Drovers new Rig - "Big Mal"

[G Daddy]

the Tardis fans ran nearly all the time but it's vents were smaller

I noticed you had the large vents in the fan install picture, if you read the install manual for the 150Lt fridges the large vents should be used, my van with 150Lt fridge only has small vents, just another Jayco shortcut? Was going to replace but working OK with fans.

 

[Drover]

Yep, @G Daddy the big vents seem to draw well though the outside wall does get warm, though not as much since I refitted the chimney, such a dodgy set up, next time up town will stop a Jaycar and get a 50deg job as I like to get that air flowing, they tend to work more efficiently.

 

[peterg]

.....Used some Gal Bolts, cut the head off and cut a groove which I welded a bit of flat into for the brace strap, bugga to get the right shape.................................lined it with a felt pad.

@Drover Should've gone straight to cable ties! Neat looking job by the way.

 

[Crusty181]

Big Mal has now had it's basic mods completed, we are now ready to seriously rock an roll, the tube for the awning poles is fitted and I have fitted my ammo box, which has been travelling with me ever since I emptied it of 7.62 at Beecroft Range way back in 1974, it has been carrying recovery gear (used to pull others out of trouble usually) since then and now is storage for the jack, pegs and bits of timber.....

View attachment 39267 ..........A couple of 50mm angles welded to the rear bumper, soon see if the welder was any good.


Tube mounted over draw bar holds the anti flap bars and centre bars for awning..View attachment 39268



View attachment 39269 .....Used some Gal Bolts, cut the head off and cut a groove which I welded a bit of flat into for the brace strap, bugga to get the right shape.................................lined it with a felt pad.


Didn't want to bolt or weld the draw bar so welded some angle to the front cross member brace, also meant I didn't have my straps working at an angle................View attachment 39270 ..the rough looking stufff is actually underbody paint to try and slow the rocks flying around.

Although my hunting days are well and trully behind me, i still have the 7.62. They are cheap to source, and i didn't need to pick up the cases to reload

 

[Drover]

The one's I used had twin flash holes, could be reloaded but a real pain or was that the 5.56, so long ago now...............................

 

[Drover]

Meandering thoughts are allowed in this thread......................if I don't like where your going "You will be told"........

 

[bigcol]

Meandering thoughts are allowed in this thread......................if I don't like where your going "You will be told"........

told what............................................................................................

whats ya gunna tell us....................

tell us a story uncle @Drover

 

[Crusty181]

The one's I used had twin flash holes, could be reloaded but a real pain or was that the 5.56, so long ago now...............................

Yup, cheap, twin flash, way to hard ... leave them on the ground, whilst everyone else were crawling around arguing whos is whos

Not sure the thinking behind the twin flash ... any clues?

 

[Drover]

Ah yes, faster ignition of the charge and since we didn't do any reloading we didn't care about picking up the brass, just open another box..........except on the range, had to pick up the brass.
knew a fella who had made up a tool to punch out the cap, set it in vice, place brass over it and turn till you felt it catch the holes then a tap with a dolly and the cap would pop out, most of the time, knurled edge over cap could be a problem at times, but since I usually had at least 75,000 rounds in the shed, why bother.....

 

[Drover]

You may never know @bigcol but I will surely let you know if need be................................looked at the emoticons and they don't have the one I want, you will need to visualize though, think of Crustycon and a thumb................lol,lol,lol.

 

[Drover]

I thought we had a thread on Fridge Fans ???? but couldn't find one............................anyway have run a test over a couple of days on Big Mals fridge fan mod and would like to report that while the old 14ft rig a 70deg temp switch was okay on the bigger fridge with the large vents I needed to drop down to a 50deg switch to get the fans to kick in.
No great draw of 12v power either.
I found that with no fans the outer wall became quite warm just like on the old 14 but with the fans operating the wall temp dropped away, you could also feel the air draw at the lower vent which I was surprised as if you look at the earlier pic of the fan mount they don't cover a lot of the vent area.
It is a must that the fridge housing be sealed from venting into cupboard space via cable runs and gaps between fridge and walls, just feel the wall around your fridge on the inside, it should not be any warmer than the rest of the van, if it is you have hot air leaking into the fridge cavity, which also means if you have a gas leak it will as well.....

Overall fans are really needed I believe to make for more efficient operation along with a good dose of styro in a can.


Checked out my under van paint job, this time I have sprayed under the van with Chassis Black and found it does a great job of sealing the wooden floor, gives it a good coverage and appears way, way better than the standard lick and spit, timber and metal under Big Mal look protected, I had previously used Underbody deadener but it's such a messy stuff, this covers far better....No pics as they are just a mass of black.

 

[Dobbie]

So Mal now has a black nappy?

We're wrapped with our fridge fans. As I posted we had fridge problems on 240 before we went away and did the "drive on bumpy roads" trick to get things moving so also went to a powered site just to be sure. We drove in heat all day and temps were 38deg when we pulled up and fridge was struggling.

I'd forgotten all about the fans.

Anyway, after fridge decided to work on 240 it still struggled so I turned the fans on and it made a huge difference....all was in normal operating range within 45 mins....so we were very happy.

Ours are not temp sensitive and require us to turn them on but they are great.

Also the fridge is now totally normal I'm pleased to say....a good bumpy drive sorted it out.

 

[crackacoldie]

Sorry @Drover , somehow I have completely missed this thread. Great looking new van, congratulations

 

[Drover]

Hey @Dobbie if you dig into my 14.44.3 thread Im sure I have a pic of the thermo switch set up. They are $5 at Jaycar just pop rivet a clip o to a smallbit of alloy then rivet the switch onto it cut wire to fan, a couple of spade connectors and clip the switch onto the pipe, bingo.

 

[Drover]

Sorry @Drover , somehow I have completely missed this thread. Great looking new van, congratulations

Its not hard, there so much to try and catch up with on this site, you can spend hours looking.

 

[Drover]

So while the pest controler and building inspector were doing their thing, Big Mal got a alloy stone guard fitted to the GWT with the near to last of my alloy sheeting. Homestead passed the test, getting closer, can't do much now until they get the money approved, so might just take Big mal for a spin, check some places and make sure I have everything set up OK on the rig...............maybe just a drive to Nobby Pub for a night or 2...free camping across the road in the old rail yard.......get away from this clearing out torture.

http://www.ruddspub.com.au/

 

[Drover]

Been getting a bit of rain here, decision made to head up to Standown Park Sunday to check out some properties around Burrum Heads, Tin Can Bay etc and check out the WDH set up and other thing on rig, so move van out of yard to hardstand ,the TPA, (Trip Prep Area) beside shed while I can and not get bogged all went well except some DH forgot the TV aerial was up and tried to detach it on the shed power cable........aarrgghhh................God smiling though, a quick dismantle and it's now a bit shorter but fully functional again, damn you can be lucky sometimes.......also managed to set the WDH up, probably needs some fine tuning put a post and pic about it ina WDH thread.......pity I need to have one, thought I might have got away without it, when I get my Chevy maybe.

One section removed just the other arm to have slight amputation......cut and drilled once, it was all good amazing outcome, it works.

 

[G Daddy]

You have it covered with "Your Never Too Old To Learn Something Stupid" easy fix though

 

[dagree]

OOPS.... But luckily fixable

 

[Drover]

Thank you @G Daddy , I didn't need that reminder........I hooked up, jumped in Ute "Thought, CHECKS, Yes did walk round, removed chocks, step, cable, all boxes ticked " then as I pulled up next to shed, the fella in head screamed out "TV aerial", I yelled out "Oh bother too late ", (or words to that effect).......stood on gas bottles and exclaimed "Dash it", "lucky I haven't shut down the shed"..........................so grab beer and leatherman, all fixed in 30 mins, no need to call Fire Brigade.
New mod to list.............Brake Interlock on aerials..............cables, hoses, windows...........I'm getting old and scaring myself...............when I went to trade The Tardis in got Brissie and found I hadn't chained the thing to the Ute.............HOWZAT !!!!!!!