Mat's BX Blog

[Defender110]

There's nothing worse than going out getting blathered then waking up the following morning with a mighty hangover at the peak of Helvellyn! (well Scarfell)

[Vanny]

You missed most of the Stag Doo, fool!

[MULLEY]

I've done the Yorkshire 3 peaks (that's actually do-able if you're on your own & driving) & the national 3 peaks that you mention, a tad over 23hrs, v-tiring & i didn't do any of the driving, a good challenge though

[mat_fenwick]

Very pissed off. I got a great Christmas present this year from Lana (OK, some may not think it's that great) in the form of a decent Karcher pressure washer. Very useful, until it was stolen from our shed.

[artic-steel]

Thieving fuckers,like you i live in a pretty remote area but have had a bike, car & chainsaw stolen, bastards!!

[mds141]

Very pissed off. I got a great Christmas present this year from Lana (OK, some may not think it's that great) in the form of a decent Karcher pressure washer. Very useful, until it was stolen from our shed.

Bastards!! Really sorry to hear that Mat. What did the coppers do. Just give you a crime number I expect. Any ideas as to might have nicked it? Someone with local knowledge perhaps.

[Dollywobbler]

That is bad news.

[mat_fenwick]

As expected, the Police said they didn't have much hope of catching them, it was more just in case they'd recovered anything matching the description, or if they do in the future at least they have my details. I doubt it's an opportunist, as you'd have to know our house was there to go up to it. It must have been done in daylight, as if at night we (or the dog!) would hear a car on the track and torches would be a dead giveaway. If I knew they were coming back I'd take time off work, and watch the shed from the woodland with my axe at the ready... I wouldn't be so pissed off if it hadn't been a present. Still, Lana has said she'll go halves on a new one, which cheered me up.

And at least it's raining less, only rained twice this week! Took advantage of the weather to go on another walk on Sunday.



Quite windy and a long loop - even the dog laid down and refused to go any further at one point! In 1943 a B17 bomber crashed into the hillside 50 feet from the summit, and you can still see parts of the wreckage today.

I also fired up the silver BX for the first time since March - it started perfectly! Need to replace the ball joints, front discs & pads, handbrake cable, heater tap and tyres all round.

[mat_fenwick]

People who know me well will know that as well as being into cars and outdoorsy stuff, I'm also interested in torches (even if I can occasionally be a little careless and misplace them... ) I was thinking about the planned trip to Scotland next year, and how dark it can get where there aren't any streetlights so obviously a good torch is essential.
Those that came to France this May might remember me playing with a modified Maglite, which was fun but more is always better. So I have an idea to make something that has a bit of a wow factor, with roughly 8-10 times more output. Should be a giggle...

[Wooscary]

Torches are amazing! Do tell more.

[mat_fenwick]

Will elaborate more on torch plans later...

One of the coolant hoses on the van was looking a bit soft due to an old oil leak (now cured) so I thought I'd better replace it before the holiday. It turned out that a BX TD heater matrix hose was a reasonable fit, and I'd already got a spare elbow so total cost was zero! I dread to think what the hose price from VW would have been, as it's a one piece moulding incorporating all the hoses on that side of the engine.



The rest of the pipe was in good condition, so a temporary repair will do for now until I plumb in a water heater.

[mds141]

People who know me well will know that as well as being into cars and outdoorsy stuff, I'm also interested in torches (even if I can occasionally be a little careless and misplace them... ) I was thinking about the planned trip to Scotland next year, and how dark it can get where there aren't any streetlights so obviously a good torch is essential.
Those that came to France this May might remember me playing with a modified Maglite, which was fun but more is always better. So I have an idea to make something that has a bit of a wow factor, with roughly 8-10 times more output. Should be a giggle...

You've constructed your own light sabre? Perhaps the emperor has underestimated your knowledge of the force!

[mat_fenwick]

Torches are amazing! Do tell more.

OK, well seeing as you asked, I'll go and get my anorak on The Maglite in question is a 6D which puts out roundabout 200 lumens from the standard bulb. I put in a 35w 6v bulb from a projector after modifying the bulbholder to take a bi-pin bulb, and powered it at around 7.2v giving ~50w and a calculated 1200 lumens. I had to make a soft start circuit to ramp up the voltage gradually otherwise it would just blow straight away (many bulbs will tolerate a small overvoltage but this was already being pushed quite hard at its 6v rating).
I've got another couple of bright torches, one around 1500 lumens and the other 2000, and it's the latter I plan to modify. It's actually strictly not a torch, as it plugs into the cigarette lighter but that works to my advantage given the planned current draw. I've found a 275w 24v bulb which I can power from a separate power supply, which should give about 10,000 lumens. By comparison a car headlight is around 1000 to 1500 lumens...

I clearly haven't grown up at all, and hope I never do.

[mds141]

I'm 42 Mat and I've not grown up yet.

[Wooscary]

Sounds brilliant!

I'm always on the look out for decent torches.

Maglites were the go to for a long time, but it seemed like they didn't move with the times in terms of LEDs tech
until recently?

I got a small torch from these guys a while ago which has been pretty good as a small general one.
http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;