The Camping Thread - Page 34

Tassie f100 · 14-12-2021, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blueoval

Im looking into either an A frame or pop up caravan again.

I need something that is no more than 2.5m in (traveling) height so it fits into my garage. Garage panel door is 2.55m high. My driveway is on an upward slope too so it needs to clear air con, antennas etc on an angle as the van is approaching the garage door before it tapers flat.

Do the Avan A frames leak? Been trying to find out more experiences on them. Expensive for what they are but the storage situation when not i use is important to me. A pop top van is also a possibility but from what I have read they are at least 2.6-2.7m high traveling height which wont work depending on brand.

Not interested in a traditional canvas camper trailer. The Jayco Swan/Hawk I know would work but Im trying to steer clear of as much canvas as possible.

Any advice and help is appreciated.

We had an A line A frame for a couple of years,great little van,but a bit too small for extended travel.One complaint was the sideways bed,bit inconvenient if first in had to be first out.Sold it and bought an Avan 16ft Leah poptop with single beds,makes for a fair bit of space for its size.Travel height is about 2.3 mtrs and about 40cm higher with the top up.Ours has now got the axle under the leaf springs to give a bit more off road clearance,so,in standard setup would only be a little over 2 mtr travel height.

Trevor 57 · 15-12-2021, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

We had an A line A frame for a couple of years,great little van,but a bit too small for extended travel.One complaint was the sideways bed,bit inconvenient if first in had to be first out.Sold it and bought an Avan 16ft Leah poptop with single beds,makes for a fair bit of space for its size.Travel height is about 2.3 mtrs and about 40cm higher with the top up.Ours has now got the axle under the leaf springs to give a bit more off road clearance,so,in standard setup would only be a little over 2 mtr travel height.

The Aline A'Van's are tiny, that is why we went with the Cruiseliner

Honest Gaza · 14-12-2021, 01:32 PM

The Wife has been hassling me for the last 30 Years to buy a Caravan but I have had no inclination to Tow anything....and we've never really owned a Tow Vehicle.

I finally relented, and last week we put the deposit down on a Ford Everest Sport, and a Jayco Penguin Outback Camper Trailer.

I've got a few Months to get over my 'aversion to towing'

blueoval · 14-12-2021, 04:52 PM

Another option I will consider is going a proper caravan and having it stored elsewhere. That way we aren't limited in our range of choice.

Trevor 57 · 14-12-2021, 05:23 PM

we sold ours for a proper (pop-top) off-road van, but I had space to build a lean-to off my shed to store it

we paid extra and got an external shower with a gas/electric hot water service, the hot water service was an 'infinity' type, so we could pump water out of a river (with a filter) and everyone could shower and it never ran out, but it had to be an external shower obviously

we also paid extra and got big windows at the front and rear, the ventilation was great

The Aussie versions are built in Pakenham and you can't fault the workmanship, we dragged ours through bush, skull-dragging it at times and never ever had an issue

We saw one come out of the Bungle Bungles, water running out from inside after river crossings and it was fine, the front was a bit sand-blasted

Go the Cruiseliner, you will love the extra space, we also paid extra for external access to under the seats

I modified mine so that the table would fold down for extra space - we ate outside mostly and I got a cabinet maker mate to build a BIG drawer under the bed (access with a door under the bed) so we didn't have to keep lifting the bed up. We used it as clothes storage for our 3 month trip, it was over a metre long and was just under the size of the access door under the bed

Oh, we got a solar panel as well, just noticed it on the pic below lol

Trevor 57 · 14-12-2021, 05:28 PM

I don't have the pics anymore I used when I sold it, it was over 5 years ago

Trevor 57 · 14-12-2021, 05:31 PM

Goughs Inlet near Shark Bay W.A.

Trevor 57 · 14-12-2021, 05:32 PM

Just before we bought the PK Ranger we had and RTV

**Beastie** · 14-12-2021, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

Just before we bought the PK Ranger we had and RTV

image

That's a nice annex setup and would make the smaller van much more 'liveable'.

Trevor 57 · 15-12-2021, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beastie the Barista

That's a nice annex setup and would make the smaller van much more 'liveable'.

the annex was good, but I reckon we probably only used the full annex about 4 times the whole time we owned the van. It was a P.I.T.A to put the roof on, it had to slide through tracks while the roof was down, then you had to push the roof up - a bit of hard work

Trevor 57 · 14-12-2021, 05:40 PM

One from the trip up the guts to the top end of W.A.

Junkyard-Dog · 14-12-2021, 11:08 PM

Well, I should be fishing/camping with dad right now but he decided to badly injure his leg just before we left.

Stayed home to take care of the old man.

blueoval · 15-12-2021, 12:38 PM

Im tossing up whether to get the A frame camper (Cruiseliner) for a short time and keep it at home, or just buy a proper Van and keep it stored at a friends place or at a storage facility. Downside with the latter is additional cost per month/year. I just dont have the room where I live or the garage door height is the restriction.

I know the A frame will suit me for a while but the goal eventually is to get a proper van.

BENT_8 · 15-12-2021, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blueoval

Im tossing up whether to get the A frame camper (Cruiseliner) for a short time and keep it at home, or just buy a proper Van and keep it stored at a friends place or at a storage facility. Downside with the latter is additional cost per month/year. I just dont have the room where I live or the garage door height is the restriction.

I know the A frame will suit me for a while but the goal eventually is to get a proper van.

Have you considered a Coromal lowline, they have a lower body and higher pop top to make storage easier.
Only real downside is the door opening is shorter than some of the others.

I followed one today and it sat no higher than the bog stock Prado towing it.

Something like this..
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/broa...ght/1285973929

Graham is a friend of mine and a top bloke.

Trevor 57 · 15-12-2021, 01:09 PM

The only downsides of the A'Van is that if you spend a lot of time inside the van it could be claustrophobic and no internal ensuite (which is why we sold ours, plus the east west bed means someone has to climb over the other person to get out)

We seriously loved ours, the next van we bought is intended to be our 'forever van'

The re-sale of them is quite good

blueoval · 15-12-2021, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

The only downsides of the A'Van is that if you spend a lot of time inside the van it could be claustrophobic and no internal ensuite (which is why we sold ours, plus the east west bed means someone has to climb over the other person to get out)

We seriously loved ours, the next van we bought is intended to be our 'forever van'

The re-sale of them is quite good

Really appreciate your personal comments and experiences on this Trevor.

We both dont suffer claustrobia but we do appreciate plenty of space. An internal ensuite is a better prospect over an external one for the mrs.

But the lightweight aspect of the A frame and easy storage is a huge bonus.

I need to make some decisions.

Trevor 57 · 15-12-2021, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blueoval

Really appreciate your personal comments and experiences on this Trevor.

We both dont suffer claustrobia but we do appreciate plenty of space. An internal ensuite is a better prospect over an external one for the mrs.

But the lightweight aspect of the A frame and easy storage is a huge bonus.

I need to make some decisions.

there is another mob who make a van similar to AVan, I can't remember their name, they make cars too - Australian

Bolwell - https://www.bolwellrv.com.au/air/

Tassie f100 · 29-12-2021, 09:50 PM

Question for caravan owners.I have bought a project 5 th wheeler which among other upgrades needs a new fridge around 150-180 litre.Quandry is do I stick with 3 way system or should I go compressor type.I have had 2 other vans both with 3 ways and have been very happy with their performance and running cost (virtually always running on lpg)but it seems the go now is for compressor type.my concern is how much battery power would I need for a week or so bush camping

BENT_8 · 29-12-2021, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Question for caravan owners.I have bought a project 5 th wheeler which among other upgrades needs a new fridge around 150-180 litre.Quandry is do I stick with 3 way system or should I go compressor type.I have had 2 other vans both with 3 ways and have been very happy with their performance and running cost (virtually always running on lpg)but it seems the go now is for compressor type.my concern is how much battery power would I need for a week or so bush camping

Bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' scenario, you need to consider ambient temps, fridge consumption figures, battery replenishment method(solar capacity etc.) and weather conditions.
Personally I'd stick with 3way simply because if you run in to trouble with your 12v you still have LPG option.

roKWiz · 30-12-2021, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' scenario, you need to consider ambient temps, fridge consumption figures, battery replenishment method(solar capacity etc.) and weather conditions.
Personally I'd stick with 3way simply because if you run in to trouble with your 12v you still have LPG option.

Decided to only use solar for 80ltr built in F un *&%# Engel frig in the motorhome but this is rather inefficent.
Over winter bought a new large gas frig for my offgrid place. ("Warrior" from Coffs Harbour way) perfect 5th wheel alternative.
Can not believe how efficent it is at cooling in the heat, I'm running it on only 2 9kg bottles with switch over. Each bottle gives me 5 weeks of use, ts a very well made unit with a alternate shore power lead and 4 AA's running the inside LED lights.

In this heat its currently running on the setting of 1 (goes to 5) freezes ice cream etc.

Trevor 57 · 01-01-2022, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Question for caravan owners.I have bought a project 5 th wheeler which among other upgrades needs a new fridge around 150-180 litre.Quandry is do I stick with 3 way system or should I go compressor type.I have had 2 other vans both with 3 ways and have been very happy with their performance and running cost (virtually always running on lpg)but it seems the go now is for compressor type.my concern is how much battery power would I need for a week or so bush camping

3 way all the way, you have the best of all worlds - mind you the 12v option is for travel only, it will run a battery flat in about 2 to 3 hours. Gas when free-camping and 240v in caravan parks

MDS69 · 02-01-2022, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Question for caravan owners.I have bought a project 5 th wheeler which among other upgrades needs a new fridge around 150-180 litre.Quandry is do I stick with 3 way system or should I go compressor type.I have had 2 other vans both with 3 ways and have been very happy with their performance and running cost (virtually always running on lpg)but it seems the go now is for compressor type.my concern is how much battery power would I need for a week or so bush camping

We have a 150L Dometic tropical rated 3way in our 2014 Expanda. I hate the POS thing. I can never get the temperature right when on gas. Always freezing things that shouldn’t be frozen. We will be upgrading vans in the next 3-5 years and will seriously consider a compressor fridge with the appropriate amount of solar and battery which will probably be lithium.

You are looking at around 70-80Ah of battery a day for a 180L 2 way fridge excluding what solar puts back in. As a general rule of thumb you want double the solar compared to battery capacity so 200W of solar for 100Ah of battery. Keep in mind an AGM battery should only be run down to 50% SOC. Lithium is far greater so you would nearly want double AGM capacity compared to lithium. There is a massive weight saving when using lithium compared to AGM but lithium is very pricey compared to AGM.
Having said all of the above we only have a 100Ah battery and 120W of solar and have never run out of power (LED lights, water pump, exhaust fan, 12V TV, charging devices) but with a 3 way fridge. When ordering our next van I will increase solar and battery compared to what we have now.

Please note this is easy telling you what you should be doing when it isn’t our money.

Tassie f100 · 02-01-2022, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDS69

We have a 150L Dometic tropical rated 3way in our 2014 Expanda. I hate the POS thing. I can never get the temperature right when on gas. Always freezing things that shouldn’t be frozen. We will be upgrading vans in the next 3-5 years and will seriously consider a compressor fridge with the appropriate amount of solar and battery which will probably be lithium.

You are looking at around 70-80Ah of battery a day for a 180L 2 way fridge excluding what solar puts back in. As a general rule of thumb you want double the solar compared to battery capacity so 200W of solar for 100Ah of battery. Keep in mind an AGM battery should only be run down to 50% SOC. Lithium is far greater so you would nearly want double AGM capacity compared to lithium. There is a massive weight saving when using lithium compared to AGM but lithium is very pricey compared to AGM.
Having said all of the above we only have a 100Ah battery and 120W of solar and have never run out of power (LED lights, water pump, exhaust fan, 12V TV, charging devices) but with a 3 way fridge. When ordering our next van I will increase solar and battery compared to what we have now.

Please note this is easy telling you what you should be doing when it isn’t our money.

No don’t appogise I have taken all comments on board and have gone with a 190 litre 12v Bushman.We are running 4 97ah agm batteries and 4 roof mounted solar panel on the new project.7.25 mt 5 th wheeler.Spoke to a mate in Darwin and he tells me the gas fridges just can’t cut it in hot weather over an extended time

Trevor 57 · 03-01-2022, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Spoke to a mate in Darwin and he tells me the gas fridges just can’t cut it in hot weather over an extended time

never had a problem, but anyway . . . . . . . good luck

slowsnake · 03-01-2022, 09:35 AM

This may help, maybe!

https://rvbooks.com.au/make-caravan-...rk-as-claimed/

roKWiz · 09-02-2022, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Spoke to a mate in Darwin and he tells me the gas fridges just can’t cut it in hot weather over an extended time

Geeze the amount of times I hear people complaining about their terrible gas frig. Living offgrid for 25 something years on boats, motorhomes and now a cabin. We are running our large upright gas frig all year round.
Victorian inland gets bl**dy hot, works beautifully, I have icecream in the freezer at -19 with the rest of the frig running at 4 deg. As it should be.

Biggest problem I have seen with caravan/motorhome installations is there is not enough inlet and more critically, lack of outlet ducting. I've seen crap installations with the entry door opening over the main inlet and outlets on well known builders, others have some vent grille's and thats it, no heat ducting to take the hot air out with the usual cause being frig running to hot.
Others I've seen have big vents just cut into the side of the wall, thinking this will pull the heat out....nah it won't.
Some motorhome/5th wheel installs are totally crap, just airspaces running up through a pantry or cupboard to a vent that usually sited to low.
With gas the ducting has to literally start directly above the heat source and run in a direct line (or slightly curved) to the vent. This along with the lower vent (better in the floor not wall) will allow it to draw properly. (bit like a well built chimney.)
Its worth the extra time to get the ducting right first time than just shove it in with some vents and complain how it won't chill your beer for happy hour.

Tonz · 03-01-2022, 09:39 AM

fair crack of the whip, Ive never seen so many caravans, camper trailers, on the road before.
managing a camp conference centre part time position, if I take less than 10 ph calls day, 'yeah hi, need room for a caravan.....need room for 4 tents '
our website clearly states this but do these toe rags listen.... had a guts full last night one guy wanted room for 2 tents, I asked if he was from Adelaide, his reply was yes so I suggested he return home and take the blood y virus with him.

Not good for business I know, we have the place fully booked and its already fully booked for Christmas - January '23 & '24

BENT_8 · 03-01-2022, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tonz

fair crack of the whip, Ive never seen so many caravans, camper trailers, on the road before.
managing a camp conference centre part time position, if I take less than 10 ph calls day, 'yeah hi, need room for a caravan.....need room for 4 tents '
our website clearly states this but do these toe rags listen.... had a guts full last night one guy wanted room for 2 tents, I asked if he was from Adelaide, his reply was yes so I suggested he return home and take the blood y virus with him.

Not good for business I know, we have the place fully booked and its already fully booked for Christmas - January '23 & '24

You dont like the benefits of tourist dollars for local business Tonz?

Tonz · 03-01-2022, 02:38 PM

Mate when we have family groups 40 - 90 and they book 12 months in advance, I meet them on site, chat like old friends do, seriously why do I need the hassle of daily campers with their van that think they are the only ones on the road and very surprised we dont have vacancies.
Dont get me started on freedom campers,

BENT_8 · 03-01-2022, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tonz

Mate when we have family groups 40 - 90 and they book 12 months in advance, I meet them on site, chat like old friends do, seriously why do I need the hassle of daily campers with their van that think they are the only ones on the road and very surprised we dont have vacancies.
Dont get me started on freedom campers,

Fair enough, you didnt say you had no vacancies in the previous post, just that you didnt want city dwellers with their virus.
If you should catch covid though, and you will im sure, us city dwellers have a nice near new hospital for you to recover in should you need it.
You're welcome..