Thursday, Jul 30, 2009 at 09:34
Hehehe Great news Mick!
You and I do similar sorts of travelling.
Mine's been developing over the past 5 years and from the cab back, our vehicles are identical.
Mine came with an aluminium tray, which I liked because of the weight. The trays are normally 1850 wide, but I trimmed
mine by 50mm both sides, so my canopy has a skinnier profile that matches the cab, and it also means the rearward vision via the outside mirrors is better. I like the convex mirrors - they come standard on the passenger side, so I replaced the flat mirror on the RHS with another convex one. A reversing camera is also pretty useful. To trim the tray, I took it apart and ran a circular saw along the side.
My canopy is a full aluminium box made by a local company who do very nice work. Mostly 3mm aluminium. My tray length is 2260, but some are 2400. I wouldn't go for a longer tray if you are planning on having two spare tyres on the back. The canopy is a sealed box with 1800mm wide lift up doors each side. Narva 13W Fluoro lights are velcroed under each.
Under my tray, I replaced the legs that attach it to the chassis at 8 points, so I can fit
water tanks easily down the middle. For the standard height tray, you will have about 160mm of clearance over the rear part of the chassis. If you lift the tray, you'll get an extra 25mm of clearance. I bought two of the 70litre Goughs undertray tanks so I carry 140litres plus a jerry can. I like them because they fit up easily with angle iron (supplied) - no complicated straps or chassis supports. The hoses that come with them have a plastic taste, but the
tank does not, so I replaced all hoses with Neta brand blue hose (Don't buy the Pope brand
water hose). Other tanks need heat shields and support straps. Goughs tanks cost a heap though - $565 each last time.
I also have two of the undertray toolboxes, but am a bit disappointed in them. Can't fit enough stuff into them, and they collect dust and
water - they will fill up on
water crossings. My RHS one is used for oils etc and the LHS one takes our rubbish.
The canopy layout - this is where it gets very individual. My advice is to forget everything you learned about setting up a wagon. A traytop canopy is way more versatile. I cringe when I see people setup canopies with two draws and a fridge slide!
Our passenger side faces the campfire and has the fridges/food/cooking/chairs/table etc There are custom sized drawers, a cellar, hutches - all designed to fit the gear we take, so they store without fuss.
Our drivers side faces away from the fire and is used for storing tent/swag etc and houses all our spares and has dedicated space forward for up to 10 jerry cans. We also use two large drawers for our clothing - his and hers!
We have two spares on the back - simply bolted through the rear wall. Between them is a HF bracket that I have custom made so it can be loosened and raised to give the autotune good clearance from the body, so it transmits very
well. The autotune also is
well tucked in when travelling. I added an LED eye-level brake light.
I'd resist the temptation to have a rear door - that is the only place where dust gets in, and its nice to simply bolt the tyres.
We have stuck with tent and swag as a rooftop tent would hinder our inclination to go exploring when we stay put. We also don't want stuff above the roofline of the cab, so the canopy height was about 1200mm from memory.
The vehicle cab only contains stuff that needs to be there. Stuff is easily accessible in a sealed canopy, so no need to crowd the limited space in the cab. I have a custom console between front Recaros that holds maps/info/small stuff and a pocket for a folded laptop that hooks up to the in-dash screen. An outback brand overhead console houses the
HF radio head, UHF and speakers.
There are various photos in my profile stuff, but many haven't been updated.
Cheers
Phil
AnswerID:
376786
Follow Up By: Member - Mick O (VIC) - Thursday, Jul 30, 2009 at 17:34
Thursday, Jul 30, 2009 at 17:34
Thanks Phil,
this is just the sort of
feedback I'm after. I'm onto the gough tanks now and slowly compiling a list of items to research. Thanks Again.
Mick
FollowupID:
644248