One of the jobs we did not get to do before we left was to change the ladder we use to get in and out of the camper portion of the truck. The one that came with the Mog looked like it belonged in a christmas cracker, but was rejected as it was too spindley and not suitable for childred under 3 years. I might suggest it was not suitable for adults over 40 kilos in weight! We had been discussing this for quite some time, how to improve it.
Merv and Stonne thinking it through.
We were parked outside the town of Tafaroute, in an area the size of Roland Garros, and while walking around the town, Merv spotted a little welding shop that seemed to be producing high quality steel doors and windows. When we inspected their work, it turned out the owner had some good english,
and we could discuss our idea. We agreed to turn up the following morning with the truck, and get the job done.
The next morning, we pulled over to the side of the road outside the metal work shop. We were in the throes of explaining to the guy doing the welding what we wanted, when our Neighbour from the campsite happened by, and did some translating for us. I have to wonder what we would have gotten without him! Merv had brought some strong 40mm box section steel from home, along with some larger box section to weld to the Mog. All we had to do was explain the size of the step we wanted. Easier said than done without fluent French! or Arabic!
Getting something like this done to the mog seems to attract a bit of attention!
We also needed steps to be able to get up to the landing pad, and there was great scratching of heads about how this was to be done. We had already spotted something that would work, so we went to the next door hardware store, and bought a set of steps that opened into an A frame ladder. 2 minutes with the angle grinder, and hey presto – a set of steps!
the welding leads were a bit short, so a length of steel got used as an earth wire!
Before the welding started, Merv disconnected both sets of batteries, the truck batteries (for starting the mog) and the domestic batteries (for running the fridge etc). This is ordinarily enough to avoid any issues, but the solar panels were generating enough power to keep the systems running, and ended up getting “fried”, hence the step backwards!
We decided to cut short out time in Tafaroute, and head for Agadir to get the controller replaced, but just as we were pulling out of our parking spot, another neighbour suggested we try a place in Tiznit called “Electro Simo”. Mimo (The name of the guy in the Simo shop…..) did not have a direct replacement for the fried controller, but in mid conversation he asked to wait a moment, and we watched him leave his store, say something to a guy on the street and hop into a Petit Taxi and disappear! 2 minutes later the guy from the street was serving us Tea in the electronics store, and 4 minutes after that, Mimo was back in the same taxi, with the correct controller for our truck! What a service!
Lets hope it works!
Many hands make light work, but many voices "gibber jabbering" doesn't make it clearer!
Many thanks to Hilda for her photographs! To see Stonne and Hildas blog, click here.
Discussing the Design on the sidewalk.
Sarah keeps an eye on her new landing pad
Testing the landing pad for size, and to make sure it would hold Sarah up!