It's home at last

[humpyboy]

Finally the Don has come home, after much anguish I finally got said van onto trailer, anguish? yes would make another good campfire story, here are some photos.

All wrapped and ready to roll.





And here we are at home.


Bit of a tight fit.

[DC3Td]

Hi Humpy. Always thought that keeping things wrapped in plastic/glad wrap keeps them fresh! Pity some one else hadn`t kept it that way (out of the weather). At least now it has a new shed to rest in while you consider where to start. Think you`ve DON well all the same. Cheers gordon

[atouchofglass]

Nice transport job

Guarantee the hatch didn't blow off during transport
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Looking forward to the progress photos as she comes back to life

All the best with the restoration

Atog

[humpyboy]

Here are a couple of pictures taken today while unloading.





On terra firma, with air in the tyres, it would have made things so much easier for me yesterday if he had only just let me put some air in the tyres then.

Hey there Mr Don, just to confirm with you that the build no is 652, another one for the list.

And just as a side note while I think of it, there will be no starting this project till I have at least two others done and finished and some money in the bank ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Don Ricardo]

G'day Humpyboy,

Congratulations on getting the Don home in one piece. Christo (the artist who used to wrap buildings or other large objects up in plastic as an art work) would have been proud of you!! ;D ;D ;D Seriously though, what a great way of ensuring that you didn't lose any bits, which I can see was a significant risk with this one.

The question now is...were the measurements we came up with correct height wise, and does it fit in your shed?

Don Ricardo

[humpyboy]

Hi Richard, Yes you were correct with the hight and yes it will fit in my shed but not untill I remove around 200 to 300 mm of soil out of the doorway to get it inside, unfortunately the ground falls away to the back of the shed not the front, as my wife would say" a good job for a scoopy bucket" that's excavator in man speak ;D

[humpyboy]

Had a bit of a rest and then thought to myself, might get this thing off the driveway before the boss says something, so what to or more to the point how to do? AH (little light goes on) I thinks me have the answer.


What do ya all think?



Down the hilly bit.



Across the back yard.



Through to the yard we refer to as the Chook Paddock.



Then Beep Beep Beep, back her up.



Negotiate the obstacles.



Steady as she goes, nearly there now only a couple more feet to go, here she will rest till I can get her into the new shed.

[Deleted]

Hi Humps
Great catch... mission accomplished..

Reddo

[humpyboy]

Well I spent the last couple of nights with my trusty manual soil excavation equipment IE: shovel, and dug out the doorway of the shed so that I would have some clearance for the insertion of the Don as can be seen below.








OHHH!!!! not much room for error

SHHHHHH!!!!!,I is sleeping now.



Was having a little look round inside and look what I found tucked away in the back of a draw, the only one left mind you.



So at least I have one to model another from.

[Don Ricardo]

G'day Humpboy,

Well done on getting the Don into your shed! It certainly is a tight, but I see that once you've got the van in there you'll have enough vertical room to do at least some work on the roof.

Not only that - I see you've got a bit of timber put away in the shed to the right of the door all ready to start on the van. Can I suggest you take the bark off first? ;D ;D ;D

The lamp shade you've shown is made of some type of plastic, almost papery to the feel. I've been looking for something similar for a while - I need to replace one of ours - but haven't found anything yet. If you find something give me a yell, and I'll do the same for you.

Don Ricardo

[humpyboy]

Well I went for a visit with Kris & Col yesterday, thanks for the warm welcome guys, and look what I came home with,




And does it fit?



Now you see it.



Now you don't.

Also while scratching round I found a piece of white plastic, then found somewhere to put it.



One more piece of originality.

P.S. Forgot to mention ATOG, no problem with loosing the hatch as there wasn't one to loose in the first place.

[DC3Td]

Couple of headlights & mirrors & bobs your uncle! Nice little score with the cooker. Just gotta make the `van look as good.cheers gordon

[fxfj]

hey HUMPYBOY don,t forget the teardrop comes 1st .remember those words i,ll be at Cora lynn next year........ fxfj.

[humpyboy]

Mar 9, 2010 18:39:22 GMT 10 fxfj said:

hey HUMPYBOY don,t forget the teardrop comes 1st .remember those words i,ll be at Cora lynn next year........ fxfj.

Sounds to me like you doubt me when it comes to the TD Dot, don't tell anyone but I hope to start soon.

[humpyboy]

Well another day almost over with another rescue mission near completion which was kept a little quiet but I have been given permission to post so here goes.
As you know I now have the "Roadcruiser" so I no longer need the "Don" and as I said somewhere on here it was going to a new home, well it was picked up today by it's new owner, and who was that you may wonder well our resident "Don" owner and collector of all things Don "Surf Tragic"

Unfortunatly as you all know there was very little in the way of assistance that I could offer with loading so it came mostly down to Ron to do most of the work with a little help from his lovely wife where needed, with all things considered it went real well with no problems encountered that could not be over come.

Fixing some of the loose bits.









And fitting of the dolly wheels.



Now we just need to push it a bit forward.



And get lined up with the trailer.



With me supervising



Now the big winch.





And boarded.



Best tie it down well for the trip home.



And here I sit still unable to help, how useless did I feel.



I hope you can make good use of this one Ron and once again I'm sorry that I could not have been of help.

[Surf Tragic]

We left Wodonga 9am, 4 hours later than planned, won't list the drama, but hired the trailer for 2 days to make the trip more relaxing. The hook up went well & we left Derks about 4.30pm the same day & headed on the relaxing drive through lush county & places like Neerim Junction, Gladysdale, Yarra Junction,Launching Place, Woori Yallock, Wandin, Lilydale, Yarra Glen, Yea. All was going well at 85 kph, so decided to chance it in the dark & keep going on the Hume, nothing had shifted or fallen apart, it was easy to keep a check on the van in the lights of the endless stream of B Doubles as they passed. Arrived home exactly 11pm, 850k's, 14 hrs from when we started.





The trailer suited the A frame on the van so it could tie down securely



Derk had covered the openings with ply weeks before thankfully, all this made it secure for the trip home, there were no dramas at all.



Here's something I didn't expect, Some of Derks handiwork, I think this would be exclusive to Don caravans to hold the captive ball from turning when hitching. Very well made & very useful thanks Derk.
This van is another basket case like the others I have here, (the 133 is an exception), I need to have plenty to keep me occupied & stuff like this fills the bill. The fact that it didn't alter on the trip home attests to it's somewhat solid structure, but don't know what will show up until rebuilding it. On inspection some months back I did think it had potential.

Great to see you again Derk, hope the healing process goes quick, & you were a help supervising

Aside from all that, my laptops life ended, but saved everything I needed off it before it's last gasp, now am having fun & games with a new one with Windows8, can't use that interface with photobucket, thankfully you can use Desktop too, so have only just managed to get that sorted tonight (I hope!)

Surf Tragic

[humpyboy]

Good to see you got it home OK ST, hope the trip home was uneventfull and not to tiring for you, will be watching to see where this one goes when you start waving your magic wand over it.

[Surf Tragic]

Yes well, it's just a matter of storing it for now, I still have a months work to do with landscaping, the shed is only half wired, electrician is to fit off on Monday , then can start restoring & rebuilding. Of course there's plans for more vanning this year, last year we did 3 months outback NSW & Qld, then back down the coast with some good mates & wives, this year Tassie if it doesn't get burnt out, poor people.

It was especially uplifting to have a visit from Don Ricardo last year, he was able to see what I have been doing the last 2 1/2 years with house extension & shed construction, also we did a tour to where the vans were stored.

Cobber kept in touch too, just to keep a check on whether I was ever going to get back to a balanced life of Don restos. ;D...

Great to keep in touch with Adam too & see what he is up to

.then Derk didn't forget my interest in these old wooden things & asks do I want another.............gee it's hard to say no, but there is now enough bits to put together some nice vans, apart from that there's no more room ;D ;D.

The shed area is smaller to what was on the farm property, it was amazing to get permits to extend this existing shed. this is on 1/2 acre in town with established trees. The area at the back has all been layered with roadbase & drained, it was a swamp when we came, now it is useful & can manouvre the vans easily.

Cheers. ST