We have had a lot of issues with the old 3way fridge running on gas in hot weather not getting cold enough. We decided to ditch it in favour of a Bushman 12v fridge. We also installed a VoltaX 200AH lithium battery & an Enerdrive DCDC 40+ charger to run it. We also had a gas bayonet installed at the front of the van so we can run our BBQ directly without requiring an additional bottle.

Battery setup in front toolbox

• 200ah Lithium and an Enerdrive DCDC charger – redid all of the wiring and fuse system
• Everything is fused and cable is sized according to Enerdrive recommendations
• New cable run inside van for both the fridge and the rooftop solar – 240w panels on roof
• Added Anderson plug for external unregulated solar panels – we have a 300w Antem solar blanket so will have 540w total if needed
• Had gas fitter do a new gas certificate after removal of gas line for fridge
• Gas fitter installed a bayonet to the van for plugging in a BBQ
• Gas fitter installed a new gas regulator

New Bushman 12v 130-X Fridge

How Much Did It All Cost To Install A Bushman 12v Fridge?

Well it wasn’t exactly a cheap exercise but it will be worth it to no have to put up with the temperamental old 3way fridge.

Conclusion

It took me about 2 full weekends to install it all. It works great and we are very happy with the result. Here’s to plenty of cold beers on this years National Muster!

Supreme Getaway New Hose and Regulator Setup

It’s important to carry a decent assortment of tools and spare parts in your caravan or 4wd toolkit when you hit the road particularly if you plan on going to outback and remote areas. Even if you aren’t particularly handy someone might come along who is and can help you out.

What Tools Do We Carry In Our 4wd & Caravan toolkit?

Just a basic mechanics tool kit and anything specific to your vehicle or caravan or camper trailer will see you through most tasks. Any of the usual retail outlets will be able to set you up. For something in the range of $300 you will be able to source all of the basics. More specific tools in our caravan toolkit are things like custom spanners for adjusting suspension settings or for setting up your towing hitch or for basic adjustments and repairs to things like a chainsaw.

Our Basic Tool Kit For Caravan and 4WD

Spare Parts and Supplies

It’s great to carry a decent range of common items such as gaffa tape, electrical wire, electrical components like relays, fuses and cable crimps. Cable ties, WD40, strong wire and nuts and bolts all come in handy as do glues, adhesives and different kinds of silicones. We also have a spare set of wheel bearings for the caravan as well as wheel nuts for both the ute and the caravan. A puncture repair kit and a compressor are good things to have too.

Spares we carry specific to our vehicle are a top and bottom radiator hose and associated hoseclamps as well as a fanbelt and turbo hotpipe (known point of failure with our vehicle). We also have a diesel prefilter fitted so we have a replacement filter for it. We run a snorkel on our vehicle and have dust filters as spares for when we are in dusty conditions. After a trip we did a few years ago we now carry a few spare Anderson plugs as well as both male and female trailer plug connectors. The Planet Arabury Road is pretty hard on your gear!

Spare Parts and Supplies We Carry

An OBD2 Diagnostic Scanner is a Great Addition

When a modern, EFI vehicle isn’t running correctly, it can be difficult to diagnose the problem particularly if you are on your own and a long way from home. In a lot of cases it will let you know what is wrong with your vehicle and you might be able to come up with a quick fix. Sometimes the problem isn’t readily apparent but once you know what it is the light goes off in your head and you can work it out. It can also help you to determine what spare part you may need. Some of them also allow you to clear simple error codes.

Caravan Plumbing Spares

Caravans have a lot of pipework and a lot of joiners to link all of that pipework together and sometimes things can go wrong particularly if you do a lot of dirt road travel. Have a look underneath your van or camper trailer and in cupboards etc and make an inventory of all of the different fittings and types of hoses that are used and buy a couple of everything plus a few metres of the different hose types. It may seem like overkill but it won’t cost you very much and when you lose a t-piece from your water pump and you are 450km from a hardware store it will then seem like a bloody great idea! We’ve had a few bits that we have had to replace on the road and a lot of bits that we have helped out fellow travellers with. And if you use a bit don’t forget to replace it when you get back home.

Supreme Getaway Offroad Caravan Plumbing Spare Parts

Conclusion

We may not carry the absolute best toolkit or spares for every eventuality however we are more than covered for the basics that can be done with our knowledge and skillset. We are also able to offer assistance to others in need whenever and wherever it’s required. We could carry a lot more but we always have reducing the weight of our caravan and ute in the back of our minds.

Happy travelling!

Caravan weight is a hot topic of conversation in Facebook groups so how do you reduce caravan weight? ATM, GTM &Tare. So how do you go about getting your packed weight down to where you are legal?

Below I will outline some of the things we have done to reduce the weight of our caravan so that we are comfortably legal when we hit the road. I won’t go in to an explanation of ATM, GTM and Tare as this has been well covered before. Put simply you need to remove anything from your caravan that you don’t need. I’ll repeat that for you in a different way, if you don’t need it don’t take it.

Cull and Rationalise Cooking & Kitchen Equipment

1. Cooking and kitchen equipment can eat up a lot of your payload.
2. Only carry a large cooks knife and a smaller cooks knife. Don’t carry a whole knife block full of knives you can get by without
3. Reduce the number of saucepans you take. A big one and a medium will probably do the trick. Consider getting some of those silicone saucepans as they weigh less
4. Cut down on serving and mixing bowls. Carry a few plastic mixing bowls, they can double as serving bowls
5. Use plastic utensils such as spatulas and stirring and serving spoons
6. Carry only one set of tongs. A good long pair can double for both kitchen and BBQ use
7. Get a plastic chopping board instead of a big thick wooden one

Reduce Plates, Bowls, Glasses & Cutlery

8. Carry the number of plate settings for the number of people in your caravan plus a spare
9. Carry the number of cutlery sets for the number of people in your caravan plus a spare. You’ll probably want a few extra teaspoons though.
10. Instead of heavy china plates go for lighter steel, plastic or melamine alternatives. As an added bonus they’re less prone to breakage
11. Replace all of your coffee mugs, drinking glasses and wine glasses with a double walled insulated stainless steel cup. Your drink tastes the same out of it, don’t kid yourself otherwise! We managed to remove a couple of kilos from our van by rationalising our drinkware in this way. As a bonus your drink will stay hotter or colder for longer and you won’t be able to break it after after a few too many (a former problem of ours)

Ditch The Heavy Roll Out Awning for a Tarp on a Sailtrack

12. We saved ourselves almost 60kg in weight by removing our roll out awning and replacing it with a tarp that slides in to a sailtrack along the side of our caravan. We purchased ours online from an Aussie company Econotarps and the quality is excellent, the price was great and shipping was fast. As a bonus we have a sailtrack on both sides of our caravan so can set up with the awning on either side. As an even bigger bonus if it gets smashed in a storm just like the roll-out awnings are very prone to do the replacement cost is about $125. So far the one we are using has been up for a total of around 50 days and has survived about six very decent storms with no ill effect. Our old roll out awning complete with arms and everything else required to make it work weighed in at a hefty 65kg. I weighed it after removal. Our new set up that includes the tarp, three poles, three ropes and three pegs only weighs 7kg. Set up time is only 5 minutes absolute maximum and that includes about two minutes of Amanda telling me that I haven’t got the roofline level and getting me to adjust a pole or two a couple of times and ending back where we began.

Spun Steel Camp Oven Instead of Cast Iron

Spun steel camp ovens weigh about a third of an equivalent sized cast iron one. We carry two camp ovens and we use them a lot. We saved well over 10kg by going to spun steel ones. They do cook slightly differently but if you can cook with a camp oven then adjusting to spun steel will be easy for you. Honestly it tastes just as good out of a spun steel camp oven!

Spare Tyres for Your Caravan

13. If you mostly travel on road or never stray too far the main population then one spare is plenty.
14. Make sure you have the right kind of tyres for where you are going and that they are in top condition. This mitigates the chances of a blowout in the first place.
15. Carry a puncture repair kit and know how to use it. A puncture repair kit weighs 1kg compared to a caravan rim and tyre that can weigh about 30kg.
16. Change the hubs on your caravan to match the tow vehicle. Your car spare tyre is then also a spare for your caravan and vice versa.

Change Your AGM Batteries to Lithium for a Massive Weight Reduction

17. Changing from two 120ah AGM batteries to a single 120ah lithium battery will give you about the same number of usable amp hours of supply but will save you about 40kg. We have not done this yet as our current AGM batteries are in good condition but as soon as their performance begins to drop off BOOM they’re gone done and dusted for a lithium.

Rationalise Shoes & Clothes to Reduce Caravan Weight

18. Shoes can really pile up if you aren’t looking and add a lot of weight. A single pair of boots can weigh as much as 1.5kg. A pair of boots each, a pair of thongs each and a pair of runners or hiking shoes is really all you need.
19. Have a look through your drawers, wardrobes, under the bed and in overhead lockers and pull all out all of your clothing and lay it out on the bed. Be reasonable and reduce what you have down to just what you need. If it’s summer do you really need that big leather jacket?

Summary

Being sensible and only taking what you need and use is the easiest way to reduce caravan weight. Don’t let your holiday be ruined by a big fine or unnecessary extra wear and tear on your caravan or vehicle by being overloaded. If you follow the simple tips outlined in this article you can easily strip 100kg from your caravan weight.