Touring

[gedG]

huwp said:

gedG said:

Will a full hood still fit if you are carrying luggage in a boot bag or bungeed to the roll bar?

Try attaching the hood bag to the front of the roll-bar ie so it sits behind the headrests. Works for me.

That's where my half hood fits, in front of the boot bag
I meant, can you put the full hood up with additional luggage?

[framerateuk]

gedG said:

That's where my half hood fits, in front of the boot bag
I meant, can you put the full hood up with additional luggage?

You should be able to yeah. I've got the Oxted bootbag and it should fit under the full hood - I can't say I've ever tried it though.

The boot bags fit better with the half hood though since you don't have to undo all the boot poppers to attach it, and it'll sit on top.

[sjmmarsh]

Yes, you can definitely get the hood on with RE-bag fitted. If you have bags bungeed on the roll bar you may need to take them off and throw them in the back once the hood is on.

Steve

[Murph7355]

jeansanspeur said:

I don't have a roof or doors yet - of the two which is the most crucial or do I need both?

Doors are essential on a car with a screen IMO. The buffeting is horrible without and would make long distances unbearable. If you want no doors, go aeroscreen.

You could get away without a roof with care and planning.

(As it happens I have both full hood and doors sat in the garage (I may have a hood bag too). They're a bit scruffy but perfectly serviceable if you fancy making me an offer offline - not officially for sale so not officialy an ad' ).

jeansanspeur said:

Are the tyres OK?

Yes. No point spending money here IMO. No such thing as an inherently dangerous tyre really (assuming they're not damaged), just dangerous ways of driving with sub-optimal tyres on

jeansanspeur said:

Should I stick a spare wheel on the back?

Get decent AA or similar cover and you shouldn't need to. You could fit the rack for more luggage potential though?

Spares can, however, be handier than recovery/tyre foam, and even with a spare wheel you can pack more gear...

jeansanspeur said:

I have a feeling the that it will get insanely hot inside the car as I can feel it's warm even now. Any hints here?

You can fit vents in the footwells to help here. I think this was run through on Blatchat a few times...

Avoid wearing shorts - the tunnel walls get very hot for bare skin.

You'll probably be stopping for general comfort breaks before heat gets intolerable though.

jeansanspeur said:

What sat nav should I get for the French cameras?

You need to be VERY careful with this in France. Use a SatNav, but not strictly for this. Just keep your eyes open.

jeansanspeur said:

Are there any peculiarities about the car set up for France (e.g., headlight realignment, etc)?

Nothing more than for a normal car.

jeansanspeur said:

If I were to take a toolkit, what should be in it? Is there any point?

Yes there is a point

I'd take spare throttle and clutch cables, plus sufficient tools to be able to change them. Multi-head screwdriver, adjustable spanners etc. I'd probably also take a litre of oil and some coolant too.

jeansanspeur said:

I'm with the AA for European and breakdown cover - any experience with this lot? Do I need anything more than this?

AA argued the toss over a claim of mine fairly recently. But I'd had many years of good experience with them before that. On balance I'd recommend them but the warning is there

jeansanspeur said:

My insurer (REIS) covers me for 6 weeks in Europe - is there any way to increase this (REIS won't)?

I'm surprised they don't want to charge you an extra premium for the cover

This could prove tricky as you don't want two insurers covering your car (it's often against policy ts and cs). It may be better to try and find someone more flexible and to cancel your current policy...

jeansanspeur said:

Any other tips for long journeys - I'm looking to do the 800 miles over 2 or 3 days.

Plan for 3 days. It's possible to cover large distances in these cars but it's tiring. Very. So take it easy, plan in rest stops and have plenty of fluid in the car.

Also, make sure you take plenty of factor 50 and a decent hat. If you get sunburn in a 7 it's an absolute bd as there is NO respite from it. Ask me how I know...

jeansanspeur said:

Any other pointers that anyone has would be great!

Enjoy it! Touring in a 7 is great fun and the locals will cheer you along

[anonymous-user]

coppice said:

Crossflow Kid said:

I do wonder if the fawning adoration of the half hood has more to do with them being seen as some sort of badge of seniority/experience than actual weather protection.

Or it just might be some of us like them perhaps?

Nah. I'm gonna stick with the idea that it's the Caterham equivalent of a secret Masonic handshake. More fun that way.

[coppice]

You're right- they're as bad as those bloody Land Rover anoraks...

[anonymous-user]

coppice said:

You're right- they're as bad as those bloody Land Rover anoraks...

...which is why I don't have any Land Rover branded clothing.

[Stiggolas]

OK, don't hate me....I don't own a Caterham but I built a Locost with a good old crossflow. I took this to the south of France a couple of years ago so feel I have the experience. I had no roof, so I made a half roof as a sun shade more than weather protection and made some fabric half doors. If not driving with gloves, the half doors were a godsend, the buffeting around the hands gets very cold when going through low clouds on top of the Alps Maratimes! As it turned out, the roof was also a godsend as it pissed it down for the final 150 miles of the journey. The wife was not happy as I was aquaplaning at 40mph on the autoroute getting overtaken and splashed by the lorries overtaking us!
I had a luggage rack on the back which effectively filled the hole in the rollbar with bags and a spare wheel (didn't use the wheel).
I found a good pair of Peltor ear defenders extremely useful, but when you're stopped at a peage shouting to your wife, everyone can hear!
I found heat in the car not to be a problem but my exhaust doesn't go under the car.
Spares wise I took a clutch cable, throttle cable and bulbs and a can of puncture sealant. We decided to stop every 2 hours but I only had a 20 litre tank so managed quite well.
The car did 2500 miles with the only hiccup being a loose water pump losing all coolant every 200 miles or so on the way home which was only diagnosed when I got home!
Would do the whole thing again tomorrow, except we have a child now....

[framerateuk]

Just to add... I've also been told to carry a spare exhaust bobbin too. I've had no problem with mine but I've not had the car long, but I imagine if you didn't have a spare and it broke - it could be a right pain.

[C7YEA]

In my experience from riding bikes through France, don't forget all the legal stuff you need (V5, Insurance doc, Licence, hi-vis vest, bulbs, etc etc) - but most importantly, take some Gaffer tape, Cable Ties, a tin of TyreWeld and some spare fuses.

Andy

[twincamtim]

Not got anything to add - except, very entertained by all the comments and banter. It made me want to go abroad just so I could join in!

[downsman]

Stiggolas said:

OK, don't hate me....I don't own a Caterham but I built a Locost with a good old crossflow.

Hate? I respect you, I've built two kits including my Caterham, and to build your own Locost is a whole new level of challenge. Must have been very satisfying touring Europe in it

[Stiggolas]

Quick PIC of touring spec Locost

[Smiffy7]

I've just bought this to keep in the back of the seven:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

[framerateuk]

Smiffy7 said:

I've just bought this to keep in the back of the seven:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

I bought one of those too.

It's ok but the tools fall out quite easily. Still, it's quite slim compared to most took boxes.

I've ended up just putting things into a thick plastic bag when we tour because we can fit it into smaller gaps than the actual bag.

[anonymous-user]

Smiffy7 said:

I've just bought this to keep in the back of the seven:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

Thirty sheets for some tape, a few tie-wraps and a clutch of tools you've probably already got.
Winner.

[Smiffy7]

Probably, spread over 3-4 tool boxes, covered in grease, and which don't come in a convenient lightweight bag/case. Definitely a winner

[anonymous-user]

So, basically, you're giving Halfrauds thirty quid because you can be bothered to look out the right tools, keep 'em clean and then put them in a 99p storage box? That kind of dedication doesn't bode well for road-side self help maintenance

[Abbott]

SatNav: The law in France prohibits the marking of the exact position of cameras on SatNavs. I have a TomTom and here in France it pings up Areas of Caution which is basically a couple of hundred metres before a fixed camera position. I would think that any popular GPS system would be set up in this way for use in France

[HereBeMonsters]

Crossflow Kid said:

Smiffy7 said:

I've just bought this to keep in the back of the seven:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

Thirty sheets for some tape, a few tie-wraps and a clutch of tools you've probably already got.
Winner.

Plus they look like the sort of tools you could probably get in the pound shop, individually. And there aren't 30 there!