites
(a.k.a. Zwindon Luftschule) who were all togged up in monks’ robes and wearing
Bob Monkhouse masks, a sight that must have been slightly unnerving to some
people in various states of inebriation (and other intoxicants).

My overall feeling about BeetleMania was that it was fun, could have been
improved with a bit of sun and was lacking a little in the traders’ department.
I had hoped to pick something up to spoil Ethel with and managed to get a …
wait for it, wait for it – rubber grommet for the lock barrel on the sliding
door. Woohoo, let’s go crazy!

Another strange phenomenon was recognising other people’s VZi usernames and
feeling too conscious to say hello. Why? Because maybe that would pander to
their egos (for those that have them – that’s not a blanket statement!),
maybe they’d think that I’m some kind of fan-boy, or even find that they don’t
wanna know because they don’t know me (if this seems odd, you can blame the tone
of some VZi threads for making it feel like sometimes it’s not as inclusive
or all-embracing as it should)?

Whatever, I did feel that the ‘gang’ thing was magnified at the event, not
defused (in case you’re not sure what I’m on about, just read any of the old
posts on VZi – the whole ‘gangs are elitist’ posts come around regular as clockwork).
The little enclosures were no longer virtual, and it felt, to me at least,
that you couldn’t just join in with other gangs. Heck, I even felt like an
outsider camping up with the other Swindon lot because I hadn’t been party
to the whole ‘Monkmen’ brotherhood thing (that and the fact that I was there
with my partner while it was an all-lads-together event for the rest of them).
Then again, as has been pointed out in responses on VZi in the past, we’re
all part of a gang anyway – the VW Owners’ gang, and it’s one that I’m happy
to be part of.

Or maybe I should have written this post when I hadn’t had a bad day at work ;-p

I have no idea which VW do I’ll make it to next – there’s so much upheaval
in my life at the moment as I move house, try to get a new house with Manda
and try to sort out wedding plans, try to resolve some issues at work that
I really don’t know what’s coming up next. Whatever happens, I’ll do my best
to enjoy it. A cooler full of beer and a heater blowing over my cold tootsies
and I’ll be sorted

• View the photos from BeetleMania here

If I can be arsed to get around to it, I might actually write up something half decent about the BeetleMania event I went to this weekend. Too many jobs to do, too little time. We’ll see. To summarise – it was fun, it was the first time since Aus that we’d camped in the van for longer than an evening and the first time that we’ve camped overnight at a VW event. I realise now that we weren’t as organised as we could be, but that all comes with practice. In the meantime, though, here are a few photos from BeetleMania that I took (although I was being a bit lazy on that front, it has to be said.

Here’s a little video of the VolksWorld Show that I put together. By little, what I really mean is ‘rather big’ – it’s a 33mb Quicktime movie clip, so don’t start downloading unless you have both the bandwidth and the Quicktime player to view it on. If you have both, and have some time on your hands, I think you’ll find it well worth downloading and saving to your hard drive. Enjoy!

Originally posted at VolksZone forum, duplicated here for the benefit of any Googlers out there (who are not likely to find the thread on Volkszone) – a list of all the photo galleries that I am aware of from the VolksWorld Show 2005 at Sandown Park, Surrey

• My gallery on VW Kombi.com (this site, folks)
• Porky’s gallery
• nose-down.de gallery
• Spiny’s gallery
• Herts VW Club
• Speedman’s gallery
• Mistereck’s gallery
• Slimboy Fats (zero people in the way) shots
• Pre 67′s gallery
• Nathan’s Fotopic gallery
• KGMunkey’s gallery
• Enough’s Enough
• Retro Rides gallery
• Type2 Ireland gallery

Driving a Volkswagen Camper all around Australia (or a large part of it), covering 18,500 km in the process, shipping it 14,575 km from Perth (Western Australia) to Southampton and then around the UK without a single scratch in the process. And then scraping a car in the ridiculously over-crowded car park at work. No damage to Ethel, though – just a touch of blue on the rear bumper that has already been sprayed over (like it never happened). The little KIA car that I brushed up against was also not dented – thankfully the plastic bumper gave way (or flexed) in the face of Ethel’s metallic behind, so it’ll only be a touch-up job for now. Annoying, all the same.

Go on, you know you want to …

I’ve set up a shop on Cafepress.com with my favourite photo of Ethel on T-shirts, mugs and a rather fetching messenger bag.

So, roll up folks, buy your VW/volkswagen clothing and other schtick here!

Note: I’m not doing this for the profit – setting up a shop on Cafepress will hardly make me a bean – I just kinda like the idea of seeing someone with an Ethel shirt on!

Well, it’s been a while since I updated the Kombi blog, but there’s not been a huge amount happening. Well, not anything obvious, at least. There haven’t been any shows to attend since the last aborted botch of a show (which turned out to be a handful of people down Boscombe pier, not that it was anyone’s fault). But the VW show season is starting to pick up. This weekend is Volksworld, and I’m hoping to attend if I can, but already have something else planned that weekend. Whenever the next show is, I can at least roll up in a little more comfort than previously, and here’s why – I have a heater!

Going anywhere in the van before always had a down side, and that was the cold. Cold toes, cold nose, cold hands – anything that either wasn’t wrapped up or was facing a jet of cold air turned to ice. It made any journey uncomfortable, and replacing the existing heater – or rather non-existent heateing parts – of the van was not really an option. You see, the placement of the engine right at the back and the length of the tubing from the rear of the van to the front of the vehicle doesn’t make for great (guaranteed) heating in these old vans. And the other thing to bear in mind is that it only works when the engine is running. So, I have got myself an Eberspacher D1LC diesel heater. Imagine a jet engine scaled down and you are getting close. This little baby should keep the van toasty warm in future, regardless of whether the engine is running. Now I just need to get the darn thing plummed in and wired up!

Ethel (for that is her name, dear forgetful or first-time readers) has had a couple of cosmetic changes of note in the last couple of months. Firstly, the roo bars came off, and with it the spare tyre (please don’t let me run over any nails!). It was immediately clear how much that extra steel over the front affected steering; without the roo bars I noticed a marked improvement in handling. I just gotta make sure that I don’t hit any ‘roos now. I also removed the silly little fold-down step at the side and some other metallic ‘cruft’ underneath the van that did little but add to the weight and fuel consumption. Little changes all add up.

In February, Ethel got some new curtains that my sister made. These have all been fitted to the ridiculously small curtain tracking that has probably been there for the whole of the van’s life. They’re looking good, although when closed up there are a few little gaps of light that creep in (need to get big sis to add a touch more material for absolute privacy, methinks!).

Finally, over the last couple of days Ethel got a new smile. Well, a white bumper, at least (looks a bit like a smile to me!), front and back. The bumpers were a bit scratched up and I’ve seen how easily these things can rot out without a bit of care. The problem with Ethel, though, is that her colour is an Aussie one that can’t easily be matched here in the UK, so I couldn’t guarantee an exact match for the bumper, hence I opted for white. It will makes sense in the long run as any further dings and scratches will be easy to cover up and, if I’m honest, they help to balance out the van as a whole (the white pop-top and air scoops).

Ethel’s new ‘pearly-whites’

So, that’s Ethel’s recent work. We took her out this weekend to the Cotswolds, and you can see her new flash of white in these pictures. I don’t think that there’ll be any other major changes in the immediate future, but who knows what little goodies I might pick up at one of the shows this year? So tempting …

Note: All my van pictures will, at some point, also make it onto my Flickr site.