I'm just back from a trip up to the tip of Cape York and wanted to share some ideas and discoveries made with our fit out.
We normally tow a 2.8t Goldstream RV off road van, but decided to leave it behind for this trip so we had lots of flexibility and freedom, and one less piece of machinery to potentially create hassles. We've been living on the road in the van for about 4 months now after a 10 day trip from Melbourne to Tocumwal put us over the border before the 2nd Melbourne lockdown at which point we became accidental tourists, drifting north while working online and with no real plans other than to not go back to lockdown in Melbourne
. We literally wake up each day and wonder about staying/moving on. Anyhow, dream trip stories aside, we ended up in Cairns, where the possibility of a trip to the tip started to take form, and solidified with the purchase of a 2nd hand Kings Big Daddy deluxe swag from a bloke in the caravan park we had lobbed into so I could get some proper work done to keep the bank balance alive.
Before we begin on the fit out, a couple of important mentions. My partner and I like to free camp. We're happiest down the end of some lonely track by a river or creek in the middle of nowhere. Thus, we need to be very self sufficient, for at least a week, maybe 10 days, 14 at a push. We can 'rough it' and make do. We also know it's good to shower and wash the clothes at least sometimes - we will stop in at a van park or camp ground to freshen up, restock, find someone else to talk to, trim the beard, paint the nails etc. That's what we were prepping for - your needs may well be different, so I encourage you to think about that in advance, talk to others, get the lay of the land, think about your must haves and your good to haves and your do withouts.
We already had an 2.5x2.5m Kings awning fitted to racks on the car. I can highly recommend these as a cheap, simple way to generate some shade/shelter. Not so good in a big wind (tie that thing down, and make sure it's got some slope to run the rain off, away from the swag!). They are easy enough for one person to put up and pull down and do what they say on the box (give shade and keep you dry(er)).
A bit of quick planning and some research and we decided on what we needed, most of which came from BCF. It was easy to buy click and collect, close by, not overly expensive and if we needed a warranty claim we could do that Oz wide. With more time we would have shopped differently. You could save many $$ if you shopped around, but we didn't really have a delivery address for shipments from Chinese Ebay merchants, and the wet was not too far off so we needed to get on with it. For the most part the reviews are pretty positive for their products.
We ended up with....
Here's how we got it all in.
Battery
The 100amp hour battery fitted snugly under the space save spare in the back - a couple of tie down points screwed into the floor pan, some high density foam packing and a good tie down strap held it in place. Run the leads carefully, I used some heavy conduit I found, no rubbing holes through that insulation! You can see that I already had a split rear floor cover which allows access to the wheel well without taking the full size spare out.
![240592]( "240592")
![240593]( "240593")
Water storage
Remove the rear headrests, lay the back seats down, then slide the seats fully forward. This creates a space at the back of the seats that is, remarkably, exactly the width of a 20 litre jerry, 3 across so 60 litres of fresh water on board and sitting very low, nearly over the axle - perfect for stability! Sit the jerry's in place.
![240596]( "240596")
Spare wheel
We turned the full sized spare around and used the space in the dish to store a small tarp, a collapsing bucket, tyre repair kit, some ropes, etc.. Held in place with a ratchet tie down, attached to the stock tie down points in the back, this has been in the car for more than 12 months and despite all sorts of road conditions never seems to move. At all.
Solar controller/electrics
Getting the controller with the solar blanket was a bonus, as it simplified the process of hooking up, and meant the car electrics are completed separate, no risk of a dead battery in the middle of nowhere!
It's probably easiest to fit this up next. I located it immediately behind the spare wheel, just screwed it to the side panel. It's straightforward to hook up. It came with two anderson plugs already attached - one to battery, one to the solar panel. The wires for the 'load' (your appliances like fridge, lights, inverter etc) are bare - I added a double cigarette light socket from supercheap to these, fridge plugged in permanently to one, and the other we could swap out as needed. This also screwed neatly into the side panel above the controller.
I've since made up an additional lead that I can run from the controller to the car battery via the terminals under the bonnet) in the advent we did drain the car battery - With the panel in it runs a 13.7v float charge so a good backup in a crisis.
I also made up a short lead that runs from the anderson plug used by the caravan fridge/ESC to the 'solar panel' connection. The controller takes a steady 10amp charge from the car while running to top up the auxiliary battery while on the move. All that's very simple, worked a treat, and not an auto electrician in sight! The leads are a bit of a dog's breakfast, but I'll tidy that up if/when I get back into my garage!
![240595]( "240595")
Drawer unit
Put the drawer unit in the back and slide it up towards the jerrys. I left a bit of a gap to ensure the drawer unit didn't rub a hole through a jerry can and create a flood. The drawer sits against the spare wheel, with just enough room to let the fridge slide, which is enough room to get at those few items stored in the dish too. A few carefully placed screws into my plywood floor held the drawer in place no problems. It didn't move, and the roads to the tip are ROUGH.
Storage boxes (stackable)
Choose these carefully so that they fit end to end in the remaining gap. We picked some up at a $2 dollar shop, but in hindsight, the ones available at Bunnings give more variety, similar prices and probably better quality.
Fridge
Sit on the fridge slide - push it back as far as possible to make sure it clears the back window when closed. We found this left a little space at the from to sit the Gasmate stove, nice and handy for a road side cuppa!
It should now look something like...
![240594]( "240594")
The Pantry
The final bit was the 'pantry' box. I levelled this up a bit with a length of wood as the back seats don't sit flat, and had a small space for leads, the light etc.. We discovered the lid could be help up nicely by the 'jesus' handle in the back seat to help with access. The 2 2 chairs and table roll up neatly between the box and the water jerrys on that side. I just looped a tie down strap around the entire seat with some packing foam to protect the leather.
![240598]( "240598")
![240600]( "240600")
![240597]( "240597")
And after all that, there is still room for clothes etc in the footwells on both sides, and the dog has plenty of room on the other side of the back seat.
![240601]( "240601")
People will probably notice the we moved the safety screen to immediately behind the front seats. Added a bit of safety from flying goods and dogs. I added a couple of cable ties to help hold this in place (to the jesus handle in the front), and it made a good enough towel rail, and an added ocky strap made a good hat rack too!!
![240602]( "240602")
So that's it. Really easy to live out of this for nearly 2 weeks - we could've gone for months TBH. I think the future will see the spare wheel go onto a rack on the back, and (perhaps) a second drawer unit added to make better use of the space.
Oh, and a roof top tent. The swag was great, but getting up off the ground away from the bities and beasties seems like a better long term option. We might not even need the caravan at this rate!
Love to hear what other's have tried and discovered for camping out of the car!
We normally tow a 2.8t Goldstream RV off road van, but decided to leave it behind for this trip so we had lots of flexibility and freedom, and one less piece of machinery to potentially create hassles. We've been living on the road in the van for about 4 months now after a 10 day trip from Melbourne to Tocumwal put us over the border before the 2nd Melbourne lockdown at which point we became accidental tourists, drifting north while working online and with no real plans other than to not go back to lockdown in Melbourne
. We literally wake up each day and wonder about staying/moving on. Anyhow, dream trip stories aside, we ended up in Cairns, where the possibility of a trip to the tip started to take form, and solidified with the purchase of a 2nd hand Kings Big Daddy deluxe swag from a bloke in the caravan park we had lobbed into so I could get some proper work done to keep the bank balance alive.Before we begin on the fit out, a couple of important mentions. My partner and I like to free camp. We're happiest down the end of some lonely track by a river or creek in the middle of nowhere. Thus, we need to be very self sufficient, for at least a week, maybe 10 days, 14 at a push. We can 'rough it' and make do. We also know it's good to shower and wash the clothes at least sometimes - we will stop in at a van park or camp ground to freshen up, restock, find someone else to talk to, trim the beard, paint the nails etc. That's what we were prepping for - your needs may well be different, so I encourage you to think about that in advance, talk to others, get the lay of the land, think about your must haves and your good to haves and your do withouts.
We already had an 2.5x2.5m Kings awning fitted to racks on the car. I can highly recommend these as a cheap, simple way to generate some shade/shelter. Not so good in a big wind (tie that thing down, and make sure it's got some slope to run the rain off, away from the swag
!). They are easy enough for one person to put up and pull down and do what they say on the box (give shade and keep you dry(er)).A bit of quick planning and some research and we decided on what we needed, most of which came from BCF. It was easy to buy click and collect, close by, not overly expensive and if we needed a warranty claim we could do that Oz wide. With more time we would have shopped differently. You could save many $$ if you shopped around, but we didn't really have a delivery address for shipments from Chinese Ebay merchants
, and the wet was not too far off so we needed to get on with it. For the most part the reviews are pretty positive for their products.We ended up with....
- The BIG double swag
- 100amp/hour fully sealed deep cycle battery (already had this, but easy enough to get)
- A 40l 12/240 fridge (XTM).
- A 200w solar blanket (XTM) - came with a cable and solar control box
- A 900mm (deep) drawer unit with fridge slide and cutting board (XTM)
- A decent LED strip for lighting (Koor brand, 48cm light bar, with dimmer and choice of white/yellow(less bugs) light. Comes with super long leads and magnets will hold it on a flat steel surface
- An awning extension/wall (2.5x3.0m)
- A Gasmate single burner portable stove, to which we added a 3 sided wind deflector, cos, you know, wind....
- 3x 20 litre water jerry cans (the blue, water safe ones from Bunnings. No, you don't need a tap, but get one just in case)
- A short hose, fittings, and an inline sand filter to clean the worst of the bore water taste when filling the jerrys
- A longer hose and garden trigger to run the water from the jerrys
- 4 plastic tubs - a BIG 80 litre with a locking lid for dry goods, 2 smaller stackable boxes, one for tools, the other for all that other stuff (cleaning gear, pans, a saucepan, a small billy, toaster...you know the stuff I mean). We added a good quality 40l one with good clips on the lid and tie down points - this rode on the roof to put rubbish in (well away from feral beasties and a bit stinky-proof) and a dozen butane bottles for the stove.
- 2 folding camp chairs
- A 'roll up' aluminium table.
- A decent shovel
- A set of recovery tracks (had these)
- Kings brand recovery kit and a 4.7t recovery hitch to replace the c'van tow hitch (had all this in the car)
Here's how we got it all in.
Battery
The 100amp hour battery fitted snugly under the space save spare in the back - a couple of tie down points screwed into the floor pan, some high density foam packing and a good tie down strap held it in place. Run the leads carefully, I used some heavy conduit I found, no rubbing holes through that insulation! You can see that I already had a split rear floor cover which allows access to the wheel well without taking the full size spare out.
Water storage
Remove the rear headrests, lay the back seats down, then slide the seats fully forward. This creates a space at the back of the seats that is, remarkably, exactly the width of a 20 litre jerry, 3 across so 60 litres of fresh water on board and sitting very low, nearly over the axle - perfect for stability! Sit the jerry's in place.
Spare wheel
We turned the full sized spare around and used the space in the dish to store a small tarp, a collapsing bucket, tyre repair kit, some ropes, etc.. Held in place with a ratchet tie down, attached to the stock tie down points in the back, this has been in the car for more than 12 months and despite all sorts of road conditions never seems to move. At all.
Solar controller/electrics
Getting the controller with the solar blanket was a bonus, as it simplified the process of hooking up, and meant the car electrics are completed separate, no risk of a dead battery in the middle of nowhere!
It's probably easiest to fit this up next. I located it immediately behind the spare wheel, just screwed it to the side panel. It's straightforward to hook up. It came with two anderson plugs already attached - one to battery, one to the solar panel. The wires for the 'load' (your appliances like fridge, lights, inverter etc) are bare - I added a double cigarette light socket from supercheap to these, fridge plugged in permanently to one, and the other we could swap out as needed. This also screwed neatly into the side panel above the controller.
I've since made up an additional lead that I can run from the controller to the car battery via the terminals under the bonnet) in the advent we did drain the car battery - With the panel in it runs a 13.7v float charge so a good backup in a crisis.
I also made up a short lead that runs from the anderson plug used by the caravan fridge/ESC to the 'solar panel' connection. The controller takes a steady 10amp charge from the car while running to top up the auxiliary battery while on the move. All that's very simple, worked a treat, and not an auto electrician in sight! The leads are a bit of a dog's breakfast, but I'll tidy that up if/when I get back into my garage!
Drawer unit
Put the drawer unit in the back and slide it up towards the jerrys. I left a bit of a gap to ensure the drawer unit didn't rub a hole through a jerry can and create a flood. The drawer sits against the spare wheel, with just enough room to let the fridge slide, which is enough room to get at those few items stored in the dish too. A few carefully placed screws into my plywood floor held the drawer in place no problems. It didn't move, and the roads to the tip are ROUGH.
Storage boxes (stackable)
Choose these carefully so that they fit end to end in the remaining gap. We picked some up at a $2 dollar shop, but in hindsight, the ones available at Bunnings give more variety, similar prices and probably better quality.
Fridge
Sit on the fridge slide - push it back as far as possible to make sure it clears the back window when closed. We found this left a little space at the from to sit the Gasmate stove, nice and handy for a road side cuppa!
It should now look something like...
The Pantry
The final bit was the 'pantry' box. I levelled this up a bit with a length of wood as the back seats don't sit flat, and had a small space for leads, the light etc.. We discovered the lid could be help up nicely by the 'jesus' handle in the back seat to help with access. The 2 2 chairs and table roll up neatly between the box and the water jerrys on that side. I just looped a tie down strap around the entire seat with some packing foam to protect the leather.
And after all that, there is still room for clothes etc in the footwells on both sides, and the dog has plenty of room on the other side of the back seat.
People will probably notice the we moved the safety screen to immediately behind the front seats. Added a bit of safety from flying goods and dogs. I added a couple of cable ties to help hold this in place (to the jesus handle in the front), and it made a good enough towel rail, and an added ocky strap made a good hat rack too!!
So that's it. Really easy to live out of this for nearly 2 weeks - we could've gone for months TBH. I think the future will see the spare wheel go onto a rack on the back, and (perhaps) a second drawer unit added to make better use of the space.
Oh, and a roof top tent. The swag was great, but getting up off the ground away from the bities and beasties seems like a better long term option. We might not even need the caravan at this rate!
Love to hear what other's have tried and discovered for camping out of the car!
