Visiting parts manufacturers

Wednesday, 24rd April 2013

And many, many other times.

We visited Whitworths marine and leisure in Caringbah.

We visit Whitworths Caringbah pretty much every time we are in Sydney, because when we are in Sydney we stay about 5 minutes from the store. As we are looking at using some (or should I say mostly) Marine products in the camper, we check out things when there like Marine toilets, stainless steel fittings, hose and BBQ’s and many other things. We haven’t purchased much yet, just small fittings and things, but have plans for a number of other things, when the time is right, because if we purchase them now we have to store them, so it is better to purchase them closer to the time, then they also still have their warranties etc.
Also when the Boat Show is on in August, Whitworths usually has a big sale with something like 10%-15% off everything in store, so that will be when we make our major purchases.

 

Tuesday, 23rd April 2013

We visited Nuplex Composites to look at composite cores and fibreglass supplies for the camper body. The composite cores are what goes between the layers of fibreglass mat and resin to give it thickness, insulation, structure and strength.

We went to Diab about 18 months ago looking at the same sort of thing, but recently found out that Diab are now based in China. Diab are the manufacturers of Divinycell composite cores. Nuplex are now the distributors for these Divinycell products for Sydney.

Owen will need a lot of supplies to make the moulds and to make the fibreglass body components for the camper body. We were planning on driving down to Sydney again to pick up all of the products and supplies we would need – probably in the truck, as the composite core sheets are quite large, but found out they will deliver to our door for only $50+GST (so $55), which is a LOT less than the fuel costs for us to drive down to Sydney and back ourselves.

 

Friday, 9th September 2011

We visited Dynaplas to look at polyethylene mudguards these are needed to get the truck registered. We ended up with a set of light blue polyethylene light truck mudguards that were seconds (colour had some marks in it), they were $50 each.

We decided not to get the mounting hardware, as the mounting hardware costs more than the mudguards, and as we are using the mudguards on in the short term (until the camper body with it’s  mudguards integrated), it is not a financially viable option. Instead Owen will fit the mud guards himself using his own brackets. They make many sizes including super single size mudguards and light truck ones, the light truck ones are a better fit so we went with them.

 

Friday, 26th August 2011

We visited DIAB Australia to look at composite cores for the truck body (the camper section), these are what goes inside the fibreglass mat and resin to give it thickness, structure and strength. Diab are the manufacturers of Divinycell composite cores.

 

Friday 6th May 2011

Visited Stratos Seating to have our seats fixed, they had been delivered and fitted with the wrong arm rests (they were WAY too low and were causing me added pain in my wrecked shoulder (a major reason for getting the arm rests was to support my shoulder, and for Owen his limited his ability to change gears in the truck, he would have to raise the arm rest and couldn’t use it when he needed to change gears etc.

Not of much use, when Owen spoke to Stratos it seemed we had been give the wrong armrests and they gave us the right ones, as the new ones fitted with a different bracket this left bad marking in the seat backs and we got these replaced, as who wants to pay $2000 per seat and have them all damages and yucky looking before you even get to use them (the vinyl sides and foam under was all dinted from the brackets and the new brackets showed this).

Also visited Webasto in Sydney to have a look at there colorifiers and fan radiators which we will be using to heat our water and to heat the living quarters, and also their Isotherm marine fridges. We were unable to see any actual examples as Webasto had everything boxed up for shipping to a “show” where the items where to be on display in the hopes of sales.

 

Friday, 8th April 2011

Visited Centurion Fire Rescue Equipment in Newcastle on the way home from Owen’s Fibreglass course, to look at their roller shutters as Owen is thinking of using these as a “barrier” between the camper body and the cab where the pass through is.