Monthly Archives: April 2013

It’s the final countdown…

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There are only ten working days left! My feelings are mixed but the outlook from now on is awesome. By coincidence good friends are throwing a big party in the countryside just at the end of my last working week. Thanks guys, exactly what I needed! In between I already lined up some outdoor activity and the rest of the time will certainly pass by fast with preparations. Buying a travel vehicle definitly is a big leap forwards. So the next couple of weeks will be joyful busy, finishing work, preparing the bus, enjoying the spring (finally!) while meeting friends… That’s anditainment for sure so stay tuned…

final-countdown

 

Guess what?

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I’m back in the land of the muted telly and endless waiting. I didn’t get an appointment on short notice again so 76 other persons to go. That’s the third vehicle I bought since I started this blog. They really start to pile up. I think I have to start selling… Let’s hope the second try on the travel vehicle is a success. We’ll see soon, with a little luck the new one will enter the worshop in the afternoon….

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Until now I waited for two hours. There are still 36 to go. Worst performance ever, dear Kfz-Zulassungsstelle. The funny “due to technical difficulty longer waiting..” sign is still here as well. I wonder if they took it down in between. At least I came prepared so it’s almost the same as sitting at home and making ToDo lists and so on… My experiences at this place more or less state out what most car enthusiasts already knew: Monday is “I bought a car at the weekend” day and friday is “i need short term registrations to bring a car abroad” day. Don’t come here at these days.

Also very nice: Since I had no time to order license plates on the internet I just bought them here. 40€ for two !!! On the web they are 5€ a pop + 5€ delivery making up 15€. If you’re in a hurry it will cost you. Time and money… But since I’m not really a patient guy it’s the best choice just to get it over with and hopefully have the car in the workshop this afternoon. Much better than spending hours on the internet searching for possible issues of the car and related fixes…

Workshop Improvement Day

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The club (akakraft e.V.) who runs the workshop I’m using is holding “work days” on a regular basis. The workshop is cleaned, maintenance of the machine park is done, light bulbs are changed and new hardware is installed. Some time ago a extraction system for exhaust gases was donated. Today we started to do the piping. There already is a hole in the outer wall at a convenient place but the pipes used are 11cm in diameter and the hole is 17cm. Where can we get a adaptor? This doesn’t sound like a part which is available everywhere.

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Have you ever tried to put a keg on a lathe? Nope. Not until now…

I LOVE such tasks. Just take your measuring tape and roam through the workshop or a hardware store and look for stuff which might help. Great training for your skills in visual judgement of dimensions as well. Obviously I started searching at the scrap box since it’s full at the moment and there’s always good stuff. And Bingo! A five liter keg of a rather well known beer which doesn’t really taste like much. It’s conical as well so it will be a snug fit. It only needs two holes of the right size. Normally you would start to mess around with pliers to get it done somehow in a fast and dirty way. But that’s not how we do it. Everything has to be over engineered, look nice and the fabrication process has to involve fancy machinery. 🙂

On the bottom we just marked the center with a center bore, adjusted the turning chisel to it, zeroed the scale and measured outwards.

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A keg spinning on the lathe at 14 (!) rpm

Since the top already has a small hole we started on the outer diameter, zeroed the scale and measured inwards.

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The finished part.

The first hole was a perfect fit. You could slip it on the tubing easy and it was difficult to remove it again. The second hole was a little off but still alright.

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The finished product

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Temporary installment to see how good it fits.

 

Fuck, I’m old!

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Yesterday my flatmates and I were talking about books&movies for children. One mentioned that he loved Harry Potter when HE was a child. dafuq

But yeah, the books came out in 1997, the first movie 2001. Back then I was finishing school / starting studying at the university. He is almost ten years younger so he attended primary school being a cute little boy. The perfect age for Harry Potter. Weird. But good. Normally I just don’t realize that there is such an age difference because we’re both somehow grown ups, share some hobbies (like travelling for example) and get along really well. The older you get the less important is the age difference…

Picking up pace…

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The measures I’ve taken are starting to work out fine. I took good care of myself during the last couple of weeks. I did almost no excessive partying, drank almost no alcohol and kept almost a quite constant sleep rhythm. I visited dear friends and constantly soldiered through my to do list. Now there are only 13 working days left and I’m starting to see light at the end of the tunnel (and I’m quite sure it isn’t an oncoming train…). There’s still much stuff to do and I still hate the uncertainty of not having a completely checked through travel vehicle standing in the workshop. It’s the same as always before I start an adventure. At first I worry about plenty of stuff and spend much time on alternative plans, countermeasures for any problem which could come up and so on. The closer the date of leaving comes the more I relax (except the last couple of days of course). I’ve got the feeling that I’m prepared well. Mentally not organizationally. Most stuff which is likely to happen has been thought through. I know that I’m good at solving problems, it’s my occupation and hobby as well.

If I don’t find a decent travel vehicle or destroy it in an accident or whatever I can still fix the station wagon and use it for traveling. Having a rear lock differential and quite a good ground clearance it even has limited offroad capabilities. Exactly the same mode of transportation as in Australia and quite comfortable as long as it doesn’t rain for several days straight and it’s not too cold.

And even if that is going wrong as well I still got my “everything sucks and I have to get out RIGHT NOW” escape vehicle which I started to prepare years ago. The trusty Honda XL 600V Transalp!

An old pic without the modifications.

An old pic without the modifications.

Already equipped with aluminum boxes, engine bashplate and crashbars it only needs a new set of offroad tires and a new chain / sprocket set. That’s done in less than a day.  And even if that’s not working either I still have quite some backpacking experience. I just tend to get more comfortable while I’m growing older and my income is raising…

To sum it up: The summer will be fun for sure and some travelling will be done. The only thing which could stop me (except for accidents & stuff of course) is being stuck in an everyday life routine. And I definitely kick ass avoiding that. So no worries folks!