RussnSue

Hello Colin Whilst I have never stayed anywhere in Laverton, I did work in the area a lot and was always told to avoid staying overnight in Laverton like the plague. I have been into the town several times and I have heard of (and seen) some of the social "disquiet" in the town. It is only another 123 Km of good bitumen road to get to Leonora, where there is a pleasant little caravan park and much cheaper fuel. I know what I would do. Cheers Russ

Hi Reece. Yes, there has been a long pause in blogs. I fully intended to update it while on our Sth Pacific cruise but the Internet on the ship was useless. If I don't get an issue out today, then it will be another week before I will be able to do it. We head off for a Nullabor crossing tomorrow and we are running around like mad things ticking the last items off our checklist. I'll see what I can do. Cheers Russ

Hi Alan and jayne We started out with bikes and used them enough, but they get so dirty when travelling, that we had to give them a major service everytime we wanted to ride them. Dust used to get into everything. So, we sold the bikes and removed the Fiamma bike carrier from the van. In the end, though, it was to save weight rather than for the reasons outlined, that we elected to get rid of them. That said, if you have room on the drawbar for a Fiamma bicycle rack, they are the duck's guts. Cheers Russ

Another very short update to the blog has been posted. Demise of the GoPro Camera Cheers Russ

Whenever these windows have been the subject of a topic on this forum I have not been backward in coming forward to criticise them. In short, I hate the bloomin' things. Recently, Sue and I have been travelling down the west coast (as some of you may have read in our blog.) The issues with these windows (not rolling up, or down, or jamming and not going either way, or still letting bugs in (some of these bugs, smaller than the head of a pin, have the ability to knock over a water buffalo), in spite of the modifications)were starting to send us both insane and once we reached Geraldton I decided to do something about them...... I chucked them on the local tip! But not before I used them to make templates for some real windows, with real flyscreens. As it happens, the old plastic frames were near as dammit 60mm x 19mm, the exact same size as I could get Tasmanian Oak skirting board in. Not only that, but the Oak also had a bull-nosed edge already routed onto them, ideal for what I wanted. The other edge was then rebated with a router so that a normal aluminium flyscreen frame would fit snugly in it. I mitred all of the window frames with the radial-arm saw that I left with my Son years ago, then glued the frames together using wooden biscuits on each corner. Finally I clamped the old plastic frames on top of the new wooden frames and used them as templates to drill the mounting screw holes. Sue used outdoor furniture oil to seal the windows while I made the flyscreens. I purchased the frame material, corner joiners, insect mesh and spline so that I could make the screens myself. The glaziers at Geraldton were all too busy to make the screens for a couple of weeks. As it turns out, with an aluminium cutting blade fitted to my radial-arm saw I was able to knock out the screens in no time - and they look rather professional if I say so myself. The screens were then secured to the top edge of each window frame using piano hinge to lessen any twisting that might occur when opening the screens. I found some little cabinet fittings at Bunnings to use as a handle on the bottom of the insect screens and some old-fashioned wing-clips to hold the screens shut. Fully assembled, the screens fit inside the window frames like a finger in a duck's bottom! Perfect! Finally, the assembled windows were screwed into place (amazingly, all of the holes lined up.) The screw heads were covered with putty, sanded back and treated with the furniture oil. While the putty is somewhat obvious now, it has been darkening as the oil seeps in and should "tan" to a pretty close match to the timber over time. We had already fitted beige coloured blinds to the van, so we don't miss the block-out shades at all and the insect screens actually work! It is an easy job to lift the insect screen and open or shut the windows, with the exception of the kitchen window which only has a small amount of travel because the drinking water tap is in the way. Still, we can get the window latches open and closed and can then open or shut the window open from outside the van - a small price to pay. We didn't fit the wooden frames to the bathroom or toilet areas, mainly because of the dampness that can be experienced in those areas. In the photographs attached you can see a window with the Holland blind pulled down, a window with the blind open and a close-up of the kitchen window that shows the little clips used to keep the screens shut, along with how close the drinking water tap is. We are absolutely ecstatic with the results and for an all-up price of under $400.00, it was a cheap fix for a problem that was driving us nuts. Life without insects....what bliss. Cheers Russ

Bump! The latest update to the Blog has been posted. Warroora and the Missing Sea Breeze Cheers Russ

Hello Erich and Leslie I have a set of Staun deflators but have found them to be a disappointment. I set them to the pressure I required, tested them several times and then went on a trip that included some sand driving. When used in real-life situations I found that the Stauns were extremely variable as to the pressure they would cut out at. I had a range of 14 psi over four tyres! I also found that sometimes they simply wouldn't cut off, and the tyre would have completely deflated had I not been keeping an eye on it. I pulled the Stauns apart, checking them for dirt and defects, but nothing I did would fix the problem. Another thing I found was that the ring that you turn to set the pressure could also work itself loose. All-in-all, I would not recommend them. I have heard good things about the ARB deflator. Cheers Russ

Hi Reece We just left the tyres on the van until they wore out (evenly, fortunately.) When we got new tyres last week, we used the spares (never been used, always been covered) and two new tyres fitted to the van and the best of those that came off became the spares. Halved the cost, by not having to buy four tyres. Cheers Russ

OK Chris, you shamed me into it....lol.... latest blog post is up! Russ Sue's Blog Cheers Russ

No worries Chris. I've been very busy on a secret project on the Kedron, but is now finished and will become a thread in its own right. It also means that I have time to get stuck into the Blog. Cheers Russ

Hi Geoff I just hope the fizzing noise was not the rapid dehydration of one of the dreaded Attack-Class, Japanese Kamikaze Frogs! Or, one of the giant, hairy, spiders that took out our original Inverter. I have a Victron 60 Amp Charger which I can no longer use due to it not being programmable to charge my new Lithium batteries. It's yours if you pay the freight to get it to you. Cheers Russ.

G'day Muz We towed our Top Ender along the Gibb a few years ago and, like the others, found it reasonably easy going. We suffered no damage at all. Like Colin, we were in no hurry and drove quite slowly - especially on the section from the GRR to Drysdale River Station, which was very corrugated and took five hours to cover fifty-odd Km. We planned to take about seven days to do the trip but ended up taking 13 - it's just that kind of trip. We plan to do it again sometime, in the reverse direction and visiting some of the places that we did not have time to see the first time around. We took the scenic flight from Drysdale River Station to the Mitchell Falls, which was well worth the money, and also did the flight to the Horizontal Falls, something that is still in the top three things that we have done during our years of travelling. I would add Old Mornington Conservation Reserve to the "must see" list for the GRR. Have a great trip and yes, include the GRR - it is one of the few remaining wildness trails that has not succumed to bitumen (although it is planned!) Cheers Russ

Bump! The blog has been updated. Cheers Russ

Thanks Sue. I hope to knock out a new chapter every few days. Stay tuned! Cheers Russ

G'day all. Sue and I have started our annual travels and I have started a blog for those whom are interested. Here is the link. Cheers Russ n Sue

Hi again Chris, I just read John's post (above)and thought it would be worth adding that I also store the van uncovered so that the solar charger is managing the batteries and I also leave the fridge running (not to give the batteries some load, because that doesn't matter, but because I have also been told that a fridge is better of if it is running.) Letting the solar charger manage the batteries is a good practice, provided it is set up correctly. Maybe that is the problem? Perhaps Val could make a note of the settings and you could publish them here, so that I can take a look at them? Cheers Russ

Hi Chris This certainly is puzzling. AGM batteries are not usually as prone to sulphation as normal wet cell batteries are. I took the AGM batteries out of our van after four years (the original ones, supplied by Kedron) and they tested almost as good as new. I had no qualms selling them to a mate for $50.00 each. If you have a maintenance or trickle charger on them when you aren't traveling, make sure that you check the voltage of the batteries from time-to-time, to ensure that the batteries aren't overcharging. Some maintenance chargers are notorious for doing that. The only other thing I can think of is that while the State of Charge readout might indicate that you have only discharged the batteries by "X" amount, this may in fact be incorrect. When I picked up our van from Kedron the Shunt that measures the current going into and out of the batteries was wired arse-up. This meant that the regulator thought that the current going into the batteries from the charger was the Load current being supplied to the appliances and it thought that the load being used by the appliances was what was coming out of the charger. You can imagine how this would have played merry hell with the internal calculations that the regulator performs. It was lucky that I sussed it out and had them fix the problem. In another thread I posted a rough guide of battery voltage and what it equates to in terms of State of Charge. You might want to compare each (battery voltage measure by a multimeter and SOC as indicated by the regulator) and see if they agree. Monitor this over a period of about a month and see what you get. It is possible that the SOC might have indicated, say 70%, but in reality might have been only 40% as an example. Continual deep-discharging of an AGM battery will definitely shorten its life expectancy. Cheers Russ

Hi Chris. I probably don't need to teach Val how to suck eggs, but make sure he watches his back as he checks those vents. They are in a very awkward spot that had me bent into some pretty nasty shapes as I tried to glue the fly-mesh over them. I still remember watching the poor bugger hobbling around at Alice Springs that time that he hurt his back there. I was too lazy to remove the vents to do the job, because I didn't want to cut all of the silicon sealant from around them. Cheers Russ.

Hi Sue. It's just as well that I limited the story to the frog attack. I could have gone on about how we aren't sleeping at night due to the all-in brawl between the Short Billed Corellas and the Fruit Bats as they argue over the fruit in the Neem trees. (The Corellas are munching it through the day and then roosting in the same tree so that they don't have far to fly the next morning.) Meanwhile, the Bats come in under the cover of darkness and pull on a blue with the birds. You've got to hear the ruckus to believe it. Then of course, if we try to catch a few zzzzz's during the day, the Corellas are still there making a God-awful din. Or I could have regaled you with the story of being "bombed" by a fish frame of reasonable proportions as a lazy Brahminy Kite flew over me. Obviously it had eaten its fill from the fish (a bluenose salmon, in fact) and had decided that it no longer need to carry all of that weight, choosing instead to drop it on the only Human Being at Cossack at the time - me! So, as you can see, our escape from Cossack can't come a minute too soon. We have to get out before Mother Nature does us some real harm. We will be leaving about Midday on Friday. We are stopping in at Onslow before leaving the Pilbara and will then take a couple of weeks to get to Gero. It's unlikely that we will pass you along the way - unless you don't plan to make the Onslow turnoff on the first day. We have the van booked in for wheel bearing and brake checks at Gero on the 11th January. I will definitely make an effort to catch up with you when we get down there. I was spewing that I missed you when you came here the other day. Never mind. Thanks for the tip re: Insurance. It never even crossed my mind to make a claim. Probably should, seeing as though we have been paying our premium all of these years without claiming a thing. Cheers Russ.

Greetings fellow Koggers Our beloved Kedron van, or more specifically our Solar Regulator inside our van, has come under attack from the rare Japanese Kamikaze Frog. Using stealth and operating under the cover of darkness, this dangerous little beastie has crept (hopped?) silently into the front-boot of the van on a mission to destroy the most expensive item it could find in there. The only way that we knew that we were under attack was that one evening we had lights and power in the van and the next morning we did not. This dangerous little bugger, bent on maximising our inconvenience (let's face it, we only have seven sleeps to go before we set off on our travels), made his way to the Plasmatronics regulator. Once there he lay his body across all of the positive terminals, thereby shorting the "Load" terminal to places that it didn't oughta get shorted to. I suspect that there may have been a small amount of discomfort to the frog as the 30 Amps or more of current surged through its moist little body, but it would have only been temporary. When discovered, as I sought out the cause of the loss of power to the van, the Kamikaze Frog was somewhat discoloured and had the consistency of a very dry potato chip. Some of the connection terminals in the regulator were also changing from their usual copper colour to a nice shade of green. His mission was successful and we now have no ability to run 12 Volt appliances from the "Load" terminal. I have had to resort to rewiring those appliances so that they run directly from the battery. I will now have to investigate whether it will be more economical to repair the regulator or replace it ($600.00). There you have it people, keep an eye out for those pesky little Kamikaze hoppers and, as we are going to do, consider putting fly-mesh covers on the inside of the breather vents in the sides of the front boot. Cheers Russ

Hi Colin We leave on the 21st Dec. At this stage we have not given our notice, but if we find jobs while on leave, then we will be finishing up. You can bet that we will find work at some "out of the way" place that Gayleen , yourself and the furries will most likely want to visit at some stage. We have applied for a job at the Birdsville Hotel..... Many thanks for the Christmas wishes and the same from us to you. Cheers Russ

Hi Mark If you are going to reprogramme your Plasmatronics regulator, the image (included) has the settings you will need. Cheers Russ

Hi Colin These links will help you with the permits. These cannot be taken out as a "group". Each vehicle planning to do the crossing will need to take out the permits. Make sure that you read all of the information on the permits. There are some onerous provisions, such as not taking photographs and only camping at approved campsites. WA side: WA side of Grt Central Rd: select "GOLDFIELDS - Grt Central Rd, Laverton to NT border,3 or more days crossing Aboriginal Lands" NT side: NT (Central Land Council) side If you have these permits, you can show them at the gatehouse at Uluru and the entry fee is waived, however, you must not stop at "the rock" itself if you take up the option of not paying the entry fee. If you do wish to have a good look at "the rock", then the fee of $25.00 is a small impost. Cheers Russ

Hi Lea and Rick I have done the mod as described in the linked article. It is easy enough to do, BUT, I find that the furry catepillar that is used to keep the bugs from coming in the sides of the screen, does add significant drag to the screens and makes them harder to retract. I tried the idea of carefully tensioning the screws that mount the inner window frame to the outer frame and this helped, but even at the point where the screws are so loose that they will most likely vibrate out on gravel roads, the screens still don't retract easily. I have tried adding addional tension to the spring inside the roller, but this hasn't really fixed the problem. Even with the modification, small insects are still finding their way in through the windows. I have the furries on the sides as well as the ones that run along the rollers (which, of course, only rub on the midgee mesh when the mesh is fully wound onto the roller. When the mesh is extended, there is not enough contact between the furry and the mesh due to the reduced diameter of the roller once the mesh is rolled out.) I honestly think that these windows are a design failure and if I were to ever build another van, I would definitely specify that these Seitz (Dometic) windows are not used. In sand-fly country, this is a real issue and something I gave no thought to when we purchased our van. With the benefit of hindsight, this would have been a dealbreaker and if I couldn't have got better windows, I would not have purchased the van. I hope that the mod works out better for you than it has for me. Cheers Russ

Hi Alan I would leave the van connected to 240 Volts all the time. The charger will settle into Float mode and will keep the batteries where they should be. Otherwise, there is a plethora of 240 V to 12 V maintenance chargers available for vehicle batteries. These usually just clip onto the battery poles and supply a trickle charge to the batteries. If well designed, they will supply just enough current to replace the internal losses that occur within the batteries. I wouldn't bother with a timer. Either method should be perfectly OK to leave running all the time. I would, however, visit the van periodically and make sure that the charging device (whichever type you choose) has not tripped off for any reason. By the way, the internal losses of AGM batteries should not be as much as you are experiencing, so look for something that is still drawing current. Make sure that the TV antenna booster for your Winegard TV antennas is turned off. If you want to be absolutely certain that the batteries are isolated, disconnect everything from the positive battery Terminal except for your charger. (This includes the solar regulator.) Cheers Russ