Slow Build in Oz

[Staryder61]

First of the year lost a couple family members to the virus. Another member sick now with the new Omicron variant, and others need testing, but no test available.. we keep hanging in here.. being extremely careful, best we can do..

[KCStudly]

Hey Mick, I just finished reading through your whole build... took a few days here and there... and I have to say congratulations. The way that you planned and stuck to your realistic goals and budget conscious approach is very admirable. The fact that you are able to enjoy the fruits of your labor in the manner intended, and beyond, is truly inspirational. Good on you, mate!

[MickinOz]

Thank you very much KC.
I tried to document the screwups as well as the good bits, and I hope it will help others.

[Gold5one]

Congrats on finishing your build.
I took me about a year to finish my first build and it was pretty simple. You got yours done pretty fast, IMO. I like the Benroy look, but I don't have the patience to build one.
I didn't want my current Trek camper build to look like an obvious camper, just in case I have to stealth camp on the road.
I hope to be done by May 1st.
Mark

[MickinOz]

Just did the longest trip so far. Only 180 miles away. 4 day weekend. Took off Friday, came back Monday.
The trailer performed magnificently.
I've always had a little niggling doubt about the drawbar attachment. Its a boat trailer, so two side rails run forward and take a bend to form the drawbar.
Trouble is, the bend is formed by cutting out a wedge of material and bending the rail and welding it. It wasn't me who did it, and I wasn't there when the unknown (allegedly qualified) welder did the job.
I've marked a couple of spots on the corners of the front box, where I monitor the gap between the box and the front of the cabin. I wrote the initial measurement on the box, so any time I like I can check whether the draw bar is bending up. If the bends fail and the drawbar starts bending, the top of the box will naturally move closer to the cabin.
After 435 miles of outback roads, most sealed, some corrugated gravel, hitting the cattle grids at 60 miles an hour and doing my best to take it easy on the washboard stuff, nothing appears to have moved. The gap measurement is unchanged.

Trailer.JPG (91.48 KiB) Viewed 1483 times

I assume everyone knows what a cattle grid is, Wikipedia says they are common all over the world. Ours knock crap out of my vehicles.
I still haven't got around to installing a solar panel.
Discharged the house battery to about 50% over 4 nights.
The Renogy controller was reading 38%, but seems to work on terminal voltage. After I turned it off and let it rest for an hour, the voltage, the controller called it 52%
Too deep, but I'm not losing sleep over one deep discharge.

[Philip]

Those angle cuts are fine. There is also a small cross brace installed across the angle. For no more weight than it is carrying your good.

[KCStudly]

... hitting the cattle grids at 60 miles an hour... knock(s) crap out of my vehicles.

Lol. Maybe slow down for them?

Glad to hear you are having fun with it!

[MickinOz]

... hitting the cattle grids at 60 miles an hour... knock(s) crap out of my vehicles.

Lol. Maybe slow down for them?

Glad to hear you are having fun with it!

Yes, the right thing to do. That is what I did.
The first couple got me. By the time I got to the cattle grid country, I'd been joined by a small convoy that didn't overtake me, just sat right on my bumper.
With an eye to not being rammed by the mug behind me who was towing a full size caravan and presumably trying to push me to go faster, and coming on these grids in corners and in blind spots, I hit a couple pretty hard.
We had a "discussion" later, at the outback pub that was my destination.

[MickinOz]

The "Blinman Trip" went pretty darned good really. I just fueled up. I normally get 10 km/L very consistently.
Towing the trailer over 707 kilometres, I used 80L of diesel.
That's 8.8 km/L.
So, a fully loaded ready to camp 9 x 5 TD impacts my fuel consumption by 12%.
I'm quite happy with that.
For imperial speakers:
That's normally 23.5 miles per US gallon reduced to 20.7 miles per US gallon.
I think that is pretty good.

The trip was punctuated by visits to dams and waterholes.
I m very interested in such things. As dry and isolated as the outback may look, there is almost always a spring or dam to be found.

Wood Duck Dam

Wood Duck Dam North of Wilpena Pound.JPG (115.64 KiB) Viewed 1403 times

Spot the drinking emu:

Spot the emu drinking Wood Duck Dam.JPG (156.36 KiB) Viewed 1403 times

Roadside water hole south of Blinman:

Roadside spring South of Blinman.JPG (147.3 KiB) Viewed 1403 times

[MickinOz]

I stayed at Appila Springs on the last night. It is a permanent spring fed waterhole, though at the end of summer it is now almost dry. This is to do with a big flood that came through in 2007 and washed all the clay and silt out of the waterhole, so now the water soaks away more quickly. This is expected to correct itself over time as new deposits arrive. There was still some water here in early fall, and the rains will start soon. The aquifers in the hills behind the springs will recharge, and life will go on.

I had neighbours at the springs. The sociable one was Dave, a retired piano tuner. Very interesting young 72 year old with plenty of stories to tell. 736 days on the road in the last 5 years, IRC. Nearly 6 months per year in his little Toyota van that is fitted out with bed, kitchen, toilet, etc.
It was Dave who explained the little flock of birds that swamped me as I set up camp.
These little birds flew down, crawled all over the ute, then gathered on the ground in front of me, seemingly importuning me for food.. Excuse me if I anthropomorphise, but I swear these little buggers were saying, "Rightio ol' mate, what's for dinner?" If any bird can have an expectant look, its these little fellas.

Dave explained they were called "Apostle birds" because they are always found in flocks of 12 or 13. Sure enough, I counted 13.
These were very accustomed to humans. They accepted my tribute of finely chopped spud peel and even more finely chopped bacon, then retired.
Dave said it was OK to feed them whatever I had, as they were omnivores. Dr. Google seems to back that up.

Dawn day 4 Appila Springs.JPG (81.57 KiB) Viewed 1403 times

Apostle birds Appila Springs.JPG (94.23 KiB) Viewed 1403 times

[MickinOz]

Called in to visit my mate. It was he who invited me to the Blinman trip. Being only a two day trip for most of them, up one day back the next, he didn't take his big offroad caravan, choosing to stay in rented tourist accommodation. He's a mechanic who used to run a side hustle renting caravans to people who had short term contracts to work remotely.
So, he knows his sh!t.
I asked how my little TD looked when towing.
'Mate, a pleasure to watch it cruising down the road absorbing the bumps. Trust me, I guarantee it will out perform the big off-roaders."

[rjgimp]

... hitting the cattle grids at 60 miles an hour... knock(s) crap out of my vehicles.

Lol. Maybe slow down for them?

What's the fun in that?

[rjgimp]

Spot the drinking emu...
Spot the emu drinking...

Are all the emus named Spot down there, or just certain ones...?

[MickinOz]

Only certain ones. There are actually two of them in that photo, did you spot them both?

[MickinOz]

4th Generation truckie being indoctrinated n the ways of the Bulldog and the KW.
Even has the company logo on his shirt.