Track Trailer Forum

Quote from: robstevens on March 31, 2023, 11:28:08 AMI placed two extractor fans on the door vent, to "inhale" air through the vent when the temperature inside got above 30 degrees.

Doing something like this has been on my todo list for a long long time. I suspect it would need a fair bit of work to find the right fans and make them seal well enough against the air filters to have any effect. With our fridge there wasn't enough space to mount fans on the door vent - I was going to put them on the middle divider to blow it out to the other side and then add another air filter there. That might work but my guess is that it would need a lot more filter area to use small/low power fans.

Do the vents actually do anything? I can't imagine much passive airflow through them.

Also, I've always been curious about the insulation used in the front box. I get that it's meant to stop the heat getting in but, at the same time, wouldn't it also stop the heat getting out?

I took our Mk3 stove out and it was a pain - it's really hard to work out which screws need to come out so I ended up taking everything I could see out! It was then held in place with black gunk - it needed a scraper to pry it up. I then bundled it all together and sent the bits off to Swift who repaired it and put it back together. Getting it back in was much easier.

Boobook's post has relevant info in it frmo Craig

Quote from: Belly on March 29, 2023, 10:19:47 PMJust wondering whether you have been happy with your Trailblaza and whether you would change anything.  I'm due to collect my Tvan soon and really like what you have done

We're happy with ours. I'd recommend getting the digital thermostat - makes it harder to accidenly switch between fridge and freezer (our old one had 2 thermostats and a switch right next to the light switch which looked identical - not hard to hit the freezer switch instead of the light).

The can make them with thinner tops/bottoms so they fit. You can drop the tray a bit and raise the pantry as well to gain more space if needed (easy job with a drill & nutsert tool - you can put them back in the old positions easily if you want)

We hired them out for a few years. Most people were fantastic and the Tvan's are well built so they didn't cause much grief besides needing more maintenance.

Things to think about:
- how are you going to maintain it? You'll need to service the brakes/bearings more often. You need to be able to get it fixed between hires - so if you're only allowing a day or so you probably need enough parts & the skills to do it yourself
- where are you going to let it go? Sealed roads? dirt roads? Simpson Desert? Fraser Island?
- what are you going to do if something breaks when it is far far away? I had one guy early on destroy the suspension by driving on a flat tyre for 30+kms up at Cape York. Of course he claimed it all happened in 300m... tyre gone, steel rim flattened out, cross member bent, lots of metal missing from the trailing arm... yeah sure. Then he threatened to leave it at Coen because "it was all my fault". Everyone else was great and if there was a problem got it sorted themselves and I reimbursed them
- what are you going to provide with it? everything? nothing?
- are you going to have the time to check it over each time it comes back to make sure nothing is missing or damaged. Sometimes it's the little things - like the hirer who cut the plug of the 15A extension lead or ripped the trailer lights plug off and didn't put it back properly (and didn't tell me) or the people who stashed their used condoms under the bed. Sometimes it's bigger things like the guy who jackknifed his ute into the front box and bent it, didn't own up to it and denied it was him. I didn't notice till a few days later.

For me, I've stopped doing it because I have too many other things going on in my life and couldn't give it the time required. It got a bit old pulling the drums off at midnight to fix a broken brake magent because it was going out the next day. But it was rewarding and I loved seeing people getting out and exploring the country.

Does it look like Ben89's from this post?
http://www.tracktrailerforums.com/index.php?topic=4086.msg33051#msg33051

I think the grey wire in the photo is the water tank gauge. From memory (it's been a while) the power to the merit socket comes up from there. I think there is also the wiring for the stereo as it sat "above" the pump area.

I was reading your first post and thinking "I wonder if he knows about the sink switch"... turns out you do now!

Two faults that I encountered over the years with our Mk3 water system:
- the pressure switch can get jammed up with dust, meaning the pump never turns on because it thinks it is overpressure. It's not hard to pull it apart and clean it out (take photos as you go if you're not very good at that sort of thing)
- the switch near the sink dies. it starts off becoming harder to press and eventually stops working

I'd recommend carrying a spare sink switch with you - I found a Narva part that fitted but it was a few years ago and I have no idea what the part number was. It's a bit fiddley to replace but, from memory, you access it with the sink pushed in part of the way.

Quote from: gibbo on January 30, 2023, 12:53:35 PMThese awnings that hang off the side of the Tvan worry me

We put one on our Mk4 that was inboard of the edge - bolted a 90 degree angle to the roof with a large base plate near the hatch and made up a post that fitted onto the front edge of the box. I'm not sure putting it behind the edge would work with a 180 degree awning - it would need to be more like 160 deg! - but it was inboard.

There are two advantages in mounting it inboard - you can't rip it off as easily and the rain doesn't come down the gap between the awning and the edge (as much)

Quote from: Ben89 on August 20, 2022, 12:37:04 AMHas anybody retrofit installed the redvision in the Mk3 TVan?
I'm thinking about the redvision upgrade before I invest in batteries etc for the newly bought TVan. TT's website says the upgrade is available for the Mk4 and Mk5 TVans, nothing about the Mk3.  Maybe somebody on the forum who owns a Mk3 and upgraded might provide some insight as to their experience.

If you search around either here or the Facebook group someone has had a sheet metal "pod" made up for a Mk3 to house a Redarc Manager 30 - it's probably the hardest part to mount because it is really big. I think the guy was Wayne - he's from Sydney area. There are photos.

(found it)
http://www.tracktrailerforums.com/index.php?topic=2628.0


You can put the Manager30 box along the mudguard under the bed. The first time I did it I had a sheet metal screen laser cut to protect it because I was hiring out the Tvan - the second time I just left it in the open and am careful to not knock the wires out.

Quote from: John and Robyn on June 21, 2022, 02:46:46 PM
It has a Joolca gas hot water system. Are these wired into the main batteries or does it require it's own batteries (if so then this unit will need replacing as there is nowhere to put batteries).

These take 2 D cell batteries (at least mine do) - there is a battery case on the bottom edge where the gas/water come in. The Joolca relies on something else providing water pressure - it doesn't have an inbuilt pump. If it is "alive" you should hear it sparking when water starts going through it. It will try for a bit then give up. The little display should also light up.

Quote from: d2dave on April 11, 2022, 06:48:16 PM
If I broke a hatch and the new replacement came with a gasket I would not use it.

It isn't a gasket (or wasn't) - it was a reel of sticky black stuff that you wound around the hatch a few times before putting it in. It then get squashed when the hatch is done up.

Quote from: Frankrhona on March 08, 2022, 05:58:09 PM
Thank you for the suggestion. I'm just not a big fan of fitting panels to the rear hatch for several reasons.

• Added weight to the hatch, more load on the hinges, bigger gas struts, more weight to lift etc

I'd be surprised if you noticed the extra weight - 100w panels are about 2kgs each.

Quote from: Frankrhona on March 08, 2022, 05:58:09 PM

• Need to orientate the Tvan facing North, I like the view or shelter from inclement weather more, not required with flat panels on the roof

That's potentially a bigger issue. They need to face north for best performance but if the sun is reasonably high in the sky 300W of badly angled panels will probably beat 140W of flat panels.

Quote from: Frankrhona on March 08, 2022, 05:58:09 PM
So, I am considering replacing the 50W with 1x 100W and 2x 20W panels behind.

Make sure all 3 panels have similar electrical characteristics. At a minimum a similar open circuit voltage. Panels all have a power curve - see https://www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom/solar-cell-operation/iv-curve for an example (look at the graph about half way down). If the panels are in parallel but not matched then you won't be getting the maximum power from them all.

For example, the Renogy one has an Voc (open circuit voltage) of 23.5V and a Vmp (voltage at maximum power) of 19.4V. A Projecta SPP20 (20W panel) has a Voc of 21V and Vmp of 17.5V. You're unlikely to get 140W out of the system (assuming that you ever get the rated power anyway!!)

We went down there somewhere years ago (I forget the track names). My only comment is to watch out for the water bars - some were really big, steep & rutted. On the bigger ones if we put the car/tvan wheels in the ruts the stone deflectors would scrape on the top/sides of the water bars, bending them (Mk3 with long drawbar & no box, Prado with 50mm lift). That would be more of an issue if you have a front box as it won't bend nicely.

I've had friends with Land Rovers look for hubs and fail - I'm not sure they are available. I met a guy with a Kimberly Kamper and Land Rover in the Simpson - he had a set of hubs machined up to suit (though I think it had disc brakes). I've always wondered if you could get undrilled cast brake drums to drill your own holes. Or machine one out of block of steel.

Any canvas repairer or sail maker should be able to fix the zips. We had our sliders replaced by someone when they opened up and the zip split. We had the option of taking the tent off and fixing it "invisibly" or leaving the tent on and having some stitching visible at the end of the zip - we took the second option and it wasn't noticeable unless you knew what you were looking for.

Has anyone ever fitted a roof mounted A/C through the top hatch? How did it go?