Benrosenicks 2013 17.56-2 OB

[benrosenick]

really like the box, want to put one on once we get the van. How much spare room with the Baby Q? We have a Q200 worried its a little to big to fit. think around 10-12 cm's diff.

Lengthways it's an almost exact fit from the side door to the bottles. Box is 500x500, if width & height are ok you could always offset the bottles to one side to make sure the big BBQ could fit, or fit the bottles to the outside and leave a gap in the middle?

 

[AndrewC]

Mate in the mean time until you move it to the middle, I would be getting a gusset or brace out across the right angle of that spare tyre mount at the top.

There is a bit if bouncing weight up there and it could certainly do with somthing more from a structural point of view. Even if it were a top notch v prepped weld, there is a bit of leverage at work there which cod see fatigue or cracking. The weld does not look the best I have seen but it might just be the photo. The longer the gusset the better.

Sorry to pick but just a little concerning if your the car behind!!

Love the bunk curtains too, certainly have me thinking!

 

[davemc]

Lengthways it's an almost exact fit from the side door to the bottles. Box is 500x500, if width & height are ok you could always offset the bottles to one side to make sure the big BBQ could fit, or fit the bottles to the outside and leave a gap in the middle?

Thanks.. Yes need to wait to we get the van before I see how much wiggle room.

 

[benrosenick]

Mate in the mean time until you move it to the middle, I would be getting a gusset or brace out across the right angle of that spare tyre mount at the top.

There is a bit if bouncing weight up there and it could certainly do with somthing more from a structural point of view. Even if it were a top notch v prepped weld, there is a bit of leverage at work there which cod see fatigue or cracking. The weld does not look the best I have seen but it might just be the photo. The longer the gusset the better.

Sorry to pick but just a little concerning if your the car behind!!

Love the bunk curtains too, certainly have me thinking!

My concerns too-the spare will be in the back of the Prado until I get the new mount done...

 

[benrosenick]

Read somewhere here about using a rubber foot for a chair as a dust cap for the gas bayonet... a 1 1/8" one fits very snugly, I've added some chain otherwise I'll keep losing them. Chain is longer than it possibly could be because they need a bit of force to pull them off (very snug) so a longer chain will stop me pulling that off each time too.

 

[seanparky]

Some further mods.....

Have had an external TV mount &aerial point added (now have two TV's of different sizes that can move between the internal & external mounts with the use of HP quick release brackets)
View attachment 21422 View attachment 21423
And also finished the bunk curtains
View attachment 21424

And a few other bits & pieces...added a water filter; finally put shelves into the wardrobe (now known officially as the pantry); got the dual sail tracks from supercheap auto so can have the annex wall as well as an extra shade wall horizontally with some poles to give a nice outdoor shaded area; got a squeezebox ladder (brilliant idea); and finally a twin tub washing machine....

Next mods are a pole carrier fitted behind the wheels in a week or so for the AFK, and am now deciding whether or not a toolbox is worth the $ so I can carry my generator & annex walls or Weber.

There is always something more to do or buy!

With the extra mods how do you go for extra weight. I'm still trying to work out mine. Thinking of going to see jayco to explain it to me later. those mods look good. I just noticed on my van there is an external antenna point where you plug your power in. Why the put it on the side where you don't sit i don't know. Love the curtains for the bunks a great idea. Did you put them up r someone else? Also where did you get the curtain tracks from? cheers

 

[Bmhdg76]

With the extra mods how do you go for extra weight. I'm still trying to work out mine. Thinking of going to see jayco to explain it to me later. those mods look good. I just noticed on my van there is an external antenna point where you plug your power in. Why the put it on the side where you don't sit i don't know. Love the curtains for the bunks a great idea. Did you put them up r someone else? Also where did you get the curtain tracks from? cheers

Hi @seanparky that antenna socket is actually for when you are at a van park and they have an antenna socket for you to connect to their antenna not for plugging the tele into.

BJ

 

[benrosenick]

With the extra mods how do you go for extra weight. I'm still trying to work out mine. Thinking of going to see jayco to explain it to me later. those mods look good. I just noticed on my van there is an external antenna point where you plug your power in. Why the put it on the side where you don't sit i don't know. Love the curtains for the bunks a great idea. Did you put them up r someone else? Also where did you get the curtain tracks from? cheers

Hi @seanparky, will be checking overall and ball weight once I have my spare sorted but pretty sure I'm going to be ok
The aerial point on the service side is to take an input from a feed at a caravan park-some have reticulated foxtel etc; when connected you don't need to use your own antenna.
We did the curtains ourselves.. Bought the mini track on eBay (search for mini curtain track, ours was from a guy in the. Hunter Valley but I think some of the caravan places sell it as well). My wife found a close enough material and made the curtains, we made them a little longer than the actual drop to keep more of the light out, they work pretty well. Had to cut the plastic strip that joins the roof panels so the track sits flush with the roof but was pretty straightforward, measuring and getting them square took more time than screwing them in!

 

[seanparky]

Hi @seanparky that antenna socket is actually for when you are at a van park and they have an antenna socket for you to connect to their antenna not for plugging the tele into.

BJ

Ahh that clears that up.. thanks BJ

 

[seanparky]

Love the curtains, so no trouble with screwing into roof, like not to soft that it will strip or hitting hidden wiring. Might have to see how crafty the wife is..lol

 

[seanparky]

Some further mods.....

Have had an external TV mount &aerial point added (now have two TV's of different sizes that can move between the internal & external mounts with the use of HP quick release brackets)
View attachment 21422 View attachment 21423
And also finished the bunk curtains
View attachment 21424

And a few other bits & pieces...added a water filter; finally put shelves into the wardrobe (now known officially as the pantry); got the dual sail tracks from supercheap auto so can have the annex wall as well as an extra shade wall horizontally with some poles to give a nice outdoor shaded area; got a squeezebox ladder (brilliant idea); and finally a twin tub washing machine....

Next mods are a pole carrier fitted behind the wheels in a week or so for the AFK, and am now deciding whether or not a toolbox is worth the $ so I can carry my generator & annex walls or Weber.

There is always something more to do or buy!

Sorry champ as you seem to be the guru of mods was wondering how you connected the tv antenna output to the outside and where did you connect it inside from. cheers

 

[benrosenick]

Sorry champ as you seem to be the guru of mods was wondering how you connected the tv antenna output to the outside and where did you connect it inside from. cheers

Mate far from it - mostly copying stuff I've seen on here....

I got a bloke to do my external aerial, he put a splitter in the inside aerial point next to the door, ran it down the cupboard, under the floor (in some conduit), then back up the wall behind the fridge. Took him about 45 mins to do including adding the bracket to mount the TV.

 

[benrosenick]

Love the curtains, so no trouble with screwing into roof, like not to soft that it will strip or hitting hidden wiring. Might have to see how crafty the wife is..lol

No, was pretty straightforward. I used some sheet metal screws which had enough bite - once there are a few screws in the weight seems to be distributed pretty evenly and they feel pretty solid. Didn't hit any wires in there - more luck than judgement I expect, but the screws were pretty short anyway...

The curtains have made a massive difference in terms of how late my teenager sleeps in, which is good for all of us...!

 

[Chooky]

With the extra mods how do you go for extra weight. I'm still trying to work out mine. Thinking of going to see jayco to explain it to me later. those mods look good. I just noticed on my van there is an external antenna point where you plug your power in. Why the put it on the side where you don't sit i don't know. Love the curtains for the bunks a great idea. Did you put them up r someone else? Also where did you get the curtain tracks from? cheers

You can get the curtain material and the tracks from your local Jayco dealer. That's where we got ours from and the material is spot on. Think from memory the tracks and material were only about $160.00.

 

[benrosenick]

Got the MKII spare carrier done. Its nice and solid and doesn't bounce at all, the number plate has been relocated to the bumper with a new light.

 

[benrosenick]

Also of note...we are away for the long weekend at Koala Shores, so first trip since the toolbox was fitted and filled with gear. No real difference towing, was still nice & stable.. Toolbox is working out well; side access is great especially for the squeezebox ladder and process of removing what I need before I drop the front bed was straightforward (removing the 3" long huntsman from the front hard lid was another matter altogether...)

All up am very happy with the toolbox. Seals well so was dry as a bone despite some good rain on the way here and fits all of the 'set-up' gear (ramps, chocks, hoses etc) as well as the generator and the weber.


Funniest finding of the day-I keep a short length of sullage hose in the chassis rail. When I went to pull it out from the rear of the van today I couldnt... After a fair bit of tugging and swearing I realised it has now been tec-screwed into place when the rear pole carrier was fitted. Oh well....

 

[dagree]

Got the MKII spare carrier done. Its nice and solid and doesn't bounce at all, the number plate has been relocated to the bumper with a new light.

Looks great @benrosenick Started cutting and grinding bits and pieces this afternoon to make out rear wheel holder tomorrow.

Had a little chuckle over the sullage hose issue.... But then again I have done similar

 

[jandl]

Hi @benrosenick, have you made a new rear bumper or is that the original rectangular one. What you have done looks great and is exactly what I want to attempt now that I have purchased a box to go on the front.

 

[benrosenick]

Hi @benrosenick, have you made a new rear bumper or is that the original rectangular one. What you have done looks great and is exactly what I want to attempt now that I have purchased a box to go on the front.

Hi @jandl, it is the original RHS bumper (ie I didn't have the slightly older round bumper) but has some additional high tensile bolts where it connects to the chassis rails ( these were fitted for the bike rack that I had there before...). Gave it a good workout on some very rough roadworks on the way in & out of Lemon Tree Passage last week, could see the top of the spare in the reversing camera and it barely moved. After my experience with bikes mounted in the same place I am very comfortable with the strength of the rear bar with just the spare on it!

 

[benrosenick]

Looks great @benrosenick Started cutting and grinding bits and pieces this afternoon to make out rear wheel holder tomorrow.

Had a little chuckle over the sullage hose issue.... But then again I have done similar

Thanks @dagree, I'm really pleased wit the spare. As far as my newly lined chassis rail goes, I'm probably more worried that it took 5 minutes of tugging before the light bulb went off as to why it was stuck...,