Gazza

Hi All Approximately 12 months ago I ordered a McHitch from McHitch.com.au after speaking with the owner Joe McGinnes. A week ago did a short trip down to the beach to try out the new tug I had just purchased to tow the van. On arrival back home had a little hitch (pun intended) with the McHitch coupling. On the phone to Joe about the problem. Told Joe what the problem was and in no time he had a solution on how I could fix it, but also stated he would not only send me the new part to correct the issue but would also send the socket to undo the nut and instructions on how to go about it. I just want to mention the good service I received, but would also wish to thank Joe for his assistance in correcting the problem. Thank you Joe. I have no affiliation with the Company, just happy with the great service. Gazza

Thanks Colin, Much appreciated. Gazza

G'day Colin, I to would realy appreciate details of this camp. Although we will not be travelling up there this year (Still working, but retiring next year)we will be making plans to 'do' up north when the time comes in 2013. Have a good Easter trip also for us. Regards, Gazza & Judy.

Thanks Russ for the information. Much appreciated. Gazza

Hi Russ I to am interested in your RO Filter. How do you store it when you are traveling, eg. Do you block up the ends so no water escapes from the filter so the filters do not dry out, or is there some other thing that you do. Would be most interested as I will possibly be purchasing one in the near future. Regards Gazza

Hi Rod Sorry, I may of misinterpreted your post to me. Regards Gazza

Hi Rod Sorry didn't mean to hit a nerve. But I thought we both had the same problem. Re Lifting/bubbling decals. Unfortunately I am unable at present to put my van under cover, so the morning and afternoon sun beats down on the sides of the van. The decals started to bubble so I use to push them back in with my finger. But after 12 months of doing this I figured the best way was to cut a slit in the decal to remove the air, and it appears to have prevented most of the decals for bubbling again. But there are still a few stubborn places where they have not stuck to. Ah well such is life. Got better things to do. Gazza

Hi John, Yes I have the same problem. Mine started to bubble before 6 months. Took the van back down from Rocky at 6 months to have some warranty work done, mentioned the bubbling decals, but alas still have the same bubbling decals. Have put a small nick along where the bubbling is occurring to let the air escape to try and at least get a few more years out of them. Perhaps I should just get them taken off and then no more worries. I think you will find that nearly everyone would be having the same problems with the decals. Some just don't admit it. Regards Gazza

Hi Robert & Jane Thank you for the advice RE silicon. Will do some research at Bunnings later in the week. I was getting a bit worried that I was the only one that had trouble with the combined unit. Regards Gazza

Hi Doris and Rob, I have an ATV with the Thetford toilet/vanity/sink bowl combination in mine. I do not know if Kedron still put this shower/toilet combination in their new vans now. If you do go the combination shower/toilet way, just make sure it is sealed around the edges with sikaflex. Mine was done with white silicon and the beading is now coming away from the plastic combination. The beading is still attached to the wall. I'm a bit worried it will fall off the wall if I take the van on another trip. I have only travelled approximately 8000k's so far and that has been on bitumen. It will be a big job to remove the silicon off the walls and reseal it with the sikaflex. Not looking forwarded to that job I can tell you. Ensure you get it done properly. Like Webby says good luck. While I'm typing this does anybody know which sikaflex would be best to use to reseal the combination.

Hi Robert and Jane, Could you not add a 2 or 3 inch (50/75mm) piece to the bottom. Would work out a bit cheaper. Possibly go for a colour to suit the van or a dark colour to hide the dirt when it sits on the ground.

Hi Russ, Appears that compressor fridges suffer the same fate as 3 way fridges - RE HEAT hanging around for cabinet. Haven't got to the stage of putting insulation around the sides of the fridge, but that will be another project in the future. Hate having warm/cool beers after a looooog days drive. Regards Gazza

Hi all, Forgot to mention I also glued a piece of polystryine on the bottom of the fridge, above the compressor to stop the bottom of the fridge heating up. There's a bit of heat that comes off the compressor when it's working. Regards Gazza

Hi Phil Thank for the wiring sketch. It is much easier to follow than the one I got with the switch. You must have an electrical background or you have been into electrical wiring for some time. Phil what I did was to take out the top vent above the fridge. I then cut pieces of polystryine (spelling) and filled up the cavity from on top of the fridge to the 'ceiling'. You will have to lift the 1st piece and place the second piece under the first. You will also have the cut it in half lengths to fit them in as the pieces will not fit in one whole piece across the fridge. I cut pieces to length and fitted them from wall to wall. If you do not bring the 'ceiling' down the hot air stays on top of the fridge. With the polystryine in place the 'ceiling' is then down to the top of the vent. Hope this makes sense. I then wired in 2 x 80mm computer fans and secured then to the inside of the top vent. I ran the wiring to the side of the fridge and put a common household double switch wall plate, to the inside wall of the van. From there I can turn both the fans on or only one at a time as needed. This was to get rid of the hot air produced by the fridge within the cavity. Another thing I did was to cut pieces of 2mm aluminium to fit on top of the shelves. These are secured by putting 2 small holes (in all corners) in the aluminium and securing it with small zip ties. I did not put any other holes in the aluminium sheeting but looking back I think I could have. Not that it would make much difference. I used the aluminium as a 'cold sink' as opposed to a heat sink. When the fridge and the contents are cold and you open the fridge most of the cold air drops out of the fridge and is replaced by hot air. When you close the door hot air has entered and the air is cooled quicker and the fridge does not take as long to cool down again. I even made up another shelf out of aluminium and put edging on it so I could have another shelf. I have thought about putting in roof batt insulation to the sides of the fridge, but I think that I would need to pull the fridge part way out of the the cavity to get them in. I looked at trying to get something in from the outside but it would be too hard through the opening. So at this stage I and using the fans to get rid of the hot air. Another thing I did was to place a 125mm x 25mm x 2mm (roughly) piece of aluminium under the thermostat 'pipping' where it attaches to the inside of the fridge. In my opinion when the aluminium cools down the thermostat switches off and it does not switch on again until the aluminium strip heats up. I think it gives a more stable temperature range than when the 'pipping' is connected to the plastic side of the fridge. Hope this helps. I have not taken any temps, but I do have a wireless weather thingy, and I can put 2 x remotes into the fridge and it will tell me at what temp. the fridge or freezer are at. Mainly use it to make sure the fridge is still working and I am not going to lose any food. Gazza

Hi Phil, I am in the process of 'copying' your fridge fan setup. Have bought the Twilight Switch from Jaycar, but am having trouble trying to get my head around the wiring diagram that came with the switch. Sorry not very electrically minded, although I can follow a sketched wiring diagram. Do I have to do a separate circuit, one for the power side and one for the fan side or can I just join the 2 circuits together off a common positive and negative. I realise that I have to join the power side up to positive and negative power, but can I join the fan side of the switch to the same positive and negative. Obviously the power would have to pass through the fan first then back to the negative terminal. Hope your following what I am trying to say. Would be really appreciated if you could somehow put a sketched wiring diagram of your setup for me to follow. Regards Gazza

Hello Ian, When picking up my van from the factory, I was told to always put the switch in the '240 volt' mode when traveling. If for some reason the water pump turned on you would not loose all your water or worse flood the inside of the van. Regards Gazza

Hello Brian, My black side strikers are bubbling under and coming off. Took the van back after 6 months to have some warranty work done. Showed them where stickers were bubbling. All they did was push the stickers back down. They did nothing about them. Now they are cracking and falling apart. Not happy. Gazza

Hello Bruce, I use 4 bolts with lock nuts through the spare holes in the spare wheel securing plate. Don't know if you have any spare holes in the plate where the spare wheels bolt onto. (2 bolts for each spare wheel) Bolts are a different size to the wheels nuts securing the spare wheels, so that if someone had a 'spanner' to remove the wheel nuts they will also have to have two separate spanners to remove the lock nuts to get the wheels off the van. If the person is going to 'rip' off a spark wheel then he may be an opportunist so he may not have the correct size spanners to remove the locknuts and bolts with him at the time. I know it is a bit of a pain to have to have 2 spanners to do up and undo the bolts to get the spare wheel off the van, but for the little bit in inconvenience at the time, it will probably save you the price of a tyre and a mag wheel to match what you already have. Regards Garry MUNRO happy_campers@internode.on.net

Hi Russ and Sue, Good to hear that you had a good trip. We to have just picked up out new ATV before Xmas and had found some small items that need to be fixed under warranty. Just concerned about the fridge. Can you elaborate a little about your fridge and why it was replaced. If you like you can Email me at happy_campers@internode.on.net Regards Garry MUNRO

Thanks Tony, Will get up there some time and see if I can take a photo or two and then post them on the site. Regards Garry & Judy MUNRO

Hi to everybody, have just returned from Brisbane after collecting our new ATV from KEDRON. Very relaxing and a pleasure to go to sleep in. On arriving home I decided to wash the van. Got out the gerni and a ladder and put it at the rear of the van. Climbed up the ladder and needed to wash a little further across the other side of the van. I placed my hand on the top of the van. As I did so, the aluminium sheeting on the top of the van flexed down approximately 20cm. I quickly took my hand off the roof as I could feel the aluminium roof touching the internal aluminiuim framing. The roof sheeting rebounded into the correct place. Did this a couple of times with the same result. I also did the same thing on the front. Placed my hand on the roof in front of the hatch and noticed it did the same as the rear section. This time the roof went down about 30cm. I'm trying to establish if this is normal. Has anybody else noticed if their caravan roof flexes as much. Is the roof supposed to be attached to the aluminium framing or is it suppose to flex due to heat buildup during the day. (Expanding and contracting) The only section of the roof which is 'solid' and did not flex is where the solar panels are attached. As this is my first caravan it was very disconcerning to have this happen. I thought I was going to fall into the living room of the van. Your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Garry & Judy MUNRO Rockhampton. :helpsmilie:

Hello everybody, Jude and I picked up our ATV from Kedron on Wednesday 10/12/08. We stayed at Cotton Tree Caravan Park until Saturday. We left the van park and went to Australiawide Canvas at Kunda Park where we had the annex walls fitted. After fitment we took a slow trip home to Rockhampton, stopping at Apple Tree Creek (Free Camp 1 night), then onto Turtle Sands Caravan Park for 2 nights. We then left on the Tuesday morning and arrived a Calliope Rest Stop (Free Camp 2 nights). We arrived home today (Thursday) and parked the van where we pulled everything out and cleaned both equipment and van. Must say 'Hotel on Wheels" compared to camper trailer days. Will be taking the van on a couple of short weekend trips to sort things out before tackling the 'big stuff'. Located a couple of things and will take up with Kedron at later date. All in all, very nice van. Hope to see you all on a KOGGER trip in the future. Garry & Judy. :thumbsup:

We to (Judy and I) have been contacted by the Kedron factory to advise us also that our long awaited Kedron ATV2 is nearly at completion stage. We will be heading off to Brisbane 'early' Monday morning 01/12/2008 and will go to the factory to admire the finishing touches being performed prior to delivery, sometime during the week. We have been unfortunate not to have been able to see the van being built from the chassis up, as we could not organise the time off due to work commitments. After pickup we will be heading up the Coast to Cotton Tree Caravan park to have the annex walls made. We will then take a slow trip back to Rockhampton just in time for work again. Hope to see you all on the road sometime in the future. Regards to all Garry & Judy MUNRO :biggrin:

Val & Chris The split system A/C I am intending to install will be a Daikin 3.5kW Inverter, (Heating/Cooling). I have a mate who is a dealer and I will buy it and have the pipes installed during the build. When we ordered the van I spoke to Stan about it and he stated if we get the A/C down to him he would arrange to have the pipes put in place during the build. I would then arrange and have the A/C connected to the pipes and gassed by my dealer up here. From all the caravan forums which I have been reading, since and prior to Jude and I deciding to purchase a van, I have not read many good comments about the roof top A/C's. (Eg, noisey, can't be started on a 2KVA generator, outside temperature, etc.) This is the main reason I am going for the Split System. Although some vanners say they can start their roof top A/C on the 2KVA Honda, but after they turned off all the 240V electrical equipment and run everything off 12V. I realise that the A/C will not carry any warranty (something I'll have to talk to my mate about), but at the cost of the unit, I will be able to purchase 2 of them and still be in front compared to the cost and replacemet of a roof top A/C. Depending on which part, (the compressor or internal blower) which gives trouble, I may only have to replace either. I could have gone for a cheaper unit, but I have to support my mate up here. (Might get it a bit cheaper if I'm good to him.) Another couple of reasons I'm going that way is it can be serviced on the ground and there is less holes in the roof for water to ingress inside the caravan. After installation I will have some sort of cover made to cover the compressor unit to keep a large proportion of the dust out whilst travelling on dirt roads. (And then it will only need a light hosing of the condensor with water) After making enquiries on the KOG Forum, I was given a contact number for YOSHI, who has also installed a Daiken Split System A/C into his van. I have rung him on the phone and he also gave me some advice in relation to his installation. If there is anything else I can help you with please contact me by my E Mail address and I will send you my mobile phone number Regards Garry & Jude happy_campers@internode.on.net.

Hello Lea, Thank you for your comments. Still trying to get layout onto site. Shouldn't be too long now. Garry