The Shop

Why, one might ask is the engine apart? Well the answer is simple: there is an oil leak and it is coming from a funny little box that holds the oil filter. This box passes radiator fluid through it to cool the engine oil and it’s known to leak after tens of thousands of miles. And indeed the little silver box below is leaking oil. 

What’s annoying to an anal compulsive like me is that I knew about this penchant for leaks so I had installed the solution: an aluminum oil cooler to replace the plastic part from the factory. And wouldn’t you know it? Here we are 55,000 miles later and the aluminum aftermarket oil cooler is leaking, very slightly but very definitely. Grrr.  

Were we in the States I’d first try to have a mechanic replace all the rubber gaskets to see if that worked but here we are and a whole new cooler is shipped complete for $180 which is under the free import threshold of $200 into Colombia. Avoiding customs helps avoid shipping delays so we should have the part from Amazon with free shipping in ten days or so.

The plan is to get the oil leak repaired, to get new rubber dust cover parts on our new brakes and to be ready for the road in a couple of weeks. Then we’ll take a tour of some interesting sites between here and Medellin and then return for a check up. If all is well we will proceed to Ecuador in a couple of months. But how is all this possible I hear you ask, when you only get 90 days to visit Colombia? Bureaucracy, grass hopper, is the answer with lots of waiting in lines. 

While we were in Cali we extended our 90 day immigration permit for another 90 by hitting an immigration helper who did the paperwork for us as we couldn’t, even with our Spanish, figure out the electronic forms. Then we went to the customs office when we had our immigration extension and Customs, during the course of two days(!), gave us a vehicle extension after checking our vehicle identification number. Oh the paperwork!

The bureaucrats were all very kind but the forms are relentless. You think the US is bureaucratic? This country assumes you are going to cheat so you have to prove your innocence and good intentions going in and it’s absolutely exhausting. Plus they have to spell your name correctly. Officially my name is Michael Charles Beattie. In Latin America that reads as Michael - first name; Charles -last name; Beattie- mother’s last name. No no no! My last name (apellido) is Beattie! Get that wrong on an official document and there will be hell to pay so you have to double check everything. The potential for nightmares is always hovering and bureaucracy is far worse a problem than roadside gunmen. 

Then we stopped by the Jeep dealer to get some engine oil. 5-20w oil is hard to find in some countries but with a Jeep engine I go to Jeep dealers when I need to. We decided to order the engine parts we need from the US as they will be cheaper even if they were available in Cali (unlikely) but the oil is good to have.

And so we had to tear ourselves away from the swimming pool and the heat and humidity of Cali, a city we have come to know rather better than we had planned to, and climb back up into the mountains.  We stopped for gas and to have lunch off the PanAmerican Highway and the gas station attendants (gas is mostly full service around here) were fascinated to see an RV. We give a great many tours to curious Colombians. Van life is not at all normal around here but they all mention freedom when we tell them we are retired and this is our only home. 

Aside from the oil leak and finishing up the brakes we had a carpentry modification we had been thinking about for a while and here we found a carpenter at the mechanic’s shop. Hmm…

When we had Custom Coach build our van we also had a complicated mechanism installed to allow the bed to become two couches.

Well, after we moved aboard full time we never used the couch set up and in fact we left the table in our storage unit in Miami. It is time to accept that the bed is a full time installation and all the carefully constructed mechanism to convert it to a couch had to go.

First we had Jo-Jo (François) build a bed four inches higher to increase storage but that just did not work for me, and Rusty was put off jumping up onto a higher platform so we had the new bed fixed at our original height, damn the extra storage. However with none of the supports for the converting bed the space underneath still seems much larger and is decidedly easier to use with no beaches taking up space. 

A much cleaner storage area than the old:

Jo-Jo is also fixing a couple of pieces of cabinetry that we wanted to modify, a drawer that lost its ability to roll easily and a door that needed a better hinge so once again our home gets some slight changes to make it more comfortable. These are the kinds of jobs we nomads find hard to do in the States where overworked artisans need months of lead time to give an appointment. 

I hear Layne plotting a trip to a chocolate plantation while we wait for our packages. There may be an interesting road to drive, hmm…

Promaster Van Tour

Piendamó, Cauca, Colombia

I have long since said that living in a van on the road allows us to recharge our batteries, to reset our traveler’s clock and to refresh ourselves by living at home surrounded by the familiar, using our things and temporarily at least closing off the outside world, the alien culture through which we have chosen to move. I am I think a van dweller by nature, not a truck camper, or an expedition truck driver or an off road fanatic in a four wheel drive. I like the comfort of our Promaster. 

GANNET2 is a 2020 Promaster 3500Ext bought and built for us by Custom Coach Creations in Deland, North Florida. Layne designed the interior with Bob the owner of Custom Coach and his staff in late 2019 and the total cost came to $92,000 including taxes and registration split pretty evenly between build and the cost of the van.

Bob the owner a former RV traveler himself:

On first acquaintance a European traveler seeing our van sees something familiar: a Fiat Ducato, the most popular work van in the world. And indeed the Promaster body is that of a Fiat Ducato and its French derivatives built by Citroen, Peugeot and Renault. Unlike the European diesel vans we have a gasoline engine, a six cylinder Pentastar long sold in Chrysler minivans and Jeeps. 

After we had our brake parts replaced in Panama we found ourselves driving on Fiat bearings and bushings and Renault brake parts as much of the chassis is interchangeable. Rusty’s bed in daytime camping mode, at night we put it on the floor. 

At the back of the van we carry insulated magnetic window covers which we insert on hot or cold days to increase insulation and privacy.

Behind the window covers we have a filler which we use to fill our 30 gallon water tank with purified water which we buy as we go and siphon into the tank. We have a filler system for a hose as well but we only use that where the water system is safe to drink.

After my motorcycle accident in 2018 the doctors said I needed a CPAP after they watched me sleep during my three months in the hospital. I asked Custom Coach to put a 110 volt plug above my pillow and there it rides. I find it indispensable to a good nights sleep (or a nap) enough that we carry a spare in case this five year old machine should die. 

Layne likes to display artwork from

places we visit. This is the toilet wall. 

I chose a porta potty for our toilet as they are cheap and simple and I have no problem handling my own crap obviously. Composting toilets are popular nowadays but in Latin America it’s a lot easier to dispose of liquid than a bag full of non decomposed dry turds. 

To make it easy to empty our five gallon tank we have three rules. 1) don’t fill it up as it gets heavy. 2) we use a separate basket for toilet paper to prevent clogs. 3) we use no chemicals only bicarbonate of soda in the toilet. We can go a week between emptying if we use it all the time and I am prepared to carry a forty pound tank to empty. I cannot imagine traveling without a toilet but some (younger) people do quite happily. 

We have no propane in the van and like the toilet this was planned so we could travel abroad without relying on North American camping infrastructure. In South America every country uses different tanks and filler systems. Layne’s kitchen has a twin burner induction stove, and a microwave and an air fryer as well as a collapsing silicon kettle. We have 600 amps of lithium batteries under our bed to power all this as well as our air conditioning. 

The stove had a tendency to overheat, a problem solved in Panama by Sergio the electrician who built some ventilation for us. He removed the cutting board to allow air to circulate under the stove which solved that issue: 

Our Berkey one gallon filter. We put all our drinking water through the Berkey whether it comes from a purified jug not. Berkey is in a legal dispute that has suspended production of their filters but we brought spares so hopefully the legalities will be done by the time we need more. The Berkey works; we have tested it. 

Inline water filters common in the US aren’t available here so we always sought out accessories that don’t need constant frequent replacement. We might switch to an easier to use inline filter when we are back in the US but for now this is good for us. 

Layne wanted a bed that converts to a couch but we never do convert it so this week we will simplify our under bed storage by replacing it with a fixed bed frame courtesy of an RV carpenter we came across here in Colombia. It’s a shame as Custom Coach struggled to create the conversion in the first place but it will be better for us now. 

Another problem Sergio solved for us in Panama was the occasional inverter overheating issue. We have a 3,000 watt inverter that turns twelve volt electricity into 110 volt household electricity. By opening up the compartment to more airflow the inverter no longer overheats on hot days. Success! Behind the grille you can see our up/down transformer, a heavy black box. South of Ecuador shorepower goes from US style 110 volts to European style 220 volts. The thirty pound black box will convert 220 to 110 so we will be able to charge our batteries in the southern countries of this continent.   So many things to think of! 

One food I prefer not to live without is Yorkshire Gold teabags. We left the US with 800 of them. I still have about half that and the rule is if you come to visit you must bring one box of 160. We tried to get some shipped but Amazon won’t ship tea to Colombia. I have plenty for now but outside of Belize, a former British colony, proper black tea is available in minute boxes at high prices. Ten Twinings tea bags would last me two days. Sigh. 

The magic folding kettle which fills one giant Tervis tumbler with boiling water over one Yorkshire Gold teabag.  

For simplicity I wanted no water heater in the van so we have a twelve volt pump and cold water only. 

The faucet doubles as an outdoor shower. We also have a solar shower which will heat water if left in the sun.  We use that mostly in the US when wild camping. In Latin America we rarely wild camp as there isn’t much public land and the custom of sleeping in your vehicle is not yet common in the countries we have traveled. We have heard Chile and Argentina may well be different so we look forward to that.  Campgrounds fortunately aren’t expensive here and some have hot showers. 

GANNET2 is wired throughout for 110 volts from the inverter so you can plug electronics and things just like you do at home. The inverter is always on which uses electricity but it is very convenient and makes the van feel like a proper home not a camper. 

There were two things I knew we couldn’t skimp on when Layne was designing the interior of our home. We always need more water and more electrical capacity and I told Bob to max out as much of each as he could.we have thirty gallons of fresh water in one tank under the bed.  We have no black tank obviously and we got rid of the gray (sink water) tank after the big plastic box hanging under the van tried to make a break for freedom after it hit a rock. Rusty loves the extra room under the van after we removed the 17 gallon gray water tank.

We’ll replace it when we get back to the US where we can empty it easily. In the tropics the thing smelled after a while anyway and we don’t obviously throw a lot of water we pay for down the sink. We wash up using vinegar mostly to save water. 

This is the box that monitors our inverter and our shorepower charging. Our batteries are fully charged at 13.3 volts more or less and discharged at 11.5. After three years I can tell when we need to worry about low batteries. A simple fuel gauge would be better but this is what we got. 

We have 400 watts of solar panels on the roof and they help to keep the batteries charged but our electrical consumption is such that they can’t keep up with all our needs. At altitude you would be amazed how much more power they put out where the sun is strong, the air is cool and the atmosphere is thinner. Solar is a nice trickle charge at sea level but that’s all for us. What really charges our battery bank is shorepower when we have it or our two alternators under the hood. To run everything off photovoltaic cells would need a vast array to keep the batteries charged. Not to mention full sunshine every day. 

Our living room. Finally I get a recliner in my life. The black bags above the seats are our going to washroom wash bags that we take to campground showers or into hotel rooms or friends homes. 

Layne’s table at camp…

And my desk when my seat is turned round. I do almost all the driving and Layne does the cooking. Make of that what you will but we like it like that. 

My camera bag with my Panasonic gear. 

The 110 volt Starlink modem for the best Internet access ever (below).We bought our Starlink in Mexico and we have operated it all over North and Central America for $78 a month, half the US fee. When we arrived in Colombia we switched our address and now pay $60 a month on the Colombian plan. 

One of the great pleasures of being at home when you travel is home cooking. Layne loves to shop and cook and discover new vegetables along the way. 

In Panama Sergio also created a shoe locker for us out of some wasted space. This was designed as a footstool for Layne sitting at her table but she never used it preferring a more convenient kitchen still we carry. So Sergio opened up the space for us very successfully. 

Oh and our fridge is a 110 volt model recommended by our builder as very long lasting and reliable. It uses more volts through the inverter but we have to like it very much. 

From another van dweller Layne got the idea to use the 110 volt microwave to store kitchenware but we use the oven frequently. The convection function we never use as it takes a huge amount of electricity and heats up the van intolerably. We are not, as you may have noticed, winter campers. 

I am pleased to say we haven’t had to use the winch in a long time, since Guatemala to extricate ourselves from a mess of our own making. The skid plate under the engine is invaluable on such a low slung van. 

Our new heavy duty all terrain tires are helpful not just for long complex dirt roads but in daily life, struggling up a dirt drive or coping with unexpected heavy ruts. That is one expensive change we are glad to have committed to, but on our front wheel drive van we only have them on the front tires. In the US mixing types front and back freaks people out. In South America no one cares and where we travel on mucked up roads the arrangement makes perfect sense to us. 

In camp we store our winter clothes bag (“The Andean Sausage”) on the dash, under way of lives on the bed. When it gets cold we open it up and get dressed in the heavy clothes inside.  

And that is GANNET2 in traveling mode in case you were wondering. 

Hostal Villabosco Cali, Colombia: 

Our only home.