Windows in the New T5

Went over to Redditch yesterday to get side and rear windows installed into our new(ish) T5. I came across Automotive Glass Medics on fleaBay and Dean was mega nice on the phone, helpful and did a good deal for me. While we were at it, Nic's dad (Pete), took his T5 along as well (our old one) to get side windows put in.

We headed off down the M6 and did the usual queueing for 20 minutes. Once that was out the system we hit Redditch and Dean took us to a nearby unit where the magic started happen.

I plunged to have my van done first and the sight of the drill going through the first panel was shocking! But these guys really knew what they were doing and no sooner had the drill been put through, the panel had been taken out with a nibbler.

There are kits available so you can do this by yourself. My opinion on it: pay someone unless you really know what you are doing! They make it look easy. One wrong move and it's a new panel please! They did a really good job. The cut edges were all sealed and they put trim around to make sure nothing was exposed and it was safe.

I took that many pictures, I bet they thought I had some kind of van fetish ;)

Super Long Nose Ride

This guy is getting some proper nose time here!

Barcelona Night Longboarding

Barcelona is a great place and I'm lucky enough to have a good friend who lives there :) The last two times I have been out there, I have said that should take my longboard (skateboard) with me. There are some superb places to do it. This video has once again inspired me to make sure I take it with me. Hmm...I wonder what the odds of being able to get it into hand luggage would be?

Is the Oil Being Cooled?

Last night saw the new oil pump going onto the splitty. The night before was engine out and and new oil cooler going on. It went pretty smoothly to be honest. It also gave me an opportunity to clean the engine up a little -  the oily little beggar ;)

So, big thanks to Buzz for doing all the hard work on it and to Machine7 for being so helpful when I was getting the bits :)

This all started with an overheating problem on our way back from Devon the other weekend. Anything over 50mph and there was smoke bellowing out everywhere - oops! So the timing has been checked (and adjusted slightly), valve clearances reset, new oil cooler and a new oil pump. The fan is spinning nicely and he's had a nice new drink of oil. Proof will be in the pudding when we take for a run again (probably this weekend) to see whether it is still overheating or not - fingers crossed!

Fish Eye Lens for your Phone

Check out this nifty little lens to add to your phone: http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/cell-phone-lenses/. Also a macro/wide angle lens available too.

I do like the "do not pull" handle on the page - hehehe :)

New T5

Saturday saw us heading up to Manchester VW van centre to pick up our new purchase :) We finally got round to renewing our existing T5 for a newer one - an 08. It's pretty much exactly the same as the one we had, but newer.

So I spent Sunday afternoon (while Nic was gardening) getting the camping interior out of the old van. And with Nic's dad's help, planned the layout for the new one. More to come on that when it happens...

We also got the pirate flag hung behind the drivers seat - looking good :)

Plans at the moment are to get windows in the side and rear (privacy bonded) and to colour code the bumpers. Can't decide on wheels yet though. Fancy wheels would be nice, but the VW wheel trims would do just fine...

Devon Lanes and Splitscreens

This weekend saw our first outing this year (in fact since September last year!) in the Splitty. It's amazing how time drifts by, but due to a sequence of upgrades and failures we haven't really had a chance to use it too much. So having just recently passed the MOT and had the starter motor replaced, we packed it up and headed down to Devon for fun packed VW and surf weekend.

Th trip down was good. The roads were pretty busy but we managed to keep a steady 65mph all the way (except for the vast amount of 50 zones all over the place of course). The Little Fella ran just fine and sounded great. I, of course, needed the obligatory wee stop after about an hour, but other than that it ran all the way non-stop. We did the usual stopping over at the services on Friday night. It was full of caravans! Hardly a truck in there.

Through Friday night and Saturday we had rain nearly constantly. The breaks in the rain on Saturday were nice allowing enough time to get dry and a coffee and chai at the Wild Thyme cafe in Braunton. And we really did get soaked!

There was no surf at all! One of the flattest days I've seen there in a long time. Ranging from 0ft to 1.5ft. Certainly not worth getting the boards of the roof for. None the less, while Nic was tucked up cosy in the van reading her book, we were treated to a nice stormy sunset and frequent torrential downpours.

Before setting off, we'd brought a sun canopy from Just Kampers. Although the instructions didn't quite match the equipment, once we'd worked out what to do, it went up reasonably quickly. It proved to be a god send and just like an awning makes the van so much bigger. There are a couple of things that aren't quite right with it, but with a bit of Nic pimping that can be put straight :)

Sunday was a whole different day. It was sunny and warm! So the canopy was laid out to dry while we packed up the gear to get ready and go. We were hoping for a sneaky surf... We probably weren't quite as efficient at de-camping as usual, but I suppose we were a little out of practice. None the less, managed to get the morning cuppa in :)

We headed off to check out the beaches. Parking is such a rip in the summer! £6 at Saunton. Sunday was by far the worst day ever for surfing. I thought Saturday was bad. It gave us 0ft to 0.5ft. There were still people getting all their gear and going in - mad! Although, there was an old guy on a SUP who just managed 2 or 3 "waves". We, none the less, paid our parking fees and chilled on the beach for a couple of hours before heading home. We chatted to a couple from Weymouth who had the most perfect bay window - really good condition. It made ours look like a bag of nails and lead to the usual discussions of what to do next on it - this time, we might have a plan!

The journey home was a slow one. We couldn't go any faster than 50mph without overheating and bellowing smoke - oops! Will need to investigate that before our September jaunt.

It was nice to get the Little Fella out again - I've missed driving it. could have done with bigger surf and 65mph on the way home, but there's always next time :)

Beware the Great White

Jesus! Watch out for those Great Whites...

Electirc Motorbikes

Electric bikes have been around for ages, but let's be honest, they've been pretty naff! I'm not 100% convinced with the idea of electric bikes, but they really do seem to be coming of age recently. They were successfully run at the TT this year and Brammo are releasing the Empulse hitting around 100mph. This is their promo video for it...

So here are the top 10 bad ass electric/hybrid bikes (according to who I don't know, but they are pretty sweet!). This EV-o bike deserves a worthy mention, but it is a little bit spenny!!

Splitty's Happy

We finally got the split sorted late last week with it's MOT - hoohah! Slightly late but we've been busy bunnies what with Nic's Op 'n' all that caper...

Had a pretty early start this morning as after the MOT, I thought I would take the van out for a little run. So I cruised it up the road a little. By the time I got back - no lights, no indicators and no wipers. That was an easy fix with a couple of new fuses. Unfortunately, the need for a new starter motor was a bit more pressing!

I set off this morning at 07:00 heading towards Smethwick to take it to Kingfisher Kutoms. It ran like a beaut and cruised nicely at 65. Although most of the 1.5 hours was spent queuing!

The new starter went in and still no joy. Just a click, no motor spinning. At this point the mechanic was getting a little bit pissed with it. To cut a 1.5 hour story short - turns out the wire feeding the starter was going via an alarm system and the alarm was only allowing 6 volts through to it (rather than the expected 12). Once that was by-passed, the engine once gain boomed into life - phew!

The journey home was sweet, loads of traffic again, but happy cruising and couple of smiles, waves and peeps from other happy motorists :)

Yoyophoto

Check out Yoyophoto. A new photography site created by my good friends Sam and George. Some great photography to treat yourself to.

Killing Time

I'm supposed to be writing an email logging tool into a website I work on today - but I'm just not feeling the magic happen. So it's officially time killing time! That generally means that Vimeo gets a hammering :)

So here's a vid to help pass that time...the last scene is particularly good where he tries to lob the board over the wave - hehehe...been there once or twice!

Cock O The North, Oliver's Mount - 2010

A great 10 minute documentary of the 2010 racing at Scarborough.

Nose Foot

A stunning video of some great longboarding - Pied de Nez.

Best Wave and Best Ice-Cream

Nic had another appointment at the Docs in Exeter yesterday (Monday), so that obviously meant that we headed once again to Cornwall on Thursday night to the dizzy heights of the pebble dash palace in Connor Downs. Jo, Andy and Nina once again humouring us for a few days - it's like a second home :)

The trusty M5 was closed around J20 something (as it was on the way home as well), thanks to some plebs being dicks - hey ho...

It's clear that school holidays have started - everywhere was rammed. The usual 50 fifty people painfully trying to catch a wave and busy car parks. Check out this pic taken by Finshack...

Friday saw what was my best wave ever! Long, clean, stable, comfortable, the list goes one. Everything about it was just nice. The build up, the take off and the ride. I was sure I could have gone for a comfortable nose ride, but the wave was too good to potentially spoil. I held it in there and flew gracefully off the back, feeling all smug :)

Saturday and Sunday, as expected, was busy as hell. So on Saturday we dilled around a bit and had a superb ice-cream at Mr B's. Banoffee pie and wild cherry ripple for me thanks :) The waves weren't happening so Sunday was the next session. As per usual, the crowds and kids start heading home when it's foody time, so we donned the suits (wishing I'd brought the boardies and vest - was well hot!) and went in. The tide was quite high, so it was a bit rough. Nic went in for the first time since her op! She struggled a bit, but that was more the conditions than anything. Next time ;)

Unfortunately my granddad died on Thursday night :'( So I felt it apt to dedicate my best wave to date to him :)

Glatze - Glatze EP Released

I've mentioned my buddy Samski (aka Sam Underwood) before. Well, he's just released his debut Glatze EP (click the link to listen to it - please support him by paying for it). Gotta say, even though he's a buddy - I'm seriously loving the music! Keep up the good work big boy :)

Shaping Tools

I came across the BoardRoom - Legends of surfboard shaping facebook page (via the Finshack facebook page) and saw this great photo of a planer.

Picture courtesy of BoardRoom - Legends of surfboard shaping

That's it really, just thought it was a really nice picture :)

Update: Here's a trailer to the movie...

We never did get those hover boards...

Today is the day that Marty McFly arrived in the future after hitting 88mph in a pimped out Delorean in 1985.

Pororoca - Surfing the Amazon

I've been planning on riding the Seven bore now for years, but never got round to it. I really should do it - it just seems so busy...

While I was at Danny's in Brighton this weekend we watched this little puppy on TV...

Pretty rubbish quality on here, but worth a watch. If you can't be bothered, cut to 20:40 and see the magic happening.

Don't forget, no diddling in the water!

Paddle Round the Pier - Part 2

So Saturday and Sunday saw our first visit to paddle round the pier in Brighton. We had a great weekend with our friends Danny and Sheri (who have a wicked Type 3 Fastback!).

It all started off for real on Friday when we headed down to The Witterings in what turned out to be an ambitious desire to get in the sea. After a pleasant few hours on the beach, laughing at a chav on a body board, we headed back to Brighton and took a look at the Hot Pipe for a surf. Although small, it was consistent and there were a fair few locals in. Danny hadn't surfed there before even though he has lived in the area for years. So boardies and vest were adourned and we had a great hour or so in the water :) Pizzas and a couple of brewskis in the evening almost instantly made me sleep (which seemed to be a theme for me for the whole weekend - falling asleep that is!).

We headed down to the festival on Saturday after a nice lazy morning. What a cracking event and all for free! There were quite a few exhibitors there, bands playing all day until 10 at night and a fair few things you could have a go at yourself - again free (albeit for a small donation to charity). There were a few guys from a parkour club called Urban Athletics. They were good :)

I think this bad boy belonged to Ocean Sports...

The RNLI did a demo rescue later in the day. It was slightly delayed as they had to go out with the helicopter to perform a real rescue - eek!

The weather was superb as well. The sea was rough and although Brighton Watersports were offering free (small charity donation) use of SUPs and kayaks, they had to stop as the surf was pounding the beach and was pretty difficult to get in and out of the sea. Quite amusing to watch though :)

The evening required a quick trip to a supermarket to get some bangers and burgers as the Brighton Watersports crew and the Brighton Surf Lifesaving Club were throwing a "B" and as Danny and Sheri knew them we tagged along ;)

Sunday saw us heading down to the festival again and there was an Animal Relentless bike tour show on. Pretty impressive stuff! We ate jerk chicken and watched the world go by...

Obviously, in the evening, there was a major requirement to have a quick tasting at the Harveys pub :)

An excellent weekend!

ooh! Forgot to mention these guys at Balsa Surfers. Makers of fine balsa surfboards and fins. Truly gorgeous boards and their fins are an inspiration to me!