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Rod Priestley

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About Rod Priestley

  • Birthday 19/02/1948

Profile Information

  • Ownership status
    XC
  • Gender
    Male
  • Current Location
    Turners Beach Tas
  • Interests
    Grey Nomading, cycling, Ulysses (motorcycling), keeping my wine glass from getting empty!

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  1. Some interesting reading. We have a 2002 XC 24" towed with a 2003 Patrol 4.8 petrol with a 3" lift. Our protection comes in 3 parts - 1. we have fitted "brushes" - the ones you see around the wheel arches of trucks, to the bottom of the existing mud flaps front and rear - keeps the mudflaps within the legal minimum distance (may be a moot point), 2. a full width rubber flap of about 4" attached to two fitted drop down points off the tow bar frame with brushes attached for another 4" or so just clearing the roadway, and 3. a purpose built stone guard across the draw bar angled down to deflect rocks etc with normal shade cloth tied with cable ties not too tight. Worked for us on the GCR and Plenty. Some previous comment has said that this arrangement may not be suitable for Cruisers as the rear diff needs plenty of ventilation. Cheers from Tassie Devils
  2. Hi Lyn and Brenton We did the Plenty to Boulia, Birdsville after the Ulysses AGM (did not take the bike) (at little different to the races in 2006) and Great Central Road a couple of years ago. I am interested in your mod for the range hood. We have a rear kitchen. And we live at Turners Beach. Cheers Rod
  3. Hi, we have a 2002 XC 23ft which we have taken across many dirt roads, more recently the GCR in 2011. Our method is to tape the inside of the (rear) door, tape the bottom of the passenger side windows outside (the camber of the road can jiggle the latches open) and open the 4 seasons front hatch (front opening) to the storm (rain) setting. This provides a positive pressure inside the van. We have been doing this for the last 7 years with no issues. Cheers Rod
  4. Hi If any fridge is not doing the right thing, then its worth checking the capacity (?) of the wireing from the battery. Our fridge used to go into palpitations at 12.6v and not keep anything cold. We worked out that the wireing from the batteries (or any power source) was inadequate to the fridge. Seems to be normal for any caravan. We upgraded to a direct connection (with much greater grunt) (bigger wires ) from the batteries to the fridge. Now the fridge still works at 11.2v. Cheers
  5. Hi, We did the Great Central Road in 2011 in our 2002 XC 23ft with a 2003 4.8 petrol and gas ST Patrol, just us. A few cupboard doors fell off, the fridge moved, the passenger side windows came undone with lots of dust, (tape all that side windows from the outside), and the inevitable red beet container in the fridge unscrewed itself. We always open the front opening four seasons hatch to the storm setting which gives the van positive air pressure and minimises dust getting into the van.(no other openings) But in reading all about lowering tyre pressures for these types of roads, and the speed one should travel at - there does not seem to any mention of an actual speed, just drive to the conditions. When talking about not trying to skim over the corrugations, are we saying that 15 - 20k/h is the right speed to do this - taking into consideration the time you have and how bad the corrugations are. Some parts of the GCR we could do 80 -90 k/h, but other sections were only 15 - 20 k/h and these bad sections come onto you very quickly - hard to pick. Our next journey will be to the Ulysses AGM at Alice Springs in May 2014 and then on the Plenty Highway to Boulia, Middleton and back, and to Birdsville to see it away from the Races which we did in 2006, no flies, no wind and a good time and met up with the Kedron group at their camp. We live at Turners Beach in Tassie if any one is passing by - right oposite the O C Ling caravan park. Cheers Rod and Judy
  6. Turn the switch harder. Does the light go off. We took some time to work it out. We have a coolmatic in a 2002 XC. Cheers Rod and Judy.
  7. Hi all We travelled the Great Central Road in September 2011 from West to East and stayed at the roadhouses. We had thought about bush camping but after all the corrigations, were happy to just pull up. Our tug is a 03 4.8 petrol Patrol with gas and the van is a 2002 XC 21.6 ft The outside was ok but some cupboards fell apart, the fridge shelves broke and the passenger side double window slides came undone. Gaffer tape is wonderful. No structural damage, all cosmetic which is now fixed. Still working on the dust. We ran 35psi on the Kedron which on reflection, should have been about 25. About 5 vehicles went past us the other way each day over 4 days and at each roadhouse there was about 10 4x4 with camper trailers or rooftops. You must watch the weather balloons launching at Giles. We also passed a young male walking the GCR pushing a 4 wheel buggy. He was travelling from the most Westerly to the most Easterly point of Australia. Gave him some cold water and soft drink and some dollars and had a good chat. Thats when we found the windows undone. Looking to do the Darling River Run later this year, then some outback roads in Qld passing through places like Adavale, Isisford, Muttaburra and across to Toowoomba. Cheers Rod and Judy, Tassie Devils from Turners Beach.
  8. We have just done a 4 month journey to WA from Tassie and our phone was with Telsta. Only way to go. Had a flip phone (T2) with inbilt antenna and socket in the back for an external antenna which worked well. The external antenna (cant spell areial) gave us up to 2 extra bars although there was lots of nothing. We are now back in Tassie and have just purchased a Samsung Galaxy 5 smart phone as the previous free Telstra phone you get when you renew your 2 year contract I felt was inadequate - quality of voice etc. Talk about getting used to it - press any where on the screen and you don't know where you may finish up. Takes a while to get used to it. But it does accept my sim card from the other Telstra phone. So my options are - When in metro areas the smart phone (I am not so smart that I can use it other than SMS and calls) is the way to go, then in country areas move the sim card to the old phone with the external antenna patch. We did the Great Central road on our return and would be happy to talk about it. Cheers Rod
  9. Hi all We had our few days down at Binalong Bay (in Tassie) and the modifications to the wiring from the battery to the fridge worked. We had 3 days where we free camped and did not use 240v. The vans batteries got down to 12.3 on the 3rd day after a lot of cloud on the 2nd day but the fridge kept on, no cutting in or out and everything else worked also. We are now confident that we will be ok. Looking forward to getting on the Sprit on Sunday for 4 months in getting to WA and back again via the roads less travelled. Cheers Rod (our van has "tassie devils" front and back.
  10. Hi all Just this week we purchased a 19 in hi def with auto search TEAC 12v TV with DVD, which works off 240v to a transformer. (It was on special for $299 LCD) Today I went to the same auto elec that we used for our fridge problems (see battery thread) and he suggested cutting off the transformer and replacing it with a direct 12v plug, so the end result would be a 12v plug, 5 meters of cable (to enable the TV to be in the annex) to the power pin (the one that came with the transformer - he tells me that it is difficult to get a proper pin from electronic stores) into the back of the TV. Our van has a 12v plug next to the aerial inlet. Hope that helps. Cheers Rod
  11. Hi all I have been watching this thread for some time as I have had problems with the power to the 150 lt Coolmatic compressor fridge from 3 deep cycle batteries when the batteries get to 12.6v when not on 240 volts providing power via a 12v charger. We have a 2002 21ft XC and have had 2 sets of batteries since 2004. Our problem is that when the batteries get to 12.6, the fridge cuts in and out, runs for 5 seconds then stops, and tries to start again in 3 minutes, right through the night if the batteries were low enough to start with. Last week I watched a DVD called "Gray Nomads 101" , where it was pointed out in one of the segments that 12v power to the fridge could be lessened by the "feed" supplying power to the fridge, lights, radio and any other 12v appliance. It was also appropriate that his van was a Kedron. In simple terms the author of the DVD (Syd) said that the "feed" (wiring) was inadequate for its purpose and should have been a much heavier "feed" when the van was built. With the comments of this thread, and the DVD info, I went to our local auto elec (he has 12v experience) and he tells me it is a common problem with vans that wiring is inadequate. So I bit the bullet and had him do a direct "feed" from the batteries to the fridge this past week, complete with a trip?. We will be taking a few days down at Binnalong Bay (thats in Tassie) free camping next week to see how it all goes before we head of to WA at the end of May. While the car and van were at the auto elecs, I had him do an extention to the mudflaps of my 03 Patrol 4.8. You have seen the brush/broom that trucks use around the wheel arches. This is what I had fitted front and rear and also had built a full length unit hanging under the tow bar for more protection for the van, held on by 2 bolts to a vertical section welded to the tow bar. Makes it easy to remove. I am pleased with the end results and will come back later next week about the fridge. Cheers Rod (we live in Tassie)
  12. Hi Lyn and John We are also heading to WA from Tassie at the end of May for 4 months. We have a white 03 Patrol 4.8 petrol with gas towing a 2002 XC with "tassie devils" front and back on the van. Hoping to catch up with other Kedrons. Cheers Rod and Judy - Kalgoolie, Pt Headland, down the coast to Esperance, and then the Great Central Road to Uluru if the road is ok.
  13. We have a 21 ft XC 2002 vintage which we have taken to the big island for the last 3 winters doing a fair bit of dirt, including Birdsville in 2006. Our way of keeping the dust out, as well as taping the bottom of the door, is to raise the front opening 4 seasons hatch to the storm setting. This builds up air pressure in the van and won't allow dust to enter, either through the 4 seasons vent or be sucked in through any of the other vents. Of course there should be no vents etc where air can escape which stuffs it all up. On our last trip all this came to no avail near Top Springs NT as a window on the passenger side worked undone and was flapping in the breeze. Had to buy a new winder when we got home as one of the rods (no pun) which pushes the window out broke away from the winder. We had plenty of dust that day. Taped the window shut for the rest of the trip. We have a 94 Patrol which does not seem to get much dust on the back windows - no deflectors or anything like that - could be a more efficient design that the current ones - got to say that. Cheers Rod tassie devils
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