The Honey Badger Headlines - The Annual Moan Report

Many a sailor or boat owner will attest to this. Boats spend more time dry-docked than afloat. Our darling Honey Badger never lets us down in that respect either. When one problem is sorted, she springs a leak elsewhere. I think she’s just attention-seeking. She has character. Who wouldn’t be high drama with her pedigree? Someone malevolently said she’s “Butch’s folly.” The old sourpuss.

We’ve had our share of tyre problems: punctures on the Tankwa Karoo’s road of death (for tyres), cracked rims causing slow punctures, and a tyre pressure monitor that read the spare tyre. The list goes on. Our rims were custom-made by a company in Gauteng that will remain unnamed. The person Butch contacted there about the rim cracks has since left and started his own business, J&L Refurbishing.

We’re very happy to report that after Joe Liebenberg undertook to sort out the cracked rims, we’ve had no problems with the wheels for many thousands of kilometres. Oh, except for a slow leak from the valve extension we detected in Upington, which was swiftly sorted. Butch has since recommended Joe Liebenberg to many owners of Isuzu NP300 conversions. As far as we know, Joe is the only local manufacturer of super single rims, as an alternative to the expensive imports from Australia.

We’re coming to terms with tyre pressure and have learnt that our tyres can handle low pressure. At the same time, we navigate sandy or corrugated roads and find that two bar is preferred on sandy roads like the Kgalagadi and West Coast National Park.

The rumbling, rolling, and shaking still have to be sorted, in my opinion. Our suspension leaves much to be desired on corrugated roads. We've installed extra blades and adjusted our tyre pressure, yet the noise is deafening. I read about another couple who had the same problem on a recent trip to KNP. The lady was so unsettled that she flew home. I do not have that luxury. 

Our trip to Natal was smooth and adventurous, reminding us of the thrill of remote exploration and the joy of travelling safely in challenging areas.

The appliances in our vehicle are mainly Dometic products. I would fail in my duty if I didn’t report that we’ve been very disappointed with this range. The stand-up fridge’s magnetic door can’t cope. I would procrastinate as long as possible before opening the “front” door, fearing that something might’ve dislodged and would hit me in the shins as it rolled down the steps. Fortunately, a very practical man glued two strips of industrial VELCRO to the doors while we were at Mana Pools; it’s still holding things together. Besides the Velcro, we’ve wedged various crates and picnic baskets in place, too. After hours in the truck, I don’t have the energy to handle the chaos.

On every trip, the glass shelves have come loose, causing food to collapse on top of itself. When the doors open, you have to take special care to keep the contents from spilling out. On a recent trip, the glass covering the vegetable drawer snapped. One might feel less disheartened if the product had been a cheapie. It’s not.

The plastic slider clips for the job are long gone, and we only have one left instead of at least four. We’ve tried replacing them, but the supplier does not keep stock. Are we the only ones experiencing these problems? It can’t be. 

One burner on each hob has given up the ghost. We were assured it was an installation problem. With a young technician’s flighty fingers wrangling cables, he separated certain pipes. The hob functioned for a while. Not last time I tried using it, though—also a Dometic product.

Despite meticulous care, nuts and bolts still fall out, and dealing with suppliers can be frustrating, so we appreciate the resilience this lifestyle demands.

We accept that our journeys and explorations are not for the faint-hearted, as some of the roads we traverse are poorly maintained (and not always in remote areas); we appreciate that the sacrifices we make in comfort can’t be quantified when we consider the experiences we’ve had and hope to have.

Beneath our bed, we have a large storage locker, ideal for extra groceries, medications, tripods, and other things we don’t need regularly. To reach my ammo boxes, I need to lift the heavy lid beneath our mattress. A year or two ago, when I was a tad stronger, I would rest it on my back and squirrel around inside the locker for what I needed. We had gas struts installed. The first one collapsed and couldn't handle the weight. The second set worked for a while, then failed, bringing the whole caboodle crashing down on my head. That was because one of the two struts had worked loose. That has been rectified.

We need to have our roof rack reinstalled, which means a trip to Ceres. Our bike rack works like a bomb, except the fastenings and ties were complicated. When we returned from Natal, we found my bike's back wheel had become egg-shaped. We had to replace the rim and tyre. We've got a new system for securing our bikes.

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The most important event almost slipped my mind. It must be temporary dissociative amnesia. We had brake problems while in the Kgalagadi. We had been forewarned that our brake linings would need replacing after our trip to the Kalahari. Unfortunately, no one foresaw how much water we would encounter there. Sand and water are abrasive and, like fine sandpaper, can cause untold damage to moving parts. Add corrugations to the mix, and you have a cluster bomb. Butch found himself “pumping” the brakes towards the end of our holiday. Not a good thing. Imagine surviving Covid and then flying off Piekenierskloof? Easter Weekend traffic was looming too. Fortunately, he decided to have them checked asap in Upington. A quick internet search suggested we contact Hi-Q in Upington. They recommended Upington Motor Spares. 

We pulled into Upington, brakes pumping, three days before the Easter long weekend. Long story short, Gary, the technician, soon had our Badger on stands, her wheels off, and started his investigations. Not only were the brake linings kaput, but the bearings on one wheel had, at some point, overheated and needed replacing. The cause could be overweight (our vehicle was 1000 kg overweight before we replaced the “box” by a professional team at AC Motor Homes). Shock! All the brake linings and wheel bearings had to be removed and replaced.

With staff in a frenzy running around Upington looking for spares, we spent two days wandering about and shopping until we heard the parts had to come from Cape Town and would only arrive after Easter. We decided to leave our Honey Badger there and return home. To cut to the chase, Butch sourced some of the parts after a fortnight's wait. After a few phone calls to local engineers, he had the parts within a few hours—the joys of living in a small town.

We hoped to get a few extra chores done while the truck was on blocks, but that didn’t happen. Three weeks after leaving our Honey in Upington, we caught an overnight Intercape bus in Worcester to bring her home. But that’s a whole other story for another blog.

Before we finally left Upington, Butch noticed the back wheels were put on incorrectly; they had to be taken off, turned around, and replaced.  We were speechless.

Thank you, Gary, Martin and Cheri, for doing a sterling job on our truck. Thanks, Cheri, for clearing out the refrigerator, being our point of contact, managing us, calming us down and reassuring us all that we would be well!

On a recent bike trip to Verneukpan, my brother Percy and his wingman Jay posed for a "surreptitious" selfie, with the owner of Upington Motor Spares in the background. They knew all about our girl. News travels.

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I have a finely tuned sense of smell. Any old rat will be sniffed out, though I’m a chronic hay fever sufferer. Occasionally, especially when I re-entered the truck, whether it was closed for a period or in the mornings, my nose would twitch. I'd go into high alert, mistrustful of the faint, musty smell. The reek of a dead rodent, or, to be more polite, a first thing in the morning wet nappy smell. Sulphur. Before saddling Butch with my sniffing, I checked all our baskets and crates; I searched under the table and in every nook and cranny. Nada. But the pong persisted. One morning I got on my hands and knees and did the sniffer-dog test. The smell was coming from the seating area. That’s when I removed the cushions and opened the lid on the suspect. Voila. A pungent smell and heat almost bowled me over. I staggered backwards and called Butch. Our batteries were emitting noxious fumes.

We had to disconnect two deep-cycle batteries. Mercifully, we were plugged in and could function semi-normally for the rest of our holiday. We had four new deep-cycle batteries installed in Upington. We have since learned that batteries have a limited lifespan, roughly as long as the guarantee, and then pack up. In the future, we’ll have to be more vigilant. As my Dad always says, “It’s all part of the sandwich.”

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Thankfully, we live in a post-lockdown era when local travel has become popular, and many off-road caravans are being manufactured with improved designs, functions, and utilities.  Worcester is an industrial town, and numerous engineering businesses are available to help.  Last week, we repaired a water leak at Bushwakka, a local manufacturer of overlanding trailers. They are so highly regarded that they are exporting to Australia.

At roadblocks, weigh points, toll roads, etc., we still have to explain that our truck is a Motorised Caravan before they wave us through without extra tolls and taxes.

Now that I’ve got all this off my chest, I  feel a lot better. They say journaling our emotions is a way to deal with them, and now I’ve done just that. The Honey Badger remains the best decision we’ve made. I can’t wait to go road-tripping again. A few mishaps keep us on our toes, and it’s through these frustrations that we keep the travel bug alive.

There are positives, e.g., we have a Bluetooth speaker that gives us an alternative to the radio. We have uncluttered our drawers, and on each trip we remove unused items. Our bed is taking on our curves.

We love our Honey Badger more than ever, and we are getting used to her quirks. After all, no one is perfect. And if she’s our folly, mission accomplished; we love our silly, eccentric, wildly exciting lifestyle. We chose this life. The issues we face keep us grounded and make for good stories.

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts; it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should. It leaves marks on your memory, your consciousness, your heart, and your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain.

Next time, we’ve got to sort out that squeak in the passenger door, Butch. You’ve guessed it. Butch is the Honey in this equation, and the Badger is…… We'll cross all our bridges as we come to them.

RIM MANUFACTURER