Saturday, 30 July 2022
On 13 February I was still writing with some uncertainty about Covid and fortunately for now, it all seems to have been somewhat forgotten. In September we will have a two-week holiday where we have decided to go back to Lake Como, to Domaso and then to Gavirate on 01 October where we have been invited to a christening, and then on to the Varese area.
What exactly we will do we don't know yet, but one thing for sure is that next year, if we can, we will finally go to Tunisia! Yes, the time has come to make some serious planning and decide what we want to do and that's that.

Merlino for now is in Ulrichen, with Nicola, as his accommodation for the MoVa camp (the Swiss scout camp) as he is part of the organisation, he will return home around 15 August after a month and a half of absence, his stay in Ulrichen was for me the test bench over a long period, in fact I asked Nicola not to connect him to the external power supply so that I can better monitor the energy system with the various data that the Victron system records.

For the rest, we'll see when Merlino gets back what the next steps will be to sort out, finish, etc. all the work that is still pending.

I almost forgot, below you will also find a small diary of our trip to Moldova with the economic report for transparency with those who kindly supported me on this important trip, Thanks again to everyone.

Moldova Diary;

Thursday 24 March 22
Departure from Lugano-Cornaredo at 09.00 approx.
11.00 a.m. passed Italian customs after customs paperwork and retrieval of lanyard to plumb the trailer
(104 made from ambri to lugano) 379322 km
14.00 first break 84 km to Venice
18.00 we cross the Italian-Slovenian customs 379791 km
20.40 stop in Grosuplije for the night rest area past Ljubljana
km 379864 tot km done 542 km

Friday 25 March 22
07.10 departure
08.20 Slovenian customs we go to the office, we have the feeling that the customs officer has cursed us
08.38 we cross the border into Croatia
10.51 a.m. again with the customs papyrus for exiting Croatia off the motorway
11.00 Hungarian customs and customs documents, the customs officer visits the little house
17.20 in column to enter Romania, (does not belong to the Schengen economic area) in 2019 after a holiday it took 1 week to clear the column
18.07 we leave Hungary
19.05 Finally they let us enter Romania
19.58 we switch off the engines for today
km 380593 tot km travelled 729 km

Saturday 26 March 22
06.35 departure, the thermometer reads 5 degrees, for the moment still on the motorway
380698 km motorway finished
08.05 back on the motorway after passing a hill
10.55 end of motorway
19.25 we are in the column to reach the customs on our way out of Romania
20.00 customs processing
After careful analysis of passports and travel documents at 01.50 we leave Romania
01.59 we arrive in the Moldovan one now we have to go through the procedures finally at 05.45 after having also done the insurance for the vehicles and the vignette for the road, they are finished and we can head towards Chisinau still 80 km to go
With much effort to keep our eyes open (seeing a lorry run off the road in the other lane)
07.55 the truck finally turns off
381487 km travelled on Saturday 894 km

Total from Piotta to Chisinau 2269 km!!!

Sunday 27 March 22
After our arrival, Dina takes us to her house offers us coffee and cake we go to sleep at 09.00 from Saturday we woke up at 0635, I at 13.30 already awake!!!
Alessio sleeps until 16.00, we laze around and shower until 19.00 when Dina brings us dinner, one of their specialities, 5 portions with various flavours accompanied by sweet wine, now I'm knocked out, tomorrow at 08.00 they should open the seal, but let's see, let's be surprised.

Monday 28 March 22
Dina picks us up, takes us for coffee, Dina's son Alessio joins us, we chat with him in English about the situation.
We leave the restaurant with Dina, who takes us to visit an old cinema restored for the reception of refugees, we pay a short visit, we are told that it gets cold at night and some have problems with utitis, the children have to sleep with their caps on.
Dina takes us to lunch.
The situation does not seem to be unblocked.
With Dina we go to the ministry to press for the opening of the seal.
16.00 Alessio freaks out and calls Don Daniel, he quickly catches up with us but has to rush off, he has mass.
By this time the offices are closed.
Don Daniel picks us up in the evening and takes us to another parish about 50 km from where we are.
He shows us the little church and takes us into the parish house, a brief exchange with a refugee couple.
He takes us to see the mosque but it is already closed, it is late.
We go for a short walk and in the restaurant we try the Chisinau beer, which is very welcome, we go back in and hopefully the next morning at 08.00 the seal will actually be opened for us!

Tuesday 29 March 22
12.45 we finally get the seal cut and then unload the goods
14.03 we finally leave for the return journey
16.15 in column in Leuseni for customs
18.43 we leave Moldovan customs
22.55 we finally enter Romania
381649 km and we stop at 23.45

Wednesday 30 March 22
07.11 a.m. departure, 6.30 p.m. we stop after having left Deva by a few km
382268 km driven 619 km

Thursday 31 March 22
07.20 a.m. departure for the Nādlac border after trying to solve the problem with the water pump in the cottage.
Szeged name Hungarian customs.
10.13 a.m. queue for Romanian customs on exit 15.17 a.m. at the weighbridge, again waiting, 4.30 p.m. passport check, trailer and of course camper van.
16.34 we leave Romania
382858 km at 20.34 stop for the night after 590 km

Friday 01 April 22
06.53 hrs departure arrival 18.50 hrs
383752 km done 894 km

Tot km return 2265

Tot km outward and return 4'534 km

Many thanks to everyone who helped me realise this 'mission'.

Sunday, 13 February 2022
By now it is already February and I have not yet prepared any travel plans for this year. On the one hand, since the Covid will be with us for this year too, the evolution of the decisions from the various countries will be quite decisive, in Italy as of today we can no longer go without a buffer anyway. Well, we'll see.

For now, the ideas are the Pyrenees, staying in Switzerland or Corsica, I don't think so, as the roads are no better than in Sardinia, it's true they also go there with tourist buses, so it shouldn't be a problem.

We will see, how the decisions of the different countries evolve and our inspiration on the destination.

Friday, 11 February 2022
Once again it's been a year since the last post on this blog, I have meanwhile posted a few videos on youtube about the construction of Merlin, I still have a few more to go and I would like to come out with the Sardinia video as soon as possible, unfortunately however time is what it is, as it is for everyone and for now I'm still doing some work on Merlino.
I would also like to take up the care of this blog again as the visits and views say you like it.

In the near future there is still some little work I would like to do, especially the air conditioning, in fact in Sardinia everything went very well apart from the last evening, the last evening we were on a cliff where usually or at least the evenings before the wind kept us company, one evening it forced us to go back in because it was really strong, but the last evening, after a beautiful sunny day there was a bit of air, but it stopped around 2200 and from there, it was a disaster, in fact, inside we had a crazy humidity and as a result it seemed to be 30 degrees.
After this episode, we decided with Maggy to absolutely install air conditioning.
This work will take place, I think, between April and May and here too, it will require some special technical expedients, since the air conditioning was not envisaged in the initial project and that in the floor where it would be installed there are the structural pipes of the seats, so I will create a cabinet that will allow me to exit with the hot air exhaust and with the cooling air inlet from the wall and not from the floor, the condensation water exhaust will instead be able to evacuate it from the floor given the much smaller opening.

With this short article, I am relaunching the page a little, I also want to do an article on Merlin regarding set-up costs, a topic that can certainly be of interest.

Good continuation to all.

Merlino 2021:
I think that before I write any more articles I should first tell you a bit about this year that I spent, for a change, in the workshop once again.

It all started by deciding to build a new cell for the Saurer, but after some thought it was not the best solution, I would have been better off selling everything and trying to make some extra money rather than just selling the cell.
In the end it turned out to be the best solution, to start everything again, with a very ambitious project and invest some more money.

So far it is the most ambitious and most complex project I have ever done, it gave me pause for thought, I cried from despair, I didn't sleep at night, I cried from happiness and at the end I am proud of what I have achieved.

A vehicle like the MAN opened up so many possibilities for me that the problem was which one to choose, whereas with the Saurer, many modifications and big changes I couldn't really make, plus the comfort of the 480hp and the 25l/100km consumption the MAN is 30 years younger than the Saurer.

In addition, I would like to break a lance in favour of MAN Switzerland, as a person I met by e-mail, always, always helped me or directed me to the right person and not waiting for answers for weeks but for the next day or two and this is simply priceless.

Recently I saw a video of a gentleman travelling with an Iveco 6x6 camper van, beautiful, but he claimed that Iveco and MAN or Mercedes service are almost comparable, here I am sorry, but, no, or rather, within Europe, I agree, outside our continent no.

When I bought the MAN, on the Swisstruck.ch website there were two Iveco's for sale for around 33,000 fr each, well, I didn't pay so 'little' for my MAN but there is a MAN service point in Greenland too, to give you an example and always speaking of MAN on the official website there is a map with all the service points available worldwide, at Iveco no.
To complete the comparison, my MAN was priced at 154,000fr (according to the insurance report)
A new Iveco Trakker 4x4 420hp with intarder comes to 107,000fr (and I still have the offer around)

True, MAN and Mercedes cost quite a bit more than Iveco, but, there is a reason for that.

Monday, 04 January 2021

Happy New Year to all,

This text was written on 05 September 2020
I haven't written anything on the website since about April and this is not so much because nothing has happened, far from it, but precisely because so many things have happened.
Firstly, I have sold the Saurer to a couple from the French-speaking part of Switzerland who want to refurbish it the way they like it and then go to Sweden.

Thanks to the sale of the Saurer, I was able to start my second Camper truck, on the basis of a MAN TGS 18,480, which would mean, a heavy-duty chassis with a maximum weight of 18 tonnes and a 480hp engine.
I then dismantled the tipper and crane and sold the latter, so I could start building the aluminium living cell and the steel counter frame.

The choice and design of the living cell took about a year, in fact by September 2019 I had already had the plans for the new cell for about 7 months, but for the feasibility of the latter it was decisive how to proceed, what were the options?
The first option was simply to dismantle everything as much as possible from the current cell and make a new one, or, to sell the complete truck and cell package, to start all over again.
So I did, selling the cell alone would not have brought me a great deal of money, while selling the complete truck, plus the spare parts for the second saurer, allowed me to buy the MAN with a budget of 0.
The sale of the body and the crane allowed me to start with the construction of the housing cell and the counter frame.

The realisation of such an important project implies, in my opinion, an in-depth analysis of the construction costs. In fact, it is unthinkable for me to start such a project without an investment plan, and it required an in-depth study on the choice of materials and all the components of the living quarters, all broken down into construction phases. This is also very important so as not to have components that have been in the garage for 1 year and at the time of need no longer work, or, the validity of the two-year warranty, will in this case only be used on 1 year, as the component has not been used before.
After the bureaucratic part, which is the proper planning of the various work phases, the actual realisation begins, and the beauty of this project is that very, very much is done by us and only by us, there are very few things or jobs that I have to delegate to someone because I don't have the possibility of doing them myself, which in my opinion is worth gold in such a project.
For the time being, the work that has taken me the most effort and thought is the counterframe, I have had several ideas, I have made several models with Lego, I have had nightmares, I have realised the unfeasibility of a 4-point frame, etc.
But today, that I have pre-assembled a good part of the counterframe, it is an inexplicable satisfaction to see such a project realised, and I can assure you that I have had a lot of trouble with this realisation with several drawbacks due to the lack of experience in milling and technical drawbacks of the CNC machine.
I hope at this stage of the work to be able to finish the counterframe by the end of next week, there is still a lot of work to be done but I am confident, the realisation of the pins, the pre-assembly with the tacking (welding) of the various components in place, the final welding, the assembly of the fastening points of the cell which involves mounting it on the frame, the sandblasting of the frame and the painting, not forgetting that I still have to turn the bushings for the pins and that the pins will have to be cut to the right length and drilled so that they can be fixed correctly in place so that they can also be greased.

After that, we start again with the cell itself, which means, gluing the sheets on the outside floor, and on the perimeter walls, all of them, gluing and sealing the corner profiles on each finished corner, gluing and sealing the expansion joints, mounting the cell on the truck, going to someone who has a sandblaster, dismantling the cell, covering all the silicone with tape, sandblasting the sheets (otherwise the paint won't stick), priming, and then painting.

After all this, I will finally be able to start with the interior fitting. It won't get any easier, but I will certainly be more relieved to know that the cell is at least mounted on the truck.

Saturday, 18th April 2020
What can I say, this time there is little to write, in fact, the more this time you can see it, I copy just for convenience the description of the video here, and for now, good mink.
In times of "crisis" we take advantage of it to do some work of improvement, cleaning, etc..
More precisely, we fixed the overflow of the water tanks, which before, as you can see in the video, were all connected to each other and being too small in case of overfilling, would have created an overpressure in the tanks, and as already happened, this overpressure, not supported by the tank lids, has brought out the water in the compartment under the bed. By replacing the overflows and having done so independently, I hope to have solved this problem.
Then we arranged the wires from the solar panels to the charge regulator for the batteries in the shed inside, so that they came down in a pipe in order and not as I had left them, a bit by accident and left to themselves. During this day, we arranged several details to which I had not given particular weight until today but which have always done their duty.
During the video, Meggy also learned that a pipe can quickly become a cardan, so it was a day where he learned something.

The metabo used in the viedo, is a cordless drill/ screwdriver, whose performance really amazed me, the life of the batteries as well, with a recharge I can do such work over several days.
To give an example, I drilled a hole with a 63mm drill in a piece of furniture that I built myself and I was able to do it without problems, it seems to have 65Nm of torque.

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

By the announcement below, the 3 weeks of vacation will be devoted to rest, preparation for the new job but also not least to the accommodation of the truck, in fact I would still like to make some improvements to be able to load more luggage in a better way and have the possibility to load a little 'faster water in the tanks. In fact at the moment the speed of loading is not the best, there is room for improvement, in addition, I would like to install an electric broom battria, so that I can do the cleaning not only at home but also on the road, also considering the installation of the new floor would be interesting to be able to do the cleaning, a bit 'like at home.

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

A few weeks ago I announced my return to Ticino, I just wanted to write a few lines here too, for those who happened to stop by and read a bit. After some candidacy in Ticino, I immediately found a job that interested me and that would allow me at the same time to recover a little bit those years sacrificed for the army. With this I do not want to say that what I have done so far has suddenly turned out to be useless and without purpose, on the contrary, given the relatively short time with which I found a job, I tell myself that what I have done so far is perhaps not all to be thrown away. I have the stronger and stronger feeling that I have made the right choice, that I have finally understood that maybe it is time to go home, I am not going home empty-handed, this is not the case and I will not come back to rest on my laurels, but as you may already know I wanted to give my availability for another job, which I will not talk about here. I found an apartment, I found a car that I liked and I will have to go back to pay something more than health insurance, already in the army health insurance is not free as well as the service vehicle and the apartment that I have here in Payerne is completely at my expense. Sum it up, for the moment I feel like saying that I am happy with my choice, that I want to come back but with commitment, both for work and for the other possible tasks, and in a way take back the life I did not have here in French-speaking Switzerland.

Monday, February 10, 2020

After a little absence, it is with a thread of sadness that I resume the keyboard. I take back the keyboard to expose a situation a bit 'particular, which is as follows. Not everyone probably shares our way of traveling and even less our goals. And here is that thread of sadness that strikes me, it strikes me because you are trying to make me change my mind, where a trip is becoming a nightmare, a nightmare for the pressure we are under, a nightmare because for lack of experience and travel in the diary of your life you try to sabotage a trip of someone else, simply because in Tunisia everyone blows up apparently. I am not asking that we agree with our destinations and I am not asking that you come together, I am just asking for respect in our decisions. This decision has been anticipated for some time and when the ferry reservation was confirmed the Third World War broke out, to my and Meggy's surprise we found ourselves in a really bad situation, a nightmare week because of what has been said. I don't know what more makes me sad, if the fact that we talk without any knowledge of the facts trying to put conditions as if it was an African market where we negotiate the price, or if the final goal is to make this trip impossible, the only thing I can say is that I don't have hundreds of trips behind me, I have "only" one and probably already one more of them. Dear readers, organizing a trip like this is not easy, we already have many doubts and insecurities to which we can never give answers for certain, but only one thing, let us do our experiences as you have done yours, if then during your life you have never wanted to leave, this is not our fault. For my work we have a transparent and non-punishment policy for mistakes made at work, do you know why? Why so the mistakes made, as well as potential damages are announced spontaneously and why? Because we cannot afford mistakes in aviation! Well, now, if we draw a parallel with our situation, what is the consequence? The consequence of the situation, which only creates us an unnecessary stress load, will lead to the logical deduction that next time, our destinations will be communicated only a few days before our departure or even not announced at all. I would just like our decisions, our ideas, to be respected, to tell us that we will go back inside black plastic bags, which made me die laugh out loud, that in Tunisia there is war (which is not true) does nothing but make us despise what we have prepared so far and the commitment we have put into all this, but believe me, it has been said worse, less impressive than black plastic bags, but that touches me deeply. One thing is certain, I do not give up and I will continue on my way, unfortunately these attitudes weigh on us and finally on our journey that should be a nice adventure, if I think about Meggy is his first travel experience, but it is slowly crumbling for the anxiety, ignorance and envy of others. I think I have always been open to dialogue, but unfortunately, given certain attitudes, my availability is shrinking and a lot.PS; if you have wondered why I died laughing at the black plastic bags is because for me an empty jar of jam, is more than enough to put 4 ashes, does not weigh 80kg and you can also send it by mail, but I recommend, with the fragile writing, that if it breaks then I will be forced to travel forever.

Saturday, November 17, 2019

After some absence, I went back to write a few lines, I finally commanded the parts to repair the drum that wraps the winch cord, in fact after mounting it I soon discovered that the shaft that let the drum of the cord rotate free was seized and cracked, so I had to disassemble the drum and remove the cord. After some reflection, I decided to build the new shaft myself, in fact the original piece costs about 1900fr. given the limited use of the winch I told myself that all that money for the repair I would not spend them and so I made the shaft myself. I ordered two precision tubes from Debrunner, two tapered bearings from Hasler and in an almost immediate time I received the parts and could start with the work. The cost of the parts alone is around 400fr. Since the cord was also ruined and I had to replace it, after some research I saw that the winch should be able to accommodate up to 90m of cord, actually usable will be about 72m is a compacted cord 16mm in diameter like the original, the supplier is the site seilerei.ch that in the preparation of the cord will also make me the front bushing and the end will be welded. In case the cord was too long, since the original was 60m and about 42 usable, I will see how much I can actually store and the rest I will use it as an extension cord. Or, given the simplicity of the winder drum, I could almost build a bigger one with a sheet metal that I have left from the construction of the waste water tank. After reinstalling everything, and letting the lanyard come out on the front of the truck, I realized that the current drum is enough to store almost all the 90m of lanyard.

Saturday, 29 June 2019

For a long time I had the idea to redo the floor of the Saurer, in fact, during construction, I wanted to keep the wooden floor, this unfortunately did not turn out to be a great idea. In fact the wood used to build the benches and the structure of the shower and bed, it is not very "clean" has a great potential for absorption. To overcome this problem, I opted for a vinyl floor with a thickness of 4mm. For the installation of the same I decided to dismantle all the furniture on the left side, including the benches, with the help of my uncle we then laid the whole floor. We roughly started at 0930 and finished the laying at about 2000. Having removed the benches, I took advantage of it to make some changes to them too, in fact, the table is a table that you can "fold" that is, it lowers to a height of about 38cm from the ground, so that it can be transformed into a bed, for a construction error, the benches I built them too high and for this reason I could never use this bed. From now on we have an extra bed. Having modified the height of the benches, I still have to modify the doors of the benches, in fact they must also be shortened. the electrical system has been redone, so that the electrical sockets are at hand on the side of the corridor and not against the wall, the cables have been recessed under the floor so that they are no longer visible. an idea still in the drawer (for a long time) is to install a "skylight" on the roof so you can ventilate the house better and more effectively, in fact there is a window of the Fiamma which has an integrated fan that would allow a forced air recirculation. In fact, to date the only way to ventilate the house in the evening when it is cool is to open the windows and hope that there is some wind. To solve this "problem" this window will allow me to aspirate or exhale air with 2 speeds for suction and 3 for exhalation, the manufacturer from a volume of air recirculated between 14 and 28 m3/min., is equipped with a thermostat that allows me to adjust the temperature inside the shed and of course a mosquito net, the beauty of this window is that you can open it with a crank, this allows me to open or close it without having to remove the mosquito net. The Paul on his has two, for the moment we will see if one is enough to improve the situation a bit 'and if necessary (I do not know where) we will evaluate if I can mount one more. After work, in the evening we moved to the Piumogna in Faido, we took advantage of the well-deserved rest and above all the coolness.

Why a website?

Essentially I created it so that I could share my experiences with the Saurer and my travels. In a way, it became the diary of my life, a certain way of telling myself, an exchange of opinions and ideas. Luckily, I don't often publish various maintenance, accommodation, etc. anymore; at least not as in previous years. This year it's giving me a lot to do, between work and wandering around on weekends, I haven't been so busy with the site anymore, unfortunately. I still have to finish the diary of Morocco, see what I still have to translate in German, open a section dedicated to Lake Como but in particular to Domaso. Things are many, and the more I go around, the more they become, especially if the destination is interesting. Since February then my life has taken an unexpected path, it has become our story and from here we will continue our journey together. I wanted as much as possible to integrate Margherita in all this, being a fantastic person (noo, I'm not biased) but not having been able or wanted to travel until today, I think she doesn't realize what this way of traveling can bring us. Speaking with an acquaintance of hers, it has repeatedly emerged the fact of the freedom that you have to travel in a camper, whether it is the traditional camper at the VW T1 to a truck, for sure, everyone brings with them their advantages and disadvantages. Appearing online is certainly not my goal, there would be more effective and less expensive systems, but an exchange of ideas, projects, opinions this interests me much more, give you the opportunity to share these experiences, projects, ideas. Ideas for the future: Coming soon I would like to start a small renovation of the house, I think especially about some internal details, the list, has 37 points, think about doing everything will take a long time, I will limit myself for the moment to the essential. I want to try this time to develop a little more the social side of the work I will do or we will do, with this I think I'll shoot some shots of how we will do the work, explaining why, what we used and show you how we did it. The idea is although the bulk of the construction already exists, to give you an idea of how the work began, but above all, based on our travel experiences, see what we have chosen to modify, prioritize and then perform. In all this, we also show you why we want to make certain changes and how we have prioritized it all. Margherita's presentation
When I asked Margherita to write her presentation, she wasn't very convinced, then she took a bit of inspiration from mine, she put hers, she talked about us, she talked about her and in a few lines she was able to tell a lot in an interesting way. I smiled a lot reading her presentation, in fact every word is the truth, everything went as she wrote. Perplexed, of course, as also written in a previous article, she was completely unaware of how this world works, of course, I too did not leave and I knew everything, but looking for example for a camp where you would like to stay, you find out that it has showers, washing machine, toilets, etc.. for Margherita having "prepared" the exits, all this information has passed through her but without being able to realize it. To convince her to spend a weekend taking the "house" with us was not at all difficult, in fact she told me right away: but if you don't try something? How do you know you don't like it? All I had to do was choose where to go, what to take and leave. The fact that I answer his questions and perplexities, I can't express myself, I would be too biased towards myself, jokes aside, of course, for me the way I travel represents an important part of me, that 3 years ago when I started this project, I never thought I would get where I am today, not for lack of time, for too many difficulties, but this is my first "hobby" work that I carry out in this way, before today, I have often abandoned or renounced certain ideas, not this one, I would be sorry if she also renounced or didn't feel well, so I always try to support her, help her, answer her questions, until she too has found the balance or the system to work "on road". It doesn't mean that I'll leave her in the lurch afterwards, but she'll have clearer ideas and maybe one day she won't be the "planer" of our travels. For the moment, I have as my goal Tunisia by April 2020, she will undoubtedly be part of the crew, now I just have to organize the topographic maps, some interesting points to visit without too many details and then everything is ready. I don't want to repeat the preparations of Morocco, where for about 6 months I did only that, this time much freer, much more creative on site and so for 2 weeks.

Weekend, 30 May, 02 June 2019

For a while we had decided to leave for the ascent, but we wanted to go to London with an organized trip, unfortunately there were too few members and the trip was cancelled, alternative solution, I aimed at Lake Como, I did not want to go to Como itself, but a little bit further up where there was something to do, the search lasted a while, I have my criteria of choice and they are not always easy to satisfy, I wanted to find a place where we could rent a boat, close to our campsite and that would allow us to visit some place on the lake, simply docking with the boat. My skepticism was then filled by the splendour of the place and the sympathy of the campsite staff. I believe that for these 4 days I will also create a dedicated article in the travel section, the video is already existing and published, the report of the trip is not yet but it will arrive. After this stay in Como, I realize how many beautiful places you can find, even without going very far. (quote from my dad)At this point I tell myself that publishing a dedicated article to bring someone else in this beautiful place, it costs me nothing and in all cases I do not earn anything.

March - April 2019

For some time now Margherita and I often spend weekends together, she is slowly finding her place in the Saurer, of the 11m2 I still only have 1 😁😁 No, I'm kidding, she's starting to understand how it works, how life "on the road" works and how to organize. For the moment we haven't moved much on weekends, but we plan to go 4 days on Lake Como at the end of the month, so as not to go too far and take advantage of these 4 days of rest. Also here, however, during the 4 days, as far as possible we will not move. We will stay in one campsite for the 4 days and we will move by bus or on foot. As a possibility we also have the boat on the lake, also an interesting possibility to move around.

February - March 2019
A rather particular title for this "article" in fact it's been a while since I've published anything and maybe not everyone knows it yet, but there's a reason why, I don't want to take anyone's breath away, so I'll leave you to the reading. The best things in life come when you're not looking for them. With this sentence I want to start my diary that summarizes the last two months. I take up in part a piece of writing that I found on the internet that particularly impressed me, and is very representative for this moment in my life. The best things in life, knock on the door when you least expect them. Sometimes, in fact, the secret of happiness does not consist in searching but in letting oneself be found. Has it ever happened to you that life surprises you? We often grasp at the plans we have made in our minds about how our future will go and what the face of love that will bring us happiness will be. The truth is that sometimes, you just have to let go! Yeah, in a way it went just like that, coming back from Morocco, on the ferry back, so, without really looking for someone, I wrote to a friend I've known for a few years and I hadn't heard from her for a long time, in fact, we saw each other sometimes at the Amber games, we went skiing once and then for several years we "lost sight" of each other. We went out a few times, we realized that we were good together and today we share some good moments. Referring to traveling, for her it's a new world, a camper truck, the fact of being free, being able to put yourself "where you want" and discover new places, even if maybe around the corner from home. For me, I must say that I have rediscovered the beauty of taking the time to go for a walk, this too is in a certain sense a way of travelling, what we don't see with the truck around on the roads we can see up close by walking, taking the time to live these moments without hurry and without looking at the clock. Surely for both of us it's a nice adventure, we try to go out as much as possible on weekends and so we "live together" in 11m2 (on weekends), where to organize ourselves, prepare our outings, decide where to go, what to do and what to see, for example, I like the simple fact of traveling as the driving itself I like a lot, but staying in the same place for more than 3/4 days I don't feel like it already. For her I think I can say, she likes to travel for sure, but more the destination, the fact of taking the time to visit and go and see the things that each place offers us, for sure the most recurring question she asks me, is really, but then what do we do once we get there In fact, for her part, being new in this "world", there are many questions, such as for example: Isn't it too far to go by truck? Aren't we too late to go camping? What can we do when we get there? What services are there on the campsite? A series of questions that are clear to me, as I choose the campsites I already know what awaits us. For the moment, as our first outing we have been to Ascona, we have just been to Agno, while next weekend, the idea is to go to Lucerne.

Weekend, 02-03 March 2019
This weekend was full of guggen and good weather, in fact on Saturday we left at 1000 from Ambri in the direction of Bellinzona with the Saurer, we went for lunch, in the afternoon we attended the procession of guggen and around 1600 we left for the camping "Delta" in Ascona. We spent the rest of the afternoon outside, it was hot enough to stay out without having to wear a jacket. The evening we ate in the Saurer, Sunday with calm we made a walk around the lake, then we ate in a restaurant of the zone and in the afternoon around 1600 we took the road towards home.

Friday, 07 December 2018
Is it more important to have a destination or is the mere fact of leaving already enough? In my opinion a destination doesn't have to be there, the fact of leaving is already a source of many emotions a destination only defines where we want to go, but when we leave, we leave in search of something, right? Leaving without a destination? Leaving without a goal is a real sin, it's a bit like wandering around in the middle of nowhere, without a destination we can't go somewhere. Defining at least how far we want to go, the country of destination or the purpose of the journey helps us to define what we are looking for, because that is what it is all about. Based on the time available, we then define the feasibility of the journey. Taking into account any unforeseen events is the most difficult thing, from there we can look in detail for the places we want to see, what to see in these places, from there we build the itinerary, defining what to see first and so on, so as to have a logical sense in the itinerary. If you leave alone, the thing is simple, we just like it, while if you leave in a group the work becomes a bit more laborious, you have to agree.

Thursday, December 06, 2018

Today my "dead" batteries are back in the garage, they are not replaced under warranty because out of two years, whatever. The counter offer was for 630fr two equal batteries (180Ah) new. For 1'200 fr I can have two gel batteries, with a longer life and a better discharge-charge performance of 260Ah! Before with 180Ah batteries I could stay 3 days in complete autonomy, now I should be able to stay for about 7 days without needing to recharge them. We'll see how they will behave in Morocco 😁😁 In the end it's a chance in bad luck even if it wasn't really the time for a failure like this, before the departure I had to change a vital element of the system. Whatever, these things happen. I'm also lucky that the charger I just bought is also compatible with the current Gel batteries.

Weekend, 01-02 December 2018
This weekend I had to remove the batteries from the shed and take them to the garage, today the diagnosis is that the two batteries need to be replaced after 2 and a half years! It did not take before the departure, too bad, more work that I do not know when I will be able to do. On the other hand, unfortunately, I'm considering replacing the current batteries with 260Ah gel batteries and no longer 180Ah gel batteries, increasing the capacity I will be able to stay for longer in total autonomy. As posted on Instagram, I have also installed a new 3-stage charger with 24V and 25Ah charging current! this will allow to charge 260Ah in about 10 hours (theoretically). The battery charger can also be used as a power supply, i.e. instead of using batteries I can power the 24V system directly. I have also installed a 230V socket in the cabin to power the GPS PC. I have installed a surveillance system for wireless tire pressure and I have rearranged the material we will take in Morocco. I replaced the air filter and replaced the two engine belts.

Tuesday, 27 November 2018
After asking my insurer if it would be possible to put Morocco as an insured country on the green card, so that I do not have to take out border insurance in the host country. Reading in the various blogs, an insurance for Morocco costs about 300 euros, I pay RC about 550fr for the whole year! My insurer then contacted me and explained that for a short period, you have the possibility to add a previously uninsured country, on the green card, but as said only for a limited period. So, that's fine too!

Sunday, 11 November 2018
In view of our departure to Morocco, a little more space will not harm us, on the contrary, the idea is to put in the "new" compartment all the things we will need to take care of the truck, parts, belts, towing ropes, air hoses, etc. so that we can keep inside everything we need for every day. The departure is approaching, preparations continue, interests grow, ideas for next year are many time is always the same. On youtube I found a couple of Italians who are momentarily in South America with a camper truck, they have several Video LOGs, in one of which they explain how much it costs to travel around the world. I will do the same for Morocco, so I can get an idea how much it actually costs for such a trip.

Tuesday, 23 October 2018

After some inactivity and silence here I'm finally back, last weekend I mounted an additional tank on the left side of the Saurer, in fact in Morocco we will have an off-road stage of about 400Km and one tank I don't know if it will be enough. For the tank I recovered the one of the other Saurer and with some modifications, I could mount it on the left side. so doing, now I have a capacity of 600L which should be enough for about 1700 Km on asphalt and about 1000 Km off-road. I know, we have not yet left and returned from Morocco that I'm already thinking about next year, yes sure, prepare a trip like this, it takes a lot of time and the less information you have about the destination and the more difficult the organization becomes. I would like to leave for Iceland, very expensive as a trip and especially long, but for this there are not too many problems (I mean for the time available), in fact I'm doing everything necessary to ask for a month of unpaid leave, so I can leave from Ambri to Denmark, load on the ferry to Iceland to spend 17 days on the island. The departure is scheduled for November 06, 2019 and the return scheduled for December 06, 2019, sure from December 01 in Iceland there will be 4 hours from sunset to sunrise, so in theory about 6 hours of light per day. The main destinations are 3; Iceland, Algeria or Dakar in Senegal, but I return by boat and I return by plane. For the end of April, to take a step back, I planned 2 weeks in Sardinia, to discover the Dettori Estate, where they make an exceptional wine to say the least (for my qualities as a sommelier) but if you want to try it yourself, you can find it at the Zamberlani winery in Piotta, really an excellent red and white wine.

Wednesday, 12 September 2018
Dear readers, I don't have anything particular to publish for this last period, only that the Saurer has again made a good stop, it has walked at the hands of Nicola, about 950Km, with this, it has reached in 21 months the 10'000Km, in fact we have reached to date 64'355Km (tested with 54000). But in this period we are reserving the ferry to go to Morocco at the end of the year, I tell you, that a bit of anxiety is felt, for the unknown, for the greatness of the trip, for the fear to stay on foot, for the unknown of what to take as spare parts, the unknowns are still quite big and different. The nervousness of having prepared the trip, of not being sure that everything is all right, the trust that my travel companions have placed in me is something indescribable, I do not know how they "accepted" the fact that I have prepared everything without any particular technical knowledge about it. One thing is sure, my training has allowed me to proceed in a structured way, finding, for now, 4 times to discuss the trip and the various points still to be clarified. And several things have still emerged, things that will allow me in the future, to organize other trips in an even more detailed and precise way. A big thank you to my fellow travellers, Stefano, Sabrina and Oddvar, without whom this adventure would never have come true.

Weekend, 30 June, 01 July 2018
On Saturday I dedicated myself to fitness, in fact I changed the 4 tires of the truck, being trilex rims made of 3 almost identical pieces, the rims are disassembled, talcum powder is inserted in the new tire, so as to absorb that little bit of moisture and then the inner tube, again some talcum powder and the rim is put on again. I started at 0830 and finished at 1630. I then decided to turn back towards Faido, having never been to the Piumogna waterfall, I decided to go there. I park the truck, take the camping chair, take advantage of the place and around 2200 I go to sleep. Sunday morning, awake at 0800, but I sleep until 0900, again with the camping chair I put myself in the shade to admire the waterfall, for lunch spaghetti with tuna fish! 😁😁 after a half-hour nap. The idea is to take a bath, but being snow water, we'll see 😁😁infatti is cold but bearable, it takes a moment and you have to leave a moment to the body to get used to it, but nothing 😁😁 once inside, you don't notice anything more. Already the sun beats hard, there is no cloud, so much so that the solar panels load 7A 😁😁

Weekend, 23-24 June 2018

End of the week improvised Tuesday with a message everything started, I called Paolo and Saturday morning we left for Livigno, we were in Castione and from there I had the opportunity to drive his 6DM, which you can find under the travel group. I was skeptical of Livigno, being a very touristic region, it didn't attract me so much, but I had to think again. It is indeed a beautiful region and relatively accessible even with our vehicles. I will definitely come back and take some more time to visit the region. Thanks again to Paolo for bringing me and showing me the area.

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Usually, in my travel planning I have about a year in advance, it would mean, that to date I should know or have a part of next year's trips ready, well this year is not at all so. The planning and preparation of the documents for the group of trips to Morocco is taking me a lot of time. I am writing a dossier that will accompany us throughout the trip with the most important points, the references of the trip, the numbers of the Swiss embassies and addresses, the documents for the introduction of the vehicles in Morocco, etc., etc. For next year there are essentially two possibilities, finally do the Pyrenees, which I did not do this year and / or go to Romania. Or leave on another destination. 😁😁

Saturday, 09 June 2018
Saturday, after a long time finally a sunny day, really a beautiful day that of course I spent in the garage, in fact Friday afternoon I picked up the new glass, two inner tubes and two flabs (protective rubber between the rim and the inner tube) arrived. The assembly of the glass was not very easy, in fact I think it is slightly larger than the previous one and for this reason it was a feat. Once the glass was finished, I tried to fit one of the new tires, one tire, one inner tube, one flab and the trilex rim already disassembled. One hour or so and everything was done, I started by putting some talcum powder inside the tyre, and spreading some on the inner tube, then I inflated the inner tube slightly, I inserted the flab making sure it was well positioned and then I started to reassemble the rim. I will make a video to show how the whole process works 😁😁

Whoever doesn't work can't make wrong
In fact, if you don't work, you can't go wrong. By this I mean that I broke a front glass of the truck, stupidly overturning the cab.In fact something inside the cab hit the glass and broke. In addition at the meeting in Bedretto, the drum that wrapped the cord jammed and bent the cord. The lanyard has to be thrown away and the drum has to be removed and the free wheel shaft has to be replaced. I have already received an offer for the complete system for about 1500 euros, we will see the replacement of the shaft alone how much it costs.

Weekend, 7-8 April 2018

Following last weekend's work, I started to dismantle my truck in order to insert the winch, in fact I had to remove all the crossbar of the chassis in order to insert the one with the winch attachment, in this way, I disassembled everything at once. I put everything on a dustpan and then, with the help of my brother, we inserted the crossbar with the winch, we took some time because it didn't go as smoothly as we thought, but with a bit of inventiveness we found the solution to insert it between the crossbars of the chassis without touching the little house that I just lifted from the chassis. In fact the winch is placed under the floor. The cord comes out on the right side of the frame, so I also have to take all the accessories that the other one has mounted, so that the cord passes correctly in all positions. The goal is to finish assembling everything for Saturday 14th April at 1200. I still have to change the fixing bolts as I had to lift the shed by 8cm to leave the necessary space for the winch so I also have to replace the fixing bolts as the fixing points are further away. The photos of the work as the video of the final test will follow shortly.

Monday, 02 April 2018
I started dismantling the truck's winch for parts to mount it on mine. After the manoeuvres made to recover the truck from the Svalvolati route, having rained the days before, the situation was quite hostile, the water filled the bumps. The ford of the latter had to be done quite decisively, but unfortunately the second gutter was too narrow! and the front bumper didn't pass, otherwise I would have got out without problems. Now, considering that the gutter was too narrow, I had to try to go out in reverse, I blocked the 4x4 and the rear differential, the front one is not there, trying to get out the right front wheel slipped... I should have tried to brake, so as to give the 4 wheels the same resistance and gaining traction, giving gas with the right foot and braking with the left, I did so the second time. Another solution, a little more laborious is to remove the winch from the truck for the pieces and put it back on mine, in fact, the latter occupies its space in the chassis at the rear, with this, I have to remove the access ladder, I have to remove some thickness from the floor, hoping not to damage the wood inside so as to leave the space for the winch, in fact it is higher than the chassis. another possibility is to cut the complete floor and insert an access door from above so as to ensure access for maintenance. afterwards, I have to disassemble the whole crossbar of the frame, disassemble the iron plate where the air fittings and the electrical sockets for the brakes are mounted, afterwards, in order to remove the crossbar of the frame, I have to remove everything that is fixed with bolts until the end of the frame, so that it can be removed. Once this is done, I will be able to start by inserting the crossbar with the winch and reassemble everything, including the delivery and return hydraulic hoses, mount the power take-off on the gearbox and finally empty the diesel tank, taking advantage to clean it, in order to separate again the diesel and winch oil compartments. Finally, put the diesel back in, fill the hydraulic oil tank and test the winch to remove any air bubbles in the circuit.

Sunday, 4 March 2018
Discussing with my brother about what to do with the Saurer on the garage forecourt, we decided to start reassembling the old gearbox I had dismantled. Hoping to be able to reuse it, if all goes well, otherwise we just lost a little time. We'll put it back on the truck that I "disassembled" for the spare parts, we'll straighten the cab, then we'll see what to do, it won't be an easy job, but with commitment and patience the result is guaranteed. We have the idea for the final destination, but we'll see. But only one thing, SAURER? Indestructible! If cured. Stay tuned! 😁😁

Weekend, February 17-18, 2018

The dear exchange decided to play a few more tricks on me for the carnival in Faido. In fact I think he made me the joke that cost me the first gearbox. At which I told myself that I absolutely wanted to find the problem. I knew that it was an electrical problem, because by disconnecting the valve that controls my reverse gear there was no longer the problem. So I started to remove the electrical plug coming from the driver's cab, removed the protective sheath and probably found the fault. In fact, the external plug was full of water. I retrieved the plug from the other truck and temporarily connected the cable with the new plug. Now all I have left to do is to isolate it properly, both the plug directly on the gearbox and the junction.

Weekend, 9-10 February 2018
I'm writing this article a bit 'in advance, in fact it's still Friday, tomorrow morning I start a photography course in Fribourg and then I will return to Ticino for some maintenance work on the truck, in fact after a month of intensive use at carnival is time for some checks, oil levels, cooling liquid, etc.. But my return to Ticino does not only include the overhaul, but also the preparation for the installation of the new navigation system. In fact, given the lack of practicality of using the GPS, but excellent for road trips or as a backup for the new system that includes a PC toughbook Panasonic CF-19 a PC stiffened for heavy use such as the army, workshops, etc.. is a second-hand PC that was leased to the German army with 80 hours of use. I also found a dockstation for installation on vehicles, so that I can mount the dockstation in the truck and easily move it if needed. The PC can work with an external GPS antenna, so it can be used without having to have a mobile data connection, limiting costs and the screen can be rotated and closed so it becomes like a tablet. On the PC will be installed a navigation and data processing program Ozi explorer, which allows the treatment of the major maps in electronic format, and also allows me to import them from the paper format by scanning them.

Thursday, 11 January 2018
My brother in Ticino, has charged the batteries of the house, so that tomorrow night, everything is ready to go to carnival in fact, we will become homeless citizens, for two days, going from Mesocco GR to Rivera to the splash and SPA, and then go up to Isone. Tomorrow night, will turn on the truck, so when I arrive we should just be able to leave without too many hiccups, we will turn on the heating already at the departure to make sure it is warm inside the cottage Staytuned on Facebook.

Weekend, 11-12 November 2017
We left towards Varese Saturday morning at 0900, arrived on the spot we announced ourselves as pre-enrolled and so far no problem. At 1230 opening slopes, we go down the track and not even after 10m, they send me back. Everyone takes away his faults, but why make a pre-enrolment then? if then the vehicles registered are not checked? On Sunday, I try again to ask if I could have done a lap and here I am told, worse than on Saturday, that I would have destroyed the track. Would I have destroyed the track? an off-road track prepared with an excavator to make it difficult and I'm told that I would have destroyed the track? maybe I could have also dirtied it...well, before coming back I still managed to do 2 laps on the track planned for SUVs... We'll try again next year, we'll see if things will change, announcing "better" which vehicle it is. Finally it was however interesting, I discovered a design flaw in the solar panel recharging system, in fact it turned off the diesel heating, (to protect the batteries from excessive discharge), which not turning off properly was still hot but not cooled and started smoking with the diesel left inside, not being ventilated, the smoke spread inside the house. All right, that's done too, I'll fix it 😁

Tuesday, 31 October 2017
Here's my first-person video. Let me know what you think about it, so I know whether to continue with the production or leave it alone, it's a first part, the second, depending on the weather this weekend, will follow. 🙈🙈🙈 I am also open to any advice 😁😁 Please leave a comment via the contact form, put like or dislike or directly on the video 🤣🤣🤣 The video has been deleted, as the second video to complete and replace the first video, you will find it higher in the history 😁😁

Next issue, 11-12 November
The event will be held on the farm, (beer - mud - fest) in Varese, an event entirely dedicated to off-road vehicles with a clear objective the charity, this year the proceeds will be donated to the hospital of the bridge intensive care unit. The event will take place on two days on Saturday with off-road trails at night and Sunday all day at our permanent track at the farm Valleluna, the routes will be suitable for all types of off-road vehicles with gearbox, some routes instead will be possible to do them only if with winch and rollbar for the extreme difficulty. It will also be available for both days an indoor restaurant with 1000 seats for fresh beers and good food.

http://www.varese4x4.com/prossimi-eventi/

Weekend, 23-24 September 2017
This weekend in Ticino, we painted the back of the house, a piece of the roof in alu as a test and the roof of the truck cab in white so as to avoid as much as possible the effect of the heat given by a dark color. The alu roof, surprised me more because I thought it was shiny, that it would reflect the light so it would not absorb the heat and here I was very wrong. In fact, the roof was warmer on the inside than it was on the outside. Here, too, with a small trick, we should get around the problem. We will also see if the paint will remain intact on the aluminium or if it won't attack at all, from what I could see it should be fine.

Saturday, 16 September 2017
Lately we are getting bigger, in fact that weekend that I took off the little house to change the gearbox, I met Stefano Scapozza, owner of the Unimog that you find in the travel group. In fact with him and his girlfriend, we started talking about Pyrenees, Morocco and again Pyrenees and various trips. Then at the meeting of the saurers in Campo Blenio, I have also here the possibility to meet Silvano Bianchetti, from Locarno, who created a facebook account to contact me. In fact, a customer of his garage, knowing that he has a Saurer 2DM camper, showed him the photos of mine, so interested, asked him to find out who he was. Shortly after this customer of his, he arrives at his garage and tells him that it's from Alessio Guscetti di Ambrì and that if he wants to find it on facebook, the thing surprised him a little bit because he didn't know what it was, so he asked his former apprentice to create a facebook account so he could contact me. An almost unlikely story, but on the side, I find, funny. Today, since I had time to dedicate to the site, I have published a new trip that has for destination Romania, this off-road trip, to be done probably in 2 weeks, has for purpose the loneliness in the wonderful landscapes of this country and most probably the psychophysical solicitation of the drivers, in fact the scheduled stages, are not really short, it ranges from 283Km to 170Km for each stage. The departure, however, is still to be defined. In fact, the Pyrenees are scheduled for May.

Sunday, 2nd July 2017
Arrived in Sermione on Lake Garda, we installed ourselves in a camping, which accepted us, in fact in the camping I had planned to go from Croatia, the lady at the reception was so nice that she made us understand that she did not want us. I parked the truck where I could, behind some cars that were parked, then I entered at the reception of the camping "del Garda" I asked if they had a pitch for me, and they already told me that I would not be there, I told them "le po mo tüt da ved", and I asked them to give me some pitches that I would then go to see inside the camping on foot so as to avoid unnecessary maneuvers or to get into the camping. .. and the lady apparently had already decided not to agree to my proposal she immediately answered me: "yes but she can't leave her truck there, that if someone has to go away!" (until there, I got there too, but whatever) I understood that she didn't want to know about us and we chose another campsite, the "Camping Village San Francesco" where they welcomed us very well and gave us the chance to see and choose between the free pitches. In fact, it couldn't have happened better than that!

Tuesday, 27 July 2017
This morning we left at 0945 from Jesolo, but then we lost a lot of time looking for a garage, in fact I have the steering box that leaks just a little bit 'of oil, and having done yesterday already 475km, a little 'missing. We then took the motorway towards Slovenia, passing through Grovizia, Ljubljana the capital, and then arrived in Bled, with a stage of 272km and a total of 747km.Gia, today I had to fill up, unlike the week in April, I was surprised because we did 747km with 250l of diesel, which makes the 33.4l/100km (the Iveco army for driving school do the 32l/100km) so against 44 in the week of April, is a nice improvement! How much did we fill up in Slovenia? Well, at 1.11euro per liter! While in Italy, the last visa was around 1.27 euro per liter. Too bad it's raining, otherwise we could have already taken advantage of the beautiful area of Bled, hopefully better for tomorrow! The Slovenian highways are good, in fact I was surprised by the good quality of the asphalt, apart from immediately entering from the border with Italy where it was like driving on a potato field, but having a truck like mine where all the potholes reach the teeth, I must say that they are really good.

Monday, 26 July 2017
How best to start a week? Leaving for the holidays of course! This morning wake up at 0600, small breakfast and the excitement grows, we do not delay the departure and for 0630 we leave. First stop I work, to fill the tank before taking the highway towards Chiasso. Before the customs I take the bus lane and empty trucks, nobody tells us anything until a customs officer sees us at the last moment and signals my girlfriend to stop us. I stop, we tell him it's an RV and he lets us go again. Passed the customs, direction Milan, then Venice and finally Jesolo, first stop, so as to break the trip in two avoiding a marathon of 700km and still taking advantage of the sea and the swimming pools of the campsite. We covered 475km arriving at about 1430 in front of the campsite, we took two breaks and travelled at a speed of about 75km/h according to the GPS. For this first day challenging stage, too much 475km in one day with a truck that is 33 years old? No, just don't rush!

Saturday and Sunday, 24-25 June 2017
At the meeting of the "Amis da la palta" I put my truck to the test on two terrains that most attract my curiosity, sand and dirt. On the rammed earth has given good results, unfortunately not really its ideal terrain. On the sand, the beloved sand, has given much more than I thought possible, in fact, with the torque converter, when the engine no longer provides enough power to the wheels, it acts as a hydraulic clutch, allowing the engine not to turn off and give the necessary little thrust to the wheels so that they do not stop. In fact, it often happens in traditional 4x4s, you choose a certain gear to face an obstacle or a pile of sand as in this case, you often find yourself in the situation where you have to change gear because the engine can no longer make it, thus creating a moment when the vehicle stops, and when you release the clutch, you simply dig a hole ... Well with a torque converter you avoid the inconvenience of changing gear, because when the engine can no longer make it, allows the engine to take a little 'breath' and still give uninterrupted thrust to the wheels, thus avoiding that moment of vacuum that no longer allows us to restart.

Tuesday, 20 June 2017
the waiting, the anxiety, the not being able to do anything, that's what gets me the most energy. Working for an ideal, for a passion, you do it because you believe in something, but especially because you want to do it! Saturday from 0630 to 2200 with a lunch break of an hour and a half, it's 14 hours that I invested again in something I believe in. Surely it is not a project or an idea that can be defined as ecological, but given the use and frequency of use, I am of the opinion that it pays for itself. For this weekend, I will be present at the meeting of the "amis da la palta" in Bedretto at the Leonardi quarry, who wants to visit me, I will be happy to have a chat. but this only until Saturday evening, in fact Sunday morning 0800 we will leave in the direction of Slovenia for 2 weeks of vacation. That everything goes well? I don't know, I'll get the necessary irons, then we'll see 😅.

Weekend, 17-18 June 2017
Challenging weekend, Saturday departure from Ambri 0630 to Pura, picked up Saurer for parts, disassembled gearbox, mounted gearbox in the Saurer white end of day 2200Today moved truck parts, disassembled alternator of the two, put good alternator in the Saurer white, removed oil from the gearbox and gearbox, checked the oil sump filter gearbox, reassembled, put new oil back. Made test drive 😅😅😅Mercoledì my girlfriend will do the service to the engine, oil and filters, and will change the gearbox oil filter because there is not there yet...Saturday assembly shed and service to the converter. Goal: Sunday 0800 holiday departure 😎😎

Tuesday, 13 June 2017
The truck for spare parts that I found, has another advantage, in fact it is one of those planned models of winch. I hope I can recycle it for my, in fact, a winch for a truck can be very expensive, and given the price of the truck for spare parts, let's say that the winch is already repaid. now I just have to disassemble the gearbox put it in mine, and do the first technical checks to see if everything is in order! hopefully well, in fact, the 24th of June at the latest, I would like to go on vacation!

Tuesday, 13 June 2017
There is news, in fact, I found another truck like mine for spare parts, in fact it was crushed the cab on one side against a tree. But since I only need the gearbox, it's perfect! in addition this has also the winch, which I will mount on mine after returning from vacation, in fact now the absolute priority, is to reassemble the "new" gearbox and leave for the holidays on time! Let's hope for the best! For now some photos of the old gearbox, which I will also keep for spare parts.

Monday, 22 May 2017
During the journey back to Ticino, unfortunately, some technical problems that arose during the trip forced me to bring back my truck, with another truck. In fact, for reasons still unknown to me, the gearbox had some not indifferent technical problems. The causes and the damages are still unknown to me, this weekend, I will disassemble the gearbox and start to open it in order to check the possible damages suffered, for now, from the inspection covers, I could see that the braking belt of the reverse gear is totally damaged. The other gears, and the mechanics, seem to me still in good condition for now, but I will only be able to confirm this once I open the gearbox.

Wednesday, 10 May 2017
The time has come to take my little gem back to Ticino, in fact, from May 15th, I will have an apartment in Grandcour. The trial time is fake, with success, but with some technical tricks necessary. In fact, talking to a colleague, if I had to go to Morocco to drive along dirt roads, the interior would be disassembled due to the vibrations and stress that the ground transmits to the whole vehicle, including the cottage. So, a top to bottom check is necessary. In addition to some details not previously taken care of, lead me to correct and improve everything. For now, the next outings are, the weekend of the ascent, the 40 hours of Malvaglia and then a day of charity, if it goes well, with the "amis da la palta" in Magadino for telethon.

Thursday, 04 May 2017
I think it's time to share the different elements that I compose my truck, making a short list of what I used to do what. The truck is a Saurer 6DM with a 12l 250hp engine, it is equipped with engine brake and intarder, with a 10-speed electropneumatic gearbox coupled to a torque converter (it has no clutch), permanent 4x4 with center and rear differential lock. The house mounted on the chassis of the truck, is made of fiberglass, with an insulation inside with a total thickness of about 45mm. The floor is about 50/60 mm thick with insulation in the middle. Above the prefabricated floor I then laid a wooden floor glued to 3 layers, so that I could fix the furniture and the various components to the wooden floor. The structure of the bed, also made of wood, is 160x200cm, then I added two 80x200cm nets and a 160x200cm mattress. Above the prefabricated floor I then laid a 3-layer glued wooden floor, so that I could fix the furniture and the various components to the wooden floor. The structure of the bed, also all in wood, is 160x200cm, then I added two 80x200cm nets and a 160x200cm mattress. Under the bed, there are 4 drums for drinking water of 70 liters each connected to each other by gardena systems and each drum has a vent on the top cap, the electric pump allows me to serve the sink and the shower, at the outlet of the pump a T-fitting, allows you to serve at the same time, the webasto a dual top evo 6, 6Kw also mounted under the bed, which provides me with hot water at 40 or 70 degrees more than the hot air heating of the living area with a thermostat. Also under the bed, there are also two 12V batteries in series (24V) with a capacity of 180Ah that provide electricity for the services of the house that with a 100% charge with normal use without TV allows me an autonomy of about 2-3 days without charging. A 24V/230V converter is also mounted under the bed, in fact I chose to mount a 230V fridge, given the reduced consumption of current appliances I think it was a reasonable decision, and I did not want a 12V or 24V fridge because of the exorbitant prices. The kitchen, consists of two 80cm Ikea furniture, with a kitchen top, a sink with tap with mixer tap, is served by the water pump. The cooking plates are gas, with a cylinder directly under the hob. The shower, was a great theme during the design because I didn't know exactly how to do it, then, given the problem of water infiltration from the roof, since I had Davide Fettolini do the aluminium roof that would have been nice to do the shower in the same system, in fact, the whole part of the shower is covered by a stainless steel sheet. In doing so, I'm sure there will never be any water leaks in the shower. The shower area also has a chemical toilet. The roof, as mentioned above, due to a water infiltration I had to redo it but I wanted to be sure that there were no more infiltrations and a temporary solution I did not want, so I chose a metal builder, who rebuilt the roof with a knurled aluminum sheet 3mm thick, the result is excellent, so doing now on the roof you can go up to admire the surroundings without worrying about ruining the silicone or some joints or the roof itself, we then painted the roof white. The space to place the different kitchen utensils, food and clothes, everything is placed in two ikea furniture, put one on top of the other with 4 drawers each, under the refrigerator, another 80cm ikea furniture, allows me to place a camping table for outside and two camping chairs, plus some carbonated mineral water and several other things. different utensils, the crik, etc. also find their place under the refrigerator. The living area has two benches and a table that can be lowered that could become a small bed, under the benches I left an additional space where they find place several other things, bags, clothes, etc.. For the collection of waste water, I have a 70 litre bin, which is enough for about 5 days. After that it has to be emptied. Washing machine, I also have a "portable" washing machine that works like the old vertical drum washing machines, where you already have to insert the hot water for washing and when the washing is finished, through a hose, you can empty the drum. Unfortunately it does not dry or spin clothes. It can always come in handy in case of need. It consumes 135W at 230V.If any of you are interested in a similar project, I am happy to remain available for advice and help in the design phase and especially in the search for the various components with the right parthner, avoiding spending capital on a project, which does not need huge investments to be usable.

Wednesday, 03 May 2017
Today I agreed to move from the truck to an apartment, in fact, the solution to live temporarily in my 11m2 truck, was a temporary solution, being still alone in Payerne for now and hoping that my girlfriend will move to Payerne too, this morning I found a real nice apartment near my place of work. It's a newly renovated apartment that no one has lived in yet and I find it has been arranged to preserve its rustic origins, its identity. What we should do sometimes, define who we want to be, not caring about others and what they think.

Tuesday, 02 May 2017
Coming back to work after the lunch break I went to the office, I did a couple of administrative things and then I took the car back to the place of instruction. During the journey, on the radio on network one, they were talking to tutorials about campers and tents and how to travel, the radio presenter Daniele Oldani, then said to send through whatsapp, the photos of their campers, and so I did, without thinking too much, I chose a photo and sent it. I was contacted by phone from network one, but unfortunately I did not even hear the call, in fact, I was in a place where I had to deliver the phone. But anyway my photo even if not the most beautiful one ended up on today's tutorial page. Tutorial network one

Thursday, 27 April 2017
Today we arrived at the TCS campsite in Gampelen after having been at the Europa park in Rust for two days and having spent two days in Solothurn taking advantage of it to rest. From tomorrow we will resume the established programme, visiting the Neuchatel Archaeology Museum and then visit the underground mills in Le Locle. During my stay in Solothurn, I also got closer to the world of fishing, I hadn't "practised" fishing for several years, so I spent some time in peace on the banks of the Aare river "taking advantage" of the unpleasant weather. A week of vacation in the name of tranquility, but especially without having to set a schedule to follow imperatively, freedom! on the other hand, traveling like this, you can only travel free!

05 March 2017
Having no interest in living in an apartment, paying a disproportionate rent and using it only for cooking, watching TV at night and sleeping, I have decided that for now, that I will use my truck as an apartment. With this decision I have been living with it for a week, with some initial "break-in" problems that I solved quickly and easily, a leaking brida, replaced and let dry that little water that was leaking, understand how long the waste water recovery bin can hold, etc.. The first week passed, with a positive verdict, in fact, apart from the waste water bin a little small for a week, the rest is perfect! The Webasto, a Dual top evo 6, with diesel burner, which is supplied directly from the vehicle tank, provides hot air for heating the living quarters and hot water for the sanitary facilities. For now, I'm already thinking about the improvements that I can make to make it perfect for the use for which I built it, in fact, it would be convenient to have indicators of the drinking water level and exhaust water, plus having control over electricity consumption and battery charge would be optimal, this in all comfort with a single control panel.

14 February 2017
Perhaps, you might have wondered, how to maintain a 12-litre truck with a 250 hp displacement that doesn't know electronics and consumptions are those of the 80s. Well, working, who has the money plant in the cellar? I don't! If you're thinking of buying an off-road vehicle and getting it ready for an off-road trip of a few thousand miles, you must first ask yourself the question of what you want to do and what you're looking for. If you want to travel for a long time, without too much comfort, a 4x4 is more than enough, otherwise, treat yourself to a truck. For the purchase of an off-road vehicle, you have two choices, a new one or a second-hand one, if you go on the new one, you have the security that it has never been mistreated, while if you go on an occasion, you have to trust who sells it to you, otherwise, show it to a mechanic if you have doubts. If you go on the new one, depending on the model, you spend between 40 thousand and 60 thousand Fr, while the occasion remains much more variable. If you are satisfied with a roof tent, and a drawer system where you can organize food and kitchen in the trunk, you should not exceed your "budget" while if you want to buy a pick-up and install a "camper cell" you will have to reckon up and a lot. The Rainforest (roof tent) cost about 1200Fr (when I bought it). While the drawer system, the price depends on the model of the vehicle, otherwise, another possibility, is to build it yourself, so you build it the way you want. The truck, for my truck, my girlfriend and I took a year and a half to finish it (and it's not 100% finished yet) but, inside I have: a bed of 160cm, 280 liters of drinking water, sink and 3 gas plates, a small table for 4 people with two benches, under which I still have some space to store several things, a 230V FUST fridge with freezer, 8 drawers on the height of 160cm a chemical toilet and a shower (large) and all this inside the house mounted on the truck. All this on a budget that is appropriate for such a project but not enough to buy a new 4x4! With this, I bid you farewell and leave the choice in your hands :-)