So as I explained in the previous post, after I made it back to Kilmore I started assessing what I had bought and the gap between that and what I need.
The Canopy.
I still had a ute with a tray, and the intention all along had been to acquire a canopy to carry stuff. Doesn't matter for the moment exactly what stuff, but I needed to carry it in a canopy.
The choice boiled down to either a pricey bolt-to-chassis arrangement something like this ...
... or a less pricey bolt-to-tray arrangement like this ...
... so being large part Scottish and Yorkshire heritage my wallet is a bit tight (think Scrooge McDuck, moths, etc) so I went for the less pricey option - still not cheap but $6,000 or so less than the better built options. I will need to add some lining and tie-down points, but it should be adequate for my simple needs - in fact it will have to be adequate because I won't be buying another one.
As I write, installation is eleven days away, so then I will find out whether it was a good buy or not, and whether it is too heavy (if so, I will need to get a ute GVM - gross vehicle mass - upgrade which will consume much of the "saving").
The Electricals.
Next on the list is some electrical work. When I bought the caravan the only way I was able to charge the battery was to stay at a powered site in a caravan park. A somewhat expensive exercise and not a cost structure I can or want to bear for very long.
So I bought a cheapo fold-out solar panel that I have been using to keep the battery topped up. That will be ok to use if I stay in one place for a while and stay with the caravan (to stop the solar panel from growing legs and wandering off). So - a useful acquisition but limited in the long run.
The ute is booked in to get an Anderson plug fitted. This is a wire from the ute's alternator to a plug at the rear, that plugs into a wire on the caravan and charges the caravan battery while driving. Of course nothing is as simple as it appears, and the ute end needs to be fitted with a couple of electronic gadgets to avoid draining the ute starter battery, and manage the 12v charge being pushed to the caravan.
When I get that done I will ask the auto electrician about a fixed solar panel for the caravan, so I don't have to worry so much about it (the solar panel) getting nicked. Of course the solar panel is only part of the story - the panel needs a controller, and of course the battery requires some gadget to govern charging. There is something like that already in the van, but I'm not going to pretend I know all about it - would prefer to get it done properly and avoid sparks and fires - especially with 9kg of LPG sitting next door in the caravan boot!
The other acquisition will be an inverter so I can get 240V to recharge the laptop, bluetooth speaker, shaver, and so on. This will influence the size of solar panel and possibly require more battery storage if my recharging needs get a bit excessive.
And possibly a 12V TV so I can connect a USB drive and watch endless repeats of David Attenborough.
The Cooking.
My cooking consists of salads and one-pot wonders. If I'm going to cook I suspect I will need a straight-side skillet, or sauté pan. Like this ...
... except I don't think it actually grows while cooking, like in the photos. But just thinking about that, auto-grow could be a useful feature - start cooking a cup full of one-pot-wonder and end up with a couple of meals worth. Magico!
The Storage.
There's quite a lot of storage inside the caravan. Ignoring for the moment the need to watch weight (there's a 300kg payload, but that has to include water in the 2x80 litre tanks - if I use them - and the solar panel/s). There's space in a bin under one of the seats, space under the sink & cooktop, space under the bed (quite a lot of space there) and a cupboard each side of the bed head. Leaving stuff loose in these cupboards and bins would end up being quite messy and impossible to find again, so I need a bunch of Storage Solutions for food, cleaning stuff, clothes, laundry, and other bits. Clothes and laundry will go in bags. Other stuff will need to go in plastic containers so the job now will be to find containers that will fit in the odd shaped spaces.
But all of those adds and changes should get me to a point where I have a good "Rig" for the travelling I want to do - basic and flexible but with creature necessities like laptop, music, Attenborough, phone.
And then I'll need to shake down my Rig set-up.
But that's another story.
