The Misery of Milady all started on the boat from Antwerp to Walvis Bay, or was it in the port of Walvis Bay, nobody knows or wants to tell.
On Friday, July 29th, 2016 Milady Landy has arrived at the port of Walvis Bay, as ro-ro cargo on the American Highway. There she was stored in the Botswana Dryport.
What has happened since we do not know, we were awaiting the papers (Carnet de Passages) I had sent with DHL. Finally the papers were received by Sharaf on Friday, August 5th and we can pick up the car in the course of the morning.
Unfortunately, on arrival it appears that quite a few things have disappeared out of the car, lights, cables, spare glasses, etc. in the cubby box in the front and also other things, like my extended Draper socket set from the boot, first aid box thrown upside down, fire extinguisher emptied. In short, all very annoying. What is also annoying that everyone seems to be blaming each other. But yeah, it’s just stuff and we are insured …
The ride goes fine until we have the first rough roads. After our drive to Sossusvlei Sonja finds that the car is tilted and I see that the left rear leaf spring misses the center bolt. After an hour drive I see the spring blades move, the roads are quite rough. We decide to camp early in Solitaire.
At the campsite I spread some mats and jack to get the wheel off the car. As stated above, the blades of the leaf spring turn out to be well shifted. I take the spring and beat the blades back into place with a hammer. When everything is back in place I walk to the garage to find a suitable bolt. Which was found by the helpful mechanic in his bucket with bolts. When everything I reassemble Milady and she is like new …
A further peril that occurred in recent days was a little hiccup when switching from the rear to the front fuel tank, I suspect, either air/vapor in the fuel line, or some dirt at the bottom of the rear tank. Anyway, after some sputtering we could continue our journey and there was nothing to worry about. (Update) It turned out to be a loose contact in the three-way valve, thus switching the front tank is not as desired. After disassembling the switch and wiring all seems to work again.