Touring advice

[lordgrover]

Not too sure how bright an idea this is, but two friends and me are taking the Plymouth/Santander ferry to Spain, over the Pyrenees and back through France. There'll be me in my Griff, the other two on mental motor bikes. Should be a couple or three, maybe four days good driving in March or April.
Now... apart from the first aid kit, fire extinguisher, rotor arm, dizi cap, leads, plugs, belts & mini toolkit - what else should I be taking?

I'll be getting European AA/RAC type cover, just in case.

[spend]

Fan belt.
Oil + Water
Spare Bulbs (IIRC some EU countries this is a legal req)
Warning Triangle, (ditto)
Couple of common relays / fuses
Cans of tyre weld
Black Bin bags & Gaffer Tape (make tent / temp carpet / heath robinson body repairs...)

Plenty of clean undies :-)

Dave

Edited by spend on Tuesday 30th January 11:34

[lazyitus]

Take a few spare fuses too. Just in case.

I've done the Plymouth/Santander crossing a few times, on the old boat (Val de loire) which I think has been superceded by a newer, faster boat cutting the crossing from 24 to 18 hours.

Take some sea sickness tablets.

The Bay of Biscay can be rough. I mean ROUGH.

You have been warned.

[lordgrover]

lazyitus said:

Take a few spare fuses too. Just in case.

I've done the Plymouth/Santander crossing a few times, on the old boat (Val de loire) which I think has been superceded by a newer, faster boat cutting the crossing from 24 to 18 hours.

Take some sea sickness tablets.

The Bay of Biscay can be rough. I mean ROUGH.

You have been warned.

You Wuss!
We've done the mini-cruise (booze cruise) the last five years in March and it's been no problem, except one wimp who spent the whole weekend in the lavvy or his bunk.
The last year of the old boat I got stuck in one of the lifts at 2 a.m. - that wasn't fun. The crew are all French and no English speakers on the graveyard shift in engineering. So there's me and a drunken buddy, both busting for a pee, conversing in our best broken schoolboy franglais with the foreign grease monkeys for forty minutes while they winched us between decks by hand. My... how we laughed...

[burriana]

Top idea, I can recommend Lourdes to stop off at for one night right at the foot of the Pyrenees, though personally I prefer to do it the other way.

You don't need a full set of leads, just the longest one!

- Exhaust bandage
- Rad weld
- Assorted jubilee clips
- Make sure you have a fan over ride switch in case it gets too hot - or you'll have to short out the otter switch connector with a paper clip to keep the fans running constantly.
- Spare fuel ... NEVER let the gauge go below 1/4 cos you just never know how accurate it is!

[lazyitus]

The worst time for me was the first, gale force winds and the overly loud sound of waves smacking the front of the boat and sending a shocking reverberation right throught the boat, front to back.

I kid you not, everyone who worked on it looked shit scared and were saying it was the worst crossing they'd ever had.

Think I just got unlucky - wasn't sick but didn't sleep a wink.

Its generally an enjoyable trip. Park the car, unwind and have a load of beer!

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Add to list above:

High vis jacket & spare spectacles (if appropriate ) and bulbs.

Sticker up lights & check insurance.

Edited by 2 sMoKiN bArReLs on Tuesday 30th January 12:46

[lordgrover]

burriana said:

You don't need a full set of leads, just the longest one!

Top idea! Wouldn't've thought of that.

[Lensey]

Camera! I loved the jorney in my Griff and I wish I had taken more piccy's but I was too busy enjoying the drive

[barreti]

spend said:

Fan belt.
and a list of other stuff...

What's one of these then? It can only be something Griff lovers hold their trousers up with

[spend]

barreti said:

spend said:

Fan belt.
and an excellent list of other stuff...

What's one of these then? It can only be something Griff lovers hold their trousers up with

Well you would'nt want to be caught with them down again, after all buying a Griff instead of a Chim....
(retreats to bunker, hastily)

We from the darker side need it to prevent the throngs of groupies scratching the paintwork :-)

[The Surveyor]

Sounds like you have most things covered, the only other 'spare' worth considering would be an accelerator cable, otherwise, sounds like a great trip

[icb]

Agree with above, an accelerator cable. I had 2 go on my Griff.

[jeffsy]

Grover

I'll gladly have a chat with you as Iv taken mine abroad twice...although the last time was somewaht truncated due to engine...ahem...trouble!!

Cheers

Graham

[spend]

Thats a damned good point about the cables, I do carry a few of the screw clamped nipples (ooeer missus) ~ in lieu of a complete cable since they can be used to patch up nipple problems on most of the cables in the car.

Dave

[Hedgehopper]

Had accident in Switzerland on Saturday. We filled in the standard 'European Accident Statement'form. Solved a lot of arguements. Your insurer should supply you with one.

Also I believe that in Spain everyone in car needs a Hi Viz jacket.

[LordGrover]

So far then, we have:
first aid kit
fire extinguisher
rotor arm
distrubutor cap
HT lead (longest)
spark plug
fan belt
bulbs
warning triangle
hi-vis jacket
fuses
tyre weld x 2
gaffer & insulation tape
hose clips
radweld
accelerator cable
oil & water

How exactly do I attach the tow bar to my Griff?!

[crazycraig]

LordGrover said:

So far then, we have:
first aid kit
fire extinguisher
rotor arm
distrubutor cap
HT lead (longest)
spark plug
fan belt
bulbs
warning triangle
hi-vis jacket
fuses
tyre weld x 2
gaffer & insulation tape
hose clips
radweld
accelerator cable
oil & water

How exactly do I attach the tow bar to my Griff?!

Seems to me your going a bit belt and braces Ian.

Go on live dangerously, just take a Union Flag and a Credit Card, what more do you need.

but if you want to play it safe, a couple more would be -

in addition to an HT lead, the king pin lead as it's a male - male end
spare 100A and 40A fuses
couple of relays for ecu / fuel pump
otter switch temporary bypass link
jump leads
hoping not to tempt fate, a tow rope
sheet of clean plastic / DPC just incase you need to get clamber under the car
WD40
string
connector blocks
zip ties
torch
tools to change belt / do up hose clips
multi meter
couple of pairs of latex gloves
hand wipes
some rags

and of coarse, your locking wheel nut tool.

not that you should forget that again.

[LordGrover]

crazycraig said:

Go on live dangerously, just take a Union Flag and a Credit Card, what more do you need.

Now that sounds more like me!



Trust you to spot the locking wheel nuts fiasco.

[jeffsy]

Mate

- Might need 2 x warning triangles for Spain
- If you wear glasses you need a spare pair for Spain (IIRC)
- AA 5 Star cover (cost me £38 for France saved me mucho 100's)
- Tyre compressor (not really enough oomph in the tyreweld cans). Small one should do it
- Watch out for fake cops when motoring away from santander - there have been some stories about sports cars being stopped and robbed by people purporting to be coppers
- Euros for the on the spot fines for speeding
- 5 pin relay for the fuel pump

ermmm, still thinking

Graham