The Darwin dealers quick appraisal of the situation was that ‘they had only actually dealt with one previous camper style van' – and that had been a Jayco, so our confidence wasn’t raised a lot. After they had been in touch with the manufacturers they decided it was unlikely that they would be able to fix it and we were left waiting of contact from the manufacturers.
My happiness further deteriorated when I opened the boot up to remove the jockey wheel and the hinges all cracked when I went to close it again!! When this is doubled with the fact that the fridge seems to have stopped working (on gas/battery at least – unsure about power as we haven’t tried that since we left Cairns) which resulted in a significant amount of food also being turfed. Given we were heading out for two+ weeks away this included a significant amount of meat!!
The call from the manufacturers came Friday morning and while I was happy with the manner of the call it immediately became apparent that all they were looking to do was deflect responsibility for the failure. From photos and discussions with Darwin they were able to advise that it wasn’t actually the springs – the whole pulley and cable assembly had torn out of the floor. Most of the conversation seemed to revolve around them saying that the only way this could have occurred through me trying to put off the van while the roof clips were still in place. Luckily for me I had invoked a fairly pedantic routine regarding setup to ensure this not happening so I could confidently advise that this had never happened!! It would be pretty obvious if you went to put it up with clips on anyway – I would think that anybody that didn’t notice the extra effort I would expect needed to tear this assembly out is unlikely to have the mental acuity to put the thing up in the first place!
Things then moved to advising that if it wasn’t the clips it must be the roof rack which is on top of the van, especially given the extra weight we have stored on it. I was also told that having these racks voided all warranty provisions anyway, which impressed me no end given that we were talked into them by the dealer and they were installed as part of the van being built.
In the end the only option I had was to head back to Coromal Caravans Cannington, who we had purchased from. Luckily for us there first comment now that the problems had actually been identified was to say that irrespective of the blame game, they obviously just needed to find a way to get us on the road again given that we are currently stranded in Darwin.
After they did some further investigations we were once again confronted by the issue that the Darwin dealer didn’t have the capacity to actually undertake the repairs, however late Friday afternoon they tracked down someone in town who may be able to undertake the repairs, however we now need to wait until Monday morning to enable us to drop the van off with them to see whether they actually can.
In the mean time of course we have completely lost all the momentum of the trip, Liz and Harry look like they would prefer to just go home and plan to do this part of Australia ion the future, while Max and I would still like to finish the trip but I don’t know that I will ever trust the van again even if is repaired. An option I am therefore thinking of canvassing with Cannington is to see if we can simply come to an arrangement where they purchase the van back from us at an amount that allows for the 8 months we have owned it, but takes into account the additional costs we have incurred over the past week or so through it not being available to us, as well as the fact that we bought it with the intention of keeping it for the long-term rather than selling it again on completing the trip. This would allow us to then put Liz and Harry on a plane home (probably with a night or two somewhere very flash on arriving back in Perth to give them a positive finish to the journey) while I would look at spending a little money on re-outfitting the Pathfinder to allow Max and I to spend 4 or so weeks tooling back home without a van. This shouldn’t require too much more than a rooftop awning and a couple of swags as we should be able to make do with bits and pieces we already have with us for all other needs.
I guess we will find out tomorrow morning whether this meets Cannington's needs…
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