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New caravaners


Baz and Shirl

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This is our first time on this forum, my wife and I are new to caravanning but we are looking forward to getting out there and seeing a bit more of Oz the relaxed way.We are expecting delivery of our first van a new Kedron in mid August, there is nothing like jumping in the deep end. The fifteen month wait time fitted in well with our plans and now delivery is getting close we are getting very excited. We live in Brisbane so plan A when we get the van is to do a short trip somewhere for a couple of weeks then take the van back to the factory for a check over then off we go.

The van is a 21' ATV with four solar panels, 3x100 litre water tanks, diesel heater and washing machine should see us able to go wherever we want to in this great land. We decided on the ATV for a few reasons, strong enough to do everything we will want it to do, go anywhere we will want to go, all the features we wanted either standard or we have had them fitted and the weight.

The tow vehicle has a 3.5 ton tow rating so we wanted to keep a fully loaded van well under that weight. Reading some of the articles on this site it looks like it doesn't take much to overload the whole rig. Our ute weights in at 2950kg with myself and my wife in it and both fuel tanks full (260litres of diesel) so that only leaves us with 550kg to cover the tow ball weight, boat, motor, Engel fridge and a few spares.

Our tow vehicle purchased new for this purpose is a 2009 V8td Landcruiser ute (air bag model)fitted with steel tray, diff lockers, 3" exhurst, Dobbinsons 2" lift 300kg springs, soon to be fitted Air Bag Man air bags and a few other bits. No chip, we thought we would wait and see now it pulls before chipping it (any comments?).

Can anyone out there answer a couple of questions for me,

What is the weight of your 21' ATV empty (dry). I'm hoping it is just under 2700kg.

Anyone with a 79 series V8td ute/wagon towing a van like ours, What is the fuel usage? litres per 100k's

Has anyone fitted a set of Stratos suspension seats to their vehicle and what do they think of them. The ute seats are a bit ordinary to say the least.

Any advice/ideas we would love to hear them.

Thanks for your time

Barry and Shirley

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Hi Barry and Shirley, congratution on your new van. We have a 21foot topender and we tow it with a 79 series 2011 model gxl ute. I'm more than happy with it's performance and it's fuel cosumption.In September last year we did a trip from Townsville, Burktown, Savannha way out to Gapuwiyak in Arnhem land across the Gibb river road to Broome back to Borroloola king fisher camp lawn hill and back to Townsville -11000kms. We averaged 18.6 litres per 100 kms over all. At Easter time we towed it up to Atherton on the tablelands and averaged 18.2 litre per 100 kms. We tow the van to the road conditions and on the highway I try to tow it around 95/100 kms per hour so we don't hold up the traffic. I love the power and the talk that it has. My ute is stock standard motor wise and has a set of polly air bags at the back. Our van weighs in around 3600 kgs and my ute comes in around 2900kgs when we are doing a long trip. Good luck with your new van and safe travels. Richard.

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Hi Barry & Shirley and welcome to the forum. I know that you will thoroughly love your new van and I don' t wish to put a dampener on it but I think you will have a weight problem. With the addition of the extra solar panel you will be getting up to Top Ender weight of 2.9 plus 300 kgs for water when full it is not going to leave you much. I hope I am wrong and some morE seasoned owners might be able to assist you.

Cheers

Merv

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Hi Barry and Shirley

We have a 19 ft 6inch 2012 ATV and the tare is 2910kg, so you can expect about the same or more. A tare of 3000kg might be more realistic.

Cheers

Peter

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Hi Barry and Shirley, We also have the 19'6'' ATV which is the same as you are getting and we have 2x100 ltr tanks for general purpose use, that is showers, doing the dishes and doing a load of washing, that is if you know that you are going to be able to get water the next day. If we don't use the washing machine then we can get 7 days out of the 2 tanks with us both showering each day. Admittedly we wet our selves down then turn the water off soap up then rinse off.

The drinking water tank is 60 ltrs and this is used for cooking and drinking and we get 14 days use out of this tank.

If you know that water is available from a less than desirable source for drinking then you can hold one of your 100 ltr tanks and transfer the water from that tank to the drinking water tank with the way the plumbing is done, but you can't transfer from the drinking water tank to the two main tanks.

By reducing the size of the drinking water tank there is a saving of 40 kg and yes you will need to do all the weight saving you can do.

We also come in around 2890 KG tare wt.

Great van and a good family to deal with.

Den and Col

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Hi All,

Thanks everyone for the info on the van weight, sounds like we will have to watch what we pack when we go travelling. I don't think we will have to much of a problem as we are not the type that has to take everything including the kitchen sink with us when they go travelling. It would be nice to have a bit of leeway on the weight, will take the advice about carrying water when we don't need too.

When we ordered the van I ordered the 100L drinking water tank as I figured it is easier to fit the bigger tank from new then retro fit one or carry extra water containers.

Thanks Richard for the fuel usage report, I had been told that the ute should get around the 18/20 litres per 100k towing a big van and it great to have it confirmed by someone who owns one.

I fitted a set of Stratos suspension seats to the ute yesterday, it's a GXL so the new seats bolt strait into the bolt holes for the existing seats. It feels a bit strainge bobing up and down, once I get used to them and get the settings right they should be great. A vast improvement over the original seats and the trim colour matches the interior. Adjustable lumber support will help the old back out no end on long trips. We are going up to Frasier Is. next month so we will give them a workout then.

Thanks everyone for the advice and ideas.

bazz and Shirl

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