colnden

Enjoyed catching up Colin and wish you and the crew a safe and enjoyable trip. Col and Den

Hi Colin, If you go to Jenkins Rubber Shop, in Aumuller St , they can sell you 2 rubber bungs that will fit neatly into the air intake and exhaust of the heater. We leave ours in place when not in use and put them in if travelling on dirt roads. I have used a small drill to put a hole through the middle of the bung and then put a wire trace through there and attached the other end to the van so they don't go walk about. This also means no bugs can nest in either tube and no dust can enter. I have just bent the air intake so that it is level with the ground. Normally it is facing down so any dust that accumulates in there will fall out. Just have to remember to remove them when you want to use the heater. Safe travels Den and Col

As Bondi and Jenny have said, the big problems with the solar panels is their position right next to the airconditioner.With a previous van i had a 85 watt panel and i found that by putting the shadow of your hand over the panel the shadow wiped out 80% of the output. When you look at the panels they will in most cases have shadow cast on the left or the right hand panels from the TV antenna or the air conditioner.Between 11 am and 1 pm i find the panels are nearly clear of shadow. The problem with putting a panel on the downward slope at the front is that the panel will dictate which way you park in relation to the sun.That is to say if the van is facing south then it won't do much for you. We are in our van ful time and have a 3 way fridge which is never run on 12 volts but with 3x 135 panels and 3x120 AGM batterys we still need to pull out the gen set on the odd occasion to top up batterys, or, heaven forbid, turn the TV and computers off. We did mention at the design stage about shifting the TV aerial to the front of the van and putting the panels across the back.but got nowhere with that. As with others, the most we have seen going into the batterys is about 20 amps, BUT,if you allow this to happen for awhile you will notice that the solar regulator will start to cut back on the charge rate . Easy way to check is to turn on the tv and watch the charge rate on the battery monitor. If you notice an inital drop in the charge rate and over the next twenty seconds the charge rate builds back up to where it was then the regulator is in the absorbition phase and is not puttig all available power into the battrrys which means there is power avaliable to charge phones, computers etc. We don't allow our batterys to go below 12.6 volts in order to get the best life out of them.However the first set of batterys only lasted 12 months but were replaced under warranty. Why they failed is one of lifes mysteries, but you certainly dont want to be replacing them too often. Sorry about drifting off interior design. Den and Col

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

Hi Colin, it may pay to tell everybody to put their plugs in the sink, bath, and vanity basin. Came thru Diamantina National Park yesterday and unbelievable to see how much dust came up thru the kitchen sink. Wind must have been in from the right direction as it hasn't happened before.. A safe journey to one and all. Den and Col in last chance.

Hi Colin, Looked over your trip planing and it does look great. I feel it will be one of those trips that we will be cursing that we didn't get to do it with you. Wishing you and the group every success with the trip. Dennis and Colleen

Hi Russ and Sue , we live in the van full time and Colleen does get a bit cheesed off with the way i am always checking the battery monitor for voltage and amps. My monitor ,Xantrax, gives a combined charge / discharge readout, In other words if you want to check for current draw you have to wait til night so that you don't have the panels putting any charge in, that is to say if the batteries are on float and you are using 10 amps and the panels are putting out 10 amps to hold the status quo , the panel will show zero amps. ( Or else pull the fuses out for the solar panels) Inverter is only used to power sat receiver, charge phones and computer and a camera once in awhile. Always turned off after use because the display is too bright of a night When we ordered the van, Kedron advised me that i had too much solar and battery power for my need but i am a firm believer in keeping the batteries over 12.6 volts. I am quite happy to, and do pull the Honda gen set out if the batteries look like being down at 4pm, meaning if they are down to 12.8 volts. The batteries are Alko ,as supplied by Kedron. Bruno is also the local solar / wind power distributor and he did a good check over of things and no fault. When i first communicated with them they said that it sounded like batteries collapsing , but it surprised me that they could survive the high rate discharge test individually, one being slightly down on the other two, but not enough to be a concern. Am i worried about them collapsing again? Yep. Just have to annoy Col more by keeping a close eye on things of a night and morning. Just a side note. Bruno i believe was the founder of the business, and i can remember my father doing business with him 50 years ago,he has since passed on. The son, who would have to be in his sixties, is deaf mute, but a pleasure to do business with. If you haven't done any writing for awhile then you will quickly gain some experience. Reminded me of the chap in Windorah who is blind and runs a servo. An enlightening experience to deal with both gentlemen. Den and Col

In early June we had to take our van back to the factory with a leaking hatch that had been resealed and then replaced by a local repairer. We were allowed to camp in the van of a night and we went out of a day to leave the Kedron crew do their thing. At the end of our stay i have to say that after owning 3 new vans and this being the fourth, it is great to find a company that doesnt duck shove you around or give you any grief. It is so easy to have a customer sing your praises if you just give them a bit of service. Last night the batteries in the van collapsed with only the TV and one LED light drawing 3 amps. Not good considering that we were on power and the batterys were fully charged at 4pm. We had turned the charger off as the the only draw on the batteries was the TV plus one LED light . The rest of the van was on 240 Volt. got up this morning and the batteries were on 10.6 Volt. Put the charger on and charged them up again Rang Kedron and spoke to Tom and ended up at Brunos batteries in Mareeba. I would think that after testing them electronically and then putting each battery on a high rate discharge tester and passing the test that they were fine. However Brunos got me to hang around for half an hour with the batteries on load of 30 amps for 15 minutes then a load of 12 amps for 15 min after which the batterys dropped from 12.5 to 10.6 volts in the space of 5 minutes. Have always looked after the batteries and dont let them go below 12.7 volts. Came as a shock to have 3 x 120 AGM batteries needing replacing after 12 mths. Thanks to Brunos , Alko and Kedron. all replaced under warranty. Great service and once again greatfull for the help received. Kedron? Yep. good mob to deal with. Den and Col

We have lost two in our travels over twelve months but thanks to the boys at the factory they replaced them at no cost. Great service. Just a word of caution, when you refit them after taking a wheel off, ensure that the retaining spring on the inside of the cap is in the correct position. A couple of times when i have taken the cap off the spring has shifted from where it should be. Den and Col

Sorry about that, left out one photo.

Hi folks, It may pay to check your windows for a crack that cannot be seen with the window closed and can only be seen when you open the window fully and look at the top of the window on the inside where the blade fits into a aluminum channel and the channel is crimped to hold the blade in place. Hopefully the pics below will get the message across. Definately could not be seen from the outside. Safe travels every body. Den and Col

Hi Bondi and Jenny, if you are going to a 19 ft 6 version then the extra weight of the Top Ender may be worth considering, that is if you are towing with a cruiser. If you have a F250 or a larger tug then the weight wont be a problem. Kedron will increase gvm if you have a tow vehicle capable of pulling the extra weight. If you go shorter than 19 ft 6 then weight probably wont be a problem. Den and Col

We too switched over to Ken Tame in Sep and 3 wks later put a claim in for new WDH due to a broken bar and as HR do not carry spares for my model , Ken Tame paid for a complete hitch minus the $200 excess. Three mths later the van was attacked by a veh and put a claim in. Pick my own repairer, their assessor had a look and all proceded very smoothly. Like others, we saved around the $600 mark as we also cancelled our RACQ cover. No complaints about CIL our previous insurer but the saving was hard to pass up. Den and Col

Hi Tolley, A basic camping area if not in Cairns then certainly Gordonvale. Not sure if green patch is still open to campers but it should operate the same as the camping area at Babinda. The only thing is it would require regular checks by council to make sure that people don't abuse the system.The council did have a caravan park in Gordonvale and it was closed , but if the land is still owned by the council then turn it into a camping ground ( unpowered if necessary ). A small fee would cover a caretaker. This would assist the Gordonvale businesses We are from Cairns and the general attitude that we see in our travels is that Cairns is too expensive and the tablelands is the cheaper alternative. Personally i don't see why the show grounds are not utilized to provide an income stream for council as it would be well utilized if the price was right. Bearing in mind that the council would be targrting the people who dont want a pool, jumping castle, camp kitchen, internet cafe, TV room, games room, Bar b qs, laundry, (quite sure the local laundry mat would be impressed with a couple of dozen vaners using their services,) and if you omit concrete slabs then the fees would not need to be that high and you would not be competing with other parks as you certainly would not be providing the same services. Wish you success in your endevours. Den and col

Better still, try getting Mum to do the polishing. Yep i got a clip over the ear for that comment. Den

If you are on a 3 GB wirless plan for your internet with Big Pond then if you haven't checked their offers of late you are missing out on an extra 1 Gb of normal download. The $49.95 plan was for 3 GB but is now 4 GB but you have to go into the Big Pond site to select the 4 GB plan. When you look at their site the 3 GB and 7 GB plans no longer exist but Telstra don't automatically upgrade you to the new plan. Safe travels from Bourke. Den n Col

Hi Gary and Kaye, I have made the extended "V" brackets myself, but do like the idea of fitting an extension to the top of the arm as this would be easier to carry out. By drilling the extra hole in the existing arm, and 2 holes in a flat piece of strap, mission would be accomplished. Good job Crow. Den n Col

Hi Gary and Kaye, we have the same vehicle and i have overcome the problem by replacing the "v" shaped bracket that the mirrors are mounted on with one that is extended a bit further out by about 2 inches. If not towing the van we pull the arms in a bit. It is a compromise but we are happy with it. Den and Col

Hi Mark and Simone, another area to keep an eye on is the rear cross member, both ends. I have the toyota tow bar fitted and had cracks develop on the top and bottom cnrs at the end of the cross member. My fault as i was relying on dealer servicing and the mounting bolts were not tight enough and caused excess strain on the cnrs. I beleive the Hayman Reece bar attaches differently, and was told by Toyota that i should have fitted the HR tow bar to go with the HR WDH. No warranty of course. Use of non genuine WDH, and Toyota don't have one but reccomend using one in their hand book. Have travelled another 40,000 k with no problem. Looking at the photos , i must have had rose coloured glasses on when ever i hitched up not to have seen them earlier. Part of regular maintainence now. The van at the moment is 3 tonn and 300 kg on the ball. Safe travels. Den and Col

Hi Rod and Mavis, I'll talk to you as i am not predjudiced, but then again Col reackons i'll talk to any body. I am the intended owner that got you to post the photo of your aerial and altho i have kept an eye on them it looks like the aerial will go in at the end. Guess this means that A, we will have a decent hole on the inside to allow the base to go up against the ceiling or B, dont put the base plate on, which is not going to work. Keen to see which way they go. Must admit that it has been good to be in the area to see it being built as we have been able to point out some minor things as it progresses and no problem to get them rectifyed. The main problem was that we reversed our cafe seating and kitchen and that caught a few departments out.Great to also have the photos as it progresses thru the factory. The only dissadvantage is they seem to be able to sell us something else every time we go to the factory. Wouldn't buy whats on offer if it didn't make sense to have it. We are looking at the 2nd of Sep to take delivery and a few days of settling in then on the road again. Safe travels and enjoy the flowers.

As Gary and Kaye have done, we contacted Kedron/Lisa and found the supplier and will go and road test a few of the mattresses, and pass the details on to Lisa and she will order what we want. Hopefully this will avoid trying to rectify the problem after delivery. As i said in a previous thread, our vist to Kedron on Monday was a real pleasure. Just to let you know , when we rang the supplier he told us that they were mooving in two weeks to just around the corner. May pay to ring first and confirm their address. Happy snoozing. Den and Col

Hi Rod and Mavis, had our last meeting with Stan at Kedron on Monday and they were happy to fit the auto aerial. Thanks again for the use of your photos. Surprising how many things come to mind when you have 2 months to wait before they start building the van. Changed quite a few things but the basic layout is the same and told Stan that we were finished making changes. That was until we came home and noticed a few things on the different photos we have taken of the various Kedrons we have seen.A quick email to Stan and no problems, it was a real pleasure to sort things out. Have updated our plans in the Members Layouts accordingly. Safe travels, Den and Col

Hi Richard, still very happy with the ute. Still of the opinion that if i lost it tomorrow i would front up to buy another one. Approx 8 weeks and we should be able to get rid of any cobwebs that may be in the exhaust as the new ATV should be ready and that will add another half a ton swinging off the tow bar. Just remember the right foot controls the fuel consumption. Have just changed the factory shocks on the rear and its something that should have been done a long time ago. Now will replace the front. If you are fitting a Toyota towbar , just be aware that Toyota dont warrant the chassis if you use a hayman reece WDH. Their hand book recommends using a WDH but they dont make one , therefore if you use one it is a non genuine WDH and no warranty. Speaking from personal experience. Just keep an eye on the towbar mounting bolts for tension. In Bris at the moment to finalize plans for the van. Safe travels, Den and Col