Shakedown Trip

25/7/2013

The maiden trip is a 7 week journey to the NT and SW QLD. We are now at the 4 week mark and have had no major issues.

Isuzu NPS - Having arrived in Alice at the end of week 1, we were concerned to find what appeared to be some form of leakage from one of the rear wheel hubs. Additionally, oil was weeping slowly from the rear diff. After some phone calls to ATW and Isuzu we found the Alice Isuzu dealer and deduced that the rear hub was just dust collection on some residue on the wheel but that the diff was leaking due to a poorly seated washer. This was fixed in about 2 mins by the local dealer "Airpower". We had to call on their services again when we returned to Alice 2 weeks later having lost the spare set of truck keys. Very nerve wracking knowing you only have one key to the truck. Anyway, all fixed again with a new key now cut and programmed. The truck itself is relatively quiet cruising along with most of the noise being wind noise from the large mirrors, quite loose windows and poorly sealed doors. Despite this there has been no problem so far with dust entering the cabin.

Fuel Economy - we left home weighing about 5400 kg. Travelling at abt 90 kph (2000 rpm) the fuel economy was about 17.5 L/100km. With the cylindrical tank it is very difficult to refill to a consistent point so have had to work this out over several fills. The fuel gauge does not read accurately - don't know if this was a result of the larger tank installation. Only with a very slow process of filling until I am able to see the fuel in the tank can I get the gauge to read anywhere near the full mark and fill to a consistent point. With a speed reduction to 80 kph (1800 rpm) the fuel consumption fell to 15.5 L/100 km. All in all very happy with both those figures as I was expecting worse and half the 4WD towing vans are doing worse.

The House - after 4 weeks we are very happy with the living space. The white interior makes it feel open and bright and there is enough room for two people to move around. So far we have had temperatures ranging from 0C to 33C. We only have thermometers inside so no technical comparisons inside/outside. Impressions are that the closed house (lid down) in full sun is never hotter than outside and maybe a bit cooler. At night I suspect that without any heating, body warmth and cooking will make the inside temperature anywhere up to 10C warmer than outside.

Condensation - in cold temperatures we get some condensation with all or most of the windows zipped up. In the cold mornings, there will be a light sheen of condensation on walls and ceiling, this is no problem. On the aluminium extrusions around the top of the walls condensation gets quite heavy to the point of droplets forming around the entire surface which sometimes have to be wiped down. I wonder whether this would be solved by the metal being covered with felt or some other material. My only concern about this is the possibility of dripping onto the bedding if we set off before this condensation has a chance to dry. Even sleeping with 2 windows open (with some other occupant resistence I might add in zero degree temperatures!) reduces but does not solve this issue.

Issues - We have had a few minor failures but nothing drastic: the bedside fan has stopped working, the stairway light worked for one day, and the hot water system has been intermittently leaking. Daniel did some tightening and application of new plumbers tape and hopefully that will have solved the issue. It never seemed to be losing a lot of water although we were concerned at the glycol levels.

The Airhead Composting Toilet - we made a decision that if there were reasonable facilities available, we would use them. The Airhead is a waterless toilet. Liquids and solids are separated - by the design - not by any action by the user! In practice, we (by which I mean not me) empty the liquids tank every 3 to 4 days. We have taken no action with regards to the solids tank other than turning on the fan every so often. We have followed the advice from the distributor's website and add a sugar mixture to the liquids tank whenever it is emptied and cleaned and have a spray bottle of vinegar and water mixture to spray into the bowl after any use. Over the 4 weeks so far, we have had temperatures above 30C mark and 0C mornings here in Alice. So far there has never been any suggestion of smell from the toilet. The additional bonus is that it is a chemical free system and we do not have to constantly seek out dump points to deal with the toilet waste responsibly. Not that many of those travelling seem to be troubled by this notion of responsible waste management.

Webasto Diesel Stove - very happy. Yes it takes some minutes to warm up, on the other hand you can turn it off minutes before you are finished cooking as the retained heat continues cooking for about 5 minutes after shut down. We just put a silicon mat over the top if we want to use the still warm surface. It is also very useful for drying the tea towel!

Webasto Diesel Hot Water - considering this is German made we find the instructions surprisingly sparse. On days when we drive for several hours there is enough hot water created by the heat exchange for 2 short showers and the dinner washing up without even starting the hot water system. In fact, in 4 weeks we have started the HWS only about 5 times and once was merely to get some hot air from the heater!

The Shower - works well. Merely fixing the shower curtain at the bottom with a piece of Velcro - as suggested by Diane - holds the curtain taut and keeps all the drips in the shower base. The slatted cedar shower base also works well. The shower area is a multi-use area storing dirty boots and other things out of the way while we are camped.

Cab access - don't use it for access on a daily basis mostly as we store so many items in the space behind and between the truck seats : cameras, coats, storage box, empty backpacks, cab window screens. It is a requirement of course to be registered as a motorhome and is very useful to quickly access the truck from the house but the smaller than normal access doorway is not a negative for us. It has also been good on occasion to be able to lock the house from the inside. Good to be able to close off the truck to help with heating the house and also to keep light out.

The Vinyl Roof Skirt - working well. This morning at 0C still folded down without any problem. Having sandwiched a layer of insulation between the vinyl sides means it is completely opaque unlike the amount of light that is visible through even double thickness vinyl on similar installations eg on pop top caravans. If you want to sleep in, you can.

9 Comments

Sterling

31/7/2013 04:27:17 am

Reading your experiences of the truck with interest. Was a bit surprised to read of your issues with condensation, I'm wondering if it is due to the no frame single wall construction (something I hadn't considered)
We have an old pop top aluminium framed and insulated slide on and the only place we ever experience condensation is on the vinyl pop sides. Just recently were away in zero temps and heavy morning fog and still only condensation appearing on vinyl pop wall.

Have you tried sleeping with the heater going, this might help.

The composting toilet seems a success.

I can't remember but how much battery power do you have, noted that you have 2 fridges how much drawdown do you experience, have you had many overcast days to test the capacity?

Must say I appreciate your detailed notes. thanks

Barb Weir

1/8/2013 02:17:26 pm

Glad some one else finds it useful. Happy to share any info or observations. John can give you my email address if you wish. Regarding the condensation ... Subsequent to my last post we have continued to have quite low (for Qlders anyhow) early morning temperatures. On these subsequent occasions there has been significantly less condensation noticeable; in fact no repeat of the droplets on the metal surface. My observation is that the general humidity was also much lower than before. It only forms on the metal capping around the top of the walls. Sleeping with at least 2 of the zippered windows half open certainly reduced the amount. Maybe a hangover from tenting days but I could not bring myself to sleep in an enclosed space with anything running eg heaters. No one else is concerned about the condensation so I just wipe any obvious drips around the bed area if I get a chance before we close the lid in the morning.

Barb Weir

1/8/2013 02:24:43 pm

Generally I would say that the vinyl has not had any moisture worth mentioning - maybe a sheen that you would notice if you ran your hand over it. I don't known if this has anything to do with the layer of insulating material we had sewn between the two layers of vinyl - I presume so. It certainly is dark with all the windows zipped - no light visible from inside at night and the only hint of daylight in the morning is along the very edge where the vinyl is attached to the wall frame and roof.

Barb Weir

1/8/2013 03:21:34 pm

We have 4x120 amp/hr 12 volt batteries ( in our case 240 amp/hr at 24 volt) fed by 6 x 100 watt panels which take up about half the roof. So far we have only been 3 continuous days without sunshine - in Alice Springs of all places. We would have arrived with full batteries - from the driving - and after 3 days of unrestrained use I think we were showing we were down to around 72%. Unrestrained use means in addition to running both fridges, boiling a small electric jug a couple of times a day, multiple lights without thought, water pump etc but also recharging : 2 iPhones, 2 iPads, a laptop every day, a camera battery, the 3G modem ... and twice a week the electric toothbrush! We use a Waeco (CL40 from memory?) as a freezer set at about -10C - but who knows how accurate that is - everything is well and truly frozen. Plus we have the 120 L NovaKool installed as the main fridge. We did not know of this brand before John's recommendation only having ever used Dometic etc in former trailers. We are happy that we had the larger ( > 100 L) one installed and so far it has performed well. The jug is obviously the biggest draw but we found a small one that the 1500 watt inverter can cope with. It doesn't quite hold 2 cups but close enough for us and having decided to not have any gas on board is the only viable option for boiling water for a cuppa and sometimes a quick wash up. The stove or hot water would take too long.

My view after having trailers and portable solar panels over the last 10 years is that we have always struggled along with either too little solar capacity and/or too little battery capacity - actually both. It was always expensive - and still is - but I am happy that we bit the bullet this time. Our guideline is to never run the batteries below 50%. Plus you have to be able to not only maintain use but also be able recharge quickly when sun becomes available. People overestimate the practical capacity of panels - we learned that lesson ages ago.

We haven't been monitoring in terms of amp usage as we usually have the battery monitor displaying %. I will try watch in terms of AMPS over the next few days and let you know.

Sterling

2/8/2013 03:37:44 am

Sounds like you are having a lot of fun.
Just tell me to nick off if you think I ask too many questions...........but

Regarding the cooktop, would find it difficult to get going in the morning without a stovetop espresso and some toast.
So is it going to take too long for a coffee?
Is it possible to toss a piece of bread on the cooktop to make toast?

Batteries, about 140kg for the 4, more weight issues for me !!

Barb Weir

2/8/2013 01:52:13 pm

Ask away as much as you like. Not a coffee drinker really myself but I presume you mean a coffee maker that normally sits directly on the stove? The stove is a glass top and my feeling is that it seems to mark more easily than other household glass cooktops I have used (my Mum's). Maybe this is just me being a but finicky with the new toy. We are now careful to wipe off any residue during cooking before it has a chance to bake on and that would include bread crumbs. If you are used to gas you will find it very slow to get up to cooking temp. Of course this is a matter of timing - turn it on while you do other things first. Same applies to the hot water system. As fortune would have it, just tonight - camped outside Winton - the inverter is giving a fault alarm so we have turned it off. For the first time we had to boil water for a cuppa in a saucepan on the stove - stove was still a bit warm from dinner and probably took 15 mins (?) to boil. Of course it will have used practically no fuel - it's just time. I will time it properly tomorrow morning to confirm. Toast has been an experiment. We were never particularly successful with toast even when we had gas so the standard was fairly low to start with. At home we have taken to using a silicon sheet on the old sandwich toaster which is long past the "non-stick" stage. It works an absolute treat so we thought to just try using a silicon sheet on the stove top. Unlike the sandwich toaster this process created something more akin to burnt bread rather than toast. Then it seems that part of the silicon mat sort of burnt - never seen that before - and left a mark on the stove top which is yet to come off. Next we tried a metal baking tray - good heavy duty one that will not scratch the stove top - as expected it warps because of the uneven heat distribution so the bottom is not in good contact with the stove top - does produce toast but hard to do say, 4 pieces at once. We will continue to ponder alternatives. I suspect that if we had used bread that was more stale the outcome might have been a bit better.
Yes I started off on this journey looking at the Iveco based trucks - most of which examples were German. I presume you have trawled through all those examples for ideas. However no-one ever wants to talk detail about weights which for me has always been an important issue. Having spent the last 5 weeks watching 100's of caravans and utes pass by, I suspect I was the only one to hit the road knowing what I weighed. But I did these even when I had just a 4WD and trailer.

So while - like everything - there are compromises, at this point we have not found the disadvantages of the diesel appliances to cause us to relent on the no gas choice. We just have to change the way we do some things, keep trialling alternatives and think a bit ahead! Sounds a bit like work rather than a holiday but still happy!

Sterling

3/8/2013 07:24:40 am

Thanks Barb, funny how the simple things become issues to be solved, coffee and toast who would have thought !
We definitely don't want gas in our next unit, but do want toast :) I wonder how one of those small gas torches chefs use to brown might work .
There is a bloke in Brendale who is specializing in the new Ivecos
http://ridge-line.com.au/pop-top-campers I actually had a look at them, definitely no weight issues with them , under 4495kg, but not really what we're after.
Have fun.

Barb Weir

7/8/2013 02:29:21 pm

I haven't given up on toast yet but don't know about how the chef torch would meet the two uses rule! Thanks for including the link to the Ridgeline site. Over a year ago I started watching the link from the Goanna tracks site. As I think I have previously mentioned I first started contemplating a vehicle based on the Iveco. Now that I see it I agree that it doesn't catch my imagination. In July 2012 I was told by Trakka Motorhomes (NSW) that they were also planning a product based on the Iveco 4x4. I haven't checked lately but as of a few months ago there was still nothing on their website. I initially approached them along the lines of a custom job possibility but I don't think they do that. Have you formed up yet the absolute requirements of what you want? I think from memory the German trucks eg Exploryx came in at about 5 tonne (?) but they probably have items and design points that are not required here eg double flooring, heated everything including floors and I believe they use a panel which is about 50 mm thick. Because of the length they all seemed to have a split bed arrangement which I could only guess at but which looked like most of the bed stayed made up. There were several varieties based on the Iveco. Have you looked at any of those designs to see if they could be paired down to your weight limit? What sort of weight have you got to play with?

Sterling

8/8/2013 04:17:57 am

We intend to (try) and keep total GVM below 4495kg as we don't really want to upgrade our licences and avoid yearly inspections.
The total payload of the Iveco is 1995 kg and as you've found out it might be a bit of a stretch to keep under.
Unit must definitely be a pop top no higher than the cab 2600mm as we have done a lot of trips where the height of our current unit 2700mm has become an issue.
All the euro units I've seen have been hardtop .
Given that the Iveco cab sits about 1500mm behind the front wheels also robs floorspace (you sit over the front wheels in yours) which gives us about 2900mm of usable floorspace.
This requires a design similar to the Allterrain unit which cantilevers the bed over the back of the truck.
The spare tyre is mounted under the truck (don't want it hanging over the truck rear) which somewhat dictates position of entry door which in turn tends to define internal layout . We have decided to stick with the one spare to save weight and rely on plugs should the worst happen .
Will keep tinkering with design and fittings till we are both happy :)
The Ridgeline bloke was in talks with trakka re design but when I last spoke to him trakka has it very much on the backburner .

Re toast, suppose you could always buy one of those $25 gas canister units.
It's a pity the Webasto cooktop doesn't come with a remote control then you could fire up the unit from bed and have the coffee waiting when you get up!

Shakedown Trip

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