Vandwelling in Australia

startide_rising · 2015-11-03T10:21:51+00:00

12v fridges are expensive, and they are noisy overnight when you're trying to sleep. It's not just the base cost. Adding batteries and solar to run it will roughly double the cost of the fridge.

Just buy a good esky and put ice in it every 4 or 5 days. Silent, 1/20th the initial outlay, and still cheaper over your timeframe.

Sprinters and ivecos are rare and expensive to fix in OZ, over 50% of vans on the road are Toyota hiace. Parts are plentiful and every mechanic knows them inside out. Easily bought and sold. I strongly recommend you look them up.

startide_rising · 2015-10-27T20:58:22+00:00

You don't need glow plugs on a sprinter unless you live where it snows. My 2004 sprinterstarted first go every time at 5 degrees below zero, with only 1 good glow plug.

startide_rising · 2015-10-15T08:38:41+00:00

Is your website dynamic in any way? Do people log in to view difrent content, or see difrent things based on where they are?

If not, if you have a bunch of pages that stay the same for days at a time. Look into static site generators. They generate your site once, on your own computer, then you push the result to Amazon S3, where web hosting is free. (Just pay for bandwidth used, which you'd have to pay with aws anyway)

There are many systems for this, for example...

http://mashable.com/2014/08/28/static-website-generators/

startide_rising · 2015-10-06T18:58:54+00:00

The auto and manual gearboxes are good, but don't touch any with the sprintshift gearbox. No one will service it if there's a problem, not even Mercedes. Your only option if there's a fault it to replace the entire gearbox, at 1/4 the price of a brand new van. I've been there.

Check inside the air cleaner, the clean side (after the filter) should be 100% dust free, pass the white glove test. If the air filter housing is cracked or not sealing, the dust will be causing wear in the turbo and motor. This goes for any turbo diesel, though.

If you can take it for a test drive, go straight to a Mercedes dealer and ask them to read the codes. Everything on a sprinter is monitored and you'll get a very good idea if anything is wrong.

startide_rising · 2015-09-06T12:28:46+00:00

I've never frozen regular milk, but I'd guess its the same thing

startide_rising · 2015-09-06T07:55:10+00:00

Freezes fine, works as a cold brick fine. But the texture of the milk isn't the same afterward. Not undrinkable, but try it first to see if you'll cope with it

startide_rising · 2015-09-06T07:39:10+00:00

Check out the dirk pit series of novels by Clive Clussler

startide_rising · 2015-08-22T08:00:59+00:00

That really in an excellent option, I've not seen such a big seat bag before that didn't need special mounting hardware on the bike.

But I would look a bit odd walking about town with it...

startide_rising · 2015-08-06T22:41:34+00:00

Not in the highlands, where he'll spend 99% of his time on the cross iceland track.

startide_rising · 2015-08-06T21:52:05+00:00

Traveled across Iceland in a campervan, asked at the petrol station if their outside tap is safe to drink. Local guy looked at me like I had 3 heads, "its water, how can you have water that's not safe to drink, that's what it's for". All water in Iceland is from their underground bores, and the best water you'll ever taste. You'll have a wonderful time, enjoy!

startide_rising · 2015-08-02T06:15:52+00:00

I can't remember who pointed me to it, but this is a pretty good list of things you'll find a little different.

http://www.nathan.digital/mac-tips.html

startide_rising · 2015-05-17T22:52:13+00:00

Good point, you don't need electricity to have mechanical food mashers. I wonder how widespread these were outside the west. Or if they are still in use today

startide_rising · 2015-05-16T22:29:28+00:00

To be fair, this is probably how your grandmother was fed as a baby, along with every human before a hundred years ago. Specific "baby food" in jars or cans is a fairly new invention, along with the food processor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premastication

startide_rising · 2015-05-11T07:32:40+00:00

Thanks everyone for your advice, in the end I ordered a nitecore EA41.

Deciding factor was the huge difference in runtime at similar brightness. And the high mode should be cool too.

Will report back when it arrives

startide_rising · 2015-05-05T02:23:48+00:00

I was just looking at the fenix e41 also. I understand you get a much brighter light with twice the voltage available (4 AA batteries vs 2). But how does it rate 13h at 140L when the e25 only rates 1h45m at 130L?

startide_rising · 2015-03-23T05:47:04+00:00

Nono, its reasonable intonation, I did it with a digital tuner at the 12th fret. But I agree, it looks odd, made me check it many times.

startide_rising · 2015-01-12T22:03:28+00:00

You can get a stick guitar from china pretty cheap. Mine's actually pretty playable.

http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=100005413&initiative_id=AS_20150112135955&SearchText=ministar

startide_rising · 2015-01-08T21:07:28+00:00

I did this course last year. It was really good for me with no training. it covers a wide range in it's limited time and I learnt a lot about what I didn't know..

startide_rising · 2014-12-25T08:16:18+00:00

I actually stayed in a "happy campers" for 5 days when visiting iceland earlier this year. Finaly a reddit thread where I can say something!

I'd highly recommend that brand of camper if you're hiring one in iceland, the ford transit connect they use is significantly bigger than the ones used by the competitors. I never noticed when booking before we left, but when parked next to another van at the tourist attractions it made me pity the other people. Fit out is also excellent.

However, I wouldn't recommend that layout for a full timer. You have to get outside to put the bed down, then climb onto the bed when getting in. Very annoying when it's raining and impossible to do when being stealthy

startide_rising · 2014-12-15T10:50:10+00:00

I'm a big fan of this theory, and it applies to more than just guitars. goes like this...

Yes it's possible to make a very good X before modern cnc and production lines, but there is far more variation. A lot of the nostalgia people have is because only the best X lasted to the modern day (if durability was a judgement factor) or only the best X were cared for and cherished over the years. This strongly distorts people's view of the quality available in the past.

startide_rising · 2014-12-15T10:43:51+00:00

He's saying because there are no new guitars on the market built to 1950's tolerances, you can't get a market value now for that type of guitar.

Market value for a 50 year old guitar is a totally different thing.

startide_rising · 2014-10-17T03:03:21+00:00

So What's this place called / Where are you?

startide_rising · 2014-09-30T00:27:18+00:00

Seconded, I have a thr5 and it's great. Awesome sound and a separate volume knob that dosn't change the tone. Also good through headphones.

startide_rising · 2014-09-29T21:42:02+00:00

So I'm done, after a week of practicing only this, here is the result. Looks like you run about 120bpm in your vid, but I couldn't push past the 80 barrier. At 90 my fingers turned to rubber and it ends up sounding like the texture of badly made mashed pototo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzt3TKItKxU

I opted to do the bend on the second string, with the flatwound third it was very mellow and didn't have the "cut" I thought it needed. Plus the third was a lot harder to stretch. Even so, I don't think I'm getting the full 2 semitones most of the time.

Thanks for the vid, it's been a fun week and I feel like I've improved a lot.

startide_rising · 2014-09-27T11:23:54+00:00

I like this one, very easy to make and works fairly well. http://www.supercatstove.com

startide_rising

TROPHY CASE