Mingo Preps for his next Trip - The Red Centre & Beyond!
Hi everybody, Mingo the Camping Flamingo Here! Hope you enjoyed my last Blog on our Trip to Cape York.
Me, Steve and Laura are prepping for our next trip; we leave on 13th of December from Townsville to Uluru, then the Victorian High Country, followed by Broken Hill, White Cliffs and back up north via Longreach. We have 4 whole weeks to do it, which might sounds like a good amount of time, but in reality, it's 9,000kms and this time, we're travelling with a 12 year old PLUS two dogs! Are we crazy? Yes probably - did I mention we're doing it at the height of summer...?! Yup, certifiable!
Anyway, we thought you might like to see the modifications and upgrades we have made to the Triton and (new) Swifty to help us cope with the incredibly harsh conditions we expect to encounter on the way...
The Triton is already a beast of a vehicle and as you know, it did us proud up to the Northern Tip of Australia and Cape York. However, since that trip and those horrendous corrugations, we decided to change a few things to make outback travelling just that little bit more comfortable.
We also thought we'd show you what we carry for safety and recovery, should we ever need it, when we're miles from civilisation.
Feel free to steal any of our ideas and share them around if you like. As always, our good mates at 4WD Central, ARB, Supercheap Auto, M Group Tyres and Jayco were with us every step of the way.
Enjoy!
Squawk! Mingo xx
1: Useful A-Frame Cage.
Firstly - we wanted an easy way to carry firewood on the road. We didn't want it in the car or the van as it would be very messy and we also wanted a place that was quick and easy to access. You often have to BYO firewood to a campground as they don't want people chopping down their valuable trees, however, dead wood that you see along the roadside is perfectly fine.
Secondly, when you free camp, there is not always a place to dispose of your garbage and so you have to take it with you. (Note: some unscrupulous people do not adhere to this unwritten rule and it those grubs who are spoiling it for everybody else! Rant over). We wanted an outside storage area that we could put the garbage in and carry it with us until we found an appropriate place for it.
So we came up with this idea. A cage which is attached to the A-Frame and has a hinged lid. The cage itself is made out of a pack of 4 wire panels from Bunnings which are actually designed to be a compost bin ($30 - bargain!).
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| Firewood & garbage bin in the A-Frame cage |
Steve cut the pieces to shape easily, using his angle grinder. He made sure there was plenty of clearance for the jockey wheel handle before installing it. It is attached to the A-Frame using super thick industrial cable ties and is also attached to the bracket which holds the gas bottle and jerry can behind it. The cage itself is held together with normal cable ties and the lid is kept down with short rubber bungees.
It is very study and easy to get to and only takes up 25cm which was wasted space on the A-Frame. You could also put other fairly lightweight things in it, that you don't want in the car....whining children perhaps....!?
2. House Battery Charging
The Swift came with a house battery and we decided we would rather choose to park the van in the shade as often as possible and use portable panels that can be put in the full sun up to 10m away.
With that in mind we still wanted another option to charge the house battery. So we decided to connect it to the car, so that it was getting charged for free whilst we were driving. We drive looooong distances and we don't always have time to put the solar panels out for very long before the sun goes down. Plus, if we were to run the fridge solely off the battery it would run it down extremely quickly. We do have gas and when we set up camp, we do switch the fridge onto gas. But if you have free energy from driving hundreds of kms, then hell, why not use it!
So we asked Jayco to run a cable from the house battery to the A-Frame and put an Anderson plug on the end of it. They did this for free, before we took delivery of the van! We coiled it neatly next to the 7-pin plug and cable tied the excess to the A-Frame, first checking there was enough length to reach the car.
Then we took the Triton to an auto electrician and they ran a cable from the alternator to the back of the car and put an Anderson plug right next to the tow ball. That cost about $130.
Now, when we're setting off, we just connect the two Anderson plugs and off we go! The house battery in the van gets charged for free as we drive.
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| Anderson and 7-Pin plugs ready to plug into the Triton |
3. Solar Panels
4. Vent Covers
You may remember that on our last trip, we stopped at an incredibly beautiful spot near Cooktown, called Archer Point. It was very isolated and we were able to camp right on the ocean. The trade-off for this magical spot was that it was windy. Very, very windy! So windy in fact that our pilot light in our fridge blew out constantly and so the fridge stopped working. Back then we did what we could to shield the outlet/inlet vents with a few pieces of cardboard and some gaffa tape and it worked pretty well, if not looking too flash!
We also got talking about the vents in the van door and how everything inside would get wet if you were to do a creek crossing. Not to mention the amount of red dust that comes in whilst you're on the road.
At this point it is important to note that those vents are there for a reason and should not be covered all the time; the fridge ones must NEVER be completely covered or you risk dangerous overheating and the van door one must be open when you're using gas to cook inside.
So we knew we wanted something which was quick and easy to put on and take off, strong, flexible and rugged, which looked aesthetically pleasing, was easy to clean, was splash and mud resistant and impervious to dust...and this is what we came up with - corflute and self adhesive velcro! (Corflute is the stuff they make beer and advertising signs out of - it's like corrugated cardboard, only plastic). Total cost for $4.5M of Velcro - $14 from Bunnings. The corflute was donated by the local bottleshop from old beer signs - great recycling! It's also available from hardware stores like Bunnings for a few bucks.
Here is the vent on the van door with velcro around the edge and below is the panel in place! Simple yet extremely effective and can easily be removed and stored when not in use (ie when cooking). When driving through a creek, the panel will not stop the water entering the van if we were to get bogged, but under normal circumstances, when the van is moving at a steady pace, it will stop water and mud splashing into the van interior.
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| Door vent showing Velcro in place |
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| Corflute panel covering the vent |
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| Panels in place over the fridge vents |
Here are the upper and lower fridge vents using the same velcro and corflute system; the upper one shows how the panel can be positioned to allow hot air to escape from the flue outlet. The lower vent covers the pilot light and in a stiff breeze the panel will stop it from continually being blown out. Both these panels should only be used in highly windy situations or if you are driving through high water, but they are invaluable at those ocean-front campsites where you'd prefer your refrigerated food to stay refrigerated! We are also installing a shade awning which helps the fridge to operate at optimal temperature when travelling in extremely hot conditions. More pics of that later!
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| Close up of Velcro around vent |
5. Fridge Shade Awning
While on the subject of the fridge, we also purchased for $26 (from the terrific online shop Caravans Plus) a special awning that shades the fridge from the sun. Very useful in high temperatures, the awning is made of silver coloured heat reflective shade cloth. It attaches to the van with a sail track ($6 from Bunnings) and then pegs into the ground. Excellent value; works really well, and should keep our fridge running as well as it can in temps over 35 degrees!
6. Cheap and Easy Floor Mat
Camping, especially in the Outback can be very dusty. We were continually walking dirt into the van and this mean constant sweeping - aka boring!!
So we picked up a super cheap rubber-backed mat from Big W for about $20 and just cut it to size. It is really important it is rubber backed otherwise it'll just move around and is a tripping hazard. Every time we pack up we just pick it up and shake it and put it back. Too easy.
Oh and by the way, we stuck a couple of self adhesive hooks on the outside of the kitchen cupboards to hang tea towels on as well.
We are constantly looking around for ideas to enhance Swifty; I'm currently working on some kind of basket that sits off the ground beside the step, to leave our dirty shoes in... watch this space!
7. Bull Bar, Winch and Roo Shoos
Moving now onto the Triton. The bull bar from ARB is compatible with the Triton's airbag system - meaning the airbags will still deploy in the event of a collision. Tip: NEVER drive at twilight or before dawn as that's the most likely time you'll hit an animal. Just a couple of important notes here - never use your bull bar to push things and never use it as a tow point either. Also, if using a high lift jack, make sure that your bull bar (and your tow bar) have a lift point and you know where they are!
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| Bull Bar, Roo Shoos and Winch |
We installed a Smittybilt X20 winch with a synthetic rope instead of steel cable which is prone to snapping. It pulls 10 tonnes (double that if we use a block and tackle with it) and it also has a cordless remote (much better than one with a cord).
This winch has already pulled both the Triton and Swifty out of the sandy creek at Big Bend just outside Townsville plus we used it to flip the original Swifty back onto his wheels after we rolled him at Cape York. It will pretty much get you, or someone else out of trouble anywhere you happen to be.
We have Roo Shoos on the Triton - nobody knows if they really work or not, but so far so good - no roos through the windscreen in over 12 years! They are basically a small device which makes a high pitched whistling sound when you're driving along that supposedly keeps animals away.
8. Snorkel and Roof Racks
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| Snorkel & Roof Racks |
We have a snorkel on the Triton which not only keeps the engine dry if we're going through water but also keeps the filter clear when driving in very dusty areas. Some people put a sock (yes an actual sock) over the snorkel to further increase its dust proofing abilities!
We still check and clean the air filter every couple of days when we're on a trip.
We put a Rhino rack & basket onto the roof and that's where we keep all our recovery gear, tools, shovel, axe etc plus fuel in Jerry cans, firewood etc.
That way everything we might need in a recovery situation is right at hand, even if we're bogged somewhere.
We always pack everything to ensure it is as low profile as possible to reduce wind drag and keep down fuel usage and also make sure the combined weight is not too heavy.
9. Suspension
After the horrendous corrugations at Cape York, it was decided unanimously that we would upgrade the suspension on the Triton. Most factory suspensions after a couple of hours on corrugations, will heat up and their effectiveness is considerably reduced. We wanted an aftermarket suspension that was designed to cope with these types of road conditions to give us a smoother ride and cause less wear and tear on the vehicle.
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| Front Shock Absorbers |
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| Rear Shock Absorbers & Leaf Springs |
We settled on Ironman suspension as it would give us a 3 inch lift and would help us carry up to 300kg in the boot without pulling the car down when we are towing.
It also means smoother performance over corrugations, for a longer period and also gives us greater ground clearance when driving over eroded, bumpy tracks.
10. Levellers, Chocks & Winder Storage
We knew we wanted quick and easy access to our chocks and levellers, plus our winders. The Swift doesn't have a boot, like the bigger models, but we wanted to have them handy but not in with our food or clothes as they tend to be dirty/muddy. So we decided to store them just inside the van, so that as soon as we arrived at our camp ground, we could just open the door and get them out. To stop them sliding around loose, we just popped them into a large canvas bag which keeps everything together and can just be grabbed as soon as we arrive.
11. Velcro Torch Storage
You know how much we love velcro, well here's another idea for it. We wanted to have a good place to store our small torches, so we could just grab them for a midnight toilet run or whatever. They are always getting lost in drawers and in the dark who needs that! So we came up with the idea of attaching self-adhesive velcro to them and sticking a strip of the scratchy side onto the cabinet next to the van door. That way we can always find them when we need them! We lurve Velcro!!12. Battery Charger
We have quite a few items which use batteries of different shapes and sizes, cameras, games, lights, phones, torches etc and the cost really adds up! So Steve purchased a universal battery recharger. It has adjustable pins to accommodate pretty much any type of small rechargeable battery. It is a little fiddly to use but is worth it for the massive cost savings!
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