I thought seeing as I have found so much information and ideas on this forum, I should post our van and what we have done since picking it up in February this year.
After a week long camping trip in the rain in January we decided to move on from the tent and look at a camper trailer. After almost buying a Swan, this 14.44-4 caught our eye on the other side of the display area. It was a November 15 build and for not much more than the Swan was going to cost it was a no brainer.
Here is a pic on the day we did the deal.
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Because it was floor stock we didn't get to choose what was in it. It came with the antenna and bike rack. It also had two gas bottles which im not sure if that was standard or not?
One item I though it needed was a 12v pump so I didnt have to use the plunger. Jayco quoted over $500 to fit so I just ordered a Shurflow 4009 for just over $100 and some John Guest fittings and this was my first mod.
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As part of the deal they gave us a cover and I stole this idea off another post on this forum. Clark rubber corners for the solar panel to stop the cover catching on the corners. In fact just about everything we have added has been from this forum so nothing new I guess.
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Next stop was a tv bracket. While DSE were going out of business they has a nice bracket at about half price. I mounted it to the side wall under the AC unit. I needed to add a strip of 19mm tas oak to the bed side of the wall to add some strength. The color match of the Tassy oak was very close to the original finish. Not a great pic but you can see the wall is double thick in the background. I leave the telly on the bracket all the time and it's fine. TV is a 19" unit with inbuilt DVD from Kogan.
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We also ordered a memory foam bed topper from Kogan when we bought the TV and its great!
We had our first trip away around 2 weeks after picking the van up. We headed to Hawks nest just for a weekend to see how everthing worked. Realised we needed more power for phone etc and didnt like using bench space so fitted two 12v usb outlets from Baintech. One was supposed to be a double but I was sent two singles. The singles are rated at higher amps so can charge ipads from it so I just kept the two singles. Also wired in a LPG detector at the same time.
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The switch to the right is to isolate the water pump when not in use. I ran all the 12v stuff through a box from jaycar so everything is fused seperate. Looks neater in person. I have a water pump, LPG detec, two 12v USB's and the last two are used for the diesel heater.
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Next trip was to Big 4 Kiama, top spot and our site was overlooking the beach. We had a great time but on one night we had some rain and I realised the water was getting onto the matteress where it was touching the canvas/vinyl. No leaks just transferred through. : (
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With another trip planned for the following week up at Nelson Bay I called Holiday annexes and ordered a bed end cover. Very happy with how it turned out. I also ordered a side shade for the annex from ebay and it fitted perfect.
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As we have a 2 week trip planned in July and 3 nights at the snow in August (plus Tassie in a year or 2) I twisted the better halfs arm to get a diesel heater. Was happy with the price from Heatso.com (had another post re this) and fitted it up ready for winter.
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With the controller mounted back up in our bed we can change it during the night without having to get up. Over the weekend we went to a local park (40 mins away) just for two nights mainly to test the heater. We ran it both nights and set the temp at around 19-20 and it was perfect. Ran for about 10 hours each evening night and other then a bit of noise when you first start it up you really would know its there.
Also added a clothes line which folds up under the bike rack and it worked really well.
In this pic you can see our Joolca hotwater system which was one of the first additions and to use it we had an extra gas fitting put out the back of the van. The jerry can to the left is overkill for a diesel heater but I opted for this size so when we go on a longer trip I will fill it and have some emergency fuel for the tug. Another small mod you can see in this pic is under the van I ran 2x 90mm pipes with screw caps and I keep 4 lengths of waste hose (2 in each) with screw joiners so I can connect then as I need to depending on how long I need the hose to be.
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On the way home on Sunday. Our forth trip since February, even though a few have been short trips it has been great to get away and test everything ready for some bigger trips planned in the future.
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Back home and tucked away for a few weeks before our next adventure which will be 4 stops over two weeks to QLD and back.
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Nothing groundbreaking but just thought I would share our mods to date.
