I've Got 99 Problems...

And the van is one. In fact it's more than one. It's pretty much my only problem(s) at the moment.

Half a wing mirror anyone? Last seen going into orbit at around 7.30 in the morning?

Since coming back to work since Christmas it's broke down 4 times, with different problems. The gears, the alternator and the power.

The trouble is I'm not the only one with these problems. There are four of us at work with transits and we've all been going through the same things. What happens to one seems to happen to the others.

When some idiot knocked my wing mirror off on Thursday I joked it would happen to the others. Friday came and the one lad pulled up in his transit not smiling, he was also minus the glass from his drivers side mirror. If one of us crashes I'm staying at home!

 The only advantage has been that everything has been relatively easy to fix but it still costs time, money and a lot of hassle.

The old transit advert used to say transits were the backbone of Britain, if this were true I think we'd be paraplegic. Can't say I'm not a little disappointed with it's performance so far.

Real Men Drive Transits

I had a bit of an accident with my little Transit Connect the other day, involving another vehicle. No one was hurt and the van is being repaired but the speed in which insurance companies work prompted me to buy another van to save being without one for too long.

I've needed a bigger van for quite some time now. The Connect I've got/had is all racked out (by myself) so it holds all my tools neatly but it's difficult to carry materials to jobs as well, there's only so much you can carry on a roof rack and if its raining it makes it worse.

I decided I might as well bite the bullet and go for a big 'un and get a full size transit! All white and at the moment with no sign writing so I turn heads as I'm sure people think I'm after their scrap metal!

 

New transit filling the drive

I plan to get it sign written with my company name and to rack out the back to hold all my tools and keep them organised - any ideas on the racking would be appreciated I carry quite a bit of stuff!

I'm loving the van already, it's nippy and sitting up high means you see a lot more (it's also got roof bars ready fitted saving me a job).

A Place for Everything

And Everything in its Place.

That was one of the first things I was taught when I started to learn my trade. Andy (the guy that took me under his wing) said this to me as I used to run back and forth to the van to get bits and pieces. Everything had to go back in the same place, even down to the bit of rope he used for the roof rack had to be looped up a certain way. I can still remember now where everything used to go in his Escort van, 10 years later. We used to fit so much stuff in that little Escort and as the years went on it got more and more as I got tools of my own.

I have to admit that this has stood me in good stead and its how I treat my van and tools now, everything has its place, this makes it faster when I want something and it means I know when things are missing. I do get stick on site for being so fussy, and not lending tools very freely (Lend nothing, borrow nothing being a moral of mine).

The trouble is little things annoy me, like my grinder living in a cardboard box. I've been using the grinder on site a lot lately and its cardboard box (which it's lived in happily in for 6 years) has fallen apart.

To make sure I can get the maximum lifespan out of this tool it needs some protection during transport (I hate to see power tools chucked loose in the back of a van) so I spent a few hours today knocking up a ply box to keep the grinder and a selection of discs in, all from off cuts (even the piano hinge was from a cupboard door I took off a few weeks ago). Not a pretty box but it will serve its purpose and it will have it's "place" in the van.