Gone quiet!

[Keithy P38]

Hey guys n gals,

I wanted to apologise for being absent a fair bit over the last 6 months or so! Things are not good at home (and not to do with the P38!). Sadly my little family has been torn apart, something that I had no say in and as much as I'd like to change, it will not. I've not taken it well, although I've been trying to occupy my days off work by heading camping with my daughter as much as possible - something that has been good for me (and that beautiful girl keeps me going!).

I've been trying to stay off the phone and social media, for which I apologise! I've read a few stories here over the last few months and stuck my nose in where I could! It must be the time of year where P38's are behaving!

What have I been up to lately? Well May clocked over 12 months since I purchased the latest P38, and about 7yrs all up of P38 ownership. The only thing I'd been pondering over was the dual battery system and its lack of sufficiency. Just last week I removed the Redarc 6amp BCDC charger and 90ah AGM battery from the rear (dead battery), and fitted up a Ctek D250S and 130ah AGM battery. First run out bush and I was very impressed! I do like the MPPT solar side of it, so I removed the dodgy regulator from my panels and ran a 10m lead with Anderson plugs directly to the Ctek. Magic! 3 days and the lowest the new battery got down to was 12.6v! And not a solid day of sunlight I might add!

On the topic of P38 fuel consumption, I got my best tank ever too! Long story short, I had the drawers and contents out of the rear of the P38 for a few weeks while I waited for the Ctek and AGM battery to arrive, so weight was the primary factor! I went from 21L/100km on LPG down to 18L/100km with all that weight removed (town figures), and got 14L/100km from the petrol tank as well! Lesson to all who may be chasing lower fuel consumption - weight kills consumption very quickly! If it's easy to remove, take everything you don't need out of the back!

On that note I also found gas for 59.9c/L in Townsville! The only place and it's their normal price, which is 30c/L cheaper than everywhere else! I'm stoked that I stumbled on it!

I hope everyone is well and I hope to be getting back on here a bit more often from now on!

Cheers
Keithy

[mtb_gary]

Keith, really sorry to hear about your family. I was thinking you'd been very quiet recently and thought you may have been affected by some of the Clive Palmer related shut downs. On the other more positive side it's good to hear p38 life is cruising along well. I must say though i am surprised your fuel consumption changed so dramatically around town. How much weight were you carrying? For me I might be selling my p38 later this year. I'm finding i am using it less and less except for towing the boat. I still enjoy the occasional off road adventure but time (or lack of it) mens the car sits in the garage most of its life. My plan is to sel the p38 and the Focus and buy a 2007 - 2010 TDv8. Not sure whetherthe RRS or the Vogue yet. Ifigure it will tow the boat pretty easily plus not be too damaging to the hip pocket at the refueling stops.

[Pierre]

Go well and calmly, Keith. Hold to the things that matter.

Pete

[Keithy P38]

Thanks guys! Appreciate the thoughts!

Yeah I was surprised as well, I didn't think the drawers (full of contents) weighed that much, but apparently so! Each drawer individually weighs a good 15kg, so that's up to 45kg there, plus the drawer framework was a two man lift, so I'd say close to 40kg, and the spares I had in my spares box on top of the drawers, plus the aux battery was 32kg, I guess you could say around 140kg less in the car for that time. It doesn't seem like much in reality, but it was definitely noticeable in daily driving duties.

It seems a natural progression to go up to the Vogue or Sport, both are great vehicles and I'd own one in a heartbeat if I didn't have my P38 so well set up! It's sad that you're getting rid of the P38, but at least you're staying in the family hey ;-) Either will tow a decent boat with no worries!

Cheers
Keithy

[TheTree]

Sorry to hear about your problems, hang in there mate !

I read that it's much harder to add stuff to later Rangies, things like dual batteries etc

Steve

[Rextheute]

Hey Hey Keithy !
Don't stress the little stuff , family is first ,and camping is fun .

I've moved on to a new RR luv , and it's a belter , but I was a little upset as my P38 drove away it was a very good beasty and never let me down .

And as Tree has mentioned, there is not much to add to the later stuff - more time for driving ,less for optioning .

Stay Kool , sometimes it's good to have a rant to your online friends , we'll all nod sagely and offer random ( very random advice ) !

[flathead steve]

Best wish's to ya keithy
I reckon if you can work out a p38 you can fix anything Keep smiling !