Chris
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Posts posted by Chris
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Lucky you Gazza.
That sounds like an interesting itinerary and one I envy you. We certainly know the Neil Turner Weir, as we always call in to see it when in Mitchell (but we have always stayed at the council owned cp over the bridge from town - so we can access those wonderful hot springs!).
How long are you planning to take on this trip?
Chris
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Are you joking!? Take the new van offroad - and get it dirty/wet????? Ah, no, not yet. Working on the plan for the next trip with it. We think we will go up the Oodnadatta Track to Finke, en route to Alice in July or August.
Yes it is a Portabote - we took it around Australia for the first 12 months. Great invention.
Here is another whimsical shot of the van:
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Great idea David. Here is one of the previous van crossing the Pentecost River on the Gibb River Road.
Chris
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I have prepared a latest trip report, which I have put into the Trip Report section... It is so long since I have done one I have forgotten the process. But I am sure it will come back to me.
The journey with the new Top Ender has been one of the best we have done so far - after 4 years of being on the road almost continually!
Chris
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It was a pleasure to meet you both, and you must know by now that all Kedronners absolutely LOVE to talk about their vans. You did us a favour by allowing us to pontificate about all things vanning! Hopefully we gave some good advice. Some of it is bound to be good...
When are you due to pick it up? I can't recall that detail.
Chris
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Hello fellow travellers.
As many of you know (how could you not!?) we have now picked up our new Top Ender and are on a slow trip back to SA (our new home).
This is our second Kedron, and I can see why so many people who have a first Kedron choose the same brand for their second and subsequent vans. It is performing wonderfully well.
The solar set up is just great. We have 4 x 130 watt panels and 4 batteries, and power to waste. Each morning the read out (conveniently located inside the van) tells us we have 12.7 or 12.8volts, even after overcast days.
I do like the new Dometic windows (they screen out all light when the blinds are up, and the double glazing cuts out all sound andcold/heat from outside. But they do have an insect problem, so (on Rick and Lea's advice) we put Selley's No Stick in the little vent holes and it looks neat and tidy. We will give an update on how that goes.
I love the extra large hatch we ordered - it can fit a host of goods, including the mop and broom.
How did I do without the inside washing machine? As long as we have clean water we can have a load on first thing in the morning, as opposed to waiting for a reasonable hour to put on the Lemair which we carried in the back of the car. Its noise would disturb others. Now you would never know I was doing the washing! It has a quick cycle which does a load in about 40 minutes.
The appearance of the inside is a 10/10 - just very special.
The Kedron team are superb. Nothing is too much trouble, and they go out of their way to make sure everything is working. Of course, we all know their after sales service is unmatched in the industry.
What's more, you can be sure that when you ring some time down the track, you won't get fobbed off. They are just as helpful 4 years after the van has rolled out of the factory, from our experience.
Gosh I am glad we chose Kedron.
We are now in Armidale, after some 4 days at Girraween NP, and we will be heading out to DangarsFalls camp ground tomorrow - it is really lovely out there - but no NextG reception.
A trip report will follow at some stage...
Chris
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Hi Rick and Lea - long time no see! :biggrin: (For others - they were at Girraween NP with us for a few days up until Monday this week!).
Rick - a tablespoon of what? Napisan perhaps?
Chris
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And he doesn't even go away with the van until tomorrow!!
A late celebration eh Darryl?
Have a drink for us too, later tonight.
Chris
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CVTripper,
your wish is my command. :biggrin:
Chris
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Just like we did! A lot of our decisions were based on CV Tripper's advice. He is a genius in respect to this stuff. Well, he is pretty bright, anyway. :laugh:
Chris
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Rejoice in it Knipie! Give thanks for that lovely clean sweep of bench top.
It is so handy for preparation when cooking for the 35 people who have come to admire the new van; or for spreading out your papers while working on documents; or doing the ironing, or spreading out the maps planning the next trip (etc). Whatever.
I think a clean bench top gives the van a nice clean and uncluttered appearance. And in my case comes in very handy for that filing activity!
Chris
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Niknoff
We plan to be back in the Barossa about early April - give or take a week or so. Would be good to see you. There is room for another van in the yard, we think, if we prune back some limbs on the trees.... :confused:
Chris
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Hey, thanks for thinking of us Jane and David!
It was as smooth as silk, the pickup and get-away. We told Kedron we wanted to be out of that factory and rolling by 1.00pm, and they had us out by noon.
Graham did a wonderful job at talking us through all the new features. We picked up a couple of small anomalies at that stage. Such as the additional light fittings over the table and at the bedhead had not been fully installed. They said they thought we would be doing them ourselves, wheras what we had meant was we would be changing the halogen globes at a later stage to LED lightrs (so we will have a choice of which lights to use, depending on whether we are bushcamping or on town power (I do prefer the golden light of the halogen but not the power drawdown).
I notice a couple of changes that I don't like, compared with the old van. The new shower curtain track only covers the door, and doesn't go right around the toilet unit, shielding it from water during a shower. And the new toilet unit lacks a toilet roll holder. Not sure where you are supposed to put the roll - there's no spot suitable for it!
When we arrived up here at Wivenhoe Dam it was pouring down, and that made packing the van 'interesting'. Still raining...
To cap it all off, we had forgotten to buy dishwashing detergent, so couldn't washup. Oh my, what a shame!
Had ham sandwiches for dinner....
"Oh, the van?" I hear you ask. Beautiful, absolutely wonderfully finished off, immaculately presented, right down to a gift pack of creams for the leather lounge, and the table set with tablemats and gift cups.
Anne did a wonderful job making sure the blokes all kept out with their boots toward the end - she even had a big sign at the door warning them not to go in with boots!
Chris
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I have recently realised, as we planned and oversighted the building of our new van (it is to be picked up tomorrow!) just how much we owe to the moderators for provision of this forum.
Webby in particular, with her special expertise in web design and unfailing provision of assistance -even in the face of outright stupid requests from me- has made all this possible.
Yes, Webby, I know you say the forum is the membership, and the success of the forum depends hugely on the contributions from the membership. And to them also I am hugely indebted for all their advice and guidance. (And their frienship too in so many cases). But this would not be possible without the forum as a 'meeting place'.
I watch other forums struggle to provide a good forum (and they succeed too) and on those occasions I realise what a sophisticated and efficient forum ours is.
So thank you Webby, Darryl and Kimbo. :thumbsup:
Chris and Val
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We were interested to see in our new van that Kedron are now reversing the placement of the hatch and fan. In our previous ATV the fan was in the front of the van and the hatch in the back. In our van this meant the fan was in the kitchen and the hatch in the bedroom They have reversed the placement, with the hatch now in the kitchen (back of our van). They say this is due to the slope of the roof and people having reported water ingress. For those choosing to have a Heiki hatch this of course will not apply - I gather it has no such issues.
We never had a problem with any leaks or dust, but apparently others have.
I was a bit disappointed with this placement as the fan is much more useful in the kitchen (sucking cooking smells and hot air out). But of course there is an efficient stove ventilator so it shouldn't be an issue.
For those planning a new van, it could be an issue, and in that case plan to have a front kitchen.
(We had decided not to have the Heiki, as we have heard of excessive heat coming in through the unit on hot days).
Chris
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Great to hear from you Wal and Sharon.
I bet it's hot up there now! When we were at Keep River in October it was roasting - so hot we left there after a few days and went back to the community we were then calling home!
After that trip, when -once again- the Honda wouldn't run the airconditioning in the middle of the day, we firmed our resolve to instead buy a Yamaha 245. Which we did, in Adelaide So the new van will have good power capacity.
We intend coming back your way in the middle of the year, but as our plans always change so much, who knows!?
Chris
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Thanks Mick and Vicki.
Is a trip to Adelaide on the cards? Would you be travelling from WA, or somewhere entirely different?
And have you heard from the bro' lately? Is he waterlogged up in Mackay?
Chris
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Pete and Tracey,
An additional thought, in order to source the inverter (bearing in mind we live a long way from Brisbane) we rang Springers who delivered the unit to Kedron. We paid for it on a credit card. It was the Northside Springers we used.
Chris
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Hi Deb!
You can't hide when you are a Kedronner!! We were driving the car back to the caravan park, five minutes after picking it up, when Deb's car pulled up next to us at traffic lights. She gave it the thumbs up.
Yes, the colour is 'interesting'; I didn't actually think Goldrush was going to be so dark...but I am sure I will get used to it.
Toyota said another person is coming in this coming week to pick up a 200 series LC, who is also picking up a Top Ender. In both cases, we have the new van in matching colour to the car - the van's colour is called "Sandbank". So it seems to be a Kedron-client favourite colour!!
Chris
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CVTripper very kindly shared with us the information he has provided above, when we were still in the planning stage of our new Top Ender, and it proved invaluable. Like him, we have the remote control mounted inside the van, so it can be turned on and off there.
Also, we have the power supplied to all power points (and we have had a lot of them installed throughout the van!).
Have I told you all how much we look forard to picking up the new van? Friday 13th is the date, at this stage...
Chris
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We have had an 1800 watt Xantrex installed in our new Top Ender; we supplied it and Kedron installed it. Actually, we rang Springers, who delivered it to the factory for us, and we paid by credit card.
Prevailing wisdom over on another forum (Caravaners forum) in a similar discussion says Morningstar pure sine wave inverters are good, as is the Xantrex.
Chris
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Lea and Rick,
we are at Springton, a small town between Angaston and Mount Pleasant. It is cooler there than Adelaide, as it is in the Adelaide Hills. Well, a bit cooler. You would be very welcome indeed to call in. We are in the main street, in a Federation house opposite the General Store (impossible to miss).
Although we have a big yard not sure if two Kedrons will fit though...we could always try?
Chris
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Tom and Jackie,
are you the guys we met first at New Norcia in WA, and then at Girraween NP in QLD? I recall they said they were the first TE owners...
Chris
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Hi Dazmit.
Yes, it folds down as neatly as can be, and really easy to reach. I will try to remember to take a photo. I noticed that Gil Schott was photographing it in closeup.
Chris
Napisan as toilet treatment
in Public Forum
Posted
We have been using Napisan since we got the new van, following advice on the Caravaners Forum. It is wonderful stuff and the system is odour free, even in warmer weather. We use it pretty much as Niknoff describes.
There was some research done by another Caraaners forum member which referred to the environmentally friendly aspects of the Napisan active ingredient (sodium percarbonate). Apparently it is not only eco friendly but actually assists with enzyme activity in a sewage system. In other words it is good for sewage systems.
It is important to use the cheap Woolies version.
Chris