The rest of the safari headed off for Cairns expecting to be able to get in to the showground early so we decided to return to the Boulders for a couple of nights to soak up some more of the beauty and peace of the place.
I spent all of Monday under the truck starting some modifications to the wiring, mainly the installation of additional controls and alarms on the steps in an attempt to avoid a repetition of the nasty incident at Mission Beach.
I had to do a fair bit of tidying up of the modifications made by Tynan's when they fitted the reversing alarm before I could get to my own mods done. One of the mods was to connect "the yellow wire" from the steps controller to an ignition switched 12 volt supply. This ensures that the steps are retracted every time the ignition is switched on. In the event the mod didn't work because, I suspect, of a fault in the controller. I'll have to come back to this later
I also set out to fit two audible alarms. Firstly, a "steps not up" alarm which sounds whenever the steps are out and the ignition is switched on (a belt and braces for the "yellow wire") and, secondly, a "steps not down" alarm which sounds whenever the door is opened and the steps are in. This is to overcome a safety problem caused by the "yellow wire" mod which could allow someone to exit the door expecting the steps to be extended when they are not and fall headlong to the ground. This sounds farfetched but one of our acquaitances did just that and spent three weeks in a coma with a head injury not to long ago so I have cause to be a bit paranoid about it.
I got both the alarm sounders and the mercury switch sensors fitted but the daylight went away before I could finish the installation.