MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => Introductions => Topic started by: adonuff on December 11, 2013, 03:55:34 PM
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Hi
We have been watching this forum for a while and found it very useful and entertaining. We have been into camping for many years with many differing vans, tents and camper trailers. We recently downsized from a 21 ft Regent Caravan to a Gold Stream Crown off road Camper so that we had a bit more freedom as to camping spots.
We tow the Crown with a late model VW Amarok which has exceeded my expectations as a tow vehicle. We are working on self sufficient camping as well as Powered sites and so far have tried both with great success. The Crown has 2 deep cycle batteries & the VW has a large cranking battery fitted in the rear tub, so far the batteries have been enough to run all the lights, TV, pumps etc. We have 2 80w solar panels courtesy of Mandrake's Solar. We recently spent a long weekend at Johanna's Beach with no external power and had all the comforts. (Great Spot).
We had an external shower fitted with a gas HWS, deleted the microwave as we hardly ever used the ones in our previous vans & had a gas oven fitted instead. Only 2 short trips so far but we could not be more pleased with our set up. There will be a few more mods required, things like fitting the inverter & a few more 12v plugs etc. Will be looking at all of the info on here and will possibly be able to contribute a few good ideas learned over the years.
Will put up a few pics when I figure out how to do it and look forward to future discussions / Asking questions & answers to our questions / etc.
Andrew & Leigh
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Welcome to the forum Andrew & Leigh. Look forward to reading of your adventures.
Happy camping
KB
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Welcome guys, great to have you on board.(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/11/yhypemeg.jpg)
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Welcome to a great forum
Swannie
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adonuff
Welcome to MySwag , go on have a poke about , then park your chair by the fire with :cheers: & lets yarn :cheers:
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G'day Andrew and Leigh and welcome to MySwag. Looking forward to seeing those pics mate. Photobucket is a good spot to upload your pics to and download to the forum. God luck.
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Welcome to the Forum Andrew, enjoy your stay and join in the banter. It can get a bit crazy at times but after a while its the norm
GG
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Welcome Andrew & Leigh,
Enjoy this friendly site. Have a great time in your new CT.
Rob
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Welcome Andrew and Leigh,
Enjoy the good times and the forum. I'm a relatively newbie too.
Would be very interested in how the VW has performed - what model, off road, fuel economy, likes, dislikes etc. Is one of my short listed vehicles.
Cheers
Ian
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Welcome Andrew and Leigh,
Enjoy the good times and the forum. I'm a relatively newbie too.
Would be very interested in how the VW has performed - what model, off road, fuel economy, likes, dislikes etc. Is one of my short listed vehicles.
Cheers
Ian
Hi Ian
We tow the camper with an Amarok, do the shopping & running around with a late model Golf & and the kids have a Polo & a Jetta. So we are a VW family.
The Amarok I believe is the best towing vehicle I have ever used, I have previously had Landcruisers, Land Rover Discovery, Holden Rodeo. So far taking everything into consideration the VW wins. It would be a close second between the Landcruiser & the Land Rover. The Discovery was great but lacked the reliability & the Toyota was extreamly reliable but used too much fuel.
The VW handles like a small car is very comfy & great on fuel. The only dislikes so far are the mirrors that do not make reversing all that easy as you get a distorted sense of distance. The only other drama so far is the need to get what VW call a load box which is needed if you intend to tow anything with LED tail lights this is basically fitted between the existing trailer plug & the trailer (Cost about $180.00).
I cant give you any fuel consumption figures as I have been pleased enough to never bother checking but feel its pretty good even when towing. A lot cheaper than some of my past tugs. When we had the 20 ft van the lad Rover & the Toyota needed a Weight distribution hitch, was not needed on the Amarok.
As for off road I have yet to really try it, The manual model has all the good stuff, traction control transfer case, low & high range etc & the auto is also very capable off road. I think the only thing that would stop it would be ground clearance, the standard tire's are not all that good for off road. There is plenty off good stuff showing them playing off road on U Tube.
Hope this helps if you need to know more let me know
Andrew
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Thanks Andrew. You're obviously very happy with the Amarok. Will be good to see how it goes towing the CT off road a bit. Oh well, back to old reliable 80 series petrol.
Ian
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Welcome to myswag
Great intro enjoy your travels and the Amarok
CHEERS GRC :cheers: