Advice on outback camping please.

hi Robin,

I know you're a pretty seasoned camper and am interested to know a bit more of your set up. ie: where does your fridge go if you have a bed filling the back of the car??? and what about carrying water and for that matter, tools and cooking gear, food etc etc must be a pretty tight ship you run there, mate. I can certainly see the advantages, though.

Hellow Steve

Yes if fair to say its pretty tight but highly effective.
Everything is brought or made to fit into the available space and the purpose built shelves etc.

While it may be low cost it does take time to make things fit and I wouldn't reccomend this approach to those who don't have time to play around.
But in the end it has proved very practical.

A cute verification of this occurred recently on the Colson track - we were ready to camp at 4pm after a hard cross country slog but a vehicle we were travelling with needed a space to erect a tent.
We set of and incredibly we drove in excess of 100km till well into the night before a single place big enough to erect a tent was found, whereas our car could have stopped anywhere.

There are a few key points to do to ensure this setup really works -
E.G. You can get into bed via the side doors without climbing over things.
And can cook in the back of the car whilst someone else is still reading a book etc.
We carry a bag each with clothes and this sits on the bed normally and gets put on the front seats for sleeping.
To change clothes while inside is the hardest part but you can sit fully upright without your head touching the roof etc.

I am not willing to have any compromizes like losing the ability to have 5 seats when not camping and it takes about 1/2 hour to put the original seats back in.

For emergency use only, you can sort of have seats at any time as our platform that forms the front 1/2 of the bed has a fold up plywood piece that allows it to fold up and form a quasi rear bench seat.

I attach picture which shows the flat floor but without mattress - in it you can see our CF-25 fridge between the front seats and water is carried under the platform on either side of the fridge. (You don't even have to get out of bed to raid the fridge at night).
Purpose built shelves to the left hold chairs and to the right hold food and at the very top of the picture can can just see a little rolled up table and 2 man tent.

An internal shelf just below the roof holds a things like a cover for the rear barn doors which makes a rain proof area big enough to cook by.

This picture shows the basic flat platform without the mattress and also shows a microwave oven where pillows might be but we normally don't take this.

2nd picture shows the fold up flap in place with a wife wanting her morning coffee from the kitchen.

To set up kitchen , I fold up the flap which folds up the bottom 1/3rd of the double bed mattress and then get stove etc from off the front seat where it spent the night etc. We mostly drive with kitchen stuff setup as per this picture.

blimey mate, and not even a roof rack???? I like the idea of having a sly swig from the fridge whilst the missus is asleep;))

Obviously, you've worked on the setup over a period of time and improved on it. Is 25 liter fridge your only cold food storage? I take it the microwave was an experiment and used with engine running? Any solar or gennie? Glind shower? Very innovative. We've been thinking about this stuff because we can't take our van up the Cape so that has inspired us.

Cheers, Steve.


sorry to derail the thread a bit but some good tips for most of us there.

Yes Steve with your 130 and Rons Troppy, Tyler can see that there are alternatives for those wanting the ultimate flexibility.

We leave the externals of our car looking as standard as possible and I think this is a big plus although it means extra work to embed winches etc into the stock bar - or to run good globes and wiring instead of spotlights.

I can't reccomend this because it is illegal but you can move from the front seat
and lie down in back without stopping and we have had to transport someone injured in this manner.

Because we are sometimes away from even 4wd tracks for days we have tried to make everything work for us and have backups but these spring from sensible planning up front.

Our fridge is small but we deliberately carry nothing that requires to be kept frozen and we carry only known good water usually in say supermarket casks these things minimize bad food issues.

( The microwave is only for family picnic type events ).

We carry no generator and use just the car alternator, this uses under 2lt/hour to charge things if required.
Being petrol its so quiet you can run the car in a camp ground and no one even knows and all this means no added weight.

This is the second GU Patrol we have setup this way and it isn't quite as good as our other one just yet - it has a thin (5mm) flexible solar panel glued to the roof and you can't see the panel and allows us to go into supermarket car parks
with 2m height clearances - meeting our no compromises critera again.

Its all lots of fun !

What a sensational setup Robin! :)

I have to ask though, what is the pressure sprayer for? Is it an improvised fire extinguisher?

Cheers,

Kevin.

Hi Kevin

I didn't look closely at those photos so I didn't think the sprayer was visible - but yes it has a dual purpose of supplying water and also as a fire extingusher.

I drilled the end of its nozzle out to about 1mm or whatever gave it a good (but not to much) spray.
This is because fires from grass build up under the car require a good steady spray beyond what the usual 1kg commercial extinguisher can maintain.

It can't be seen in the photo but its a push fit into a nook at the rear of the car in what would be an otherwise used space and doesn't interfere with the mattress at all.

Hi Tyler,

we had a set up similar to Ron's (twice) first with a Patrol then a 70 series landcruiser. Both were home made. With the Patrol the fridge was under the full length shelf from the passenger driver side door. Access to the fridge wasn;t great but there was plenty of storage and headroom.
In the 76 I found it was a bit shorter than ideal and less headroom, but the access to the fridge from the rear was great. I think if this was with a troopie would be perfect.

With both, there was lots of storage space and set up was very quick. We left the bed set up with a foam matress, sleeping bags and pillows set up throughout the trips. With the landcruiser we had an awning which gave some space for cooking if weather wasn't great and we used a swag more often which also makes it v quick to set up. Now I make do fine with a swag and awning as I want to have the extra seating between trips without dismantling shelving. Oh - and we had an underbody water tank which was great.

I think my next choice would be a dual cab ute with tray top camper. But whatever I prefer a set up that is quick with a small footprint/ flexible.
Good luck in the planning - that's half the fun.

Hi Bluedog66 and Snolly
No more KEA it's out of business in Australia!

Cheers Dana

Hi Danna

I had not heard that Kea is out of business in Australia so I checked out the internet and what you sayin your follow up is (sort of) correct as Kea has filed for liquidation but will remain in the marketplace via THL. Below is a copy of a news item from Business Day (copyright Fairfax NZ News) that I found this morning.

"Tourism Holdings Limited (THL) has bought the rights to use the Australian brands of Kiwi company KEA Campers Group, after its licensed agent across the Tasman went into liquidation.

THL said there would be no disruption to existing and future KEA Australia customers in the handover and the KEA brand would remain in the market.

The NZX-listed company would ''endeavour to ensure the customers are seamlessly transitioned'' to its existing branches in Perth, Cairns, Brisbane and Sydney, it said in a statement.

In January KEA announced it would scale down its presence in Australia from eight depots to four.

KEA Campers director Grant Brady told BusinessDay that the Australian market was experiencing heavy discounting and KEA's premium end of the market was suffering from lower yields, while being squeezed between the two bigger market players THL and Apollo.

Brady said KEA's Australian company was also filing for liquidation and he did not believe any creditors would be left out of pocket.

He said KEA's New Zealand business was unaffected.

Licensing agreements for KEA's brands usually lasted for a term of ten years, and included collaboration on branding and marketing efforts, said Brady.

THL chief executive Grant Webster said he was pleased to have the ''financial strength, infrastructure and people in place to be able to assist''.

''The KEA Australia leadership team have been very supportive in ensuring their customers are well catered for into the future given their difficult situation.

''KEA Australia customers can be assured their needs will be attended to. We have the full intention of honouring the terms, conditions and pricing offered by KEA Australia in the market place today and will deal with any issues with customers on the road with care and respect.''

Webster said the acquisition was not expected to have a material effect on THL's financial results for the year ending June 30."

Those North Coast Campers look real nice. Anyone on here have one?

I have actually been to Mulgo's factory and had a good look at his yellow beast. I was very impressed. My wife is not overly keen on it as a full time camping solution. However, towing a smallish van for her comfort is important for her. We have acknowledged that there may be some times she won't want to accompany me, so a vanless camper has a lot of appeal.

Is there any one here with a 130 defender that has the Mulgo conversion?

Thanks for your input Craig. I have looked at Tailgate Campers but they have been a bit too long for a dual cab Defender. However I revisited their site today, following your link and noticed they have a dual cab version coming early 2013. So I have sent them an e-mail seeking more info on that.

I have seriously considered the Trayon as I know it will fit a dual cab Defender, however my wife will not be able to cope with the continual entry/exit on the steps backwards as she has a back problem. The entry/exit to the Tailgater will be easier.

I may have not been too clear in my original post. I did not mean a continued 2 year journey. I meant that it could take 2 years to do the separate treks. So each trip will be separated by some home time.

Whilst I personally would prefer a slide-on, my wife has needs that steer strongly to a van. However there will be some treks she has indicated she is not keen on so I will be alone unless I can find a traveling buddy for those times. So for me, I guess the ideal setup is a lightweight slide-on and a suitable off road van. This way my alone trips are catered for with the slide-on and with my wife the van accommodates us both. As a backup for places on a side trip the slide-on fills the gap.

However, I am seeking the best combination of slide-on and smallish off road van that the Defender 130 will have no problem with carrying and towing and at the same time will be able to fit in everything I need to take with me over and above what is a fixture or fitting of either camper. The biggest problem seems to be having enough room for two spare tyres. Because of medical limitations, I am unable to lift the weight of a spare tyre up onto a roof rack. Besides, I don't like that weight up top anyway. Also a spare on the Defender bonnet makes the bonnet really heavy to lift. I know someone who ended up with a crushed hand when the spare loaded bonnet slammed down on his hand. Not good.

So thanks again for input and I am sure that amongst the wealth of experience out there in ExplorOz land, there is the right answer for me.