The latest project, removable camper project, OZ Trail 8.

[hademall]

Do yourself a favour mate, stop wasting your time and bite the bullet on a new one. $129.00 at Bunnings, job done!

At least you won't have to worry about dodgy old sh1t that might f@#k up.

 

[hademall]

So while we're were away a couple was selling a queen mattress for $25.

Second-hand mattresses……..Mmmm.

 

[losh1971]

Did a swap n go on the old out of date gas bottle I had in the shed. Also bought a new hose with reg which was 900mm long. Tested it all out and it fits my camp stove. So now my side mount gas bottle can be easily used. I'd still like to eventually buy a camp kitchen but a have a fold up wooden table that will do for now as I have done before. Bought a 500w inverter from 4WD Supercentre, a few weeks ago. The 500w one finally came up on sale, plus I had an eBay coupon code which shaved another $10 off IIRC.

Plan is to head down the coast this coming long-weekend, until the Tuesday night for a bit of camping in the local Big 4. We have a pretty good set up now, and will be fine in an unpowered site with what we have in battery storage along with the solar panel. At some stage I'd like to buy an AGM, or if lithium come down enough maybe one of those.

Current plan is to take Taylor so we can explore the Leven River for something to do, along with some rods and see if we catch anything.

We found last time we were out it got a bit hot in the camper tent so I bought a large rechargeable fan from Mitre 10 on clearance for $65. It can be easily charged up with what we have so it's the perfect fan for what we need.

I still want to get the OZ Trail over a weigh bridge, just for my own curiosity, just so I know how much weight the Outlander is pulling. I know it's not even close to the 1300GVM it can handle. But I don't love towing too much weight on the wife's car. At a guess it's probably sitting under 650kg all up, when loaded. I also want to weigh Taylor so I can use the wife's car to pull whatever is lighter. I need to find a local weigh bridge which I haven't done yet as there are none close by.

 

[losh1971]

Managed to get away for the long weekend plus an extra two days.

This is the best set up we've had since getting the Oz Trail. Slowly, slowly our set up gets better. This time I packed some thick blocks of wood to sit under the rear stabilisers AKA screw jack & chassis stand. I've been keeping an eye on Marketplace and they do come up for sale from time to time. I also would like a proper camp kitchen at some point, again these come up for around $80 on Marketplace.

I'm noticing power is a bit of a issue when it's overcast. I'm running a 75ah battery but it's over 10 years old and must be getting close to its use by date. What I'd like is to get maybe a 100ah or 115ah. It just needs to fit in my battery box is all. I'll price up another SC at the SC warehouse when I get a chance.

My new gas hose is working a treat. It's a good length now and will do into the future for when I invest in a new camp kitchen.

 

[losh1971]

So went to use the stove, no go. The new hose has a flare fitting on it and won't seal on the stove fitting. Went to use the BBQ and the new hose is not compatible it would seem. Even though it screws on the gas is just coming out in a big yellow flame that drifts everywhere. So a bit pissed off right now. I may have wasted $45 on a hose that is useless. I have no idea if a different stove will have the ball end I need to fit my new hose. Not sure what the hose I bought even suits now. Bit of a disappointment that's for sure. I have no idea if an adapter is available or even if a brand new stove would have the right fitting? I've lost the BBQ hose so I have a BBQ that's useless unless the hose turns up at home somewhere. Pretty damn pissed off. Bought steak for tea and I can't even cook the bastards.

 

[vc commodore]

Easy to cook a steak.....

Shall disappear before I get removed permanently...

 

[hademall]

Tested it all out and it fits my camp stove.

What happened?

 

[chrisp]

You do need to be very careful of gas hoses, especially those used with the 3/8” high-pressure set ups. They have changed over the years and it’s easy to get caught with a set up that can be unsafe. One big change I noticed was the newer hoses had a restriction placed in the fitting that screws to the bottle. I think it was intended to prevent too much gas escaping if the hose broke or got burnt. However, that set up requires the bottle to always be lower that the stove or bbq or else liquid gas can sometimes make it’s way to the stove or bbq with spectacular results - liquid gas has about (iirc) 17x the calories of vapour so the stove or bbq flares very badly.

I would suggest thoroughly reviewing the whole setup. The way I went was with the ‘low pressure, high output’ setup. They work very well and are quite safe (no gas condensation, or height, issues).

 

[losh1971]

What happened?

I test fitted the stove but never turned it on. Stove into old to be any good now.

I am going to go to Mitre 10 tomorrow and see if they have a stove which can take a flared gas hose fitting.

I thought the gas hose would suit my BBQ. Again it screws on but the gas is not working right. I might see if I can buy the right hose somewhere.

 

[hademall]

I test fitted the stove but never turned it on. Stove into old to be any good now.

I am going to go to Mitre 10 tomorrow and see if they have a stove which can take a flared gas hose fitting.

I thought the gas hose would suit my BBQ. Again it screws on but the gas is not working right. I might see if I can buy the right hose somewhere.

Sh1t, I thought they were all the feckin same!