Upgrades to the Dual Cab and Camper
Susan and Charlotte were away the weekend when the Brisbane Caravan and Camping show hit town. This allowed to a bit of ‘shopping’ by myself and I had a good look around.
First I looked at the Adventure and got some ideas on upgrade. They had added a 12V LED and an solar powered ‘exhaust’ fan to the fridge box – notes taken and prices obtained.
I then headed to the UV4x4 display and booked Ranger in for a suspension upgrade and long range fuel tank added.
While chatting to a mate about whether to get a bull-bar or a snorkel, he recommended a snorkel to protect the engine more rather than a heavy bull-bar if you are only travelling at night. So when suspension being upgraded, I booked in for a snorkel install. This became a saga in itself. When installing apparently the snorkel came with the wrong template and the holes they cut into the panel work were in the wrong spot. In the end they it had to return for an extra two days for them to have a panel shop to replace the front passenger guard, paint matched, and re-install the snorkel.
I had been watching a forum online regarding solar panel. During discussion, a local guy at Bribie Island had a special, so I purchased a set of 2 x 800 wat panels, which is plenty of power generation for us. Storing the panels in the back of the Ranger was going to an issue, not so much for space, but just in terms of awkwardness, so I decide to build a box out of marine ply to store on the camper rack. I built the box the same width so it can bolted on which gave me a bit extra space to store spare tarp poles and panel cable.
At the same time Susan wanted some pantry storage made, so I built a storage box for the camper storage as well.
I’ve also bought some pre-constructed ute drawers to go into the back of the Ranger. I got them off eBay and a resonable price. They’re not the most efficient in storage place, but they’ll keep to loose heavy items secured down. I’ll fit these during Christmas – New Year break hopefully.
They only other couple of items I’ve bought recently is a gas-fuse for gas bottle on camper, and some extra LED strip for illuminating the cooker, eating and tent area of camper. I have to rig up some sort of pedestal for the cooker – another job to be done!
Some some pictures attached.