New Expanda 14.4.4

[Luke14]

Hi Everyone. I have been a long time reader of this site and wanted to thank everybody for this forum. It really made us decide which van to choose. We originally were looking at the 16 ft range of Expandas then changed our mind to a Jayco Swan before finally taking the plunge and ordering the 14.4.4 outback. We have 2 boys so I think this van fits us perfectly. It will be a first van so we are really excited.
So now the long wait begins. We won't get pick up till October but are already busy planning lots of trips later in the year.
I look forward to passing the time in the mean time by reading of people's trips and mods.
Thanks.

 

[Bmhdg76]

Hi @Luke14,

Welcome to the forum. We have the same van and love it. Have a thread in here somewhere with some of the things I have done to it...

We were the same in we looked at the 16's first but then went the 14 as the bunks will suit us for longer. Hopefully will last long enough for us till be able to upgrade to a full size van when the rug rats don't want to come anymore.

Let us know the options you have gone for etc.

BJ.

 

[Griffo]

Welcome Luke14.

Whilst ours is the 14-44-5 they are both very similar. If you can get the larger fridge particularly if there are 4 of you. All they do is relocate the air if you have it to the roof. Dual Battery (fits beside the existing one) and solar will help if you plan to get away from the Cvan parks. Have found that in really heavy rain we get a wet mattress from touching the canvas on the bed end however now have some vinal bed ends (Kakadu) which solve that issue. If you not getting an annex you might consider an awning out the front (of the existing awning) again in rain there is not much distance between the edge of the roll out awning and the door.

 

[Luke14]

Hi @Luke14,

Welcome to the forum. We have the same van and love it. Have a thread in here somewhere with some of the things I have done to it...

We were the same in we looked at the 16's first but then went the 14 as the bunks will suit us for longer. Hopefully will last long enough for us till be able to upgrade to a full size van when the rug rats don't want to come anymore.

Let us know the options you have gone for etc.

BJ.

Thanks BJ and Griffo
BJ I had a look at your mods, they look great, The options we went for were: The front bed fly, outdoor table and aerial point, wind up antenna, roof air con, bike rack, shelves in robe, stereo and control panel.
Griffo thanks for the info the 2014 OB comes with the larger fridge, solar and single battery as standard . I will look into the other things.
Thanks again
Luke

 

[chartrock]

Welcome @Luke14 to the forum from another 14 footer. We don't have rugrats to worry about so our 14-44-3 (now discontinued) suits us. We have done a couple of trips of around 3 months each plus numerous shorter trips and at this time see no reason to upsize. I'm sure you will find many ideas for mods from the members so enjoy.

 

[Luke14]

Thanks chartrock. We are planning to get away for about a month at the end of the year. We think the size of the van will be perfect for us.

 

[Bmhdg76]

Thanks BJ and Griffo
BJ I had a look at your mods, they look great, The options we went for were: The front bed fly, outdoor table and aerial point, wind up antenna, roof air con, bike rack, shelves in robe, stereo and control panel.
Griffo thanks for the info the 2014 OB comes with the larger fridge, solar and single battery as standard . I will look into the other things.
Thanks again
Luke

Smart move on the bike rack from factory. We were told by the dealer the one on the back can be added at a later date. Rang them up to arrange when we get a small warranty issue sorted and they said oh we don't do them anymore. IF we do, there will be bolts through the wall with a metal plate the whole length between the bolts. Not happy!

BJ

 

[Nagga's]

Yay another 14.44-4!! Hi @Luke14 we picked ours up in march with 2 boys nearly 8 & 10 and we all love it! There is so much storage, good luck with the wait!

 

[cruza driver]

:yo: Welcome to the forum @Luke14 and great intro too mate.

What will you be towing the 14' with?

 

[BUSH PALACE]

Welcome @Luke14 sounds like you got a bit of time to plan out all your mods and trips .. dont worry it will go quicker than you think

 

[Luke14]

Yay another 14.44-4!! Hi @Luke14 we picked ours up in march with 2 boys nearly 8 & 10 and we all love it! There is so much storage, good luck with the wait!

Thanks Nagga's. Our boys are 8and 5 and so excited about the van. We were really surprised just how much storage there is in the van when we were looking at them.

 

[Luke14]

Thanks for all the welcome messages. We are in the process of upgrading the car before we get the van. We really like the Jeep grand cherokee but haven't totally made up our mind yet.

 

[boots33]

The 14's are a great little unit. We have managed to squeeze ours into some very tight camps at national parks etc. If you are planning to tow with a 4wd you may want to ask about the tow ball height. Ours is a 2011 model and back then they were mounting the hitch plate on the bottom of the A frame, this gave us a very low ball height. We recently had it moved to the top of the frame and are much happier with the setup now.

 

[Luke14]

The 14's are a great little unit. We have managed to squeeze ours into some very tight camps at national parks etc. If you are planning to tow with a 4wd you may want to ask about the tow ball height. Ours is a 2011 model and back then they were mounting the hitch plate on the bottom of the A frame, this gave us a very low ball height. We recently had it moved to the top of the frame and are much happier with the setup now.

Thanks boots, i will have to check the height of the hitch out. It seemed quite high from memory when I looked at one in the yard.

 

[hamish22]

The 14's are a great little unit. We have managed to squeeze ours into some very tight camps at national parks etc. If you are planning to tow with a 4wd you may want to ask about the tow ball height. Ours is a 2011 model and back then they were mounting the hitch plate on the bottom of the A frame, this gave us a very low ball height. We recently had it moved to the top of the frame and are much happier with the setup now.

Isn't there some form of legality regarding this?
I was of the opinion that if the plate was moved to the top of the A frame it can possibly exceed the 450mm height allowable from the hitch to the ground on the van being illegal and could also void insurance!

Would be verry happy for you to correct me if I'm wrong as it is something I did look at!

 

[mfexpanda]

Isn't there some form of legality regarding this?
I was of the opinion that if the plate was moved to the top of the A frame it can possibly exceed the 450mm height allowable from the hitch to the ground on the van being illegal and could also void insurance!

Would be verry happy for you to correct me if I'm wrong as it is something I did look at!

I think there is a min and max ball height

 

[boots33]

Isn't there some form of legality regarding this?
I was of the opinion that if the plate was moved to the top of the A frame it can possibly exceed the 450mm height allowable from the hitch to the ground on the van being illegal and could also void insurance!

Would be verry happy for you to correct me if I'm wrong as it is something I did look at!

I had the modification done by a local tow bar manufacturer ... Aranda Towbars They said it was a very common mod for outback expanders and even have the plates ready made and in stock to fit the jayco's.

The ball height issue is one that has been discussed in many threads here at expandas downunder and indeed many other places. If you have a look at this thread you will see in the first two posts that i made links to the relevant requirements and see how there is a grey area as well.

As you can see by the date of that thread it is not something that i have rushed into but was just fed up dragging the tow hitch on every minor bump. I think the fact that the mod was done by a large company that specialises in tow bars must surely give me some form of protection. In any case i am very happy with the end result

 

[chartrock]

Well done @boots33 , I have been thinking of it for a couple of years now and you may just push me into doing it. I'll have to hop round and have a look sometime.

 

[boots33]

Well done @boots33 , I have been thinking of it for a couple of years now and you may just push me into doing it. I'll have to hop round and have a look sometime.

Yeah finally got it done. i remembered you mentioning in another thread that aranda would do the job, so gave them a call.
Always welcome to drop by for a sticky

Sorry Luke seem to have sent your thread off on a tangent. but i am sure you will love your 14.

 

[Luke14]

No worries all good boots, always good to hear other peoples ideas and mods. That's what's this forum is here for.