When the COVID-19 pandemic forced us and millions of others around the world, to rethink our travel plans we adjusted our sights (just ever-so-slightly) and took aim at a ‘Big Lap’ of Australia rather than an overseas trip. As it turned out, it was rather an easy decision to make: Still take a year off, but buy a caravan instead!
But then came a whole raft of questions: What brand? On or off-road? How big? Do we get bunks for the future grandies? What colour scheme? Toilet? Shower? Washing machine? Leather or fabric upholstery? Suspension? Disc brakes? Etc, etc, etc. Eventually, we were happy that we’d answered all those questions, deciding on a 21 feet-long, Sunseeker ‘Desert Storm’ van. A very capable off-road van with lots of solar/battery/water capacity for free camping.
But then, prompted somewhat by the T’s & C’s of the van build contract, we realised that our trusty old Patrol (the ‘Trol’), while still a capable 4×4 and towing vehicle, as it was, wasn’t quite going to cut it.
SO….
Do we buy a new car to tow our new van? The Trol was already far from what you would’ve driven off the showroom floor. It already had some of the features we thought we’d need for our trip: Bull-bar, driving lights and UHF CB. We’d already gone to the trouble several years ago, of replacing the dead 3.0L (ZD30) engine with a 4.2L (TD42). Which was a good move, and well worth the cost and time it took to do, but we lost a few of the niceties in that process, like cruise control, intercooler and remote central locking. We decided to stick with our trusty Trol and replace a few of the features we’d lost and add some that we thought we need for our ‘Big Lap’.
Firstly, the guys at Patrolapart in Lilydale, Victoria were great; they added an intercooler back into the engine and fitted a 3-inch exhaust system. The difference in power (and sound) was immediate and dramatic. They also added a boost controller and raised the boost up to about 15-16 PSI from the factory 7 PSI. This however, was to cause problems later as the hose attached to the turbo compressor kept blowing off. Not something you want to happen towing a 3+tonne van! Some changes to the hose clamps was necessary but ultimately reworking of the outlet and a super heavy duty turbo clamp, sourced from the U.S. fixed the problem.
A roof-rack was next, to carry all that cool stuff like a high-lift jack and shovel, swag and awning for when we decide to ditch the van and venture out onto the rougher roads for a few nights. Fitting it though, was not an easy task. Mr. Flashpakerstravel thought he could fit it himself but raising a 50kg roof rack over 6 feet high was not going to be easy. Still, nothing that couldn’t be achieved with a few ratchet straps and a little ingenuity. After all, the Egyptians built the pyramids with not much more!
We’d always missed the cruise control so we had a “Command” after-market unit installed. We needed a brake controller for the van so we went for the Redarc ‘Towpro’. It provides several ways of controlling the van’s brakes and an ‘override’ mode if the van starts to sway! The van also required a 40 amp Anderson plug and a 12-pin trailer connection so Greville’s Auto-electrical in Ballarat did all that for us.
We were never intending to travel with others so self-recovery was a must. With that in mind, we needed recovery boards (we bought ‘TREDS’) and a winch. The brand ‘Runva’ came up several times from independent sources (thanks Jack!) so we bought a 12,000lb with synthetic rope to save a bit of weight. The trouble was, it was too long to fit in our Nissan Bull-Bar. So the guys at Ballarat 4×4 fitted an ‘Ironman’ winch instead. We decided too, to tidy up the back of the Trol with some slide-out drawers and an MSA drop-slide for our Engel fridge for ease of access. Ballarat 4×4 installed the drawers as well as an auxiliary battery to run the fridge in the car.
Finally, we added 3 gauges to the Trol: Boost, Coolant temp. and Exhaust Gas Temperature (or Pyro gauge). These gauges were highly recommended to us for towing a heavy van and I would certainly agree. Monitoring of temperatures while towing avoids a whole raft of problems!
There was just one last-minute decision to remove one of the back seats of the Trol to save weight as we were conscious of the payload we could carry (600kg) in it. Although we haven’t weighed in to check, we’re pretty sure we’re legal with our weights, which are:
Trol GVM 3040kg
Van GTM 3500kg
GCM 6540kg.
Happy caravanning!
FLASHPACKERS TRAVEL 