21.63.1 mods and features

[Smirke]

Hi @Gadgets 21.63.1 . We are going a box like you at the front to house our engel one side and bbq on the other. Do you see the need to add "feet" under your fridge side to give it support?
Also, I noticed your box is the width of the van. Do you find it interferes with reversing into bays? (Also what depth did you make yours). Sorry for all the questions, but we are starting to draw up what we want before taking it to be made.
By the way, love your mods . especially the entertainment for the kids.

 

[Gadgets 21.63.1]

Hi @Gadgets 21.63.1 . We are going a box like you at the front to house our engel one side and bbq on the other. Do you see the need to add "feet" under your fridge side to give it support?
Also, I noticed your box is the width of the van. Do you find it interferes with reversing into bays? (Also what depth did you make yours). Sorry for all the questions, but we are starting to draw up what we want before taking it to be made.
By the way, love your mods . especially the entertainment for the kids.

Thanks, I designed the box myself, it was on my older van with a standard drawbar. its now on a extended drawbar. The box never even comes close to the car while reversing. i have had some very tight reversing turning corners to make over the years as well. the fridge is mounted on a 160 kg rated fridge slide. the fridge we use is a combo fridge one side freezer other side. had it full of drinks and frozen food and the slide handles it well. I had modified the slide to make it come out further than designed. the size of the box is as follows:

660 mm Deep - from Front to Back
620 mm High - From Bottom to the Top
2300 mm Wide - Including the end doors.

section a: 820mm internal deep, this houses weber, generator, 20 ltr fuel, fashing line, foxtel stand and some hard pipes for waste.

section b: 960mm houses fridge freezer combo. this also has a large fan between the caravan and the box for venting, this turns on via a micro switch when the door is closed. there is a large vent at the other end with a filter for air inlet. then a fan speed controller which enables you to run the fan at low speeds at night if you wish and fast when its connected to the car. this also turns a light on when the door is opened so you can see the fridge at night for mixing drinks!!

posting pictures in a moment for you

 

[Gadgets 21.63.1]

the centre section holds, 2 large gas bottles and changeover switch, all my hoses and power leads. there is room for another 3 x 10 ltr fuel containers if required. the front of the box holds the spare tyre and foxtel dish. the never even comes close to the car, even thou it looks like it would. but i have mounted it centre over the drawbar so it can never hit the car.

 

[Gadgets 21.63.1]

here are some pictures for you, so you can see storage and handle types used.

Please note when mounting the box to the van. the gap between the box and van is 30mm when the jocker wheel only is supporting the van.......not when the front legs on the van are down, as this gap will change. you dont want your van hitting the box while travelling as the drawbar flexes over bumps.

also remember your balance weights, on the last van - i had 2 tyres and foxtel dish on the back to counter weight the front box and equipment. on this van i have placed another roof air con at the very back which does this counter balance for me. so best to weight your ball weight before and after the box and goods are installed then decide how much weight has to be moved to the rear for balance.

 

[Gadgets 21.63.1]

oh, i said 2 x tyres on the rear. 1 caravan tyre and land cruiser tyre, as i have a 238 ltr fuel tank in the 200 series. the tyre can no longer be mounted under the rear of the vechile.

 

[Smirke]

Sorry for another question @Gadgets 21.63.1 . Do you have your fridge plugged in while driving? We hope to get a 12 V plug put in to our boot area, as they put it outside on the van by the door when building the van. With our box, we plan on having the engel sitting permanently on one side, plugged in, and the other side holding the bbq, but also using it as a stand so it is also permanently there, when needed, but can easily be swapped to house the generator if necessary.
We bought a Waeco fridge slide yesterday at the show, as it was better quality and the runners looked a lot more heavy duty. (Bbq is wider, so couldn't use the same slide out for it). Love that middle hatch for the gas bottles. Is there a dividing wall between the 3 'areas'? Had planned on the gas bottles on the front, but you got me thinking...............
(Would have loved to have been able to put a second aircon unit in, but instead are putting the spare on the back as a drop down to counteract the weight)

 

[Gadgets 21.63.1]

what is the model of the van you have? yes the 3 sections are totally seperate. the fridge runs all the time. the car is connected to the van while driving, however most the power comes from the panels on the roof as pictured here.

 

[Smirke]

Ours is the 21-64OB built dec last year. Just can't decide where to put the 12v outlet in the boot so that the cord doesn't get tangled or pulled out when the fridge gets pulled. Or, whether to have a type of extension cord and have the plug in the box.
Was that black bit between your box and van the vent, or a piece of protective rubber?

 

[Gadgets 21.63.1]

rectangle intake vent with filter. the corn on mine is mounted to the top inside corner and never gets tangled in the slide. oh, by the way, our vans are now collectables. they have discontinued it. it was a very short production time van from jayco.

 

[Gadgets 21.63.1]

the air-con in the rear was added after the van was delivered. as jayco would no do it during install.

 

[Smirke]

rectangle intake vent with filter. the corn on mine is mounted to the top inside corner and never gets tangled in the slide. oh, by the way, our vans are now collectables. they have discontinued it. it was a very short production time van from jayco.

I know. Saw the new one at the show on the weekend. On looking you don't notice it's shorter, but when looking at the cupboards up top you certainly do.
Thanks for all that info. Our gas bottles will sit in front of the box, and our centre bit can be for the hoses and shade walls and awning mat.
Shame we can't get it done before we leave on our annual holiday, but box makers said 2 weeks, and we leave next Friday. If we need to, we can always add jerry can holders on the back with the spare and fill them with water.

 

[Shane Norwell]

Afternoon gadget. Love the build mate and have found a few good ideas in you info that I've used myself.

I was just curious how well your external aerial works for Internet? I have a bulbar mounted antenna and cradle for my iphone6 and it offers basically 0 benefits at all, so was looking at changing my current caravan router to a telstra setup similar to yours and either getting a prepay sim or just taking the one out of my phone when we're away.

Thanks for any advise you could offer

Shane