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Post by doublechevron on Apr 29, 2024 21:04:19 GMT 10
Wow ... its been nearly 9 years ..... The old bunk 'van. I think after enjoying it for 9 years we are going to have to sell it. You see, the kids have grown up. 18 and 20 this year ( and 11 ). How the hell did that happen in a mere blink of an eye  ... any suggestions on an ensuite caravan that would interest someone as crazy as me  |
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Post by doublechevron on Feb 2, 2019 18:53:39 GMT 10
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Post by doublechevron on Feb 2, 2019 9:53:55 GMT 10
all collectible cars go thru that cycle of life. The challenge is working out which ones will come out the other end being desirable … always thought the xj jag would do that, just don't have anywhere to keep a couple.. I don't care so much how collectible something is .... Well basically if its sought after and collectible. I'm not owning it as it will cost to much to buy. Eg: the old falcons ... gee's even commodores these days. My father shakes his head is disbelief when he sees the amount being asked for old xy falcons etc these days .... 'Those things were pieces of nuts when new .... let alone 40years later.. I know, I had one" ... My take on it is ... .Does it make you smile ? Do you drive along with a stupid big grin on your face .... Do you enjoy working on it .... Do you tend to climb into your old shitbox and drive it even when its 40degrees outside and you have boring modern piece of crap with decent air-con to drive? That's the car for me. I keep seeing cars like these old Jags ... Old studebakers and think "wow if I had a few thousand to spare right now ........ I'd have one pissed off wife ... and another toy to drive around" ... whenever I had the time and money to fix what had broken on it lately  But hey, that is half the fun too  I've spotted a really nice tidy old jeep (real jeep .. military thing) for sale in town a couple of weeks ago. Sure I'm positive it is a hideous heap of nuts in every way.... But a really tidy driving willies jeep for $4,000 ...... How could you go wrong ?. I could see myself driving it around all summer... with a stupid big grin on my face. lifes to short to drive boring shitboxes ... I say Go For It ... forget money and prices.... get something that makes you smile everytime you see it parked outside and ignore what others think (especially the angry boss women ). seeya Shane L. |
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Post by doublechevron on Jan 31, 2019 12:33:05 GMT 10
Spectacular!! I keep seeing really nice looking Jags for sale ... with 350 chevs fitted for so little money. You get the reliability and tune-ability of an american dinosaur in an old Jag that looks like its been cherished and loved .... For so little money ( less than $5k ). It is very fortunate I am always broke seeya shane L |
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Post by doublechevron on Dec 19, 2018 13:04:05 GMT 10
That car has been around for a lot of years. You can see its a converted wagon quite easily. It was probably built 20+years ago before there was countless modern utes around. D's are phenomenal tow cars ... but no good for modern HEAVY caravans. They only have a small 2.3litre 4cylinder engine (at the largest), they also are not heavy enough to tow modern behemoths. The wheelbase is 124" from memory. That is one of the reasons they look so weird, the wheels are at the very corners (unlike the american stuff that put the rear axle in the middle of the car).
Self leveling suspension and enormous inboard disc brakes with the huge wheel base makes them exceptional towcars. Far to slow to tow with on modern roads though.
seeya
Shane L.
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Post by doublechevron on Jan 31, 2018 15:53:02 GMT 10
Looky what turned up today - It's brilliant and my god is it sharp! Even my Son - who is a Butcher - said it was very sharp even by his standards. Hopefully won't lose a finger to it, but looking forward to giving it a workout in the kitchen. Big thanks to Mustang who held this for me over Chrissy until I rememberd to pay for it... 😁  C6FEADCB-1D64-4590-9859-1F3260AD4809 by Gavin Gregory, on Flickr Anyone in the market for a top quality blade that is different from the run of the mill stuff should give him a call. 👍 So .... Where do we get one of these ? ..... |
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Post by doublechevron on Jan 4, 2018 18:58:59 GMT 10
what makes it an f350 ... my brother recently got an old f250 ... its bloody ginormous. extra cab huge tray, duel rear wheels ... two fuel tanks, big slippry rear diff... and 460 v8. wow it sounds fabulous. i wonder how it's a 250, but that one is a 350 ? is it the chassis capacity?
The thing looks perfect for an old 5th wheeler caravan!
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Post by doublechevron on Jan 2, 2018 11:40:29 GMT 10
the measurments are usually the external body size. so a 16foot caravan is actually less than that inside as you are measuring the body of the caravan. 16foot used to be the default family sized caravan. Now it's considered "small" LOL.
for little 'vans. look at viscount nipper, little ripper, driftaway little robin etc...
I'm not a fan of the interior look of the current caravans. All the shiny white... so bland. If you have kids they will leave finger prints everywhere (and you would need sunglasses on to sit in them LOL). I prefer the well executed wood veneer look.
seeya,
Shane L.
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Post by doublechevron on Dec 27, 2017 9:13:26 GMT 10
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Post by doublechevron on Nov 24, 2017 14:46:37 GMT 10
Hope you’re right! Let’s start a book.... 😆 Snoops. 1,600 Double Chevron. 1,400 Any other guesses? You’ve got a couple of weeks before it makes a weighbridge. 😊 They would have been design to be towed by the V8 passenger sedans of there time. Now way will it be more than 1500kgs.... as back then you were into light truck territory! seeya, Shane L. |
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Post by doublechevron on Nov 24, 2017 13:10:04 GMT 10
Just did some googling and found that a 40mm square axle with Holden bearings is good for 1000KG, so that's fine for anticipated loading. Will run the van over a weighbridge when I move it to see where it is at now but I anticipate somewhere around 1,600KG for a van this size - does that sound about right? The block of flats here says 1590kg on the rego label (tare). I've never weighed it though as it's simply not relevant. No matter what it weighs empty/loaded. It will still probably only be 50% of the range rover tow capacity. I would expect that to be quiet a bit lighter than the block of flats. It will be far more lightly built ... probably much better built with aluminium frame etc... I'm guessing closer to 1400kg seeya, shane L. |
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Post by doublechevron on Nov 14, 2017 9:16:05 GMT 10
yeah in victoria they'll just provide you with a VIN to stamp into the drawbar ... and your done!
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Post by doublechevron on Nov 11, 2017 21:46:28 GMT 10
Wow ... WELL DONE GETTING THAT !!!! Don't modify this one for an ensuite though ..... You see family 'vans in that condition are IMPOSSIBLE to find. If you clean and re-seal it.... You'll have a hell of a collectable 'van. Just watch over the next couple of months on all the for sale sites. Families just can't find these bunk room 'vans. seeya, Shane L. PS: You will need to get that into a shed. It's going to leak like a sieve once it twists and flexes after travelling along the roads. |
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Post by doublechevron on Aug 18, 2017 14:12:40 GMT 10
Amongst the junk mail I spotted a Hayman Reece tow ball scale just $60.00 (Autobarn) Nice to know the actual towball down weight :   180kg falls into 14% of the laden weight. The previous bathroom scale method was well out at 220kg which was worrying me. DO NOT USE THIS METHOD:  I would be more concerned you new ball scales are inaccurate ... Why don't you try placing a "known" weight on the scales and see what they register. Eg: .... er, how much do you weigh if you stand on them |
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Post by doublechevron on Aug 17, 2017 10:24:19 GMT 10
It depends on the manufacturer ... The europeans have the "swaying bastards" as I call them caravans. However, there is a huge amount of design and investigation put into there 'vans. Eg: look at the modern vans Baileys. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFzrWHTG5e8If you watch the video ... They show the "tradiational" aussie caravan towards the end. gas bottles, tool boxes, annex poles and big boot on the front and two massive offroad spares, tool box ... and maybe pushbikes and boat motor on the back. It is actually harder to get these 'vans to sway if you watch a few of these demonstration videos. They seem to be far more stable up to the point where they start to sway .... then it's all over, they are almost instantly massively out of control. now you go to the modern european caravan. My parents van is like this. There is no front boot (so you can't put weight on the nose), no rear bumper to hang nuts from. The spare is underslung between the axles from memory. The tanks are between the axles. The gas bottles are under the sink in the middle of the caravan. Everything "heavy" is right over the axles. This layout will produce a caravan that "moves around and wanders a bit" I reckon. But it's also highly, massively unlikely you will ever end up with dangerous levels of sway (as it corrects itself almost right away). You do see videos of pommy 'vans swaying and crashing if you look on youtube. I reckon they'll be massively tail heavy. If you have the bed at the back, the only place to put most of your contents is under the bed. With a normal ball weight of about 70kgs ... it doesn't take much loading at the back edge of the caravan to make it tail heavy. seeya, Shane L. |
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Post by doublechevron on Aug 17, 2017 9:20:26 GMT 10
I really like the way you have painted the doors and woodwork. Most you see painted look terrible (IMO). The faint grain of wood still showing through makes it "almost" look like the fake veneer they use in caravans these days seeya, Shane L. |
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Post by doublechevron on Aug 12, 2017 18:04:07 GMT 10
Hi Guys, well that was great The block of flats just spent nearly 3 months wobbling up the coast behind the POS Rangie ...  We carried this huge massive ( HEAVY ) fully framed annex with us everywhere. We never put it up once. Should have left it at home (this is warnanbool fun for kids last year). No wonder the annex is like new... you don't really need it with the lving space inside the caravan.  we headed across melbourne... staying a small places. The little caravan park was great at Nowa Nowa. We took the $800 rangie towing the block of flats through every mountain range we could find. I found (on the very first day obviously) we had no caravan brakes... The brake pedal switch had broken apart driving through Melbourne  I finally managed to get a universal replacement so the caravan brakes would work in Eden ... Right through the mountains with no brakes, that sure was fun ( I could use the controller to mannually apply the caravan brakes) Don't rely on a reverse cycle air conditoner through the victorian mountains.... Once you get towards zero degrees they just don't work. ![]() ![]()   Merimbula was fantastic. This is the Big 4 ... it's backs onto the ocean. It has brilliant facilities for kids.  My parents were at tweed heads on holidays. So we stopped there for a week. This is the view sitting in the caravans doorway.  It's weird to see the block of flats parked in among those rainforest trees. All the popular places everyone goes .... I wasn't really fond of. Just people and bloody traffic. But what amazed me was Maryborough in QLD. We really enjoyed that place. We sadly missed the Mary Poppins festival by 2 days The kids loved the mary poppins stuff there though.  We didn't go much higher than bundaburg. The Bundy museum was surprisingly interesting. As was the gingerbeer barrel". The poor old Rangie sure did get weighed down with to much brewed softdrink The cola available only from there factory was great.  We must have stopped at every playground on the eastern coast . Oh yes, I we did get bogged, Easts Beach Caravan park, to get the caravan onto the site I had to put the center diff lock in to get moving LOL. They had huge amounts of rain just before we got there (what a climb out of that place too ... 1st gear the entire way to get onto the freeway onramp .... When I saw the hill through the windscreen I was considering grabbing low range!). Not just that .... The holiday hasn't finished. We have been home for a week or so .... And living in the caravan is so much fun, we are still there ( a hose burst in the house roof while we were away, so we will be in the caravan while the house is repaired for at least 2 months I'd say ). Just as well I fitted that reverse cycle A/C !! It's bloody cold in a caravan in a Ballarat Winter. At least it's nice and dry though, just as well I put so much effort into sealing this caravan up. I didn't intend to spend any time in it when the weather is wet and shithouse like this. seeya, Shane L. |
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Post by doublechevron on Jun 5, 2017 18:23:56 GMT 10
well if you have installed the air conditioner to use as a heater .... I can assure you if you stay in alpine country this time of year ... it will not be upto the task of heating the caravan overnight/early morning. The thing turns into a solid lump of ice. Now if the temperature would just stay above about 4 degrees... it is nothing short of brilliant.... Don't throw your fan heater out if your heading out orbost way seeya Shane L. |
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Post by doublechevron on May 27, 2017 18:23:23 GMT 10
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Post by doublechevron on May 21, 2017 10:28:07 GMT 10
THe silicons will work, but will make removal of windows/hatches almost impossible. The only real option is mastic. Everything else sticks to well. Well that's my opinion either way. If you want a scare, go look how badly most of the aussie caravans are assembled. Every window is stuck in with 10 tubes of silicon ....  How the hell you would EVER get them out if needed is beyond me. The main thing is you MUST "squeeze out" the sealer of choice. Running a bead of silicon/sealer/whatever around the window will NEVER work seeya, Shane L. |
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Post by doublechevron on May 19, 2017 21:49:12 GMT 10
I can advice you RV Roof Coating because it's strong and sustains very long. After that you won't be afraid of heavy rain and you can stand under waterfall. Yeah, it can work even like this. You would have to be crazy to pour that nuts all over your roof. Imagine trying to scrape it off to do it properly. You rekcon it takes a long time trying to clean off silicon and mastic... Imagine trying to get that crap back off The only way to fix leaks it to pull the tru-molds/hatches, clean the old sealer off and re-apply it correctly..... Oh, and guys I reckon we have a spam member here. They don't even realise this is an australian forum. seeya, Shane L. |
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Post by doublechevron on May 13, 2017 10:12:32 GMT 10
Nice. I've thought about doing something similar in mine, but I think it would be too heavy for my little van, but Imlike the idea. We don't always free camp and some of the parks we go to in Winter (like in Daylesford) our little oil column heater I take with us doesn't quite cut it, and up north in Summer gets a bit warm at times, but I've found it needs to be more than about 32 for me to really notice it. Your caravan is a franklin though ... A foam sandwich .... ie: it's basically a coolroom with windows. It's design is about a million times better than these 'vans made with crappy frail matchstick sized wooden frames. This caravan is like a tin shed sitting in the sun. Without kids, you want a fan heater. They use a huge amount of power but will heat your caravan in seconds ( you need one with a thermostat otherwise you'l end up with all the windows open). I think the condenser unit is about 30kgs. I moved the annex poles and canvas inside back to the axles ... so moved about 100kgs off the front of the caravan ... but added 30kg of condenser to the nose. The main bit is it's quiet'ish. And takes no interior living space. your running current is only about 3amps from memory (versus the 10amps of a fan heater). So you could run it from a battery system or generator (it will not have a soft start being such a cheap a/c unit, so you startup current maybe to much for a small generator) seeya, Shane L. |
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Post by doublechevron on May 12, 2017 21:43:05 GMT 10
If you have a land rover ... Use it's jack. It's a two stage bottle jack with an axle carrier type fitting at the top to reduce the likelyhood of it slipping. (ie: the top of it is shaped like an axle stand).
seeya,
Shane L.
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Post by doublechevron on May 11, 2017 23:00:18 GMT 10
Thanks Guys, like everything it will probably never be quite finished .... The potatoe patch this year ? We are going to be off caravaning through June and July, so will probably miss it! ( I must say, the boss women shows absolutely zero interest in going away to a muddy field in the middle of winter LOL ). Oh, there was one other thing I did recently (also scattered across the forum).... Air conditioning, my wife wasn't really interested in this. But I spotted the reverse cycle split systems at Bunnings for $399.00 ................. And I already had the copper here .... so could easily fit it up for nothing. So I figured ... why not  I chopped the gas bottle mount off and welded a new cross bar on. I refuse to weld to a structural member like the drawbar for no reason ( as you risk introducing brittle areas around the welds that can crack). If you check the cross bar is welded to the existing cross bar, and down to the bracing below the drawbar.  The new crossbar to hold the A/C and gas bottle. I;m sure there is laws that say an A/C system cannot be mounted this close to a gas bottle. Just as well I don't care about this right ( I could put a shield between the two of them... but I'm not concerned, leaking gas will drop to the lowest point. And I always keep the gas bottle firmly OFF. We have a 4 year old and the old stove in this caravan doesn't have thermo switches on the hotplates... so gas will always flow, even without flame if they are bumped or switched on (very dangerous if your not careful).   The pipes and wiring run across the front wall, down the bed cupboard, through the storage box beneath and trhough the floor  The biggest problem is the way I've hidden the pipes looked shithouse.. I thought it would be ok... but now it's in ... It looks like someone has just smashed the curtain pelmet ..... groan .... It doesnt' actually have pelmets! I have modified this since, it now looks a lot better, but not perfect (I'll get a picture later). This is the ONLY place the air conditioner head could go. It took a LOT of messing around to get it in this exact spot. You see the bed swings through this area as it comes down. Even the angled cut-away on the bit of plywood JUST clears the bed by about 1mm as it swings past the A/C unit. The A/C is VERY effective though. It's doesn't keep the caravan refrigerator cold if you have the long side wall in the direct sun on a hot day (the whole wall turns into a radiant heater ... no insulation at all in these old 'vans). But it's still very comfortable. It also works very nicely at heating the 'van. It's very quiet compared to a rooftop rattler. So there you go, a very usable, efficient quiet air conditioner that takes not internal space ... for only $399.00 .... It's the best thing I've done. I now don't need to worry about having things like fan heaters running in the caravan with kids around that smother them ... and knock them over etc... seeya Shane L. |
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Post by doublechevron on May 9, 2017 12:55:31 GMT 10
So the outside access doors provide access to under one of the bunks.... I also noticed one of the couch cushions was quite small, and you could get to it without moving the table.  So the only readily accessible cushion is the one beside the table. The cushions around the table that are awkward to get to I've stored the annex under (this also moves the very heavy annex back near the axles).  this is the small cushion.  there is two lift out panels under it. I cut these down to be slightly smaller than the cushion (so they wouldn't catch on the two cushions beside the small one).... Then used a length of scrap metal to join the crappy chipboardlift out panels together, and cut them down and used a piano hinge across the back (the hinges are about $13 at bunnings).  The gas strut is about $20 with with end bits at caravansplus.  This works really well.  I did the same trick with the bunk at the back.  The bunks are much stronger layered plywood. I had to pry/break the middle section between the two lift up panels out.  Once again a piano hinge across the back.... and a length of scrap metal holding all three panels together.  And another caravans plus gas strut. This works REALLY well. The mattress is lightweight foam, so it lifts it easily. seeya, Shane L. |
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... any suggestions on an ensuite caravan that would interest someone as crazy as me 
But hey, that is half the fun too 
I've spotted a really nice tidy old jeep (real jeep .. military thing) for sale in town a couple of weeks ago. Sure I'm positive it is a hideous heap of nuts in every way.... But a really tidy driving willies jeep for $4,000 ...... How could you go wrong ?. I could see myself driving it around all summer... with a stupid big grin on my face.
How the hell you would EVER get them out if needed is beyond me.