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Messages - alain riaud

Pages: [1] 2
1
Bus Blog / Re: Merry Christmas
« on: December 24, 2011, 03:03:04 PM »
Quote from: "Red Baron"
I'll second that also. Now, did the Converse Kid from Westerly try to buy himself a pair of those new "Air Jordan 11 Concords" for Christmas to replace those old red "Chucky's" and get trampled by the unruly crowds?. Are they really worth 200 bucks?



MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

I worked in a shoe factory.
This type of shoes are produced at less than $10 a pair...(7€) in Europe.
Musch less in Asia.

2
Sorting my pictures I found that:

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Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/img]



And this one for John , Meat Cove
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Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/img]


               ENJOY

3
Bus Blog /
« on: November 05, 2011, 09:15:59 AM »
Hello neighbour

4
Event/Show/Campout news and reviews / Frenchies in the East states
« on: May 18, 2011, 08:00:50 AM »
Hi all,

We will ship our vanagon for a trip in East states and Quebec.
We will arrive in New York mid August and head to Northern Quebec while weather is mild.
On the way back , beginnig of october, we will spend some time in the Eastern states and would love to join campouts and meet VW bus US nuts.
Do you have something scheduled at that time?
I have not been able to find any infos.

Waitind to meet some of you
Alain

5
Bus Blog / Help needed: two frenches in NE America
« on: April 30, 2011, 03:01:12 AM »
Hi folks,
We had this plan last year but we had to deay it for famoly reasons.

We plan to tour NE USA and Quebec for two month ths summer/fall.
We will ship our Eurovan, rental is too expensive.
We hope we will be able to join members on some campouts.

We will land on august 9th and leave when it's too cold, normally mid october.

Now the help stuff:
We have to get a vehicle insurance, so we will need an address in USA. If somebody is ready to offer his own address, we will be very gratefull.
Futhermore, if somebody knows an insurance company ready to accept non resident foreigners with no track record in US, with no accident in 40 yeas in Europe, we are ready to contact them.

Regards,

Alain Riaud

6
Technical Concerns /
« on: February 10, 2011, 02:26:29 AM »
Quote from: "Vanagonjr"
Electric only alternatives - are Vitrifrigo and Truckfridge  see http://www.westyventures.com/parts.html

or get this Go Westy fridge elimination kit and and an ice chest ; )

http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details. ... parent_id=

What I would like is a highly insulated square, but tall top loading ice chest.  With a block of ice you are set for days.  

Maybe Igloo has ones that fit the bill - such as Maxcold 70 Qt Roller (At Dick's Sporting goods) or Marine 60 - http://www.igloocoolers.com/products/Fu ... arine/266/

John


I have been using electric fridge for 20 years. Never had a problem.
The linear compressor based one are very silent and draw a mere 2 amps on the aux battery.

7
Eurovan concerns /
« on: June 02, 2010, 01:22:58 PM »
Thanks all,

I just received a quotation for shipping my van to US and back.
It's awfully expensive, 1700 € for transportation plus some 1500€ in taxes, harbour charges and insurance.......

I think for that money I can rent a decent campervan for two month.

I read american made campervans eat a lot, what kind of mpg figure should I expect?

We plan a stay from mid august to mid october, shared between the north eastern part of US and Quebec. Do you think we may find camping place closed in october?

We, my wife and I, hope we will be able to meet US VW bus addicts.....

8
Eurovan concerns / Eurovan maintenance
« on: May 28, 2010, 01:47:49 AM »
Hi folks,

I did not post here since last year.
I still have a plan to tour eastern north america this summer.
If I can find an acceptable price, I may ship my Eurovan Turbo diesel. Otherwise I will rent something bigger, but will you accept me in your campouts?

As it's an old beast, despite a low mileage (100 000 miles), I'm worried by potential breakdown.
Are they common in your area?
Do we find parts easily? Remember, a turbo diesel....

Thanks for your answers

9
Event/Show/Campout news and reviews / Re: Winter Bus Treffen 2010
« on: March 03, 2010, 02:03:30 AM »
Quote from: "Red Baron"
Don't know where this took place, but take note of the predominance of the Hi-rise fiberglass tops as opposed to one or two canvas Poptops. Are we missing something here in the US?


Hi Red Baron.

BTW, I chose high fiverglass top.
Very easy to get good insulation.
No leaks during the last 22 years of common life !
You can sleep in the top without attacting attention.
Very sensitive to high winds.

10
Event/Show/Campout news and reviews /
« on: February 26, 2010, 12:25:31 PM »
I did not replied to Nevin Lesher and Kayakjr. Shame on me.

11
I'm a quite new frenchie on this forum.

I plan a two month trip this late summer visiting North East (Massachusets, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine) and Quebec.
I'm a campout addict, here in France, with my fellow Type 3 owners.
As I'm in the planning phase of this stay and would be delighted if I could join a Limbobus campout and meet people.

Do you folks have ideas on what you will do this summer?

I will not be with my van, too expensive to ship it .

I plan to rent something equivalent locally, it's quite expensive too. Any suggestions?

Thanks all

12
Bus Blog /
« on: February 09, 2010, 11:55:39 AM »
Definitely no.
Mine is 2WD.

13
Technical Concerns /
« on: November 20, 2009, 06:32:07 AM »
I've done it. I own a 1988 turbo diesel.

First, choose a deep cycle battery, not a starting battery.
I chose a 85 Ah/20 hours battery

You put it the compartment behind the seat, either driver's or passenger's.
I had a problem, the battery is 3mm too high, I was not able to close the cover.
I modified the hinges and put a 4mm spacer...plus an insolating sheetunder the cover, just in case.

From the electric side, I used a salvaged copper jumper cable, connected to the main battery through a relay controlled by the fuel valve wire. The two batteries are interconnected only when the engine is running.

Be sure to protect the line on both end with 32 Amp fuses (You have two batteries, two sources of short circuit)

A refinement worth the money: an undervoltage protection between the aux battery and your camping electric network.
This prevents overdischarging and ruining the battery.

I use this system from the beginning, more than 20 years. I changed the battery every ten years.

My 2 cents

14
Bus Blog /
« on: November 05, 2009, 01:10:32 PM »
Quote from: "Vanagonjr"
I agree buying a Vanagon and counting on using it as sold is probably pretty risky.  

What about renting a motor home?  I know it is expensive to rent, but it would be the easiest.  There are places such cruise america (.com) that rent out RV's from 19' (5.8 meters) to 30' (>9 m) .  

These typically have RV America across them and huge graphics that are a turn-off to many - well at least to me.

Our friends rented from a place that rents out peoples RV (newer ones only) and therefore do not have "rental graphics" all over them.

How long do you plan to be in the states?  

John


The point is, I plan to stay 2 or 3 month, that's why the buying option could be wise, from the money side.

15
Bay window concerns / Re: electrical power for roadtrip
« on: November 05, 2009, 02:27:04 AM »
Quote from: "beebrew"
Although my second battery works well, it does not have the capacity I need for my 12V fridge during several night stays. Thus,I am adding a solar panel with the install nearly identical to Frank Condelli's. http://www.frankcondelli.com/solar.htm  The project is mid stream right now. I bought my used panel on Ebay to save some money. I also found 6 AWG marine cable for the install much cheaper on Ebay.  My battery is a yellow top deep cycle Optima, which I am not impresses with. The batter will charge from the alternator when driving, same as before. I would like to hear other peoples experience with different batterys.


I don't own a Bay any longer. Right now my van is a diesel Vanagon.
The solutions are the same, anyway.

I use a deep cycle 85Ah battery, Banner brand, it may be european only, installed under the driver's seat.

I use a CTEK 7A intelligent charger (swedish). it loads the battery in one night and can be left plugged (floating).
While driving , the battery is loaded by the alternator, in parallel with the starting battery, through salvaged copper jumper cable and an isolating automotive relay controlled by the fuel valve wire.

The battery is protected against deep discharge by an undervoltage relay which disconnects the system when voltage goes below 10.4 volts. Usually the DC/AC converters have this protection built in.

The fridge is the most power ungry device. I use a 30 liters compression fridge with a Sawafuji Swing Motor , very quiet.

Sometimes I use a laptop through a 150W converter, it takes three hours to empty the battery.

I'm afraid you cannot use a microwave oven with such a weak system, too hungry.

My experience is, I can stay 1.5 day camping with the fridge and lamps only , in european climate.

Forgive my english, I try hard to improve it.

Alain

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