A Travellin' We Will Go

[slabghost]

Looking real good.

 

[mcgovern61]

Coming along very nicely! :yes:

 

[julimike54]

opcorn:

 

[aussiegold]

time for a bit of an update.. :BigGrin: barely had a table fitted in when it was decreed by the higher power that we would go on a shakedown trip.... ( table has since had a chrome upright support fitted )

three hours across the Hay Plains isnt really too bad a trip,

but when you get to Hay, New South Wales ... there is a great little campground just outside of town. it was very peaceful and at least the Murrumbidgee River had some water in it..... :wave:

After a few days in the hills , six hours or so further on from Hay ( sorry no pics ) it was time to head back along the Murray River to Swan Hill for a family gathering... Here we are camped near the world famous Barooga Beach

all the while this trip was going on, i was still trying to get a hold of the rascal who was supposed to be building us a trailer, so a bike can be taken along. i have had no luck in contacting him for more than two months so i gave up. :roll:
actually, i gave in (to pressure from the boss ) and started to look elsewhere for a trailer. and we ended up buying a tandem axle
8 foot by five foot unit. so, now the job is to build a cover so it can be locked. booked in to get it registered on Wednesday and then its off to Wodonga to see a bloke about some springs for the Bus. one has sagged slightly in the front... ( it never ends... :sensored: )here is trailer... the bottom one... :blush:

 

[Ansimp]

:good:

 

[joedrum]

wow ..getting some stuff

 

[mcgovern61]

Was the trip comfy?

 

[brianinpa]

5x8 tandem axle trailer... that should have a pretty good carrying capacity, so you shouldn't have any problem hauling a few Wings in it. I also think it could be a pain to move around by hand. We have 6X12 tandem axle trailers at uhaul and they are a :sensored: to move unless you use our spotting dolly which lifts the front axle off of the ground.

 

[slabghost]

Agreed.Tandem axle is pretty stout for a bike.

 

[aussiegold]

mcgovern61 » Tue May 09, 2017 12:37 am[/url]":2y2rvqnh]
Was the trip comfy?

ha ha, yes and no. :evil: the bus itself is reasonably comfy , the bed is very comfy. just need a bit of organisation of stuff.
fridge is exceptional as is our new gas cooker. everything great until...... it poured with rain.. and every window let water in ( or so it seemed ) and many other leaks were found. all since been identified and fixed. mostly it was the felt runners on the windows were shrunken and the drain holes did not line up. and the rear window leaked a bit, and it turned into a bit of a hassle finding a new seal for that, but all done now. :good:

brianinpa » Tue May 09, 2017 1:54 am[/url]":2y2rvqnh]
5x8 tandem axle trailer... that should have a pretty good carrying capacity, so you shouldn't have any problem hauling a few Wings in it. I also think it could be a pain to move around by hand. We have 6X12 tandem axle trailers at uhaul and they are a :sensored: to move unless you use our spotting dolly which lifts the front axle off of the ground.

yes the carrying capacity is 1580 Kilos. the trailer itself is 420 kilos. ( i tend to over engineer things :roll: ) strangely , this is very easy to move ( empty )
but with one bike, tools, water, and more sundry items it wont be empty for long. :smilie_happy: it's not the type of trailer i originally wanted , but will carry more and ( through sheer guts and determination :smilie_happy: ) i will make it work......
we are presently near Melbourne , visiting our youngest son. He is in UNI in Geelong but leaves at the end of the month for the US.
He is taking a camp counsellor ? position for the US summer in Philadelphia. then he hopes to travel to Canada before it gets too cold. it has been hard for him to organise the ability to work in the US but ( because Canada is part of the Commonwealth ) it is very easy for him in Canada.
so, at this point , Thursday ,we head back to warmer places... :salute:

 

[desertrefugee]

Nice you got it out already, AG.

I'm curious, what sort of power management arrangement do you have?

The Westfalia has a dual battery setup - one is the "van" unit for operating the vehicle while in motion. The other is the "coach" battery for when I'm in the boondocks. I still run the archaic switchover solenoid that disconnects the van battery from the coach battery when the ignition is off. That way, you don't run down the battery you need to start the vehicle. The only drawback is that, while the coach battery receives charge from the alternator when in motion, the van battery DOES NOT receive charge from my solar panel. Kind of a bummer if it's parked for a while with the panel active. I still have to run a float charger.

I am probably going to install a dual direction (senses and distributes the charge) Yandina controller this fall. Nice little units and well-regarded in the camper van world.

They make larger ones, but this is more than sufficient for a small to medium sized van:
https://www.yandina.com/c100InfoR3.htm

 

[aussiegold]

desertrefugee » Tue May 09, 2017 1:25 pm[/url]":1p34yrml]
Nice you got it out already, AG.

I'm curious, what sort of power management arrangement do you have?

The Westfalia has a dual battery setup - one is the "van" unit for operating the vehicle while in motion. The other is the "coach" battery for when I'm in the boondocks. I still run the archaic switchover solenoid that disconnects the van battery from the coach battery when the ignition is off. That way, you don't run down the battery you need to start the vehicle. The only drawback is that, while the coach battery receives charge from the alternator when in motion, the van battery DOES NOT receive charge from my solar panel. Kind of a bummer if it's parked for a while with the panel active. I still have to run a float charger.

I am probably going to install a dual direction (senses and distributes the charge) Yandina controller this fall. Nice little units and well-regarded in the camper van world.

They make larger ones, but this is more than sufficient for a small to medium sized van:
https://www.yandina.com/c100InfoR3.htm

we have the vehicle battery which just starts the engine. so far it does nothing else.
there are also two 110 amp hour deep cycle AGM type batteries connected to the vehicles charge system via a REDARC
DC to DC charger. the advantage of the DC to DC charger is it will fully charge the AGM batteries, whereas the vehicles alternator
will not fully charge them. it also isolates these two batteries from the vehicle battery when not running.
the model we have will also take solar input when we get some panels.
https://www.redarc.com.au/dual-input-25 ... ry-charger
have not really thought about running charge into the vehicle battery when stationary, although it may be useful when parked up for some time. :BigGrin:

 

[aussiegold]

well, we have been up and down the Murray River ( mainly) for a few weeks in the bus, ironing out any problems we can find and are now down near Melbourne again seeing the youngest son, he is soon to go the US.
here are a few pics of some campsites along the way.. first four are up near the beginning of the Murray River , at the foothills of the Snowy Mountains...

the next couple of pictures are on the Hume Dam, where the Upper Murray and a few other big rivers join, before running all the way to Adelaide....

and here is a couple showing the work on the trailer so far, hopefully to be finished this week. it will be enclosed so as to carry a bike with us. along with several hundred other items the boss cannot do without.... :smilie_happy:
Her Dad got hold of some white colourbond sheet metal (cheap), so thats what we will use to clad the trailer. where to place access doors etc is being worked out as we go. it's a policy that has worked so far..... :whistling:

 

[Ansimp]

:good:

 

[mcgovern61]

Sure looks like a great time!

 

[slabghost]

Looking great!

 

[joedrum]

Yep looking good

 

[aussiegold]

some more work has been done on this trailer. bit bigger job than i thought at the beginning.
almost done.... just needs rear doors,shelving, wheel chock for bike, toolbox mounted on front, gas bottle holders mounted, and some extra lights ...... :roll: :roll: heres some pics

 

[slabghost]

Very tough looking trailer!

 

[mcgovern61]

Serious trailer! :shock: