Physopto

Hi Peter,

 Yes, I  hope to be there with the van. I have been getting bits ready/changed out so it will be ready for use. Can't do much else at present.

Put in extra 13 amp sockets and altered some heating setups. Found several leaks in the shower as it seems that modern factory workers, for all the wonderful spiel we get, are just as none diligent or poor as many years ago. A shame really as it comes with a 25 year water ingress guarantee. Also the central heating expansion tank was rattling loose on the van wall and they had screwed through the overflow pipe and crushed it shut! It would have been "a very nice surprise"  getting central heating contents all over our clothes in the wardrobe!

I have also found that the gas locker is not sealed properly from the caravan interior. Now that is a serious safety concern. So that will be fixed ASAP.

Swift are not  as good as they make out to be in their adverts.......

Can't get the repairs/fix to the gas locker done until "lock down" is over and it is safe to travel.

Be nice to meet up when all this is over. We have been talking about it for a while now. 😴

1 hour ago, petevasey said:

Hi, Derek, and thanks for the awning tips.

As you may have found out, when the big awning is erected on the Basecamp, the overall length of the outfit is 9 metres.  So it will not fit on some camp sites which have a length limit.  No problem of course, we just won't take the awning to such sites.  As you say the van is remarkably spacious, and we got used to a fairly limited living space with our motorhomes.

But because of our steep ramp and the need to raise the jockey wheel as high as possible and tip the van to clear the ramp, it can't be towed into or out of our driveway.  So we had a motor mover fitted, and all was well when I got it home from the dealers, although despite careful measurements prior to ordering the van, it was nevertheless pretty tight - definitely a heart in  mouth situation!

Yes, it is easy to tow (Skoda Yeti 4x4 diesel), although of course one has to change gear down more frequently on slight gradients.  And being a fairly slim van, although I fitted wing mirror extensions to comply with the law, I found that most of the time I could manage fine with the car mirrors.  Looking forward to using it 'in anger' as and when.  In the meantime it's plugged into the mains, with the heating on low to keep the frost out and a dehumidifier to keep it dry.  Can do no more.

Cheers,

Peter.

Tight ! Our new van is 2" too long for our path.

We had the choice of three vans from different makers. Chose the one best suited for us (best built and facilities, Swift) and then realised it was just that bit longer. We went ahead anyway as expected to get it back with the old storage place. Then got told no places available. So "Shoe Horn" job at an angle into the path. Almost need a pair of climbing boots now to get past it. 😼

I am doing the same with power at present, just enough to stay in the +ve side of freezing.

 

 

Hello Peter,

I am so sorry that I had to cancel the Spring event. Obviously, I no choice in the matter. But it affects so many people in so many ways but very disappointing overall. Still there are far worse things going on at present.

Hopefully the inoculations will bring us all back to some form of normality.

 

So you are the proud owner of a Swift Basecamp. I looked at one when searching around for a new caravan some time ago at the start of the pandemic. They are surprisingly spacious for such a small van. You should have no problems in towing it. In fact I suspect your only problem will be remembering that it is behind you. Even with a large van I have almost forgotten it sometimes. Being a two wheeler and light, it will be so easy to manoeuvre by hand into tight spaces.

I had a large air awning for my previous caravan. They are  easy to erect, but wind may be a problem. Take plenty of heavy duty pegs and extra awning guy ropes. I used battery powered LED guy pegs. Florescent guy ropes also are helpful in a dark sky situation.

Hope you stay well and get the inoculation soon.

 

 

No one needs to cancel their booking for the now cancelled 2021 Spring Star Camp at Drumroamin.

The site is CLOSED until further notice.

Stay safe.

 

 

3 hours ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Some companies do still offer great service and within a hour I have been offered a FULL refund for the Motor Home I hired.

This is one company I will certainly use again.

Once again @Physopto many thanks for the early notification of the cancellation, still sad not to be going though.

Steve

Well that is a weight off my mind 🙂

50 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Thanks for the heads up and whilst this makes me so dissapointed best to do it now.

I think it must be me that is the jinx here, I have never been on a star camp and hired a mobile home for the SGL one that was flooded out, never got any money back for that but I have spoke to the hire place for this one (ot the same one) and looks like because it is a few weeks away I may get most of my money back so many thanks for letting us know in good time.

Lets hope the back end of 2021 brings us all more luck, take care all and stay safe ad hope to meet up with some of you in the near future 🙂 

Steve

Hi Steve,

I am so sorry that you have been caught out. Until just a few days ago there was a chance that we could go ahead with the star camp. But as you know things are getting worse by the minute compared to a year ago almost, when all this kicked off. This new variant is accelerating things to a new level. I was hoping I could wait a week or two more before taking the decission, but the pace of the virus spread has decimated that idea.

I did hope that I had given enough time to everyone to not get caught out by the cancellation in any way. I can only say in future those needing to hire a vehicle should all try to leave the hiring until a later date, i.e. closer to the star camp start date. Or specify that for this type of reason we can legally get  a refund. To be quite honest you may well find that you are entitled to a refund under these exigent circumstances.

Keep well and I hope to see you in the autumn.

 

Hi Everyone,

 

For everyone either booked, or wishing to attend the

 

Scottish Spring 2021 Star Camp please read below carefully.

 

 

 

As we all know, the past year has been a disaster for us all, for some more than most.

 

I was going to post and advise those hiring a Campervan for this Spring Event to make sure this

time that you could get a refund if the worst came to the worst.

 

Unfortunately, this was becoming a distant dream in my mind lately.

 

We were very lucky in that the 2020 Scottish Autumn Star Camp at Drumroamin was able to proceed

and I think I can say it was a limited success given the Covid-19 restrictions that were in place.

 

 

 

I have been monitoring the Covid-19 infection statics over the whole of Great Britain carefully during the last few weeks

and

was wishing to be able to continue if at all possible, with the 2021 Spring Star Camp.

 

 

The massive rise in Covid-19 infections due to the more virulent strain spreading

over the whole of our nation has put an end to my and many other people's hopes.

 

I have spoken with the camp site owner at some length and it was becoming inevitable that it may

not go ahead due to the Tier 4 Restrictions in Scotland as well as Tier 4 Restrictions over most of the rest of the UK.

( Lesley is at present unable to open the Holiday Park at least until April 2021)

 

The latest Covid -19 Lock Down, with the announcement of "expectations of it continuing for

7 weeks in England" and the possibility of the same in Scotland and Wales,

is the final "Nail in the Coffin" so to speak.

 

So, it is with a heavy heart I have to announce that:

 

The Spring 2021 Scottish Star Camp has had to be cancelled.

 

 

 

The announcements that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Astro-Zenica Vaccines have arrived

and are being rolled out gives us all some hope for the future.

 

 

The Governments intentions are that vaccinations will possibly be completed for the over 70’s and most

vulnerable members of our population by the middle of March, has possibly, to be taken with a large pinch of salt!

As we all know with Astronomy, things rarely go to plan!

 

 

Regardless, that still means that the great majority/remainder of the population will still not get their first treatment of the 2 inoculations

for many months after March. Those getting the first inoculation are now being advised that the second will be 3 months later.

 

So, initially more people inoculated followed by a slowing down as later inoculations cannot proceed until the second/booster inoculation has to be given to the first people inoculated 3 months previously.

Pfizer have expressed concern about this 3 month period for their product as they say "it has not been tested or proved to work". (only tested at 3 weeks I believe).

Astro-Zenica seem happy with the alteration to the timing thank goodness.

The  Pfizer-BioNTech  delay may come back to bite the Government in the behind, I hope not!

 

 

 

Bearing this all in mind, it sorts of negates any thoughts I had of an Interim Star Camp (which I had been hoping to inaugurate) sometime in late March or April.

 

In conclusion,

 

I am hoping that we are all fully inoculated and safe before next September.

 

 

Please note the next Scottish Star Camp will the Autumn 2021 Event.

Check that here:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/348960-2021-autumn-galloway-star-camp/

 

 

 

Stay Safe and

Regards to all,

 

Very nice photos 🔭🔭

 

 

I would just like to say to everyone wishing to attend the 2021 Spring Scottish Galloway Star Camp

and all those here on Stargazers Lounge:

 

 

A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year or should I say  Happy Hogmanay for 2021.

Let's hope for a brighter future in the new year.

 

Oh blow !   I forgot the auto correct:

新年快乐 / 新年快樂

I think it could be water in the pier from the condensing evaporation from the underground cable trunking. Only time and further investigation will tell for sure.

I do much the same.

But my LEDs are angled down onto the tripod feet so as not to affect peoples night vision. Even "Red LEDs" pointed towards an observer can destroy night vision if you or anyone can see the LED emitter directly, so a soft diffused reflection is best.

The grey boxes contain two Red LEDs each and just emit onto the leg adjusters.

Just out of interest.

Obviously a water pipe on the left,  but in the middle is a blue water pipe with a heavy duty (rubber outer) 4mm^2 power cable pushed and pulled  through it. The cable  was dusted with copious amounts of Talc and it was also blown down the pipe before starting the cable pull. The smaller cable on the right, is also in blue water pipe, is an alarm cable .

It is messy looking now but was done in a rush about 25 years ago. I pulled back the cable ducting to take the photograph. The sealant was purely due to  a small leak I had between the pipe and brick wall  a couple of years after everything was finished, (best laid plans of mice and men, etc). It is over two feet below the outside ground level, as it is in what was a gravity fed  filter system  for my Koi Carp Pond. I did dig back the outside ground and reseal,  but it was too much to try to dig several feet of the blue ducting out of the ground and redo it all properly from scratch.

The blue piping is about 35 feet long and has two gradual bends in it ( about 15" radius). I initially sucked the nylon cord through the blue water pipe  with a hoover. The cord was knotted to be a close but not tight fit to the pipe for the initial feed of the cord. Once through I cut back some of the outer rubber of the heavy cable to bare the inner rubber cables, then bared them,twisted tied and  taped them to the cord for the pull through. I used this method for many years when away at sea and feeding in replacement or new cable systems for control gear.

One point about this method, is that if you can, use a much longer cord than the pipe so that the new cables are tied in the middle of the cord length. That way if it gets stuck you can use the feed end to help pull the cable back a bit and clear a bit , sometimes just twisting back and forth the cable can free the jammed bit (just alternate between the cable being fed and the pull cord at each end, before restarting the pull through. You don't want to snap a cable in the trunking by accident.

🌝

1 hour ago, tomato said:

Again, thanks for your suggestions. I plan to pull all the cables through with it laid straight out in the garage, so the tricky part will be pulling the loaded tubing through the fixed ducting. I have a nylon brass ended pull through cord to put down the pvc tubing for pulling the cables through, and of course the fixed ducting already has a pull through cord.

On the fixed ducting the two bends to be negotiated are fortunately right at each end so maybe I have a chance of success.

If I put washing up liquid into the ducting in it’s current state I’ll end up with a suds monster.😄

Aye! But soooo clean. 🤣

I have used this type of pipe for suction on a sump pump and also for waste disposal on a caravan. It is extremely stiff when cold. It will be very difficult to pull or push though any small bore pipe. So you can try, absolutely bucket loads of kitchen sink "Fairy type liquid soap" to lubricate it and make sure it is warm. Also you can try twisting it when pushing or pulling to help progress.
I did suggest blue water pipe, but this is very stiff to work with (possible problems around corners) but slips through without the same friction effects.

Best of luck however you do it.

 

I would strongly suggest that when you do run the new ducting, first seal the end to stop any water ingress whilst pulling the tubing through.

Once the battery charging voltage passes about 13.6 volts lead acid batteries start to outgas hydrogen.

That is why in the past caravan chargers are set to around 13.6 volts, for safety reasons. Trouble is the batteries are damaged by this irreversibly. The batteries life is very much shortened and capacity is much reduced ! Lead acid needs to get to around 14.4 -14.6 volts for a full charge.

I now use LiFePo4  batteries. But these cannot be charged at or below zero degrees C without  wrecking these type of batteries. Lead acid have no real problems at these temperatures.

I just have caught up with the last few posts here. I see you were advised to allow a vent in the top of your battery box for ventilation.

It seems that your battery box is inside a building, sealed or not, the battery needs a hydrogen vent to the outside of the building. The vent also needs to be protected by a series of fine filter meshes. I used three meshes sandwiched together in my older setup, I used a waterproof boat vent as the filter holder.

The meshes act as a protection against explosion if the hydrogen gas is exposed to a naked flame, or any kind of spark. As it is at present any escaping hydrogen gas can by the looks of it catch fire and track straight back into the battery box causing a catastrophic explosion and possibly fire or severe injury to yourself or other persons nearby. Remember you have other electronics above the battery box, a possible source of ignition.

Some years ago I had a 110Ah battery explode near me. I was extremely lucky and all that happened was some permanent hearing loss in my left ear and all my clothes were(and me) were covered in Sulphuric Acid. None of my clothes survived but a very quick shower and I was OK. It happened after over twenty years of experience in looking after all sorts of batteries.  One daft slip of concentration was all it took when I was very tired!

The way the meshes work is that they cool the flame front at each mesh. So use three causes three reductions in temperature and no actual flame passing back into the battery box. (Think of how chemists use a filter under a beaker when heating it by a Bunsen gas burner flame.)

Your set up looks great.

26 minutes ago, mapstar said:

Turning out and standing under clouds beats work 🤣

I will remind you of that statement when at Galloway !!!

🤔

Very awkward time for us all ! I keep on looking at all the bad news and so many poor sods either losing their businesses or jobs. It is a lousy thing to happen at anytime least of all this  time of year.

I have spoken to Lesley a lot over the last couple of months and again on the 24th to see what she wanted in the last Info Bulletin.

She and Ralph are I believe, upgrading the entrance area before the next season starts. This is to try to alleviate some of the vehicle damage being done during the very wet weather that has been occurring during recent years. More money spent to improve the field to cut some of the yearly maintenance and repair costs due to vehicles entering the area. So I guess  a long term repay term for them,  but with benefits to all of us.

It is a really nice job you are doing there. I wish I could do the same some time in the future. 😃

On 06/07/2015 at 05:12, Scorpius said:

Worked all weekend and got the legs and baseplate welded to the bottom of the pier. Also cut a hole near the bottom to route cables down through and then out into an enclosed area beneath the floor. This is where I’ll install 110V power for the mount and anything else that needs it. The below floor area will be accessed through a trap door in the obsy floor. This way there will be no cables to trip over since the only wires/cables will exit through the owl’s nest before connecting to the mount, cameras, etc. The conduit from the warm room will terminate inside the pier at about the same level as the bottom hole so I can either route wires into the below floor compartment for connection to USB hubs, etc. or I can continue them on up through the pier and out the owl’s nest.

It needs to be this tall (about 8 ft) because the floor of the roll off roof obsy is going to be about 30 inches off the ground. I’m doing this to get the scope a little higher - which should help me see lower on the horizon - and also should put it high enough to see over the roof of the warm room which will be constructed at grade level. Plan to use a standard height door between obsy & warm room - which will swing into the warm room eliminating any height issue if it were to swing into the obsy. The door will open to a short flight of stairs (about 4) in order to make the transition in floor level. The pier height will be 36 inches above the obsy floor.

Said I wouldn’t start a build thread until the pier was set in concrete but after working like a dog all weekend to finish the fabrication, I decided to go ahead and go for it. Knowing me - I’m sure progress will be slow however, progress will be made little by little and I’ll post updates to this thread as I go...

You may see some logging equipment in the background but that’s a story for another day. Just suffice it to say – I’ve got some friends who are helping me expand my horizons... 

Did not realise that a pier needed Solid Booster Rockets ! 🤣

On 24/11/2020 at 21:05, merlin100 said:

@Physopto Some of us had legitimate reasons for leaving early. Just saying... 

Let's get something straight here !

I was posting exactly what the campsite owners wanted nothing more, nothing less.

So no more pointed fingers please !!

 

 

The owners have for some time, now and in the past, (i.e. not just this time), put up with some of the Star Camp attendees either not showing up or leaving earlier than originally booked in for.

Whilst in more normal times this was accommodated it can no longer be so.

 

Due to Covid-19, things have come to a head.

As Lesley said she cannot keep taking the loss of income.

Damage to the field can cost a lot to repair and makes it unusable in the mean for letting out for the general public usage.

The campsite costs a lot to run.

The maximum numbers allowed on the field have severely cut the revenue from the camp site, ( in normal times it was around 40 caravans/motorhomes/tents).

Now a maximum of around 25 pitches  for us and less for the general public (as there are usually more people in family groups).

The utility blocks still cost the same to heat and maintain, and cost even more to clean due to the Covid-19 restrictions.

 

Things  have come to the point, that due to these costs the owner cannot stay in business if the No-Shows or early leaver numbers continue.

 

This would mean an end to the Star Camp at Drumroamin altogether in future.

Finding another venue that would host the Scottish Star Camp would be nigh on impossible in the short run and this could remain so possibly for the next two or three years!

 

 

In the past the owners have  accepted the early levers to some extent as they understand that there are unexpected family/work problems.

They have not asked or stipulated that anyone would be expected to pay for Late Cancellations / Early Leavers or No-Shows.

Hence they have not asked for the money and felt it was wrong to take it under those circumstances, even when offered!

 

The owners are now having to change the rules due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

I was asked to post these New Rules so everyone was informed of the changes well in advance.

 

The rules are now quite clear and if anyone disagrees, they are at liberty not to book or attend in future.

 

As stipulated in the original post above, you will be expected to pay in full for all nights booked in future.

 

The Drumroamin Scottish Star Camp has been going now for over 10 years.

I hope it will for many more years to come.

 

We need to realise that things have changed recently.

 

We also need stick together to support our favourite "one and only" (at present) Premier Scottish Star Camp, if we want it to continue.

 

( I am sure everyone will wish David and Martyn luck with their future Star Camps up in Abernethy. We need more than one in Scotland. )

 

Please stay safe and Everyone have a great Christmas and New Year.

Could you push blue water pipes down through and out the other end. Just keep the pipes well above the inlets at each end. Then feed your power and usb cables through these. Seal with silicon at both ends. The pier can be vented both top and bottom with several holes drilled for airflow. That should prevent condensation forming. You could also line the inside with 10mm of foam to prevent cold bridge.

I have used the water pipe fora good few years without any problems. It is extremely  tough and resistant toshovels and  garden forks 😃

Hi and welcome back. I can recommend getting away to Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Star Party if you can get pitch and the time also Kielder is also a great spot for Star gazing from. Both of these areas I have spent considerable time enjoying the clear night time skies.

I gave up trying to observe from my back garden precisely because of street lights...... All eleven  of them.

Trouble is the older you get it seems the worse light pollution seems to affect your eyesight and ability to dark adapt in a short time period. You also loose the ability to see colours that were obvious when younger.