flinders ranges trip

G/day Julie, can't help with your trip plan but re the gennie (a quiet ) one.Lol
Bob.

Suggest you go CooberPedy > Oodnadatta and visit the Painted Desert - we are planning to be there in July. Have a look at TREKS > Painted Desert.

julie,

Why a generator?

The reason I ask is this. The best generator to buy is a Honda or Yamaha inverter type generator due to their reliability and super quietness. The price you will pay for one of these is around the $1600 mark. maybe more, maybe less.
You could buy a $98 Bunnings Warehouse special but you asked for the best and the el cheapo is certainly not quiet.

Maybe what you really need is a dual battery system, or even better, a portable power pack such as the Blue Apple Thumper.
For around the $850 mark, you can get a 75+A/h AGM portable battery system that comes with an in-car charging kit. This will more than ample of powering your fridge and lights for a couple of nights between charging, while on the move.
Being portable, you can then remove both your fridge and the power pack from the car and place them in the camper annex, etc. The "Thumper" is entirely self contained and creates no spillage problems or dangerous fumes while it's charging.
You can also use it as a backup to "jump start" your starting battery in an emergency.

Home of 12 Volt

Now, with the Gennie, you need to find somewhere to store it and the fuel used to run it. Some places, or other campers, will frown upon its use.

Road conditions shouldn't present a problem, unless it is wet, then any "dirt" track, such as the ones between Coober Pedy - William Creek - Marree may be impassable, as they have been recently.

The only communication system you would be likely to need is a UHF radio, either an in-car unit or a handheld. If you choose a handheld radio I would recommend a 5 watt unit. You could also back this up with a hired satphone, or an epirb for absolute emergencies, but the roads/tracks you will be travelling on will not be deserted and the UHF will keep you in touch with other nearby travellers, etc.

Have a look under the Topics heading at the top of the page for some more information on touring this great Country of ours and what you may need.

Roads will not be a problem...unless it rains. When are you going?

Julie

Half of it will be bitumen and the other half good gravel roads.

You will be passing close to my front door.

You can buy a UHF Radio and hire a Satphone for the trip. NextG/CDMA phone connection will be in all the major centres

Get 12 volt lights and run them off the cig lighter.

Run fridge off 2nd battery in vehicle(if you have one)

Enjoy your trip.

Cheers

If you don't have a dual battery system then that would probably be a better option. I recently fitted a 100 amp/hour deep cycle AGM battery for $330, and a Redarc dual battery isolator for total of $150. Getting someone else to fit it may be more expensive. The alternator will charge both batteries and would keep you going for a few days without driving.

Barnesy

Hi Julie,
Most of that trip is on the black top. The dirt roads in the Flinders are quite good unless it has rained. Why the Genie? If you are moving every day or two you should not need it. Good quite genies are expensive and you need to carry the fuel etc. There are a lot of places where you can't use them. Even in places where you can you will not win to many friends if there is anyone near by. If you said you were going prospecting for a few weeks with a static camp I'd say go for it and get a good reliable genie. I would take the 240 cord for the fridge though. If you stay somewhere with power you can give your batteries a helping hand by giving them 2 days charge.

Steve