GWorks Canopy

After using our Snugtop canopy for nearly twelve months and finding it too difficult to access items at the front of the tub despite having side windows, we decided it needed to be removed in favour of a more functional and user-friendly canopy. The canopy was sold within a day of being listed on Facebook, along with our Engel fridge, Enerdrive lithium battery, and 40-amp DC-DC charger. We also tried to reduce dust entry through the rear tailgate, even though we purchased sealing kits from the United States and installed a scupper vent on the front of the canopy.

Our only real option was a custom-made tray and canopy that were waterproof and dustproof, featuring automotive-quality rubber seals on the canopy doors to prevent dust from entering.

With all that in mind, we finally decided to go with GWorks, a Port Macquarie-based company that manufactures canopies, trays, and fit-related accessories; best of all, they are all Australian-made.

We are again utilising an Enerdrive battery system, which includes a B-Tec 200AH lithium battery, a DC2DC 40+ vehicle/solar charger, a 40A AC charger, and a 2000W AC transfer inverter. A 180-watt solar panel will be mounted on the canopy roof inside a 35mm low-profile full-length canopy platform.

 

To ensure our Silverado fits into our garage, we have had to limit the sizes of our tray and canopy. Our canopy will be 1700mm long.

 

All the Enerdrive charging equipment is installed on the front wall of the canopy, with a Bushman 85-litre upright fridge just behind it.

In the meantime, we have decided to use plastic crates inside the canopy and only fit drawer systems once we have been away for an extended period, to see if these will suffice.

We dropped our vehicle off at Port Macquarie early on Monday, the 15th of May, and by COB that day, the tub had been removed and the chassis scanned to determine what mounting point brackets needed to be made to secure the tray.

I arranged for Robbie Holmes of A to Z Imports at Currumbin on the Gold Coast to upgrade the vehicle's GVM. Robbie is an NSW VSCCS Certifier.
 
During the build process, I ordered wheel covers featuring the Chevrolet bowtie to adorn the rear tyre of the canopy.

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.

Heading For Home

 After Noccundra, we headed towards Thargomindah along mostly single-lane bitumen, with the occasional double lane in most floodways. We prefer to move onto the dirt on single-lane bitumen and give oncoming traffic the right of way, because at least we are ensuring that we don't end up with a broken windscreen or stone damage to the front of the Chev. It may take us longer to get from A to B, but we aren't in any hurry anyway.
 
Our preference is not to stay in caravan parks, but we booked into the council-run park for three days. Firstly, we had both contracted Influenza A, with Ros much sicker than I was, and secondly, we were still trying to dodge the masses leaving the Big Red Bash in Birdsville.
From here, we took the Quilpie road that bypasses Toompine, where the pub is currently closed. Most of the road is bitumen, with about 20 km of dusty gravel that wasn't bad enough to reduce tyre pressures.
 
We spent three days camping on the western side of Lake Houdraman, where there are no facilities, and the camping cost is $7.50 per person per night. We enjoyed our campsite, which had just two different campers over the three days we were there, and they parked well over 500 metres away, which suited us perfectly. We shopped in town and enjoyed lunch at the local bowling club on one of our days. The eastern side, known as "The Lake," has powered sites, showers, toilets, and even a bar. Sites here are $30 per night or $15 if you camp near the lake using the facilities.

A huge shout-out to the butcher in Quilpie. We had heard he sells lovely meat, and the scotch fillet steaks we bought and cooked over the coals were so tender and juicy.
Our next stop was Charleville, where we camped outside town at the CMCA park. Our Chev and van are insured with Ken Tame, and joining the CMCA is necessary if you are insured with them. At just $3.50 each, it's an easy choice. You must be self-contained, and they have potable water and a dump point on site. Non-members can also stay for $10 per person per night.
We enjoyed lunch at the local RSL club on one of our days. Both of us got haircuts, bought groceries, and I topped up the fuel at $2.55 per litre.
After two days, we moved on to Neil Turner Weir at Mitchell, a free site. We've never seen it so busy, with over 40 vans parked here. We remember visiting 14 years ago, when you could count the vans on one hand.

We headed towards St George, 208 km south-east of Mitchell, before connecting to the Carnarvon Highway towards Thallon. We've camped at the Nindigully Pub numerous times, so we just stopped for a quick photo shoot with the new van and truck before continuing another 34 km to Thallon.

We've previously camped at Thallon, where there is a camp adjacent to the painted silos. There is power available, and there are toilets and showers. Payment for the powered sites can be made at the local pub. It's been a bumper wheat crop this year, which has been attributed to the constant rain that has fallen. When we arrived, they were loading wagons onto a train, and numerous B-double trucks were also transporting grain.

We had a brief drive today as we passed through Mungindi en route to Garah. This 68 km section is the worst bitumen road we've ever travelled on. Fortunately, our Chev has superb suspension, and the Gen Y Hitch protects the van from all the jolts. Afterwards, we moved through Moree and, just 20 km later, turned onto Gum Flat Road, which, after 3 km of dirt, leads to one of our favourite campsites beside the Gwydir River. It was interesting to see that the Wiki Camps community used our drone photo taken in 2019, showcasing our 2016 Bushtracker and our 200 Series Landcruiser for the site.

It was just over an hour later when we arrived in Bingara. We've been coming here since 2008, when we picked up our first Bushtracker and headed home.

 

The area had recently flooded after Copeton Dam released water because its level exceeded 100%, so instead of camping beside the river, we set up on the river stones about 60 metres away. We enjoyed four nights here before moving on to another one of our favourite campsites.

Cangai Bridge crosses the Mann River 20 km west of Jackadgery, just off the Gwydir Highway. It's our preferred camping spot whenever we leave or return from holidays, as it's only 150 km from home. We arrived right at midday, and even though it was a Monday, we were surprised to find that we had the place to ourselves.