OK, I Know I'm Showing Off
Submitted: Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 12:23
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Gone Bush (WA)
I have just completed some major additions to my new TDV8 Landcruiser trayback. A whole bunch of photos are on my Member's Profile.
The alloy canopy was my own design made by a
young bloke in the southern suburbs of
Perth. Other major suppliers were hugely mind-blowingly expensive. The colour is the closest I could get thru this bloke who only powdercoats but it was by far the most economical option. It looks almost the same in the shade but in
bright sunshine it is noticeable. But, I can live with it. The canopy contains a slide out drawer system, an Engel fridge and a 300w inverter.
I have put a plastic 38 litre
water tank underneath the tray. The tray was ordered with a timber floor and I have kept a fair bit of that available. I have fitted a dual battery system with bits from Derek Bester (ExplorOz advertiser).
My wife and I (and another couple) are leaving for Victoria in a few days to pick up a Trakmaster caravan being made for us (one for each couple actually) and we will be coming home thru
Canberra, NSW,
Birdsville, Eyre Peninsula. I have my ExplorOz sticker on so please call us on UHF 18 if you see us.
Reply By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 12:37
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 12:37
Nice work...very tidy looking rig
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Reply By: Gramps (NSW) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 12:40
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 12:40
Gone Bush,
Looks good. Make sure you post pics of your new van as
well.
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Reply By: Kev M (NSW) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 12:43
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 12:43
Looks good, it's a
well set out canopy.
You will be able to swap ideas with Ruth when you go through
Birdsville if she is not out travelling.
Enjoy your trip.
Cheers Kev
| Russell Coight:
He was presented with a difficult decision: push on into the stretching deserts, or return home to his wife.Lifetime Member
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AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 12:45
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 12:45
Yep, we intend to say hullo.
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Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 13:07
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 13:07
Good stuff Bushie.
The thing I like about the traytops is that everyone does their own thing to suit the way they
camp and what gear they have. Don't reckon I've ever seen two that are the same. You've got the best of both worlds, having the open tray as
well. Enjoy!
We'll be heading north thru
Port Augusta on the 21st, so I guess it would be a real fluke if we passed at that point, but I'll keep my eyes open.
cheers
phil
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Reply By: jeffwa - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 13:07
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 13:07
Looks good, I like the custom canopy, when I finally get a ute I want to do somthing similar but with a kitchen as I don't want to tow.
Any reason for the timber floor?
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 13:11
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 13:11
It was the bodgie in me.
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Reply By: Member - RnR (NSW) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 13:12
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 13:12
Gone Bush,
Rig looks great. Enjoy your Trakmaster. The people currently managing the CP at
Birdsville are also Trakmaster owners and are giving we Trakmaster owners a discount. Enjoy!!
Regards
rnr!MPG:8!
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Reply By: Member - Oldplodder (QLD) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 15:07
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 15:07
Looks good.
A bit of dust and you won't notice the difference in colour.
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Reply By: Gorgeous Gus - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 15:42
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 15:42
Gone Bush
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Reply By: Gorgeous Gus - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 15:44
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 15:44
Gone Bush, I'm thinking of getting a Troopy & am interested in what you have done to improve the centre bin in your RV. Any info appreciated
GG
a fellow Trakky owner.
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 16:16
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 16:16
You will find my setup at:
www.consoles.com.au/
it comes in two parts. They are based in
Sydney and were very helpful over the phone.
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Reply By: REV'S - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 16:17
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 16:17
Gone Bush
What sort of vehicle were you traveling in befor the 70 series and did you find the ride much of a change.Your not travelling with Steve and his lovely girl Glenda by any chance are you
Allan
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 16:28
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 16:28
An 80 series cruiser. Yes the ride is different: leaf springs etc, but hopefully it won't be so harsh with a van on the back.
Yes, Steve & Glenda are our travelling companions.
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Reply By: Member - Ruth D (QLD) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 17:45
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 17:45
Gone Bush - wow, you didn't tell me you were getting Bodgie Red! She looks beautiful - like your canopy too. Especially like the console - where did you find it, looks just what we need for the cat to sit on? Ruth
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 18:35
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 18:35
Hullo Ruth,
yeah, pretty spoofy eh? I've always maintained that if you're going to buy something, car, boat etc, you've got to be able to stand back, look at it and say, geez I like that !!
The centre console is from
www.consoles.com.au/
in
Sydney. Very good to deal with over the phone. It comes in two parts and if you want the part around the gearstick you have to specify that you want the centre console to butt up against it. That way you get a squared off end instead of rounded. My wife, Robyn and I (Stephen) will be in
Birdsville in about a month. How do we get in touch to say hullo and meet your other half?
cheers
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Follow Up By: Member - Ruth D (QLD) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 19:28
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 19:28
Easy as! Second last house to the
Simpson Desert - 20
Jardine Street - only house in town (I think) with a white V8 ute parked out the front. Just ask anyone they'll point you in the right direction. Shouldn't take more than five minutes to check the town out. LOL. Also the biggest garden shed in
Birdsville in the back yard! Looking forward to seeing you all. Ruth and Ian.
Thanks for the console link - will contact them and organise.
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Reply By: dave_c - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 19:10
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 19:10
gone bush,
curious. what did you end up getting for the 80series.
cheers dave
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 19:38
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 19:38
Haven't sold it yet Dave. I will concentrate on that when we get back.
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Reply By: madfisher - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 20:43
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 20:43
Their is something special about a red vehicle, mind you I am biassed. Good luck on the trip
Cheers Pete
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Reply By: Member - Doug T (W.A) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 21:21
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 21:21
Gone Bush
You know we all hate show-offs , and I had a look at the Pics ......ya mongrel,
Yeh good one you lucky bugger, now you better trot off and get a good Garmin GPS for it.---.......................................................................
................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................
...............................still droolin'
Doug
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Reply By: Member - bungarra (WA) - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 21:27
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 21:27
Hi
Looks like a lot of thought gone into your canopy.
Well done. Agree the major suppliers are outrageous in their charges to the extent that I am seriously considering building my own...however if you dont mind mentioning whom you found that was more realistically priced I might give him a go.
Thanks
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 00:47
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 00:47
If the moderators don't have an issue with me mentioning names I had OutWest Toolboxes in O'Connor make the canopy (9331 3717) ask for Phil.
Realistic pricing is still in the eye of the beholder but Rossco's were more than twice the price for the same thing and Phil was quite happy to custom design to my specs, even to the point of letting me be his TA on the day of fitting.
There are one or two things I would have done differently, now that I can see it in the flesh, but that's what happens when your building a one-off.
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Follow Up By: Member - bungarra (WA) - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 20:08
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 20:08
Thanks...appreciated
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Reply By: Richard Kovac - Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 22:16
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 at 22:16
Very nice
It's fun doing what your doing.. :-)
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Reply By: S&N - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 00:22
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 00:22
gone bush. from what i can see, yoy have a tap on your
water tank with a male thread on it. if you go to a REECE, TRADELINK or maybe even BUNNINGS store and ask for a BRASS cap (looks like 3/4 inch) you can screw this on and not worry about dust/mud etc filling up your tap! to ensure it doesn't rattle off on the corrugations you can wrap teflon tape around it a few times but you will have to replace this all the time, so get some THIN rubber, cut it to fit the inside of the cap, and bobs your uncle, it will work like an internal split washer!
happy
trails!
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Follow Up By: Trevor R (QLD) - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 10:30
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 10:30
Good idea about the tap cap.
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 10:55
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 10:55
It sure is, thanks S&N. I'm off to find one this morning.
cheers
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 15:20
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 15:20
I just picked a couple of plastic end caps from Reece. $1.80 each. Because they are plastic they screw up nice and tight without the need for a washer. They had brass as
well at $4.
Thanks for
the tip. Appreciate it.
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Follow Up By: S&N - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 19:10
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 19:10
no worries!
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Follow Up By: Gramps (NSW) - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 20:23
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 20:23
Yep .... those washers are damn expensive LOL
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Reply By: Harry - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 17:41
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 17:41
G'day,
Mate of
mine has just returned from N.T. last week and was looking over new V8 Troopy at Alice and comment was, that there is an issue with 2nd batteries being cooked, (in the N.T,) apparently from exhaust heat as the exhaust is now on left hand side too.
I have had a look under and it's not all that obvious, so BEWARE and insulate the battery.
I will be getting my new V8 soon and my AGM battery will be in that spot, so I'll definitely be looking at ways to insulate the battery.
If you don't have the battery under the bonnet, then you won't have the problem.
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 20:22
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 20:22
I appreciate the heads up Harry. The battery cradle I bought has a full size side to it against the engine. However I have my solenoid and circuit breakers on the outside (the engine side) of it. I'm hoping that it's a tropical heat thing but I will keep an eye on it (because I do intend to go back up north at some stage). I've only had my vehicle for a month or so and it is winter down here but it doesn't seem to produce very much heat in the engine bay.
As I said, thanks for the warning. Cheers.
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Reply By: Harry - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 22:37
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 22:37
Tropical conditions will obviously be the cause and that will be where problems will start, but you won't know straight away until it's too blurry late.
You said you have a cradle that has a full size side. This is not an ARB job as I have seen the new cradle they are making for the V8 and it ain't got no full side.
What is the full side made up of and is it manufactured or
home engineered job.
Could you send a piccee if possible.
Your rig looks great, no wonder you've got a big smile on your dial. :>)))
Thanks
and ave a great day.
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 22:55
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 22:55
It's made in WA by a company called Outback Accessories and I bought it thru TJM in O'Connor in
Perth. The side is steel just like the rest of the cradle.
It looks like a shoe box with ONLY the bottom and one side. That side faces the engine and is the same height as the battery. Each end of the bottom has a support bracket that bolts to existing unused threaded holes on the side of the engine bay. The bottom has two welded support brackets that require 3 holes to be drilled in the wheel arch to take 3 more bolts.
I can't send a piccie at the moment but if you look at picture #10 on my Rig photos where the 2 big red cables curve over to the left you can JUST make out the top of the "wall". Unfortunately it's black on black. These 2 cables connect to 2 by 50A circuit breakers on either side of the solenoid. The galvanised battery bracket over the top of the battery is at the same level as the top of the wall.
cheers
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Reply By: Gone Bush (WA) - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 22:57
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 22:57
Just an additional thought: if the engine bay is getting hot enough in that spot to
cook a battery what is it doing to the fuel hoses that pass along there much closer to the engine than a battery?
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Follow Up By: Harry - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 23:09
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 23:09
TJM, thanks mate , I'll
check them out now I have a name.
Your photos are ok, I just hadn't had a real good look to see what was there.
Understand what your saying, will give TJM a call on Mon.
A bit of roof insulating paper might do the trick as it's very thin, but has the reflective side on it, or exhaust stick on stuff that they use in the racing industry.
Too easy :>)))
Don't know if the fuel lines would be any drama.
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Reply By: Member- Rox (WA) - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 23:27
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 23:27
Gone Bush, were did you get the plastic boxes for the roller draws?
Kevin
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 23:40
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007 at 23:40
They are quite old and I haven't seen them recently at all. Best bet is take a tape measure to Red Dot, Bunnings etc. It's a fluke that they fitted the new drawers; they were in the drawer system in my 80.
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Reply By: Member - John (Vic) - Sunday, Jul 15, 2007 at 00:42
Sunday, Jul 15, 2007 at 00:42
Very nice,
well done.
Oh!! and your allowed to show off, thats half the fun.
Enjoy.
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