A few months ago we decided to sell the Patriot Campers X3 and upgrade to a Track TVAN – this left us without a camper trailer which saw us camping in swags for a while. Traditional camping was a great change and helped us to simplify our kit and streamline our setup, but we still looked forward to arrival of the new trailer and the benefit of some mod cons to make camping more sustainable.
With rolling COVID19 lockdowns in Victoria we were expecting the TVAN build to be running late, so it was a great surprise to get word from Jason of Horizon Campers that our trailer was on transport and we could pick it up once pre-delivery checks and a few upgrades were completed. Horizon Campers work with Tamborine based Atlas Trailer Hire for their Brisbane based hand overs and we also asked Tristan at Atlas to modify the camper to accept a Dometic CFX75 fridge, same as we had in the X3 and the largest you can fit into a TVAN.
I have to admit, I was pretty bloody excited on the drive down to Tamborine, and my pulse quickened when I saw the TVAN sitting on their driveway ready for collection.
Tristan spent a couple of hours going over the camper’s features and modifications, although we didn’t do a complete set up. I was impressed by some of the subtle features and build aspects of the TVAN, though I am under whelmed by the electrical installation standards (some of which I’ll tidy up when doing other upgrades). A few of the extra spare parts I ordered were missing and will be sent by courier from Victoria but won’t stop us using the camper in the mean time.
The hand over went way too quickly and I was soon hitched and towing the TVAN home, taking a long way to get a feel for the trailer on secondary roads and hilly sections. I’m very impressed with how the TVAN tows and its stability on broken road surfaces, though the brakes need to bed in before they’ll feel right.
The longer trailer wheel base meant I had to take a different line reversing into the driveway at home, this caused our neighbour some angst as I drove over their nature strip to get the right line :-/
Now that we’ve got it at home I’ve got some upgrades to do before a shake down trip – I’ve always been one of those kids who pulled his toys apart to find out how they work and before long the TVAN was gutted as I got to work drilling holes and pulling in electrical cables.
I’ll give you a run down of the upgrades in a week or so once I get to grips with the job list I’ve got for bringing the TVAN up to Travelling Two specification.
Oh Shane. At least you got it all back together again. 🙂
And not too many spare parts left over either 😉