Track Trailer Forum

The filters are easy to remove and clean as the bowls are only screwed on hand tight.

I have just carried out some general cleaning/maintenance of the water system on our Topaz and noticed that each water pump had a small sediment filter attached. I hadn't noticed these before! I removed the filters and found both of them full of plastic rubbish. The rubbish is probably from when the tanks were drilled for the inlet and outlet hoses.

Regards
Cancope

Hello Oldblade, I am interested to find out when your Topaz was built. As  Craig said it shouldn't be too hard for a painter to fix, however at this stage I'm not going to do anything about it. Apart from looking unsightly it doesn't appear to be causing any other problems. It makes for some interesting conversations when people check out the van when we are stopped.

Darryl

I have the same problem with the paint around the front window. All the other windows are fine at this stage. Also out of warranty. I will be interested to hear what you do to fix the issue.

Darryl

Thanks for the information everybody.

I carried out some tests on Friday with the following results: Loaded the Pathfinder with 120 ltr of water and an extra 20 kg weight which gave a sag at the tow bar of 40mm. Then connected the Topaz to the vehicle (Topaz loaded for travel + 4 full fuel jerrys) and the sag increased another 50mm, total of 90mm.

Disconnected the Topaz and removed all the weight from the Pathfinder and reconnected the Topaz and the sag was 60mm.

I traveled to Townsville, the nearest major centre, on Saturday and spoke to a business that does Suspension conversions and repairs to trucks and mining equip etc. His suggestion is to upgrade the springs and shocks at the rear of the Pathfinder (giving a lift of 40 +mm) only, and leave the front. He was against fitting air bags.

I still haven't made a decision about which way I will go, however I probably wont fit air bags at this stage. I carried out a ball weight test using a crane load cell indicator and the ball weight was 185 kg with the topaz fully loaded. It's a bit higher than I expected.

Andrew, thanks for the information about Dobinsons and also about the Pathfinder club and forum.

Darryl 
   

Hi Harry

It will be interesting to see if I get any responses from Pathfinder owners. I weighed the Topaz on the very first trip when it was fully loaded and I was over the ATM by 180 kgs. I made some changes and discarded unnecessary items and reduced the weight considerably. I haven't done a ball weight check yet. I  am a bit concerned about adding extra weight to the wagon.

I have been reading the "Triton towing Topaz" link and some of the problems that can occur and was interested in Phil's comment about air bags and others about chassis cracking. Hopefully there are Pathfinder owners out there that can give some information one way or the other.

Darryl   

Hi Everyone

I have a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder ST-L towing a 2011 Topaz. I'm thinking about upgrading the suspension on the Pathfinder and would be interested in feedback from people who have had suspension upgrades done, especially on  Pathfinders. At the moment I don't carry much heavy equipment in the back of the wagon when towing the Topaz but I am having draws fitted and will be carrying extra tools, spares and extra diesel when necessary. When I tow the Topaz at the moment fully loaded there is a small amount of "sag" at the rear of the Pathfinder and I haven't had any issues when towing.

My local mechanic has advised upgrading the springs and shock absorbers for extra lift and also installing air bags. The mechanic uses Pedders suspension equipment.

So the questions are:

Is an upgrade advisable/necessary.
Are air bags necessary if better springs - shocks are upgraded.
Has anybody upgraded the suspension on their Pathfinder, if so what was done and what was the end result.

I have very little knowledge about suspension systems.

Thanks!             Darryl

Thanks everybody, I usually peg and tie down the awning if we are set for more than one night, however it flaps about when a breeze gets up. Does anybody know if there are supports that we can get that run from the van roof to the support legs so we might be able to clamp the awning roof onto that.

When the breeze gets stronger we pack the awning away if we're about.

Thanks for the feedback. It's unlikely we would go for the full annex and will try the shade cloth/tarp set up as suggested and shown with the photo's or we might try a portable Ozetrail Gazebo that can be enclosed. The standard awning that comes with the Topaz is a worry in anything stronger than a light breeze and will eventually be replaced when it breaks or blows away.

We are in our third week camped at Stradebroke Island and have had some windy and wet weather which has forced us to think about a better setup for long stays.

Regards Cancope

Hi,

Is there anybody out there with a Topaz awning with annex? I'm interested in finding out whether the annex is useful to have and how much work/time is used to erect and dismantle the annex.

Regards

Cancope

Hi,

My wife and I purchased a Topaz Canning in January 12 (built Dec 11) and returned to Qld. We had initial problems with water leaking at the bed level which was disappointing, however after contacting TT service department we resolved the issues and haven't had any problems since. Sometimes it take a couple of phone calls or emails to contact the service people but when you do they are very helpful and we have been very happy with the service.

This is our first van and we love it!! We haven't had any major issues with dust and find there is more dust in our Pathfinder than the van (fingers crossed so far). The van is exactly the right size for us and is very easy to set up and pack up.

I'm sure TT have made improvements to the quality control issues.

There are many T/Vans on the road and quite a a few Topaz's but only a few have had problems.

To answer you question "Would you buy a Topaz again", YES! but only if the the one we already own wears out.

Cheers

   

I've insulated the inside of the box using polystyrene, 12mm on the sides and back and 20mm on the roof and door. When the van is in the shade and it's not hot, the insulation holds heat from the fridge in the box. Better air flow through the box would probably dissipate the heat so insulation wouldn't be required.

The fan with different filters might be the go.

Cancope 

Hi Fantum,

I started this "Leaking Topaz" subject so I know exactly how you feel about the problem. I believe the water entry to our van was through the same area as yours. I've resealed all the joins at the front. I haven't taken the front box off yet so the resealing behind it is messy and will be cleaned out and reapplied again when I get home in a couple of weeks.

I had to repair/replace the bedbase and when it was removed I sealed all the joins at the bedlevel inside the van. Everything has passed the hose test but I'm not going to be completely satisfied until it passes the 100mm of rain test.

Good Luck!

Cancope

Hi Tim,

I have a 07 Pathfinder and had a autoelect install a Redarc battery isolator and run the cables to the anderson plug on the tow bar. At the same time I had him run cable to where the power outlet is in the back of the wagon (8mm cable). The cable has a anderson plug attached so I can connect it to another battery in a battery box in the rear of the wagon and charge it. This gives me the wagons power outlet + a anderson plug on approx 1.5m of cable. I also had the autoelect install a Tekonsha P3 brake controller. The controller is in the space in front of the gear lever and while it is "out of the road" it is slightly difficult to operate the brake manual control or even to take the controller out of the wagon. If I was to replace the controller for any reason I would find a better place for it.

Cheers Darryl

As Craig said the Unisolar panels are long for the output and there is room for 4 panels. I've had these panels for a fair time before I decided to install them on the van. One disadvantage with having these type of panels mounted on the roof is that the roof gets hotter. You can feel the  temperature difference where the panels are and it will be interesting to see how hot the roof gets in summer.

The Redarc panels sound good and it will be interesting to see the prices.

Cancope