MELBOURNE CARAVAN CAMPING SHOW 2015

[davemc]

@Tone back Monday for a half day see if I remember.
@Bushman I had a look at the Golden Eagle a few times Did not need pics as I can look at your thread
The one weird thing with the Musketeer was the fridge is inside the kids area? I liked the long bench seat.
With us it is always where does #4 sleep.. With triple bunk vans then the table is gone hence I look for where I can put a trundle bed if we go 19-20". I think I can with the Mantra Ray 60x150 in that floor area.

This is where we are at now there is no van that ticks all our boxes.
Island Bed
under 22-23"
4 beds single
ensuite- even a combo

So your down to customising an existing van or getting one built from scratch of a plan on a napkin.
There was a Starcraft 22.68-1 that just sold with two doubles instead of ensuite.
A Coromal at the moment in Queensland they took out a washing machine and made a L

 

[Bushman]

@Tone back Monday for a half day see if I remember.
@Bushman I had a look at the Golden Eagle a few times Did not need pics as I can look at your thread
The one weird thing with the Musketeer was the fridge is inside the kids area? I liked the long bench seat.
With us it is always where does #4 sleep.. With triple bunk vans then the table is gone hence I look for where I can put a trundle bed if we go 19-20". I think I can with the Mantra Ray 60x150 in that floor area.

This is where we are at now there is no van that ticks all our boxes.
Island Bed
under 22-23"
4 beds single
ensuite- even a combo

So your down to customising an existing van or getting one built from scratch of a plan on a napkin.
There was a Starcraft 22.68-1 that just sold with two doubles instead of ensuite.
A Coromal at the moment in Queensland they took out a washing machine and made a L

Golden Eagle/Paramount and Crusader and no doubt a few others with happily oblige with 4 bunks getting it with ensuite could be interesting and keeping the length down ? You may need a Kenworth to tow it though.
One thing to be aware of for people looking for bunks is the length of bunk some tend to be short, remember your little darlings will stretch over the years, I've come across a few that I couldn't lay on without curling up (I'm 6') also test the length of the master bed

 

[Ozzy]

2100kg I hope that's the outback. Any idea what the onroad one is? Anyone that can put a pic of the onroad 17 with bed end canvas out would be great. Couldn't make it to caravan show this year.

Hi seen onroad 2015 17.56.1 today tare weight was around 1730kg to 1760kg touring model

 

[Tone]

That would be great @davemc if you could. We are sweating that it's no heavier than 2014 so we can tow with the Territory.

 

[davemc]

Yes I understand had a few said they can do although your doing off a paper and I understand bunk sizes we have a small top one in 17-58.
We where excited by a 16.67 to we tried to fit in bed

I keep thinking a Basestation although no island bed and expanda bed.

 

[relgate]

Yes I understand had a few said they can do although your doing off a paper and I understand bunk sizes we have a small top one in 17-58.
We where excited by a 16.67 to we tried to fit in bed

I keep thinking a Basestation although no island bed and expanda bed.

I was going to suggest base station for you. Expanda bed might need to be the compromise.

Also, i know one person who tried for a fold up bunk above the dinette in a starcraft 22ft. I believe jayco knocked them back but it might be something they (or another manufacturer ) will do in the future. That would tick all your boxes!

 

[Arkraider]

Wow... How disappointing today was.... I couldn't believe the amount of off-road vans on show. 4 out of 5 brands of caravans on show, that I saw, were of an outback variety. This is fine if you are after that, however I was not. Except for Jayco and two other brands one being Juergen and the other New Age, but in saying that 90% of the ones New Age had were offroad also.
The other was I didn't see a lot of the caravan parks stalls, there were some, that were at Caulfield and a number of the retailer tents that used to be at Caulfield I didn't see there either. I don't know if it was just that it was such a different layout compared the years at Caulfield but I left disappointed

But some good news for anyone wanting an Expanda17.56.1 at the show I can show you the price I got today (I will not post but if interested in box me), but will not be buying as I can't make that budget so it looks like a 2nd hand unit for me...
So off to EBay, Gumtree and caravan camping sales I go...lol...

 

[Macca666]

Wow... How disappointing today was.... I couldn't believe the amount of off-road vans on show. 4 out of 5 brands of caravans on show, that I saw, were of an outback variety. This is fine if you are after that, however I was not. Except for Jayco and two other brands one being Juergen and the other New Age, but in saying that 90% of the ones New Age had were offroad also.
The other was I didn't see a lot of the caravan parks stalls, there were some, that were at Caulfield and a number of the retailer tents that used to be at Caulfield I didn't see there either. I don't know if it was just that it was such a different layout compared the years at Caulfield but I left disappointed

But some good news for anyone wanting an Expanda17.56.1 at the show I can show you the price I got today (I will not post but if interested in box me), but will not be buying as I can't make that budget so it looks like a 2nd hand unit for me...
So off to EBay, Gumtree and caravan camping sales I go...lol...

I am interested in what they had to offer mate. Can you inbox me the price and let me know if it had any extras on it? Cheers.

PS. I have been informed that the new compliance plate is in and I can pick up my van next Saturday, I will let you what it was like when I get back.

 

[stucati]

Flew down from Sydney yesterday really looking forward to seeing the 20.64, the level of finish was very disappointing for a $60k van. New age seemed to have one of the better finishes of vans we looked at.

The joinery in the jayco was the real weak point every joint was over glued and not cleaned. The bench top edge capping needed a few mm routed to be flush with the top. Is this the normal standard of finish or just very poor examples?

 

[Arkraider]

Flew down from Sydney yesterday really looking forward to seeing the 20.64, the level of finish was very disappointing for a $60k van. New age seemed to have one of the better finishes of vans we looked at.

The joinery in the jayco was the real weak point every joint was over glued and not cleaned. The bench top edge capping needed a few mm routed to be flush with the top. Is this the normal standard of finish or just very poor examples?

New Age was a much better finish inside and out, not to say better quality, but certainly a better finish.
I did however speak to a few salesman on the floor around the Jayco vans and each one of them basically said the same about the brand new discovery, Expanda and a couple of the Silverline, the last one skips my mind at the moment. But they all said basically they were a real rush job to get them finished with no days to spare before the show. So much so that a great deal of the silicones and glues were still wet when setting up at the show grounds. Also a lot of the new cosmetic products weren't actually in the vans because they didn't have time. One of them was the new powerpoints will also have USB charging slots in them...
But yes I also noticed and commented on the finish of the Expanda I was looking into getting...

 

[davemc]

Every time I look at New Age they show you how you can hang off the overhead cupboards as they are made strong , because I really need a overhead I can hang off for exercise. There is no way I do that with my Jayco ones. I do wonder if that is the only thing made strong ha ha
We are going tomorrow to have another look at the Mantra Ray.

 

[LivingTheDream]

Haha they did that with us as we'll. it's like a late night infomercial, if you've got a cupboard door then you've got a gym. If I had the cash and a better car I'd go with option RV,s Tornado bunk van

 

[Peter S]

Hey all just bought a 17.56.1 OB pick it up end of March from Watsons at Coffs Harbour but like everyone else haven't really seen it so if anybody has photos
of one inside and out would appreciate seeing them . Even just the floor plans will do.

 

[davemc]

Haha they did that with us as we'll. it's like a late night infomercial, if you've got a cupboard door then you've got a gym. If I had the cash and a better car I'd go with option RV,s Tornado bunk van

been to a few shows the last few years and yes every time they have to show me...
For me I keep thinking I can use that space in the Mantra Ray to put a extra bed and keep 19"
a 21-23 with the bunks north-south could do the same although bigger van

 

[Angus]

We were seriously considering a Manta Ray 19 loved the layout etc but when we sat down to work out a price there were a few options we would like to upgrade the fridge to a full size and have an oven instead of the cooktop grill and 15"wheels and 2" riser we were told bluntly no can do.

 

[Crusty181]

Park at the ascot vale leisure Centre we parked Thursday for free the lack of trains directly to the showgrounds except weekends and possibly paying for parking is wrong don't know if we will go next year
but bought free camps 8 and ties for the waeco fridge and some 12v leads for running the foxtel checked out the 24 and 25 ft silverline, not sure about the mixed colour scheme in the cream Laminex vs wood interior glad we bought last year , 7kg washing machine dryer combo is now only a 3 kg washer and other little things.

12v leads for the Foxtel??? Im very interested in that. I gave up looking for a 12v version of that wierd Foxtel power plug. I was lucky enough to have the 240v power pack fail. Foxtel replaced it, so i pulled the plug out of it ... but havent gotten around to putting a cig plug on the other end yet

 

[Drover]

I like everything about the New Age rigs as well as the Cell units except the price.

 

[Kenshi123]

Spent the day there today. A little hot, so we spent a bit of time 'looking' at the vans with the aircon switched on....

I guess because of the show being earlier this year Jayco had to rush the production of the 2015 models for the show, so I tried to keep that in mind when looking.

Our van (16.49.1b's) layout has sure changed! Wow. We still prefer our version, but that is probably a very biased opinion. Lol

We had a good look through a lot of vans and our favorites were Traveller, Elite(125k!!!!) , New Age and Lotus. Crusader and JB weren't too bad either. Seeing as our lottery numbers didn't come up last night we will stick with our beloved expanda. We are happy with that.

 

[Crusty181]

Whats with the HiViz green Expanda tent section on the Outbacks ... wow


A few notable changes in the Expandas, none more obvious is the new hard lid that closes onto the face of the van ... which looks a little like an after thought.



The tent section is no longer held onto the bed base with a screwed on metal strap ... there is a sail track around the bed base, and keder on the tent section.

One obvious addition, that has been missing for the entire first 10 years of the Expanda model is the clear zip up vinyl windows to the tent section like the wind up camper trailers have. The new Expandas have both the canvas window flaps and the clear vinyl ... so with the Jayco BEF attached that would be 2 x fixed flyscreens, 2 clear roll up (and down) clear screens and 2 x roll up (and down) canvas flaps. We'd need a spare 2 hours, a warm up yoga session and a 5 day forecast to have any hope of getting that combo right.


The rear ext wall of those models of Expands that have no rear bed is flat and square .. ie no moulding or shape. Looks a bit like a cool room from behind

The front bed base is flush with the tunnel boot so the mattress halves are the same depth. The front bed is much lowered, at the tunnel boot height, and looks much lower inside the van. The mattress is thinner and the front tunnel is much smaller in height and width. I find our stepped mattress pretty good, and presume the step stopped the mattress from shifting around.


In the 20.63.1 looking incarnation, the kitchen is shorten about a metre at the bunk end, and new floor to ceiling cabinet filling that space at the bunk end. there is literally no bench ... just the stove and sink. We find that we dont have enough bench in our 20.63.1, and in such a big van its eclipsed in bench space by the 14 and 16ft models, so i think this is a poor theyll likely reverse. Maybe half would be a compromise, but cabinet storage isnt as much an issue as the limited bench space. I cant be 100% sure but i think the bathroom was a tiny bit bigger


The third roof hatch has been removed.

 

[davemc]

I like everything about the New Age rigs as well as the Cell units except the price.

oh yeah the Cell.. The Homestead would be great if I could park it and had a loose $100k
See how we go tomorrow..