Let's start the conversation! Comment below your own tips of what to look for when buying a caravan that we may have missed. Cheers for watching you bloody legends!
I know this was filmed a year ago, but I really love your honesty, I can attest to the truth of what you said having just purchased an off-road caravan, thank you.
Lithium battery/s are a game changer. Aside from weight saving, additional omph, the primary benefit is recharing. Lithium accepts far more charge than AGM or GEL, so less sunlight time required on you solar to be fully regenerated. Brilliant upgrade. Itech is currently running massive black friday sales, perfect time to act. Lets address you gas fridge. You need to add a circulation fan. No I'm not taking about an external one that assists with heat dissipation (though its handy to have that also) I'm talking about an internal fan, mount it directly above your cooling element, preferably on the ammonia feed in side (identified by icing up point if element). You'll be gobsmacked how efficient that makes your fridge, items on the door shelves will be cold, element no longer ices up, you'll be dialling temp down, believe me, its that effective. 12v 65x65 fan from Jaycar, mount over element. Micro switch, mount internally, activated when opening /closing door to cut fan whilst door open, activate when closed. I also mounted an overide switch to deactivate power whilst in storage. Agree on fresh drinking water tank, I installed 65L, pumped to secondary tap over sink. I just filter water in, dont filter to sink, others may wish to filter between tank and sink tap. 80L grey water tank installed, we drain at dump point when doing toilet cassette. Totally intreaged by people whom have them & dont utilise the feature. Then say to me, why bother as I'm draining it. (Excellent side benefit is, we have previous nights waste water to douse our camp fire, however we usually utilise it to douse unattended camp fires left burning by idiots). Couldn't agree more on combo toilet/shower. Only drawback is, you need to dry floor prior to reusing toilet. We negate that issue with a rubber floor mat, remove, shower, replace. No wet floor. I have since discovered utilising a battery powered blower removes 90% of residual water also. Then place rubber mat down. In regards to water tanks, travel with then full. You'll require water between van parks. I know a lot say empty to save weight, fuel. I'm yet to see any fuel benefit. I'd guarantee if you drained your tanks, and I sneakily refilled them, you as a driver would not detect any difference in towing or fuel use. I leave home with 180L's of shower wash water, 65L's fresh rainwater for drinking. Washing M/C. I so want one, but you need to add more water to supply wash cycle or be hooked to mains, so might as well be utilising caravan park facilities whilst hooked to mains. Yes the additional weight of extra water is stopping me from putting a washing M/C in. My best tip, sulage and water hoses are a pain to deal with if stored rolled up. Go to a plumbing outlet, get yourself some drainage pipe (approx 40mm internal) fix lengths under your van by or thru chassis rails, cap off rear end, access via front end via cap. When you arrive at destination (caravan park) your hoses pull out flat, lay directly flat on ground. Multiply lengths are joined by clip together fitting for water hose, slide together fittings for sulage hose. Youll be the envy if the van park as you slide your hoses away at the conclusion of your stay, no friggin around rolling and storing.
G’day Ian, legend mate thank you so much for sharing such extensive knowledge, tips and tricks and experience over the years. Really hope some people reading get some great info out of it. Thanks again mate and have a great day. 👍
My advice would be this....if you're in the market for a van, go for lightest one you can find. ALOT of people say yeah, yeah yeah, and end up going with their heart anyway. Weight is such a major issue and there's just not much wiggle room for most people, especially the 1000's of dual cabs towing around the country. You'll getting savings in fuel, increased range and more likely to navigate tougher tracks. A 3000kg ATM + 3000kg GVM = 6000 GCM (which is the weight of alot of dual cabs), but the ball weight of roughly 300kgs means your dual cab is now overweight if you don't have a GVM upgrade. My brother in law has a trucking company in country SA and he reckons of all the travellers that have used his weighbridge, NOT one was legal.
Same van as you but have upgraded it to have 400 of lithium, Victron controllers and compressor fridge(hate 3 way fridges). Also reduced gas bottles to 2 x 4kg, added an inverter and extra Anderson plug to run solar blanket/portable panel. Having the inverter and better battery capacity and ability to charge while driving is great. Also a water bladder we have found great for carrying extra water, light weight and doesn’t take up room spare jerry cans would. Maybe get a quality water filter rather than buy water all the time.
That should keep you guys off-grid for quite some time. We don’t blame you swapping to the compressor fridge. A water bladder is definitely something we should have purchased to travel with and something that we are still considering getting as you are right, buying water has been terrible! Thank you so much for your experience and suggestions. All the best on your adventures 👍
Just popped up in my feed and stoked, subscribed 👍 Good to see someone not trying to sell B.S and just giving your advice to try help people out, Great video mate look forward to watching more of you guys 👌
This video was actually super informative and really enjoyable to watch! As people who occasionally consider chucking a caravan on the back of our troopy, it’s given us things to consider and think about we wouldn’t have otherwise so thank you so much! ☺️
Thank you so much for that amazing feedback we’re so glad this might help with the thought of chucking a caravan on the back. If you ever have any other questions please feel free to reach out. 👍
Appreciate that Greg, thank you so much. Absolutely we seem to always want what they have rather than being so grateful for what we have. The best things in life for us are experiences and memories created not the products we purchase.
Nailed it mate. Very reassuring tips there. Batteries, fridges and ground clearance are my big thoughts and that certainly helped. We're an N.Z family heading over next year to start our lap. I Just took the biggest jump of my life and quit my job of 26 years to persue our dream. Looking forward to following your adventures. Cheers!
G’day Blair, mate that sounds amazing! Congratulations to you for actually backing yourself and going after that dream of yours! Hope to hear about all these adventures next year. Wishing you all the best with your planning and getting everything in order for the big change. 👍
Thank you so much for being honest. Cutting through the salesman B.S. is very hard to do with little or no experience. Your insights help rather than confuse.. Cheers...
Hey Marky, thank you so much for watching so glad it was able to help and hopefully make the decision easier for you. If you have any question we are always here for a chat mate and happy to help in anyway we can and share our opinion. 👍
Cheers mate we really do appreciate that. Absolutely, I think certain products and set ups are just getting over hyped when at the end of the day people should just go with what they can afford and just get out there and have the best time! There is so much to see and do around this great country that no matter what you are in you are going to have a great adventure.
Battery and solar can be easily upgraded. The split shower/toilet is pretty essential. Or your toilet is always wet, muddy and you can use it in tandem. Other than that I would agree.
Yeah we are all different for sure, if we end up doing our build we will be going for the combo toilet shower we had it in our last van and really didn’t have an issues. But I do know where you are coming from. Thanks for watching 👍❤️
First up, congrats! Good video. Simple and to the point. My wife & I are currently getting everything (financially) sorted so as to head off. We have, through the process of elimination chosen (though not yet purchased) which van we want. Far different to the hybrid we first thought about. My adds to your list are Trailer ESC and the anderson plug for a solar blanket so you can park the van in some shade. Our van choice is with a separate shower toilet. Just ask your wife if she trusts that at 2:00 in the morning, she's positive you will have dried the toilet off properly? The other thing we set as a rule was tow vehicle to have 3500kg, van to top out at 3000 kg with a 6-700 payload. I come from a Navy / sailing background, so know how to pack minimalistically. I have a preference for "independent suspension," but not looking at off road. My research on Torqueflex makes it viable.
Thank you very much Peter for your feedback. How exciting we really hope you enjoy your travels once you get a van! Before this van we had a 12ft hybrid with a combo shower and toilet and honestly for us it was perfect. Got the job done and got in and got out. Great idea with the van weights and payload I think you’ll be laughing and be able to set off and enjoy any adventure.
we pump water from river using an Ozito pressure pump which only turns on when tap is turned on. This ripper pump has pumped over 40 mt. we use boxed water for drinking. We can stay free camping for weeks at a time. we do have a video we also have a smaller pump to take fresh water from jerry can into van. much better than a juggler or trying to hold it while you tip it in.
Great video. Very true you don’t need everything, I have been sucked in with buy this cause it’s a game changer, you know what it wasn’t and we have been around travelling for four years now. Have a friend who went back to roller rocker suspension because of reliability and it’s a huge weight saver. Manufacturers are really negligent when it comes to weights and if you can have full tanks or not. IMO.
Thank you so much. There is certainly a lot of wizz bang things on the market these days isn’t there. We have definitely learnt the hard way over the years of buying a lot of stuff that we just didn’t need or really wasn’t a quality product. 👍
Good tips combo on-suite, grey tank, keeping some water in your tanks & having a filter, lithium batteries, semi off road is ok & lighter than full off-road I ended up with a junko 14ft all-terrain the one I was after was the crosstrak semi off-road but by the time I added the extras that the all-terrain had as standard they both ended up the same price, I Can’t believe you said the washing machine is great if you’re off-grid where there’s no power 🤔they use a huge amount of water min 30L 🤔 & if U take enough clothes U only need to do a washing every 2 weeks where U can find a caravan park or a laundry, you never want to cook inside because it’s stinks the van out 😎
Thank you so much mate appreciate it. Sounds like a great setup that will get you out exploring. 👍 Sorry for the confusion I did say for off grid but only if you have the water and power to go along otherwise caravan park will be needed for power and water supply.
Well done with your feedback which I hope will enlighten those with less experience. In addition to your comments regarding power systems I would also suggest that people need to take carfeful consideration when selecting the brands associated with the system., batteries, charges, controllers. As an example and my personal experience Projecta is below par, I realise that others may not have had issues but I have had multiple chargers and monitoring devices fail from Projecta which led me back to the premium brands ( Redarc > Projecta > Victron). Making a warranty claim whilst on the road in the middle of nowhere equates to being without power and buying replacement parts whilst the warranty claim is being handled - absolutely not worth the initiatl $ savings. Thanks for your time. Cheers
Thank you so much. Even if this helps just one person in making their decision in buying a van it will 100% be worth it. Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts on the power set up we completely agree and that would have been terrible for you guys to be on the road and having to deal with all that.
Check the flue in the top of the fridge was built properly ours wasn't fridge fluctuated constantly till I had a look. Adding thermo fans can help with air flow and both fixes saved gas
Thanks for the great tips on the Caravan life buddy. My partner and I also have found the same 2 critical things popping up fresh (water) when needed & (battery life) at 4.5 months off grid from Perth to Broome and envy were... in-between in-between.
Thank you! Your points are so right. We have an old 87 coromal pop top that gets dragged to allsorts of places and it's done the job ! With regards to weights we weighed it loaded and unloaded & found we overloaded substantially! Looking at upgrading now to a newer second hand van and valid non sales person advice really helps! Ps your van number plate is obscured 😂
Thank you for watching Philip, hope you may have gotten some good takeaways for your next purchase. Best of luck with it all and hopefully you will be back on the road in no time 👍
So realistic I'm sick of ppl saying just run with empty tanks especially weighing companies it's not a viable solution. Under that condition of travel at some point you will have to tow illegally.
We stopped at Rubyvale years ago and the lady next to us had a portable gas fridge and she told us that from her experience the gas fridge’s don’t work as well in humid conditions. She was in the army and had traveled extensively all over Australia. That’s why we have an Engle fridge and an evacool both compressor style fridges. Totally agree about the lithium batteries, we’re in the have a look stage of buying and it’s one of our must haves. Great video lots of good info. Big thumbs up 😊
Yeah we are pretty keen to test out a 12V caravan fridge, we have used the smaller ones camping and rate them so much better over this gas fridge. All the best with your search for a van that works for you guys. Thank you so much Dave, really appreciate it
You're a bit unit like me and I find the combined bathroom workable. Shower is a little tight but given we can travel in a 17.5ft dual axle van its a compromise I'm happy to live with.
100% agree. We had a 12ft van before this one with the combo shower and managed fine. Definitely think that a combo is a much better use of valuable space!
Interesting video. I agree with some points, disagree with others. Everyone's requirements and desires are different. What suits me may not suit others.
Appreciate that Thommo, we definitely are all different have our own likes and dislikes. Hopefully this helps with some different things for people to think about when purchasing. Cheers mate.
I was surprised about the grey water issue as Ive always believed that in Australia there arent any grey water rules only black water ones. Have I missed something? Cheers Cheryl
Hey Cheryl, you’ll find that most free camps, council run RV rest areas in towns, some caravan parks especially non powered ones and National Parks etc stipulate that you must be fully self contained to stay there. This includes an onboard grey water tank. A lot of them will tell you to move on even if you are using a bucket to catch the grey water. We have seen campers be requested to leave from their site.
@@chasingdreamsau thanks for that. Ive done lots of tent camping in National parks in Vic and there arent any grey water rules that Ive come across so far except use biodegradable products and dont empty into waterways. I will have to be more vigilant apparently. Sadly using tents seems to be an issue in a lot of places now too, luckily National parks still support us. 🙂
We haven't made it as far as VIC yet personally however, we have heard that VIC is meant to be pretty good for free camping. Most other states that we have been in so far grey water catching is a pretty common requirement unfortunately.
I have owned carsvans etc for years and sailed. Small is beautiful or to put it in caravan terms strong and simple. Weight is bad. Our Basestation is a 21 foot model with heavy duty leaf spring suspension and a tare of 2300 kg The chassis and internal wall make the structure very strong. With this Tare we have huge reserves to carry essentials like water food tools and essential parts. When going remote we dont use the shower. Just heat kettle of water and sponge bath. We can last weeks on standard 200 litres. Your dead right regarding water. Australia inland is often dry or bore and water can be bad. All water is filtered before it goes into tanks. And checked. After a disasterous experience in SA we are very careful. Personally I love 3 way fridge. The gas works perfectly and consumption is very low and electric power demands are low. You cannot run aircon off grid without a generator or a solar farm. So we avoid high temp areas and off grid. Tassie is always an option! Lithium can be good but you need high quality installation and controller. Personally I prefer simple lead acid which will run Led lights and phone etc for ever from roof panel. We use gas for cooking which also will last months. I am not a fan of independent suspension. It adds weight complexity and serious alignment issues are common. Heavy leaf combined with 10 ply tyres and careful use of tyre pressures and speed will take you allot of places. We have been to some very remote places. But there is a diifficult trade off. Really popular routes like the Gibb can have truely terrible corrugations. So do you take the van on that bit is my question.
Hey, and thank you so much for watching and adding in your experience. We certainly all travel different so I believe it’s great for people to see others opinions. Oh what a shame with your experience with the water, glad that everything is now okay though. I can’t speak for the Gibb as we haven’t done it but we did do the Oodnadatta track and found it to be great biggest thing for us was as you said finding the right tyre pressures and speed which felt comfortable. I believe that with maintenance and driving appropriately with a good clearance van that it would be able to tackle these kinds of tracks, for sure the off road vans are more capable and better suited.
Portable washing machine, sog vent on toilet , lithium and solar and inverter, 12v fridge better ' but 240v inverter frost free fridge best way.. What's the go with spare tyre block8ng tail lights and number plate ???
Appreciate you sharing your tips and experience. Not too sure, don’t believe it is blocking the lights. Might need to move it over an inch or so for the numberplate maybe but we have never been pulled up or questioned about it at all on our travels.
I particularly took note of the semi-off road vs off road. I have wondered re the effectiveness of the semi with the benefit of being a bit closer to the ground to step in to.
@@nigelmaxwell5751 There are certainly many benefits to having an off road van but for majority of people I believe that a semi off road is going to more than enough for most to get to their destination.
This is excellent. You see so many people going cheap on the electrics, and finding out later. As for 3-way fridges, they have been foisting that garbage on us for over fifty years now looking at you " Aussie caravan builders" Why don't they put a compressor fridge in? Because their cheap agm battery setup would be dead within hours. So not only do you have to pay for an expensive electrical upgrade if you buy your basic Jayco/Coromal/ Franklin/ Lotus--have I missed any? and you also have to chuck the fridge. And they bleat because the Chinese built/ Australian fitted out brands are eating their lunch. Great down to earth video on the basics 👌
Absolutely and we are hoping that with this information people can go away and do a bit more research before making their first big purchase and then within the first few months wanting to buy another one already that will suit their needs better. Really appreciate your input and kind words, have a great day mate.
Hey Bau Maddie and Luna, we’ve been watching you guys and supporting you for a while now and love your content, humor , and inspiration that you both put across your channel, can’t wait to see Tasmania,although all of the other blogs have been so great to watch as well , we’ve just bought a new van and 4wd because you guys have inspired us keep up the great work and we look forward to up and coming adventures we’re excited lol be safe and enjoy your selves cheers kel & lou Brisbane
G’day Kel and Lou, truly thank you so much for the support and enjoying our journey. We do appreciate it so much. Congratulations to you guys for going after what you want, that is amazing! I’m so excited for what is to come and continuing this journey, you guys are absolute bloody legends and we can’t wait to hear about your adventures and maybe even see you out and about on an adventure. 👍🍻
I’ve heard horror stories about people opening their caravans and red dirt being everywhere and having to clean everything from top to bottom. How is this preventable?
We have heard the same thing but honestly we haven’t had the issue. There are now products like the dust reduction systems that is meant to pressurise the van. People tape up any vents or opening to the van to try and stop the dust. Would really be trial and error depending on the van and how it’s made making sure the wheel wells are all sealed up. Sorry I hope this helps.
Not being argumentative but could you please explain how? I’m asking because 1. I and others would like to learn and 2. we go through a gas bottle say every 4 weeks average $32 a swap $384 a year it definitely adds up over time. Where a compressor fridge is no expense after purchase.
If I was looking for a new caravan, I wouldn’t buy one that has been around Australia. We’ve just done 2 1/2 years around Australia and our caravan. Doesn’t look good
Yeah okay, shame you have had that experience unfortunately. Personally our van still looks the same from the day we picked it up. Hope nothing major has gone wrong or anything for you.
@@glenwilkie1331 of course you can. I just meant my caravan as we didn’t miss out on going anywhere around oz so our van wasn’t in the best shape. If you’re looking at buying a second hand caravan look into if the seller has Instagram or UA-cam and just see where it’s been. That’s only my opinion have a good one mate
@@panc4kes347 it is a fair call.. but they do have to make money and keeping the cost at a reasonable price for some customers to buy is key and if they can afford it do the upgrade. Otherwise we would have no caravans under $100k in Australia.
@@chasingdreamsau a caravan should give you freedom and having to stay at a power site every night doesn’t feel like freedom to me. Currently I am converting a Coaster and going all out on the electrical system rather than having LPG. I’ll send you the link once a post it.
Good vid, well done. So easy to swap out your agm batteries for some lithium, you'll gain at least double the power and refuce the weight substantially, we just did it, best investment.
Good to see honest informative info, as you said, there's a lot of unnecessary mods and accessories added to vans that'll never be required, keep it simple and be weight conscious.
Thank you, we definitely want to just be honest and true to ourselves. There are a lot of products out there that really are great but wow there is some unnecessary things. That’s it we are out to explore this great country and have experiences not just buy more stuff to cart around.
Trust me your wife will not be happy going from a full ensuite to a combo as after showers she will have to fully dry it as if not when she needs to go to the toilet her clothes will get wet. I had 1 and last 2 vans have had full ensuites for that reason.
Yeah fair enough, the van we had before this was combo toilet/ shower and something we found really wasn’t that much of an issue. We travelled in it and lived in it fulltime for over a year and found it alright. But certainly respect your opinion and experience, hope you are now loving the full ensuite. ❤️
@chasingdreamsau yes as the saying goes each to there own lol if you didn't mind it then won't be a problem to go back to having one.Yes I love my ensuite wouldn't be with out it as my clothes were always the ones getting wet after everyone had there showers.
We are all different and certainly travel different. We love having a platform for people to share their knowledge and experience to support and help each other get out there and explore this amazing country because at the end of the day that is all that really matters is that we get out there and enjoy what we love. Please feel free to share your opinions in more detail as others may get some benefit from it before making their big purchase. 👍
People have different needs according to their circumstances. We don't live in ours full-time - even though we probably spend five months of the year in it - and we wanted something really light to tow. ua-cam.com/video/uw8FuMoW28U/v-deo.htmlsi=UjeRo0x3D3pwlWoH
They certainly do, we all travel differently and have different experiences. Best of luck looking around it is so hard to choose with heaps of company’s coming to the market now.
Let's start the conversation! Comment below your own tips of what to look for when buying a caravan that we may have missed. Cheers for watching you bloody legends!
I know this was filmed a year ago, but I really love your honesty, I can attest to the truth of what you said having just purchased an off-road caravan, thank you.
Thank you so much for watching and your support ❤️
Lithium battery/s are a game changer. Aside from weight saving, additional omph, the primary benefit is recharing. Lithium accepts far more charge than AGM or GEL, so less sunlight time required on you solar to be fully regenerated. Brilliant upgrade.
Itech is currently running massive black friday sales, perfect time to act.
Lets address you gas fridge.
You need to add a circulation fan. No I'm not taking about an external one that assists with heat dissipation (though its handy to have that also) I'm talking about an internal fan, mount it directly above your cooling element, preferably on the ammonia feed in side (identified by icing up point if element). You'll be gobsmacked how efficient that makes your fridge, items on the door shelves will be cold, element no longer ices up, you'll be dialling temp down, believe me, its that effective.
12v 65x65 fan from Jaycar, mount over element.
Micro switch, mount internally, activated when opening /closing door to cut fan whilst door open, activate when closed.
I also mounted an overide switch to deactivate power whilst in storage.
Agree on fresh drinking water tank, I installed 65L, pumped to secondary tap over sink. I just filter water in, dont filter to sink, others may wish to filter between tank and sink tap.
80L grey water tank installed, we drain at dump point when doing toilet cassette. Totally intreaged by people whom have them & dont utilise the feature. Then say to me, why bother as I'm draining it.
(Excellent side benefit is, we have previous nights waste water to douse our camp fire, however we usually utilise it to douse unattended camp fires left burning by idiots).
Couldn't agree more on combo toilet/shower. Only drawback is, you need to dry floor prior to reusing toilet. We negate that issue with a rubber floor mat, remove, shower, replace. No wet floor. I have since discovered utilising a battery powered blower removes 90% of residual water also. Then place rubber mat down.
In regards to water tanks, travel with then full. You'll require water between van parks. I know a lot say empty to save weight, fuel.
I'm yet to see any fuel benefit.
I'd guarantee if you drained your tanks, and I sneakily refilled them, you as a driver would not detect any difference in towing or fuel use.
I leave home with 180L's of shower wash water, 65L's fresh rainwater for drinking.
Washing M/C. I so want one, but you need to add more water to supply wash cycle or be hooked to mains, so might as well be utilising caravan park facilities whilst hooked to mains. Yes the additional weight of extra water is stopping me from putting a washing M/C in.
My best tip, sulage and water hoses are a pain to deal with if stored rolled up. Go to a plumbing outlet, get yourself some drainage pipe (approx 40mm internal) fix lengths under your van by or thru chassis rails, cap off rear end, access via front end via cap.
When you arrive at destination (caravan park) your hoses pull out flat, lay directly flat on ground. Multiply lengths are joined by clip together fitting for water hose, slide together fittings for sulage hose.
Youll be the envy if the van park as you slide your hoses away at the conclusion of your stay, no friggin around rolling and storing.
G’day Ian, legend mate thank you so much for sharing such extensive knowledge, tips and tricks and experience over the years. Really hope some people reading get some great info out of it. Thanks again mate and have a great day. 👍
My advice would be this....if you're in the market for a van, go for lightest one you can find. ALOT of people say yeah, yeah yeah, and end up going with their heart anyway. Weight is such a major issue and there's just not much wiggle room for most people, especially the 1000's of dual cabs towing around the country. You'll getting savings in fuel, increased range and more likely to navigate tougher tracks. A 3000kg ATM + 3000kg GVM = 6000 GCM (which is the weight of alot of dual cabs), but the ball weight of roughly 300kgs means your dual cab is now overweight if you don't have a GVM upgrade.
My brother in law has a trucking company in country SA and he reckons of all the travellers that have used his weighbridge, NOT one was legal.
Absolutely! Great advice thank you mate. Really appreciate you taking the time to share that. 👍
Same van as you but have upgraded it to have 400 of lithium, Victron controllers and compressor fridge(hate 3 way fridges). Also reduced gas bottles to 2 x 4kg, added an inverter and extra Anderson plug to run solar blanket/portable panel. Having the inverter and better battery capacity and ability to charge while driving is great. Also a water bladder we have found great for carrying extra water, light weight and doesn’t take up room spare jerry cans would. Maybe get a quality water filter rather than buy water all the time.
That should keep you guys off-grid for quite some time. We don’t blame you swapping to the compressor fridge. A water bladder is definitely something we should have purchased to travel with and something that we are still considering getting as you are right, buying water has been terrible! Thank you so much for your experience and suggestions. All the best on your adventures 👍
Just popped up in my feed and stoked, subscribed 👍 Good to see someone not trying to sell B.S and just giving your advice to try help people out, Great video mate look forward to watching more of you guys 👌
Seriously that means the world Luke. Thank you so much for watching. 👍
This video was actually super informative and really enjoyable to watch! As people who occasionally consider chucking a caravan on the back of our troopy, it’s given us things to consider and think about we wouldn’t have otherwise so thank you so much! ☺️
Thank you so much for that amazing feedback we’re so glad this might help with the thought of chucking a caravan on the back. If you ever have any other questions please feel free to reach out. 👍
Best , honest vid I’ve seen. Thank you. Too many spend so much on the biggest and “best”, then struggle to afford fuel etc to get out there.
Appreciate that Greg, thank you so much.
Absolutely we seem to always want what they have rather than being so grateful for what we have. The best things in life for us are experiences and memories created not the products we purchase.
Nailed it mate. Very reassuring tips there. Batteries, fridges and ground clearance are my big thoughts and that certainly helped.
We're an N.Z family heading over next year to start our lap. I Just took the biggest jump of my life and quit my job of 26 years to persue our dream. Looking forward to following your adventures. Cheers!
G’day Blair, mate that sounds amazing! Congratulations to you for actually backing yourself and going after that dream of yours! Hope to hear about all these adventures next year. Wishing you all the best with your planning and getting everything in order for the big change. 👍
Valuable tips. Been vanning for years and you have hit the spot with your 10 tips.
That is great you think the same way, we appreciate you kind words thank you so much.
Thank you so much for being honest. Cutting through the salesman B.S. is very hard to do with little or no experience. Your insights help rather than confuse.. Cheers...
Hey Marky, thank you so much for watching so glad it was able to help and hopefully make the decision easier for you. If you have any question we are always here for a chat mate and happy to help in anyway we can and share our opinion. 👍
Great info. You have given us some things to think about that we hadn't considered. Great job. You are both really easy to listen to.
Thank you so much, hopefully it helps with making the big decision. Best of luck with everything. ❤️👍
Very informative, thank you
Hope it helped, thank you so much for watching.
What a great simple video.
Honestly no10 is so so true.
So many people got to have this, & that but in the end they don’t need it.
Cheers mate we really do appreciate that. Absolutely, I think certain products and set ups are just getting over hyped when at the end of the day people should just go with what they can afford and just get out there and have the best time! There is so much to see and do around this great country that no matter what you are in you are going to have a great adventure.
Battery and solar can be easily upgraded.
The split shower/toilet is pretty essential. Or your toilet is always wet, muddy and you can use it in tandem. Other than that I would agree.
Yeah we are all different for sure, if we end up doing our build we will be going for the combo toilet shower we had it in our last van and really didn’t have an issues. But I do know where you are coming from. Thanks for watching 👍❤️
First up, congrats! Good video. Simple and to the point.
My wife & I are currently getting everything (financially) sorted so as to head off. We have, through the process of elimination chosen (though not yet purchased) which van we want. Far different to the hybrid we first thought about.
My adds to your list are Trailer ESC and the anderson plug for a solar blanket so you can park the van in some shade.
Our van choice is with a separate shower toilet. Just ask your wife if she trusts that at 2:00 in the morning, she's positive you will have dried the toilet off properly? The other thing we set as a rule was tow vehicle to have 3500kg, van to top out at 3000 kg with a 6-700 payload. I come from a Navy / sailing background, so know how to pack minimalistically. I have a preference for "independent suspension," but not looking at off road. My research on Torqueflex makes it viable.
Thank you very much Peter for your feedback. How exciting we really hope you enjoy your travels once you get a van! Before this van we had a 12ft hybrid with a combo shower and toilet and honestly for us it was perfect. Got the job done and got in and got out.
Great idea with the van weights and payload I think you’ll be laughing and be able to set off and enjoy any adventure.
we pump water from river using an Ozito pressure pump which only turns on when tap is turned on. This ripper pump has pumped over 40 mt. we use boxed water for drinking. We can stay free camping for weeks at a time. we do have a video
we also have a smaller pump to take fresh water from jerry can into van. much better than a juggler or trying to hold it while you tip it in.
That is a brilliant idea, something we will need to look into going forward.
Some really great tips and ideas thank you so much for sharing. 👍
I got great advice to buy a weigh scale, essential to not going over weight.
Really good one and a great way for people to be measuring and stay within their weight limits.
Great video. Very true you don’t need everything, I have been sucked in with buy this cause it’s a game changer, you know what it wasn’t and we have been around travelling for four years now. Have a friend who went back to roller rocker suspension because of reliability and it’s a huge weight saver. Manufacturers are really negligent when it comes to weights and if you can have full tanks or not. IMO.
Thank you so much.
There is certainly a lot of wizz bang things on the market these days isn’t there. We have definitely learnt the hard way over the years of buying a lot of stuff that we just didn’t need or really wasn’t a quality product. 👍
Good tips combo on-suite, grey tank, keeping some water in your tanks & having a filter, lithium batteries, semi off road is ok & lighter than full off-road I ended up with a junko 14ft all-terrain the one I was after was the crosstrak semi off-road but by the time I added the extras that the all-terrain had as standard they both ended up the same price, I Can’t believe you said the washing machine is great if you’re off-grid where there’s no power 🤔they use a huge amount of water min 30L 🤔 & if U take enough clothes U only need to do a washing every 2 weeks where U can find a caravan park or a laundry, you never want to cook inside because it’s stinks the van out 😎
Thank you so much mate appreciate it. Sounds like a great setup that will get you out exploring. 👍
Sorry for the confusion I did say for off grid but only if you have the water and power to go along otherwise caravan park will be needed for power and water supply.
Well done with your feedback which I hope will enlighten those with less experience. In addition to your comments regarding power systems I would also suggest that people need to take carfeful consideration when selecting the brands associated with the system., batteries, charges, controllers. As an example and my personal experience Projecta is below par, I realise that others may not have had issues but I have had multiple chargers and monitoring devices fail from Projecta which led me back to the premium brands ( Redarc > Projecta > Victron). Making a warranty claim whilst on the road in the middle of nowhere equates to being without power and buying replacement parts whilst the warranty claim is being handled - absolutely not worth the initiatl $ savings. Thanks for your time. Cheers
Thank you so much. Even if this helps just one person in making their decision in buying a van it will 100% be worth it. Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts on the power set up we completely agree and that would have been terrible for you guys to be on the road and having to deal with all that.
Check the flue in the top of the fridge was built properly ours wasn't fridge fluctuated constantly till I had a look. Adding thermo fans can help with air flow and both fixes saved gas
Alright thank you so much for that I will check it out. Anything is worth a try. Really appreciate you sharing. 👍
Thanks for the great tips on the Caravan life buddy. My partner and I also have found the same 2 critical things popping up fresh (water) when needed & (battery life) at 4.5 months off grid from Perth to Broome and envy were... in-between in-between.
Cheers mate, thank you so much.
WA is definitely a place that you need a lot more isn’t it so long in between stops. But what a great trip. 👍
Thank you! Your points are so right. We have an old 87 coromal pop top that gets dragged to allsorts of places and it's done the job ! With regards to weights we weighed it loaded and unloaded & found we overloaded substantially! Looking at upgrading now to a newer second hand van and valid non sales person advice really helps! Ps your van number plate is obscured 😂
Thank you for watching Philip, hope you may have gotten some good takeaways for your next purchase. Best of luck with it all and hopefully you will be back on the road in no time 👍
@@chasingdreamsau just looking at an older tandem axled jayco that may be the one ! Happy camping
@@philipstubbs2432 sounds perfect mate, all the best. Happy camping. 👍
Awesome video mate. Great realistic input to an industry with so very many options
It can certainly be overwhelming with so many options and different products now on the market. Thank you so much Jay. 👍
So realistic I'm sick of ppl saying just run with empty tanks especially weighing companies it's not a viable solution. Under that condition of travel at some point you will have to tow illegally.
YES. It is so frustrating hearing people get mislead when spending a small fortune on their home away from home! Cheers 👍
Put a fan in the fridge to help with air circulation… will help the fridge work better… especially in places in the north
That is a great idea! Thank you so much for the tip Ray, we will have to have a look into something like that. 👍
We stopped at Rubyvale years ago and the lady next to us had a portable gas fridge and she told us that from her experience the gas fridge’s don’t work as well in humid conditions. She was in the army and had traveled extensively all over Australia. That’s why we have an Engle fridge and an evacool both compressor style fridges. Totally agree about the lithium batteries, we’re in the have a look stage of buying and it’s one of our must haves. Great video lots of good info. Big thumbs up 😊
Yeah we are pretty keen to test out a 12V caravan fridge, we have used the smaller ones camping and rate them so much better over this gas fridge. All the best with your search for a van that works for you guys. Thank you so much Dave, really appreciate it
We are on our 5th van and I can relate to all that you said. Thank you.
That is great, thank you so much.
Hope this van meets your needs more. 👍
Your top 10 is pretty spot on.. great job
Thanks heaps Glenn, appreciate that. 👍
Great vid mate as you said water and battery is the two biggest things
Cheers Jeff, really appreciate it mate.
You're a bit unit like me and I find the combined bathroom workable. Shower is a little tight but given we can travel in a 17.5ft dual axle van its a compromise I'm happy to live with.
100% agree. We had a 12ft van before this one with the combo shower and managed fine. Definitely think that a combo is a much better use of valuable space!
Best video ever! So real, love it!
Thank you so much 😄 We really appreciate it!
Interesting video. I agree with some points, disagree with others. Everyone's requirements and desires are different. What suits me may not suit others.
Appreciate that Thommo, we definitely are all different have our own likes and dislikes. Hopefully this helps with some different things for people to think about when purchasing. Cheers mate.
Water is King my van has a 200 lt general tank and a125 lt drinking water tank plus 2 20lt jerry cans, also have a payload of 900kg
Sounds like a brilliant setup Roy. Would be really good for staying longer in those remote locations. 👍
Great advice. Thank you from Michelle in qld
Thank you Michelle ❤️
Have an amazing day.
Thanks
Hey Ian, thank you so much mate that truely means the world. 👍
I was surprised about the grey water issue as Ive always believed that in Australia there arent any grey water rules only black water ones. Have I missed something? Cheers Cheryl
Hey Cheryl, you’ll find that most free camps, council run RV rest areas in towns, some caravan parks especially non powered ones and National Parks etc stipulate that you must be fully self contained to stay there. This includes an onboard grey water tank. A lot of them will tell you to move on even if you are using a bucket to catch the grey water. We have seen campers be requested to leave from their site.
@@chasingdreamsau thanks for that. Ive done lots of tent camping in National parks in Vic and there arent any grey water rules that Ive come across so far except use biodegradable products and dont empty into waterways. I will have to be more vigilant apparently. Sadly using tents seems to be an issue in a lot of places now too, luckily National parks still support us. 🙂
We haven't made it as far as VIC yet personally however, we have heard that VIC is meant to be pretty good for free camping. Most other states that we have been in so far grey water catching is a pretty common requirement unfortunately.
Great tips weigh bridges everywhere
There sure is mate 👍
I have owned carsvans etc for years and sailed. Small is beautiful or to put it in caravan terms strong and simple. Weight is bad.
Our Basestation is a 21 foot model with heavy duty leaf spring suspension and a tare of 2300 kg The chassis and internal wall make the structure very strong. With this Tare we have huge reserves to carry essentials like water food tools and essential parts. When going remote we dont use the shower. Just heat kettle of water and sponge bath. We can last weeks on standard 200 litres. Your dead right regarding water. Australia inland is often dry or bore and water can be bad. All water is filtered before it goes into tanks. And checked. After a disasterous experience in SA we are very careful. Personally I love 3 way fridge. The gas works perfectly and consumption is very low and electric power demands are low. You cannot run aircon off grid without a generator or a solar farm. So we avoid high temp areas and off grid. Tassie is always an option! Lithium can be good but you need high quality installation and controller. Personally I prefer simple lead acid which will run Led lights and phone etc for ever from roof panel. We use gas for cooking which also will last months.
I am not a fan of independent suspension. It adds weight complexity and serious alignment issues are common. Heavy leaf combined with 10 ply tyres and careful use of tyre pressures and speed will take you allot of places. We have been to some very remote places. But there is a diifficult trade off. Really popular routes like the Gibb can have truely terrible corrugations. So do you take the van on that bit is my question.
Hey, and thank you so much for watching and adding in your experience. We certainly all travel different so I believe it’s great for people to see others opinions. Oh what a shame with your experience with the water, glad that everything is now okay though.
I can’t speak for the Gibb as we haven’t done it but we did do the Oodnadatta track and found it to be great biggest thing for us was as you said finding the right tyre pressures and speed which felt comfortable. I believe that with maintenance and driving appropriately with a good clearance van that it would be able to tackle these kinds of tracks, for sure the off road vans are more capable and better suited.
Portable washing machine, sog vent on toilet , lithium and solar and inverter, 12v fridge better ' but 240v inverter frost free fridge best way..
What's the go with spare tyre block8ng tail lights and number plate ???
Appreciate you sharing your tips and experience. Not too sure, don’t believe it is blocking the lights. Might need to move it over an inch or so for the numberplate maybe but we have never been pulled up or questioned about it at all on our travels.
Great video guys it felt like I was there.😂
😂 love it. So great to meet you guys and thank you so much for watching. 👍
Very good vid. Thanks heaps. See you in the scrub one day perhaps.
Thank you for watching Nigel and glad you enjoyed it.
That would be great to see you one the road one day mate.
I particularly took note of the semi-off road vs off road. I have wondered re the effectiveness of the semi with the benefit of being a bit closer to the ground to step in to.
@@nigelmaxwell5751 There are certainly many benefits to having an off road van but for majority of people I believe that a semi off road is going to more than enough for most to get to their destination.
This is excellent. You see so many people going cheap on the electrics, and finding out later. As for 3-way fridges, they have been foisting that garbage on us for over fifty years now looking at you " Aussie caravan builders" Why don't they put a compressor fridge in? Because their cheap agm battery setup would be dead within hours.
So not only do you have to pay for an expensive electrical upgrade if you buy your basic Jayco/Coromal/ Franklin/ Lotus--have I missed any? and you also have to chuck the fridge. And they bleat because the Chinese built/ Australian fitted out brands are eating their lunch.
Great down to earth video on the basics 👌
Absolutely and we are hoping that with this information people can go away and do a bit more research before making their first big purchase and then within the first few months wanting to buy another one already that will suit their needs better.
Really appreciate your input and kind words, have a great day mate.
great video
Thank you so much Bruce. 👍
Hey Bau Maddie and Luna, we’ve been watching you guys and supporting you for a while now and love your content, humor , and inspiration that you both put across your channel, can’t wait to see Tasmania,although all of the other blogs have been so great to watch as well , we’ve just bought a new van and 4wd because you guys have inspired us keep up the great work and we look forward to up and coming adventures we’re excited lol be safe and enjoy your selves cheers kel & lou Brisbane
G’day Kel and Lou, truly thank you so much for the support and enjoying our journey. We do appreciate it so much.
Congratulations to you guys for going after what you want, that is amazing! I’m so excited for what is to come and continuing this journey, you guys are absolute bloody legends and we can’t wait to hear about your adventures and maybe even see you out and about on an adventure. 👍🍻
How long does your fridge last on gas.
We get about 4 weeks to a gas bottle. That runs the fridge full time, all our cooking and hot water.
Where did ur bin bag on car from ?
You can find them on instagram @pmcanvasproducts
They are a small WA business. We absolutely love it and it is amazing quality 👍
I’ve heard horror stories about people opening their caravans and red dirt being everywhere and having to clean everything from top to bottom. How is this preventable?
We have heard the same thing but honestly we haven’t had the issue. There are now products like the dust reduction systems that is meant to pressurise the van. People tape up any vents or opening to the van to try and stop the dust. Would really be trial and error depending on the van and how it’s made making sure the wheel wells are all sealed up. Sorry I hope this helps.
Gas is the the cheapest and most efficient way to run the fridge.
Not being argumentative but could you please explain how?
I’m asking because 1. I and others would like to learn and 2. we go through a gas bottle say every 4 weeks average $32 a swap $384 a year it definitely adds up over time. Where a compressor fridge is no expense after purchase.
You could change to solar and lithium now. No reason not to unless it’s not in the budget.
Absolutely we could, we just tried to see how it would go over time and do more research before heading down that path.
If I was looking for a new caravan, I wouldn’t buy one that has been around Australia. We’ve just done 2 1/2 years around Australia and our caravan. Doesn’t look good
Yeah okay, shame you have had that experience unfortunately.
Personally our van still looks the same from the day we picked it up. Hope nothing major has gone wrong or anything for you.
Well you must’ve done the Gibb because fuck me we had some fun in that van
No we haven’t done the Gibb yet but can’t wait to get over there and do it. 👍
Can you buy a new caravan that's been around Australia
@@glenwilkie1331 of course you can. I just meant my caravan as we didn’t miss out on going anywhere around oz so our van wasn’t in the best shape. If you’re looking at buying a second hand caravan look into if the seller has Instagram or UA-cam and just see where it’s been. That’s only my opinion have a good one mate
I am always shocked by the electrical systems in caravans they are always so minimal forcing people to go to powered sites
I guess they just try and keep the cost down for people purchasing and would advise them to upgrade.
@@chasingdreamsau just another sales tactic to get more money out of you. Why not just sell a good product
@@panc4kes347 it is a fair call.. but they do have to make money and keeping the cost at a reasonable price for some customers to buy is key and if they can afford it do the upgrade. Otherwise we would have no caravans under $100k in Australia.
@@chasingdreamsau a caravan should give you freedom and having to stay at a power site every night doesn’t feel like freedom to me.
Currently I am converting a Coaster and going all out on the electrical system rather than having LPG. I’ll send you the link once a post it.
That sounds amazing! Look forward to seeing what you do with the bus mate. 👍
What size is your van
20ft
Good vid, well done. So easy to swap out your agm batteries for some lithium, you'll gain at least double the power and refuce the weight substantially, we just did it, best investment.
Appreciate it mate thank you.
That is great glad you are happy with the outcome, something we definitely need to look into for ourselves soon. 👍
Good to see honest informative info, as you said, there's a lot of unnecessary mods and accessories added to vans that'll never be required, keep it simple and be weight conscious.
Thank you, we definitely want to just be honest and true to ourselves. There are a lot of products out there that really are great but wow there is some unnecessary things. That’s it we are out to explore this great country and have experiences not just buy more stuff to cart around.
Trust me your wife will not be happy going from a full ensuite to a combo as after showers she will have to fully dry it as if not when she needs to go to the toilet her clothes will get wet. I had 1 and last 2 vans have had full ensuites for that reason.
Yeah fair enough, the van we had before this was combo toilet/ shower and something we found really wasn’t that much of an issue. We travelled in it and lived in it fulltime for over a year and found it alright. But certainly respect your opinion and experience, hope you are now loving the full ensuite. ❤️
@chasingdreamsau yes as the saying goes each to there own lol if you didn't mind it then won't be a problem to go back to having one.Yes I love my ensuite wouldn't be with out it as my clothes were always the ones getting wet after everyone had there showers.
@@fionawhannell2997 Yes that is so very true.
Yeah see how we go things and mind set always change.
That is so good I’m glad you are now staying dry.
@@chasingdreamsau exactly we are only human after all and change our minds as often as our undies lol. Thanks me to 😀👍
@@fionawhannell2997 😂 don’t we ever, Madi will normally say .. if you still having the same thought tomorrow we will discuss it more then. 😂
I much prefer ensuite, don't agree with a lot of this.
We are all different and certainly travel different. We love having a platform for people to share their knowledge and experience to support and help each other get out there and explore this amazing country because at the end of the day that is all that really matters is that we get out there and enjoy what we love.
Please feel free to share your opinions in more detail as others may get some benefit from it before making their big purchase. 👍
Buy a genny
Personally I would rather not but definitely another option and a lot cheaper layout. 👍
People have different needs according to their circumstances. We don't live in ours full-time - even though we probably spend five months of the year in it - and we wanted something really light to tow. ua-cam.com/video/uw8FuMoW28U/v-deo.htmlsi=UjeRo0x3D3pwlWoH
They certainly do, we all travel differently and have different experiences. Best of luck looking around it is so hard to choose with heaps of company’s coming to the market now.