Window Worry.

Was up at the van today and decided to open the front window to let a bit of air through.

I noticed that the right hand fastening for the window stay ( as you face forward in the van ) had come loose.

It appears that the two screws holding it have pulled out of whatever they were screwed into.

A job for the upcoming service in September I think.

Might be worth keeping an eye on such fittings as I have felt previously that the front window is very heavy when it is open and the fittings do seem a little flimsy for the weight.

Perhaps a divided window may have been a better bet.

Mind you a possible Orion Mk.2 may have the large picture window that seems popular now,who knows.

Ian

Wharfedale CC Site.

Just had four days at the above and found it most enjoyable,despite taking a wrong turn in Bradford both going and coming home,and that is with a Sat.Nav.

The site is well laid out and the washrooms are spotlessly clean with all the usual facilities present,including a drying room for wet coats and boots.

There are many walks in the local vicinity including a short stroll into Grassington.

The Orion was well behaved and I was particularly impressed by the fridge.

On CT one hears constant tales of fridges ( quite often on Baileys ) that don't work on gas,don't work on electric,don't achieve the correct temperature etc.

I put a cup of water in the freezer compartment for a quick cold drink,forgot about it and it froze solid despite an ambient temperature well into the mid 20's or above.

Yes I know fridges are supposed to do that but a lot of caravan ones seem not to do so.

                                                                                 

This being the start of the school holidays it was quite amusing to see those without offspring beating a hasty retreat home on the Sunday morning ( us included ) before the little darlings arrived en masse.


If you visit the Wharfedale site it is worth walking over to the Long Ashes complex next door,especially if the weather is inclement.


There is a gym,pool,pub with restaurant and a lounge/bar/cafe area which non-members can use,we had rather a nice lunch there.





I picked up a tip on CT that I think is worth repeating.

To avoid damage to the 13-pin plug cable,from dragging on the floor etc.,cover it with some of the plastic "tubing" that is used to keep hi-fi cables together and secure it with insulating tape.

I saw one other van with it on so perhaps it is well known but as a lot of Orion owners ,like us,are relatively new to the game I thought it worth mentioning.

Also,when putting the awning up if you use the Isabella Safelocks as I usually do leave one on the front of the awning rail,then next time you put the awning up you can quickly put it in same place each time.

Ian

Naburn Lock

We have just returned from a few days at Naburn Lock Caravan Park which is four miles south of York.

A very pleasant little spot adjacent to the lock and the River Ouse ( in which we were told there are some mighty sized salmon ) which is unfortunately very prone to flood at the drop of a hat,hence the electrics are positioned well up a pole.

We managed to "have words" before we even left the storage site,surely some sort of record.

The facilities at Naburn are spotless,despite some peoples determination to thwart all the work of the cleaners to keep them so and the proprietors work had to run a tight site.

If we visited again I think we would ask for a pitch in the Adults Only section for obvious reasons.

I do think a charge of £2.50 for a visitor is a bit steep though.


The Orion wasn't totally perfect as when we put the water pump on it wouldn't switch off.

After a hearty lunch courtesy of SWMBO I traced the problem to a broken Whale pump fitting at the far end of the blue tubes.

As we always carry a spare pump disaster was averted ( let that be a lesson to you young caravanners,always carry a spare water pump ).

On the Friday it teemed it down so we went into York on the bus and I purchased another pump assembly from Go Outdoors.

There was only a few pounds difference between just buying the pump bit and the whole thing so the whole thing it was.

I bought the high flow version but was hard pressed to tell the difference in flow rates.


In my last post I mentioned the peeling of the laminate and queried perhaps water ingress.

Well after the very heavy rain all was as dry as a bone,will still have it checked at service though.

Just as an aside,why do I worry about towing,it could be a lot worse:-

Ian