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17-Apr-2013 11:47:39 AM
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Hi All
As I have been planning to buy and deck out a van for traveling/camping/climbing
I was wondering if anyone would like to share photos of their sweet rides. that they have decked out or bought etc
Would love to see them and I will share pictures once I get started!
Also if anyone has good advice on what worked well and what didn't work that would be great as well.
Cheers
Adam
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17-Apr-2013 12:05:02 PM
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On 17/04/2013 ademmert wrote:
>Hi All
>
>As I have been planning to buy and deck out a van for traveling/camping/climbing
>
>I was wondering if anyone would like to share photos of their sweet rides.
>that they have decked out or bought etc
>Would love to see them and I will share pictures once I get started!
>
>Also if anyone has good advice on what worked well and what didn't work
>that would be great as well.
>
>Cheers
>Adam
I will chase up some details of a VCC couple who were at the last working bee. They had a great set up with a Vito van that they decked out themselves. Really well thought out and really helpful couple. They said the dual side sliding doors were a huge plus when it came to the other vans in a variety of ways. They said obviously parts would be more expensive than some of the others down the line but as yet, they hadn't had to deal with that. Cam has a van in his future plans so it got him all rearing to go.
Cheers,
Tracey
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17-Apr-2013 12:29:16 PM
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~> It is AWESOME!!
(translation: the whole package works well!!)
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17-Apr-2013 1:17:05 PM
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Whatever you do - get something modern! Loved my old 78 Kombi Sunliner campervan, but I lost count the number of times I found myself by the side of the road broken down again.
No airconditioning, heavy on petrol and slow if it was a headwind. Still miss her though...
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17-Apr-2013 1:17:35 PM
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M9, why is there a body in a bag strapped to the roof?
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17-Apr-2013 1:35:52 PM
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On 17/04/2013 pmonks wrote:
>M9, why is there a body in a bag strapped to the roof?
(Shades of E. Fudd) ... Sshhhh. Be vewwy vewwy quiet, aw de wetwoboltews will heaw you! Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh.
;-)
On 17/04/2013 dalai wrote:
>get something modern!
Agreed.
~> Btw: What I posted pictures of, is the 2012 version of your '78 magic machine...
>Still miss her though...
I think you have hit the nail on the head here.
~> Adam is heading towards lifestyle!
Post edit:
Crosslink to a Chocky thread on 4x4 climber vehicles...
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17-Apr-2013 2:13:14 PM
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hey Adam - check out this site: www.expeditionportal.com/forum/
There are probably more ideas than you could imagine &/or afford!
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18-Apr-2013 2:35:03 AM
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We had a Westfalia T4 (~12 years old)... they are designed pretty well and hold their value too. Not huge for 2 people for a year, but touches such as the diesel heater with a timer made it awesome for winter trips... getting up at 6am in -20 is much easier when that guy fires up at 5:45.
Solar panel on the roof was pretty awesome too - put the roof up and face the roof into the sun and our fridge would run for a week+.
Pricey though, and maybe a lot of stuff not needed for Aus...
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18-Apr-2013 9:18:04 AM
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Hard to go past the Delica
While a grey import, they share lots of components with other Mitsubishis on the road here, so are not hard to maintain / repair. Lots have been imported, and many converted to campers. Have a search on carsales.com.au or j-spec.com.au for one of the better importers.
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18-Apr-2013 9:56:36 AM
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On 17/04/2013 ademmert wrote:
>Hi All
>
>As I have been planning to buy and deck out a van for traveling/camping/climbing
>
>I was wondering if anyone would like to share photos of their sweet rides.
>that they have decked out or bought etc
>Would love to see them and I will share pictures once I get started!
>
>Also if anyone has good advice on what worked well and what didn't work
>that would be great as well.
>
>Cheers
>Adam
Was looking at doing something to a VW transporter 2 years ago but bought a forester with low KMs on it and splashed out on a decent tent instead.
Ive been meaning to sort out a boot storage system for it for some time but its pretty well packed and ready to go climbing, camping and what ever else most weekends.
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18-Apr-2013 11:11:27 AM
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On 17/04/2013 ademmert wrote:
>Also if anyone has good advice on what worked well and what didn't work that would be great as well.
It is very much a case of horses for courses matched to budgets...
Having been for a longer road trip recently, I too was curious regarding how others set up their vans and if we ended up camped near similar units (something we tried to avoid!), we would find ourselves observing each other and invariably ended up comparing notes.
There were quite a lot of ‘Wicked’ budget-brand campers about, and they pretty well all had the equivalent of a chest of drawers / open book-shelf arrangement facing rearwards, so that when the tailgate door was raised it provided some shelter while accessing cooking gear plus a bit of space for preparation of food. Many also had a small fold-up table that they used for additional space when set up beside that area which was later used to sit at and eat the meal.
One mob we saw did actually have an opp shop pine dressing table plonked in the back for that purpose, though they had removed the drawers and used rectangular plastic (lidded) tubs in place of the drawers. I think they had fixed the drawer bases in place to support them.
Another better variation we saw on that theme used a flat slide-out-drawer with enough lip above the runners to retain the tubs; though this one had their bed directly above that arrangement, whereas the Wicked style had the bedding on the other side of the cupboard/shelves.
These arrangements worked OK, but had the drawbacks of not really handling bad weather too well; allowing mossies etc into the van, particularly if set up at dusk and cooking into the time when a rear light was needed (an essential item by the way), thus attracting the bugs; and also not really having any privacy.
For the above arrangements access to the bed area was through the sliding side door, though the unit with the slide-out shelf and bed above, could access the bed from rear also if required.
We also saw campervans that had built in stove arrangements that occupied the space behind the passenger seat. Some of these arrangements also had the ability to pivot outside the vehicle when the sliding side door was opened, so that the cooking fumes were outside the vehicle. Those units also had a retractable verandah to deploy for some protection from the elements if needed.
Water arrangements were often the equivalent of a jerry can with a tap at the base. The better ones had a hose extension off the tap with a separate stop-valve on the hose end. Having this enables getting water to the table outside without bending/twisting with a heavy load, or transferring the water in another container.
If you want ideas, I would suggest attending an outdoor-expo of camping vehicles sometime. There is almost an endless amount of variations to fit a price, on display at them...
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18-Apr-2013 11:38:54 AM
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18-Apr-2013 12:14:49 PM
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I'm probably dating myself, but nothing beats one of these*:
* assuming you're ok with spending huge amounts on chiropractic work each time you drive more than 3 hours without a break
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18-Apr-2013 12:38:13 PM
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My mate bought an '89 Mazda van, converted to a camper. Best month of our (climbing) lives. He kept it (and lived in it) for about 2 years I think. It had been converted to half petrol/gas - his dad apparently drove it only on gas for a few weeks and did some serious damage.
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18-Apr-2013 1:04:28 PM
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I'm with batey, prefer to have seperate tent - 15 mins of setup and much more versatile. If its the whole family, pack the 7 man tent. Just me & the missus - pack the 3 man tent. Just me? Take the backpacking tent and my KTM SM950 :-)
Have also long loved Foresters, am on my third. Go pretty much anywhere (except big rock steps and v deep water), comfortable for city work & long drives, lots of starage space. But there are 4 of us now, and we are overloading it for long weekends away, even with roof cage piled high. So am selling the subaru and looking for a Mitsubishi Pajero instead - but will still stick with vehicle + tent(s) solution for my needs
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18-Apr-2013 1:49:14 PM
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Adam i think the main thing is having something reliable. Nothing worse then being stuck waiting for parts or a tow.
Think about one of these things though. Handy when the weather is a little crappy and i have seen them with full sides before (can't remeber where).
http://www.bcf.com.au/online-store/products/Wanderer-RV-Shade-Black-Grey.aspx?pid=224107&menuFrom=21209#Cross
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18-Apr-2013 1:59:52 PM
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Hey Guys Thanks for all the responses
Think we're still keen on a van
Would love to see any pictures of home builds and what people have done to fit out the inside especially ones on the cheap!!
Cheers
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18-Apr-2013 2:24:23 PM
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Start searching youtube for campervan conversions. Should be plenty of ideas on there for you.
And this site should help you with a conversion.
http://www.camper-van-fun.com/build-your-own-camper.html
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18-Apr-2013 2:48:35 PM
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Or maybe something like this ...
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18-Apr-2013 3:18:48 PM
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Or this -
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