1000 Kilometre Shakedown and Service

Bushtracker recommends that the van undergo a 1000 km service.
 
This service includes adjustments to the brakes, checking wheel alignment, inspecting the suspension, and adjusting wheel bearings, among other things. Once we were notified of our handover date and aware of the factory's busy schedule, I arranged for the van to be scheduled for its service. That involves an eleven-day turnaround.  

In our case, we were unable to fit all our gear into our Landcruiser before our holidays, so we are towing the van home to Sawtell and then returning for the service before heading off for about three months. The round trip is over the required 1000 km.

Our plan is to spend several days packing the van and testing all the systems to make sure everything is working correctly. We don't expect any problems, but if any arise, they can be addressed during the service. 

 

Even though I have towed a large van before, I was a little hesitant as we headed out onto the Bruce Highway for the drive south towards Brisbane. 

It's always jam-packed along here and past the Gold Coast, with endless streams of traffic going in both directions. However, I shouldn't have worried, because once we settled into a rhythm, the van towed beautifully behind our Landcruiser. 

 

As we entered NSW and crossed the Tweed River, the traffic congestion eased considerably, and the drive became more relaxed for most of the rest of the trip. The exception was the Pacific Highway upgrade, approximately 50 km south of Grafton, where speeds were mainly 80 kph, but dropped to 60 and 40 kph in certain sections.

 

Ros's first task was to cut and fit the non-slip matting to the surface of all shelves and drawers. We have found that Clark Rubber sells the best product that doesn't break down like the cheaper versions. 

 

Another change involved replacing the white Dometic fly screens, which show dirt and shrink over time, with black midge screens. Plus, they look much better anyway. 

It then took several days to load the van and another couple of days to ensure that all our systems were working correctly.

 

The day before leaving, we took a short drive to the local weighbridge to weigh the van and 4WD. It's something we usually do before any trip - a piece of mind to know we are within our limits.  

 

Whenever we travel north towards the Sunshine Coast, towing the van, we always break up the journey and spend the evening at the Yelgun rest area, just north of Brunswick Heads. The only facilities are toilets and BBQS, but the area is far enough away from the highway so there's no road noise at night from the almost constant stream of passing B-doubles.

We are staying again at the Big 4 caravan park at Forest Glen. The caravan park has seen better days, but we only stay here for a night at a time whenever the van is booked into the factory. 

Drop-off time is always 7:00 a.m., and this park is conveniently located near the factory, with minimal traffic to contend with at this time of day. The management is more interested in promoting their new venture, which makes much more sense. This involves building 190 architecturally designed homes, with stage one already sold out. I'm sure that eventually Nature's Edge will encroach on the existing caravan park, which will likely no longer exist as a result. Natures Edge.
 
Our service went off without a hitch (no pun intended), but then that's what we have come to expect from Bushtracker, who in my humble opinion (IOHO) make the best off-road van in Australia.
 
Tonight, we are camping just over 25 km north of the Bushtracker factory. The Eumundi RV stop is more enjoyable than staying cramped in a caravan park, and at just £15 for the night, it is also considerably cheaper. 

The charge covers the use of shower and toilet facilities, along with a dump point, for a maximum of two nights' stay. We enjoyed a lovely happy hour with friends Hank and Deb, who dropped by to say hello. We also received a surprise visit from Stu, whom I haven't seen since 2005. 

Handover Day

Well, it's been ten months, but finally, handover day has arrived.
 
Saying we were excited would be a gross understatement. 
We are more excited this time than we were in 2008, if that's at all possible.

The handover process for new owners takes the better part of a day, but in our case, this is the second time around, and we were finished just after lunch.

 

Firstly, we were shown how our audiovisual systems operated, including our satellite dish. Jeremy from Sound in Motion had arranged before delivery for our details to be registered for the VAST box, ensuring everything was operational today. The rest of our handover covered how our electrical system functions and how all the other equipment interacts with it.
 
Our preferred option when travelling is not to stay in caravan parks unless we are visiting places like Darwin, where there are no alternatives. This van, like our previous Bushtracker, is fully self-contained with 600 watts of solar panels on the roof. These panels charge our 300 Ah lithium batteries, which power everything in the van. The van is also pre-wired to accommodate an additional panel if needed in the future.
 
We also have a water sterilisation unit fitted with double filtration canisters, filtering down to 0.2 microns, followed by passing through a quartz tube with 2600-2700 angstrom UV. All our accessories operate on 12 volts, from our 220-litre compressor fridge to our audio system. Our 4 kg washing machine can even be run through our inverter if necessary. When we need our air conditioner 'out the Back of Bourke', our Honda generator can supply power. Even our diesel heater and satellite dish, which provide us with VAST (all free-to-air channels), are 12-volt.
 
We also have the connections in place so that, when we head off in the van, we can take our Foxtel box from home.
 

We decided it was too late in the day to return home, so we made our way to the Big 4 Caravan Park, where we spent time reviewing everything discussed that day. 

A celebratory happy hour was quite early this afternoon, followed by dinner at Jampa's Tibetan Restaurant, which we highly recommend. We have dined there before; it's housed in a separate building within the caravan park grounds. 
It's also BYO, so we brought along a 2012 bottle of Henschke Henry's Seven Shiraz blend, which helped cap off a very memorable day.....

Camp Oven Cooker

Last year, while we were camped at Longreach Waterhole, we met a couple whose son makes these stainless steel camp oven cookers.

For the past thirty-odd years, we have always used coals for roasting and baking, but now prefer using heat beads. 
We use the Easy-Lite Heat Bead brand. Once they're lit, it only takes thirty minutes for them to be ready for use. 

You place the required number into the cooker and light it. The initial flame only lasts for several minutes before it dies down.

Once the beads have turned into grey ash, transfer the required number of beads to the camp oven lid and place your camp oven on top of the cooker with the remainder of the beads underneath the oven. 

The following link displays the number of beads required for a specific camp oven size.
Required number of heat beads

There are two reasons for providing your camp oven size when ordering. Firstly, so that your oven will sit perfectly over the cooker

 And when not in use, the cooker fits neatly inside your camp oven for storage.

The holes in the base allow the beads to breathe while cooking.

We purchased an old electric fry pan from a recycling centre and used that as our base.

Wade, who makes the cookers, can be contacted on 0417 605 o49 or wade76.ws@gmail.com. You can also search camp oven cooker on Facebook

Bushtracker construction photos

Still a work in progress. 

The attached photos have been supplied courtesy of Bushtracker with Thursday 18th August scheduled as our handover day.

Our new Bushtracker

In October 2015 we placed an order on a 20' Bushtracker.
Mid March 2016, and we were once again at the factory at Kunda Park to finalise our plans and lock in our options, before the start of construction.

 We always thought we would remain with the timber interior, but after looking at the new colour choices up close and personal, we have now decided to go with these. 

All eight vans we viewed at the factory were finished in the new interior colours.

IOHO the colours we have chosen will not date over time and best of all Ros can use vibrant colours throughout the van to complement these. 

Our leather colour is Storm:

Curtains are Steel:

Benchtops and splashbacks in the kitchen and ensuite are White Tigris:

All the doors and drawers are Basalt:

All bulkheads are coloured Platinum Micro:

The vinyl flooring is Urban Dark Grey:

So overall our colours will be close to those in this photo:

The only major hassle is having to wait for delivery day, until our van rolls off the production line. All up it will have been a nine month wait, which has a lot to do with the vans popularity, its build quality, and like us so many Bushtracker owners who have come back and ordered a second van.

Apart from all the usual standard inclusions we have also decided to have some of these options installed.
A 300 a/h Lithium battery pack:

An Aussie Sizzler BBQ. These are made of stainless steel, have two separate burners and can be used as a BBQ, oven, or as a cooktop: 

We also like the look of the new external shower connection and have decided to have one of these:

Of course we love not having all the switches in plain view but hidden inside a cupboard:

Another favourite is the Crimsafe look alike door.

Individual USB charging ports either side of the bed:

Generator/jerry can storage along with wood rack. Our diesel heater tank will now be installed at the rear of the generator box giving us much easier access for filling:

Also having a Melenco TV aerial installed. 

These are omnidirectional with no need to rotate or raise and lower. They are 32 cm high:

We are also upgrading the tow capacity on our Landcruiser 200 Series. Lovells Suspension have just announced a tow upgrade from 3500 Kgs to 4000 Kgs. The only prerequisite is that the vehicle has already had its GVM upgraded to 3800 Kgs, and ours was upgraded prior to being registered.

Of course it doesn't mean we are going to load our new van to the max. It's more about peace of mind knowing that we will always remain well under our maximum load limits without impacting our insurance.