Hi, I have just purchased a Jayco Eagle Outback 2011. The purchase was mainly based on our budget and a realistic expectation of the offroad abilities of the camper in its stock factory form. My plan to to improve the stock standard ability of the camper by doing strengthening work and underbody protection, Dust proofing, and interior strengthening of cupboards ect, and finally better power options for being self sustaining. My endstate is a camper that will handle the majority of offroad work (not all), no dust to sweep out when we get there, and to sustain ourselves for up to 10 days. I believe that this can be achieved be doing most of the work myself and thus keeping the costs down. Most of the information for my upgrades have come from forums like this one and are an invaluable source of information if you look past the comments by the people who are obviously so one eyed in their particular brand of camper that they think nothing else should be used. I intend to prove that by taking other peoples experience and advice and modifying the camper yourself you can go along way to making a basic Jayco outback into a good quality camper. MY upgrade will be:
Welding the Chassis and subfloor frame so it is completely welded.
Strengthening the
suspension brackets.
Completely resealing all underfloor/wall joins with sika flek and also inside joins.
Screw 10mm rubber matting to the sub floor frame to protect all fittings and the floor itself.
Canvas covers velcro to the inside of all vents.
Pulling apart what I can of the inside furniture and liquid nailing and rescrew together. Strengthen where necessary
Straps for fastening the bed base so they cannot move while travelling.
Extra latches for all cupboard doors.
A larger seal for the roof so when closed a better seal is achieved.
Duel batterys with a 1500W inverter, a ctek battery charger, and run the fridge on 240 from the inverter while travelling.
also a 120 W Solar panel and regulator to charge the batterys (generator for back up)
If anyone can give me some imput and /or advice it would be much appreciated.
I will post updates as I finish each stage of this upgrade if it is of intreast to anyone. In the end I will know my van inside and out and know what it can and cannot do.
Cheers Morry