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DiscoMick
25th December 2018, 12:02 PM
So we bought another camper trailer, an SUV Traveller Deluxe.
It's three years old and we paid $16k, which is about $10k under the new price. The owners, from Bribie Island, had used it for one Victorian trip, so it looks almost new. It had been sitting unused in their driveway for a while.
It's a forward fold, which means there is an internal lounge room, which converts to a second double bed.
It is a genuine off road camper with double shocks and a strong suspension.
Features include 65 litres of twin fridge-freezers and a four burner gas stove. There is a Joolca gas hot water system and a shower tent, fed from the 100 litre tank, plus 2 x 20 litre drums.
The most surprising feature is it has reverse cycle air-con, which needs 230 volts or a generator. Very decadent.
The canvas is good quality with a canvas tropical roof. Internally two arms just push out to set it up, so that is simple, although I had to oil the slides to make them move easily.
There are 2 x 120 ah AGMs which are new.
It's 5.4 metres long, which is more than a metre longer than our Aussie Swag, although as a rear fold it folds out to be longer. So I have to be careful not to cut corners with the extra length of the SUV.
Despite its extra height and length it only weighs about 1400kg, which is important to us.
It has both a touring awning and an unused full annex, which looks rather complicated to erect.
It doesn't have any chargers as the previous owners only used it in caravan parks, so I am pricing 25amp chargers.
I also need to get an Anderson plug running to the rear bumper to charge while driving. Meanwhile I am just using a 5 metre solar lead with Anderson plugs from the second battery for charging.
Another option I want added is a boat rack, which is optional, so I will talk to SUV at Caboolture about that in the New Year.
Had a hiccup this morning when I disconnected the 230 volt running the fridge only to have the fridge stop, even though the 12 volt was plugged in.
When I pulled out the cigarette plug bits of plastic came out, never a good sign. So I found a spare cigarette plug, one with the twist collar which makes it fit right, plugged it in and it still didn't work! Helped by the youngest son who arrived for breakfast, we discovered the circuit breaker had tripped. Why?
Eventually we found the power lead had slipped off the terminal on the back of the socket. Now fixed. Was a worry as we are taking it to Straddie this arvo and certainly
wanted the fridge working.
So, all good now. Here are some pics.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181225/7e3029de3efe4297c53f7fd39bd4071e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181225/084c70abe1c69f06f8a250b614c5ecb3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181225/85f18f1ec1555b98ad1482616635ef1a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181225/db66b5368e58a4a41abbfd90d35bf779.jpg

Pedro_The_Swift
25th December 2018, 12:32 PM
Very nice[thumbsupbig]

any idea on draw bar weight?
on the upside, it'll never sway![smilebigeye]

DiscoMick
25th December 2018, 06:38 PM
About 130 kilos from memory. It is possible to fit a second water tank on the rear behind the spare wheels which reduces the towball weight.
It's pretty heavy right now loaded up with gear for camping on North Stradbroke Is. We are on the ferry right now.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181225/c373db5cdac05359f487ba97b10e39c7.jpg

DiscoMick
25th December 2018, 09:51 PM
Got it safely up Flinders Beach to area 6 at low tide, so all good. Tomorrow we set up camp for a week. Can't wait to unwind after a very stressful year.
Going to knock up a direct Anderson plug connection to the batteries and try out my new Aldi 160 watt solar panels.

Pedro_The_Swift
26th December 2018, 06:39 AM
That Safari roof is a bottler of an idea!![thumbsupbig]

DiscoMick
26th December 2018, 07:51 AM
Yes, it makes a big difference. Must be canvas though - doubt if plastic would last long in a gale.

DiscoMick
29th December 2018, 07:34 AM
The Navigator insisted we put up the full annex yesterday. The previous owners had never used it and I can see why. Just reading the instructions gave me a headache. You also need to be four metres tall. But I got the sons involved - what's the point of having two big strong sons if you can't put them to work occasionally? We got there.
It looks good for a long camp, but the touring awning is much easier for shorter stops.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181228/b176be0f29a5558907b77fc073b8a0fa.jpg

DiscoMick
29th December 2018, 07:42 AM
In our other camper, the old Aussieswag, the AGM battery died yesterday, so we had to go down to Amity Point, buy a new battery, come back and fit it, which took a while as the fridge had to be pulled out. Cleaned up the wiring and sprayed the floor of the fridge box against rust. Still in good shap considering the Aussieswag is 16 years old. Pity they went bust as they madever a quality product.
Having two campers is a bit excessive so there are discussions going one about which child will buy it and for how much. I'll leave that to the wife to negotiate to avoid a family feud.

DiscoMick
29th December 2018, 07:51 AM
Here's the Aussieswag, still in good shape despite its age, being used by the oldest son, the child bride and their Boy's Club. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181228/1923e76f9968e9b82b523cf50a6c28a3.jpg

DiscoMick
29th December 2018, 07:52 AM
Dead battery on the ground in front.

DiscoMick
18th January 2019, 06:47 PM
The backing plate on the SUV buckled - see photo.
So I went to trailer spares looking for an Ark jockey wheel rated at 750kg, but found a Sir instead. The Sir is rated for 800kg, which is overkill, but it fits so more is better.
The obvious difference is the original only had one central bolt in the backing plate, but the Sir has four spread around the plate, which has to be stronger.
Main thing to watch is to measure your drawer bar and make sure the bolts are long enough and wide enough.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190118/f9c2f323cefa2bd6c8d4517ff14020c9.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190118/a7ae6fab0b27f3eb95a63e1cc6b4e741.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190118/1804e6e495a029d89bb42fddb831b11e.jpg

DiscoMick
7th February 2019, 12:56 PM
Here's a little electrical update.
The fridge freezer kept throwing E1 error codes when we were camped at Christmas. E1 means'unstable power supply' according to the manual.
We were suspicious of the original wiring and cigarette plug, so after Christmas I had some electrical work done, including a new power lead with Anderson plug run to the fridge box. The sparky said the wiring to the cigarette plug was too light and he used thicker wire (I think 6 B and S).
I also sent the fridge freezer off to a caravan refrigeration specialist to be tested. The question was if the fridge's power unit was faulty. However, he ran the fridge on a good power supply and found nothing wrong with it, it was within specification.
So, the suspicion was back on the original wiring.
I put the fridge back in place, connected it using the Anderson plugs, and put it on, with the fridge on 3 and the freezer on -8. I also hooked the Projecta 240 volt battery charger which I had previously had fitted to the camper up to the house power supply to keep the batteries charged and waited to see if the E1 code reappeared.
A week later I'm still waiting. So, it appears using heavier wiring and Anderson plugs has cured the problem, and without having to shell out for a new power supply unit for the fridge. So, that's a good result.