Bushtracker additions

Our Busman fridge had a very noisy fan that kept us awake at night while the compressor was running. It's also a small fan, and I believe it isn't capable of providing enough airflow to help keep the compressor cool. This photo shows the original smaller fan alongside the new one.

This quieter compressor fan was bought from Jaycar.

A new mounting bracket and an inline power switch were installed, enabling us to switch off the fan at night. However, after four weeks of using the van, the cutout switch was never needed.

                                                                       

While we are pleased with our Bushtracker, the following item should have been included during the build of the van. We have a compressor fridge mounted on the van's rear wall, and a hatch can be opened to help with ventilation around the compressor while camping. It's quite a large hatch, and some fly screen is glued to the timber frame at the bottom of the fridge to prevent insects from entering the van, but there was nothing in place to stop anything that crawls or flies from entering the fridge cavity. Once again, with a friend's help, I purchased a thin aluminium sheet that can be easily bent to fit neatly inside the fridge cavity. Best of all, it is fastened with five self-tappers, making removal simple.

Starlink

We've just purchased a new service that we can use whenever we're camping, providing broadband internet, streaming, and voice calls from anywhere in Australia.
It's called Starlink RV, and currently, the hardware is half-price at $450, with a monthly fee of $174.00. There are two versions, with the other being for residential use; however, the advantage of the RV version is that the service can be paused anytime we're not travelling and resumed when needed. The half-price hardware also includes two months of free access.
It's a satellite internet system owned by SpaceX and Elon Musk, which is superior to existing services because its satellites are closer to Earth.
The kit, ordered online, includes the satellite dish, stand, router, and necessary cabling. It is a self-installation setup, but the support available in the Starlink app and several Facebook groups provides helpful guidance.
I tested the speeds with the dish mounted on the Chevy canopy and was pleasantly surprised. I watched a YouTube video without any lag and rang my wife over Wi-Fi.

I used information from these Facebook groups to determine what would best suit me for my installation.

 

A friend helped me install these attachments on the van to support our dish. We've mounted some galvanised pipe at the front of the generator box to fit the telescopic pole, which will hold it in place.

The pole and the connector were purchased from Bunnings, and after a minor adjustment, they fit perfectly, securing the dish to the pole.

The cable connecting the router to the dish is 75 metres long. We have drilled a hole through the floor in the through tunnel and fitted a dustproof and waterproof bung for running the cable through once the dish is in place.

The end that connects to the router has been routed around the top of our hatch door. After drilling a hole, it was fed into the van via our shoe locker, located beside our bed.

We have also purchased a bag to carry the dish during travel. It's made by Outcamp in South Australia and holds all the packaging that comes with the dish.