Starcraft And so it begins...........

[Billnjim]

The wife and I have been thinking about upgrading our flamingo ob since viewing the Starcraft 17.58.3-ob at the caravan show in Perth earlier this year & today I thought I'd pop into caravanland and get a price for one along with the price list for the options that we think would be handy or nice to have. I'm not real sure what happened and I can now understand why the wife doesn't like me "just going for look" by myself but we have ordered the above mentioned pop top & it'll be ready in late February.
I've been lurking on this site for a fair while now and have ordered the following options:
Extended draw bar
Jockey in the centre
16 inch wheels
Reversing camera
Big fridge
Rooftop aircon
Extra battery
Extra annex lights
Solar upgrade
Extra cooling fan for fridge
ESC
Bike rack
External shower
In my haste/excitement I forgot a lot of the other options I thought are good ideas but will be heading back up to caravanland tomorrow with the wife to finalise our extras/options list & select fabrics etc.
So now my questions will begin -
Fold down table - one or two?
How many extra power points?
Leather interior - is it worth the extra $$?
As you can imagine I'll be up tonight rereading all the posts to help finalise my list as I want everything completed at pick up with the exception of the annex as we will use the place that did our annex for the flamingo (price seemed a lot better than what jayco could do).
So excited..........

 

[dagree]

Congrats @Billnjim
Plenty of reading on here to keep you up a few nights Also beware as there are plenty on here to help spend your $'s even after pick up!!

 

[Wanda]

Welcome to the fold @Billnjim

 

[Axl]

The wife and I have been thinking about upgrading our flamingo ob since viewing the Starcraft 17.58.3-ob at the caravan show in Perth earlier this year & today I thought I'd pop into caravanland and get a price for one along with the price list for the options that we think would be handy or nice to have. I'm not real sure what happened and I can now understand why the wife doesn't like me "just going for look" by myself but we have ordered the above mentioned pop top & it'll be ready in late February.
I've been lurking on this site for a fair while now and have ordered the following options:
Extended draw bar
Jockey in the centre
16 inch wheels
Reversing camera
Big fridge
Rooftop aircon
Extra battery
Extra annex lights
Solar upgrade
Extra cooling fan for fridge
ESC
Bike rack
External shower
In my haste/excitement I forgot a lot of the other options I thought are good ideas but will be heading back up to caravanland tomorrow with the wife to finalise our extras/options list & select fabrics etc.
So now my questions will begin -
Fold down table - one or two?
How many extra power points?
Leather interior - is it worth the extra $$?
As you can imagine I'll be up tonight rereading all the posts to help finalise my list as I want everything completed at pick up with the exception of the annex as we will use the place that did our annex for the flamingo (price seemed a lot better than what jayco could do).
So excited..........

So now my questions will begin -
Fold down table - one or two? I reckon one would do although one for the TV and one for the nibbles/beer/wine/whatever etc would be nice.
How many extra power points? I would have a good think about it this if I were buying a new van. Tablets, phones, cameras, hand held games (if you have young kids we don't) these all need to be charged and usually at the same time, I would certainly put a couple more in over what is standard and DONT forget a couple more 12V outlets as well for when/if you are free camping.
Leather interior - is it worth the extra $$? No

Just my opinion and welcome to the site @Billnjim.....

 

[Dobbie]

Agree with the non leather.

Power points? Reckon at least 6 with the option of charging all the 12v stuff we seem to need these days.

If they'll do two external tables I think it's worth it. They wouldn't do it for us but we were keen.

Extended draw bar?

Gas bayonet?

Sounds like fun times ahead.

 

[Billnjim]

Thanks for the reply guys.............
We are a family of three but usually end up with one of the daughters friends with us so I'll get as many additional power points (240 & 12volt) as I can internally and then externally in the annexe area; the sales rep mentioned the outside shower comes with a 'tent' for privacy - given I intend on showering outside after a surf should I invest in a more substantial sort of mini awning and annexe to create a mini room for the outside shower?
Does anyone know if the hatches that people are getting installed for external access under the bottom bunk get done at the factory or is this something dealers on the east coast do in house? Caravanland sales rep hadn't heard of it being done at the factory.

 

[twscoot]

Congratulations!
I'd go for two tables. You will use them. (Wish I had two).
Leather - no. not worth it in the price bracket you're in.
Offside light would be nice. Useful when accessing hatches on the right hand side at night.
Additional hatches? I've put them in both my expanda and now Starcraft to get access under seats/beds. Very useful and worth the coin.
Which rooftop aircond? Ibis is the go in my opinion. Quiet and still heats at very low external temps.

 

[17triton]

Welcome @Billnjim and your van might be getting done with mine in Feb. Same van with a few differences. I decided on only one more powerpoint at the buffet as not much room on the kitchen side and put in extra 12v at rear wall and buffet as well. We wanted a trifold but was told no. I have asked for the payload increased to 600kg and ball weight max to at least 250kg as i want to put a toolbox on the drawbar later. I ordered 2 spares 1 on the front and 1 on the rear and will remove the front one later . Only $250 for the extra rim and tyre but I only went 15". I only went 1 table outside but 2 would be good and leather might be overkill. Drifter control looks to be a good option you haven't listed as well as ext hatch under bunks but you have the shower as well there I think? Offside light is worth thinking about perhaps.
Cheers.

 

[Crusty181]

Congrats @Billnjim. My optioned under bunk hatch was ex factory.

 

[twscoot]

My extra hatch under the rear bunk was fitted in the factory.

Good point about max ball weight too. It would be worth specifying this.

 

[davemc]

Congrats. With our old -1 they would not do a hatch and shower under the bunk. Although with all things told by salesman they seem to vary. So push for it
Spare on the rear or as @17triton did ask for both then you have a extra spare and room for box on the front later.
Although that will push the bike rack up higher. You should be able to find pics on thread.

As said above Drifter panel just make sure you say you want it on the fridge side some people ended up with it around facing the bunk . This is a pic of what it is well worth it.

 

[megcam]

Congrats on the purchase. We're very happy with our 17.58-3. We got the extra 12v point up the back off the shower wall and off side annex light. With the extra 12v point we now have standard one in main bed cabinet, above mentioned one at the rear and one outside. To be honest I think that'll be enough. I'm not that concerned that the kids 11 & 10 have to get off their bunks to plug in chargers and if they can't be bothered and their devices run flat, well, they can go outside and join in the camping.

I would definitely fit the hatch under the rear bunk as an option (and probably will DIY one day) as the space under the rear bed is a waste with minimal access. We don't have an external shower though so not sure what options are available.

Drifter and stereo should now be placed in the overhead kitchen cabinet so no issues with it being placed in the bunk beds. You do lose a cabinet with this set up but position is great. Wish they'd learn to cut holes in the cabinets straight though. Drifter slopes one way and stereo slopes the other. Probably considered perfect alignment at Jayco QA:biggrin-26:.

Not sure what your plans with the drawbar are eg box but we had to point out the lack of jerry can holder on ours which meant spare was moved to rear which means the bike rack is very high.

Enjoy the wait....it's worth it.

 

[SMJ x2]

Thanks for the reply guys.............
We are a family of three but usually end up with one of the daughters friends with us so I'll get as many additional power points (240 & 12volt) as I can internally and then externally in the annexe area; the sales rep mentioned the outside shower comes with a 'tent' for privacy - given I intend on showering outside after a surf should I invest in a more substantial sort of mini awning and annexe to create a mini room for the outside shower?
Does anyone know if the hatches that people are getting installed for external access under the bottom bunk get done at the factory or is this something dealers on the east coast do in house? Caravanland sales rep hadn't heard of it being done at the factory.

Don't know about hatch under bunk beds but we had 1 put under each single bed in our Journey.They were done at factory.

Also Caravanland would only do 1 gas bayonet (ours is at front and we wanted 1 at rear as well)Have to get it done elseware.

 

[Billnjim]

Thanks for the input everybody.

We finalised our list today with the sales rep being fairly honest about the factory's QA/QC in regards to getting options fitted by them or by a third party - appears some of the comments made by others within the forum regarding this are recognised by the dealers also; as such our options/extras have been limited to what I listed initially sans extra cooling fan for the fridge (apparently overkill when the waeco compressor fridge is fitted), and adding one external picnic table (not enough room to fit two), the tv and aerial package & an additional power point next to the exterior one in the annexe area. In regards to the hutch for externally accessing the under bunk area - the wife agreed with the sales rep in him saying it was just another dust ingress point despite my insistence (guess I'll have to wait until she realises how much of a PIA it is having to lift the bunk up each time). We went with the black coloured cushion & backrest combo and the greyish laminate with flecks in it.

We have friends interested in purchasing our flamingo ob so I'll get that serviced just before they pick it up or I have to put it on gumtree........

Now the wait truly begins but at least we'll be in Europe for just under six weeks of it so that should help the time fly by.

 

[twscoot]

Congratulations!

(Dust ingress point for extra hatches is a tall story though. The hatches are better sealed than the gaps and holes they leave underfloor for pipe work. Indeed the hatches I put into my expanda were marine hatches thus were waterproof as well).

 

[Dobbie]

That's one way of coping with the waiting time....and a good one.

Sounds exciting.

 

[Fabulous]

Another Starcraft ............

 

[petenkaz]

The thing I'm most annoyed I didn't get was more 12 volt points, only 1 outside and 1 inside for the TV, was a bit of a slip up....and we ticked heaps on the options list!

 

[Dobbie]

You can always add them later and it gives you time to decide just where you want them ...and how many.

Also, in the meantime, a good quality multiple 12v extender will work. Just be sure to get a good one as the cheapies are rubbish. We still use a 4 outlet one, bought about 6 years ago, and it gets lots of use in the vehicle. Even runs the engel fridge and multiple chargers. One of the outlets is really heavy duty.

So, enjoy the new toy and get a new list for Santa for next year. It will be added to every time you use the van.

 

[davemc]

Our 22 was floor stock cam with one 12v per bunk in the rear nothing for the main bed.
With the 17.58 I had I removed one of the bed lights and replaced it with a 12v it was in the way for the TV they used to be on the same end.
You could possibly split it if setup like my old 17,58 there was a terminal which the leads plugged in so not hard.
The 22' there is no terminal block so I need to split run a wire. Still on the list to do as we have not needed it as yet been caravan parks only