Hi all my name is Paul and my wife is Kathy. We are new to caravan travel and have put a deposit on a 2018 Jayco Silverline. We and hope to have it delivered by 20th March and we have a 2017 Ford Everest Trend as the tug. We have our first holiday booked over the Easter weekend at Bridgetown WA and will be doing small weekend getaways at least one a month, subject to work commitment.
We hope to meet some travelers and share stories about our trips and to meet new people. We are both to young to retire yet so will only be doing small trips up and down the west coast. I understand about all the weight issues with vans and tugs so will be keeping a close eye on what goes into both vehicles. We hope to have many exciting times with our new purchase and now just have to work out how to let the kids know they are not invited. Lol ( they think the caravan is more luxurious than our house) anyway hope to meet some of you soon be safe and Happy Australia Day.
Yes that is a bad word to say sorry, but some of us are greys need to go to places to earn money to pay for the toys. I wont ever mention that word again.
Welcome Paul & Kathy. Nice set up you have there with the sound of it, hope you have plenty of fun. Work's fine so long as you don't do it 'till you drop!
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Cheers,
Tony
"Opinion is the medium between ignorance and knowledge" - Plato
Hi Paul and Kathy we started planning our caravan adventure after I retired 2 years ago - I did a lot of research and questioning before we went ahead and bought the new van and what I believed was a suitable tug to pull it. I have now been working over here in the Gulf for the last 6 months in order to earn enough money to upgrade to something that wont be sailing as close to the wind when pulling around 2.7T. My Pajero sport was rated to tow 3.1T and the van according to the compliace plate when built was 2290, like a lot of new caravanners I really underestimated what I was going to need to do the job. We love the lifestyle and meeting people on the road who have the same interest in travelling in this great country. In future being able to tow our van with a bit more of a safety factor is going to take a lot of the worry out of getting from point A to point B. Enjoy your new Silverline just make sure that you don,t try and overload it we found that we didnt need to take half the gear that we originally lugged around. Never be afraid to ask questions on this forum we have had some great advice especially with the initial setting up.
We have a fridge magnet that says I do nothing all week then on the weekend I rest
cheers
BB
-- Edited by The Belmont Bear on Sunday 28th of January 2018 05:08:29 AM
Thanks The Belmont bear I understand the weight issues and nothing is going into the van without being weighed first we will also take the van and tug over the weigh bridge fully loaded before we do any trips. We will have a list of all things loaded into the van and there weight and we will also travel with limited water in the tanks as you can always top them up in the travels. We wont be doing any free camping at the beginning so we can use the parks water and power. I will be upgrading the tug in the next two years and will probably get a Sahara as we both like a seven seater for going out with the kids and there friends when its not towing. I have used the tug to tow the place we dont talk about scissor lifts and it has no problems and they are up around the 3t mark.
One question I have is, has anyone used wind power in addition to charging the batterys in the van and was it successfull. I know they do it with yachts and farm gate motors. They also use wind power to charge the battery for the gate to Whitman Park. I just think this is a good idea in WA as we always have a sea breeze.
G'day Paul & Kathy. Welcome to the forum - if you want to know lots about what you're getting yourself into, use the "Search" button. There is a lot of very useful info there.
Most of the members are friendly enough, some get a little hung up on issues at times but for me personally, I've been helped immensely.
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
One question I have is, has anyone used wind power in addition to charging the batterys in the van and was it successfull. I know they do it with yachts and farm gate motors. They also use wind power to charge the battery for the gate to Whitman Park. I just think this is a good idea in WA as we always have a sea breeze.
When you get used to using the search function on the forum you will find plenty of threads on the topic. A short resume on what has been reported - They are useful if camped on the coast, you get less wind when you get out of sight of the sea. They are bulky to carry unless you can break them down into small pieces. They take a great deal of effort to erect and are thus only useful if you are staying put for a while. I have seen them in use in places like 80 Mile Beach but they are all up on hi
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
We don't allow dirty words on this forum, sorry 
