Track Trailer Forum

I hope you've considered all that extra weight in exactly the wrong place, behind the rear axle.

The twin wheels would be 50kg, the bar another 50 maybe ? Then the Tvan ball weight of around 200 and if you extend the tow shank to allow clearance, that's adding more than the 200 normal ball weight. We are talking about 350kgs on the rear of that car and that is bad stuff. The pay load of a 300 series is only about 600kgs so you don't have a lot left after all that gets added.

Many thanks for your efforts over the years Aidan, it's been a great resource.

I started up a BBQ forum (Smoke Fire and Food) over 7 years ago and stepped away late last year. It's a lot of work and like you, paid for the hosting with 3 other guys out of our own pockets. It's still going OK but not to the extent it once was.

The days of forums being very active finished with the increased use of Facebook for information like this forum provides but trying to search through a Facebook group for specific info is a nightmare and that's the big problem with it.

This forum has gone the same way as an older BBQ forum I was on called the Aussie BBQ Forum, which is virtually a ghost town these days. The owner still keeps it running but it's full of Google advertising which I assume covers his bills but not in the way it used to do.

All the best and thanks again for what you have done.

Actually, I misread the original post and for some reason was thinking of the car battery, not the Tvan. Blame old age.

I'm not sure if your model has a direct connection to the Tvan batteries. More likely it has a DCDC charger which the Anderson feeds in to and that may not allow any input unless the car is also connected via the 7 pin plug. At least, that's how my 2017 Firetail works.

It's also best to have your controller as close to the battery end as possible to limit voltage drop. So ideally, just before the Anderson plug would be best.

I can't see the point, the agitator is essential in my book.

Cuddy for us too. Brilliant.

If I was upgrading the Tvan I'd be looking at the Pioneer Verve over the T4, but that's just my opinion. These days there are a lot of mid size hybrids like the Verve around when you go outback or even just in caravan parks and that to me means good resale value down the track. 

As far as toilets go, composting toilets are far and away the best option and we have one for the Tvan.

Quote from: Ray on April 02, 2023, 03:49:34 PMWe found a little bit of rust forming on the metal hinges after 4 days of cool wetish weather. Hopefully the spray of fish oil will stop that. Apparently stainless hinges are becoming available 'soon'.

The Aussie distributor of the Cuddy now provides stainless steel hinges as a replacement option. The only charge is for postage.

Upgraded springs are a far better solution than air bags.

I don't like adjustable hitches, mainly becasue of the weight. The Tvan has a higher point due to it's high ground clearance and I use a tow tongue like the one pictured above except that I have it the other way up, which levels the Tvan prefectly and makes an over night stop simple beacaue I don't need to unhitch. The downside is clearance of the hitch when opening the back door of the Pajero, a problem utes don't have.

The height to get my Tvan level is 52cm from ground to the top of the tow bar plate.

Do you use a towball or a DO35 hitch ?

PS. You can post a photo if you reduce the size.

Track also sell the ceiling material which I've used to line the hatch. I found it quite easy doing it in 2 halves with a join down the middle. It looks fine and stops the condensation which can be quite bad at times.

WD 40 or what I use, Corrosion X helps stop that.

We've just come back from a couple of 7 day trips and the Cuddy is performing well. The wife is the one who'll determine whether it's a keeper or not and she's more than happy with it.

No toilet odours at all and it's so handy not having to find a dump point or dig a hole to empty the porta potti.

It's a winner for us.

4 weeks now, using our Cuddy and very happy with it.

We don't use the outside venting because we use it in our camper or our caravan, depending on the journey. Even though the caravan has an ensuite, we don't use that toilet anymore. The Cuddy sits in there and we use that instead. The internal venting through the charcoal filter works perfectly and saves the need to run a venting hose out through the Tvan canvas.

Driving around the block won't put all the power back in if they are almost flat. You'll only get a short spike in the voltage after any sort of charge goes in so it may be that's what you are seeing.

A multi meter is cheap and can be bought at many stores so you really need to get one and let us know what voltage is showing on each battery after they've been off charge for a while. Just set the dial to voltage, put the red lead on the positive terminal and the black on the negative and the screen will display the voltage.