Thread: preparing for the big lap

My son's children are 3,6 & 8. He used half of the third row as the older two fight. He put an Engel fridge in the back. The 40L lighter model that opens sideways. I have a fridge slide from a previous 4WD but didn't want to drill holes so I just used the tie downs.

Originally Posted by Genevieve

we want to carry the fridge so we have extra room to stock up and are able o go out on day trips without van and still keep everything cold. also to store extra food prep. Draws i suppose i though just to keep the back organized, maybe sore tools, fishing gear etc.. i really hate chaos so was hoping to be as organized as i can lol (probably will fail ).

my kids will be 3, 7 and 8. so 2 car seats and eldest in middle. maybe having rear free could be an option but not sure if i can do it. i find the 2nd row in the D3 really spacious and i hope to keep the distances we drive each day to a minimum. On some days it will probably be unaviodable but if world war 3 breaks out in the back we will just stop lol

If you could get the 7 year old out of a car seat and just in a normal seat, maybe with a booster cushion, it would may more space for the 3.
As for drawers, if you fit a single height drawer system it would get a lot of stuff out of sight, but still leave lots of space. If it's aluminum, like the ORS drawer in my Defender, it may not be that heavy.
We have a small 30 litre Evakool on the left which we use either as a fridge or freezer depending on our need. Ours is powered by dual batteries with an 80 watt solar panel on the roof rack.
An arrangement like that may work for you.
Here's our Defender. Despite the fridge, it's surprisingly roomy. I once got 12 bags of goat poo (the ultimate test) in there!


BTW, to simplify planning with clothes I suggest you pack a week's normal clothes for each person and wash weekly and reuse them. Then pack a separate bag for things you may only need occasionally, such as jumpers and raincoats.

Originally Posted by trout1105

This is a Discovery we are talking about and the view from the middle seat if Much better than the view from the middle seat of the vast majority of other 4WD wagons
Anyway the kids can take turns in the middle seat, Remember Most kids will sleep for a large part of the trip as well

If the other two kids are in child seats then there won't be much of a view to the sides because child seats are bulky things these days, often with large side wings. And it sounds like they won't be swapping positions, although I'd suggest that maybe the youngest's seat could go in the middle and the 8 year old could have a window? In our case, since booster seats are higher than the standard seat cushion, our youngest could see over her siblings' heads when her child seat was in the middle position.

Re fridges, I've never owned one. We have always got by with eskies and dry food, but if you're going to be in the middle of nowhere maybe you will need one. But mightn't the extra one fit in the caravan?

Most of the set-ups I see with drawers, fridges and awnings are where they're using just the car in remote areas and not towing a caravan - if you have the luxury of a caravan maybe the other stuff won't be necessary?

Great thread. We’re heading off this year with a D3, Jayco Outback 22.68-1, 3 kids and 2 dogs. Got some great pointers from this thread on vehicle prep. Thanks all.

With the Jayco Outback it probably has an AES 2 door fridge which means it automatically selects the power. If the voltage from the vehicle drops too low (below 11V) it will drop out and search for power. You can hear it clicking. Take the vent off the bottom and check the voltage from the vehicle (I just connected it to a spare Battery). We had 14.3 V going in but it was dropping to 10.6. The vehicle wiring and various connections including the Jayco 12 pin were contributing to the drop. Check the voltage or you will find the fridge doesn't work on 12V.

I have a D2 and have done a couple of round Aussie trips towing a Jayco 21.5. All up I was pretty well maxed out on my GVM.

When I purchased my D2 the mockers told me I should have purchased a Toyota ect. Never mind I would have had to spend an additional $30,000 to get the equivalent! Even if the Toyota was better (which I doubt) it still left a lot of change in my pocket to spend on potential repairs.

My experience is look after your vehicle as best you can and then enjoy! You can't stop things from breaking down. All vehicles are prone having issues.

In my case nothing of significance. I just made sure I serviced the vehicle and attended to any potential issue.

One suggestion from me would be to get a heavy duty cooler for the Transmission and additional temperature gauges for the radiator and transmission.

Have fun on your trip.

Hi Genevieve, sounds like a great trip! We have the same vehicle, i.e. a 2005 HSE, but luckily have not had to replace the engine and transmission. We did a similar preparation in 2015, although it was a short trip up the Oodnadatta and Strzelecki tracks.

We bought the bluetooth version of the IIDTool for the trip so that we could read and clear error codes and override suspension faults and off-road speed restrictions. you can override suspension faults as long as the compressor is working. I would get the compressor checked out as we are on our third one (we have done 170k kms). The IIDTool also enables you to update certain ECUs, handy if you have to have one replaced by someone other than an official dealer, but also handy to do things like update the compressor program to reduce the wear and tear an increase it's life. This can be compressor dependent.

We camped so did not have anything to tow and there were only two us only. Even so, to avoid GVM issues we removed the third row of seats and took out two of the next row as well. We fitted a cargo barrier, a set of drawers (not light!), a fridge slide and a fridge. We also carried stuff in the back, eg gas cylinders, portable compressor et al.

Also on the car were:- bullbar, dual battery system, spare wheel carrier, schnorkel, UHF radio, tyre pressure monitor, roof rack. We carried a tyre carcass as well a our spare wheel. We also had a number of 5ltr plastic diesel containers.

Luckily we had no problems other than almost getting bogged outside Dalhousie Springs campsite.

Happy to give you our original UHF radio as we bought a more sophisticated one for the trip. A radio is handy on the road to communicate with other travellers and emergencies.

in looking recently at camper trailers, I came across two that have plastic tubs, so are very much lighter than steel trailers, and they had roof top top tents as well, a kitchen and other goodies. This might be an option, although how many you could fit in the tent is another matter and if you are stuck somewhere where it is raining, it is unlikely ti be as good as a caravan. Happy to talk on the phone if you had any questions.

Originally Posted by Genevieve

we want to carry the fridge so we have extra room to stock up and are able o go out on day trips without van and still keep everything cold. also to store extra food prep. l

We used to have a big Waeco frig/freezer - full of 'day stuff'. Took up a lot of space in the D4 - replaced it with a YETI Hopper from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...abs_brd_tag_dp

This collapsible bag is enough to keep everything at frig temp all day - works a treat, and save a heap of space / power / angst.