Quote from: Foo on October 07, 2026, 06:31:00 PMAll of these caravan mobs are playing on the fact that many people want to "tour" when the retire! 

There is nothing in the value of buying a new van that would encourage me too venture down that avenue!    My brother and a cousin have bought new vans in the last 2yrs and both have had problems! 

Foo

101%... buy a used van. (pick one of the *really* well known and respected off road brands that you know you'll never be able to afford new)

upgrade the components.

We spent $35k on our 2011 Kedron
add ~ $10k in solar, lithim and new Victron charging gear (this is all going in now)
add ~ $5k in internal paining and remodeling of the lound/dining space (we hate the cafe style seating and want an L shaped lounge area) (assuming you paid someone to do it)
add $200 + my own labour to add shoe lockers/steps either side of the bed (makes it easier to access the crazy tall bed, and gives us storage underneath and down low... shoes for the wife on her side and my Ryobi collection on my side)
add $2400 for the new fancy Cuddy S1 bagging/diverting dunny
add $2000 for new 285/75/16 tyres to match the Troopy for redundancy

All up $54,600

for this I will have (works in progress) a bulletproof Australian made van with 1880w (plus) of solar and 1300ah of lithium will all new latest tech Victron charging gear. I'll have a modern dunny, and the insides freshly painted like the new vans plus tyres (& wheels) matched to our tow vehicle (which I would have to do anyway with a new build/purchase)

Even if I go all out now and cut the suspension off and have Cruisemaster ATX w/airbags fitted (approx' $25k)... I'm still at way less than a new Chinese import and less than half of the cheapest brand new Australian made.

All of these caravan mobs are playing on the fact that many people want to "tour" when the retire! 

There is nothing in the value of buying a new van that would encourage me too venture down that avenue!    My brother and a cousin have bought new vans in the last 2yrs and both have had problems! 

Foo

Sad



The Big Red Bash will have its last hurrah in 2027.

"We built this festival over many years; we built it from our heart, but this decision is one we've had to make with our head. It's so sad to know next year will be our last one," founder Greg Donovan said as he announced the news today.

The Big Red Bash attracted thousands of people for the past 13 years, who made the pilgrimage to the edge of the Simpson Desert at Birdsville for the unique music festival.

Greg said that while event costs had increased in recent years, expense wasn't the main challenge.

"It's a tough environment to put an event on in. The logistical and operational challenges are significant."

The event was cancelled this year after widespread flooding inundated the site at the Big Red sand dune.

Quote from: prodigyrf on October 03, 2026, 02:32:43 PMAnd another Maverick in administration

and Essential/Design RV/Zone RV are "restructuring"

Had 6 new Toyo MTs in 285/75/16 fitted to the Troopy on Saturday morning.

I just had to make it the 500klm from Yarralin to Katherine with 127klm of Buchanan hwy at the start. (oh and I was towing a 3.5T Kedron van)... and I had to be there by 8am. (and I couldn't leave Yarralin on the Friday either)

Rear right Troopy tyre was toast. Knobs missing and tread blocks gone. Rear left isn't *as* bad (only one tread block torn off. Both front's are at the "I should replace these really soon" level but... they were all I had.

The swaps went: left side, swap front to back/back to front.
right side... front to back.

the only spare available now for the front right is the brand new Toyo AT spare off the Kedron. It's also a 265/75/16...

Surprisingly... the massively worn down 285 MT and the brand new 265 AT are really close to the same height. (See pic)

I set the alarm for 1:05am, woke up neatly at 1:02am, was on the road at 1:30am. (with three dogs and the van) Nursing three trashed tyres, *with* the van on the back meant taking the Buchanan section really slowly... 3.5 hours. and I allowed 3H for the 279klm to Katherine cruising easy.

Couldn't afford another blowout... Cruised the gravel section at 40kph... dodged every rock I spotted. Was seriously stressed out the entire time as... no actual spares. I had a very old 265/75 on the van and the original really trashed 285/75 MT with half a dozen knobs missing as my only Troopy spare.

Once I made it to katherine I breathed a long sigh of relief...

Made it at 7:30am. Dropped the van at Badgers so he could put his "wake up" lithium charger onto the van batteries and bring them back to life...

Dropped the two bois off at Rellams (air conditioned) pet boarding at 8am and had plenty of time to make it to Tyrepower by 9am for the new Toyo MT's to be fitted.

Then back to Badger to continue charging the 400ah of batteries in the Kedron and to remove the 15yo 130w panels and replace with one large 440w new panel (there is still space another of the 440w + a further 1,000w of panels).

I've actually kept the two 285/75 Nitto MT's that were originally on the front of the Troopy (and had swapped to the back for the day) as 3rd spares "just in case".

So the Troopy now has two brand new spares for the first time since we've owned it. The plan now is to rotate the tyres every 6-8 weeks to extend their life a little.

plan number 2 is to swap the Kedron over to 285/75 Toyo ATs. The wheels are matched (5/150, 0 offset 16") so I'll fit the 3 x ROH steel sunraiser from the old Getaway van to the Kedron (with a ROH that i already have and then buy two more) and swap the Kedron alloy wheels and the curtrent 265/75's over to the Getaway to be sold with it.

I'm a huge fan of wheel interchaneability out here

Quote from: MattNQ on October 02, 2026, 12:26:26 PM"The batteries BMS shut them down into sleep mode when they got too low. Being older, they don't have a button or a key to "awaken" them. They need a proper lithium charger with a "wake up" mode. (this why the app can't see them)"

I had that problem on our last trip. The van didn't have a DC-DC converter set up on the car feed, and just has an older solar controller. So when our van batteries went flat when sitting unused for a few rainy days visiting family in Toowoomba, neither the solar nor car feed could wake them up again. Had to juice them up again in Stanthorpe

same here... No DCDC charger was apparently fitted back in 2011. (I see Victron in my future)

Quote from: Bird on October 03, 2026, 05:11:04 PMWoke me up!

Another Quake this morning - 4.8

So the earth moved for you! 

Foo

Price drop

Bit wet out there... not good fer campin'

Woke me up!

Another Quake this morning - 4.8