Finally The Chevy has arrived

Finally the Chevrolet Silverado 2500 4x4 has arrived in Melbourne. After a few anxious weeks of waiting, and growing a little impatient after being told that it had arrived at the docks in early July, the vehicle was finally seen at the premises of American Imports in Rowville on Monday 25th August.

And surprise surprise it has already been converted from left hand drive to right hand drive. Goodness knows when and where that was done. However, the front grill, headlights and tailgate have all been removed and have to be replaced together with the installation of the bull bar, hard roll up cover and long range fuel tanks. I am told it will all be done together with compliance within the next two weeks - we will see.

Its a mess! But its great to see it.

Wendy and I caught the 7am flight to Coolangatta Queensland yesterday to view the Yellowstone Fifth Wheeler. We arrived at 9am and after obtaining a Hire Car we decided to have breakfast at Tugan where we found a nice cafe and was greeted by a Richmond FC AFL supporter who chatted to us throughout breakfast and wanted to know everything about what was happening at the club. It is surprising how far behind they are up there because as we left he came up and wanted to know if we had heard about the Shaw/Didak drink drive affair at Collingwood. He had just heard about it on the radio. Of course it had been front page news in Melbourne the day before (and for a number of subsequent days).

We then headed to Currumbin where we found the Fifth Wheeler in a small factory. The first reaction was how tall it is. It just towers over you. We had been warned that it was in the process of being pulled to pieces but it was a mess! All the power points had to be replaced, the air conditioning units, ducted cleaning system, electric fireplace and several of the lights had been pulled out. There were tools and screws and wiring everywhere.

Well we sat on the seats - two leather reclining armchairs with ottomans and a couch that folded out into a double bed with a blow up mattress that blows itself up at a flick of a switch. The living area also has a 37" Samsung LCD TV and a desk area for the laptop computer and work area. The dining room has a neat table and four separate chairs. The chair seats and table top all fold up for extra storage space and I thing that Wendy will probably use this to keep her sewing and jewellery craft things in.

The bedroom has to be one of the largest with the most room that I have seen and it was easy to get around the bed on both sides. Plenty of hanging space and draws and the bed tilts up to reveal a large area for storing sheets and blankets etc. In the corner is the washing machine/dryer and at the end of the bed on the well there is a LCD TV. The bathroom has a ceramic toilet, a shower with water saving shower head, and hand basin. Not much room for hanging towels but I was told that the Americans just hang them over the top of the shower.

The kitchen has a three burner stove and oven with a gigantic convection microwave. The fridge and freezer is nearly as big as the one we have at our house at home. The sink is one of the few stainless steel sinks found in an RV with pull out water faucet and filtered water unit. Not a lot of kitchen space but it will suit us and anyway we have the Webber which can attach to the built in gas bottles outside.

The outside has one of the largest storage areas that I have seen in any RV (including Caravans and Motorhomes) and will be used to keeping the generator, tables and chairs, food, wine, (boat?) and anything else that we can think of that does not get stored inside. It is massive. We are getting a bike rack to carry our bicycles at the back of the unit. On top of the unit there will be six solar panels. The rig will have four gell cell batteries to store the power and a Vectron Sine Wave Plus inverter to covert the power. Between this and the Honda generator we should be reasonably sell sufficient for power, enabling us to free camp rather than use Caravan Parks most of the time.

Hopefully there is sufficient room on top (the electrician is a bit concerned) to also put a Smartsat Oyster Automatic Satellite dish and Saturn Omni TV and Phone Antenna. This will allow us to watch the TV from just about anywhere and also allow us to use the internet for communications to keep in touch with everyone.

We went and had lunch overlooking the beach and watch the local school kids surfing - I can't wait to get up there in that weather. After lunch we went back and took a few photos, but it was very difficult as there was not much space and they had pulled the slideouts in and turned the power off. We went for a short drive and did some shopping before returning to Melbourne about midnight.

Anyway its great to have seen it.

My thanks goes to David Thorley and his staff at Spectrum RV for allowing this factory visit.

Flying to Queensland

On Tuesday Wendy and I are flying to Currumbin Valley in Queensland to have a look at the Fifth Wheeler and discuss options.

This is a photo of what the bedroom should look like. Cant wait to see it!

The Fifth Wheeler has arrived

On Thursday the 31st of July the Fifth Wheeler arrived in Brisbane and they have started the conversion process. So far they have replaced all the power points. Next week thay will start on replacing the suspension.

Exploring Oz with My Fifth Wheeler

The adventure starts here:

The Towing Vehicle:

2008 Chevrolet 2500HD Silverado LTZ 4 x 4 Crew Cab 6.5 ft box length with 6.6ltr V8 DURAMAX Inter-cooled Turbocharged Diesel engine. These photos were taken in the USA before it got shipped over to AUS and it has to be converted from left hand drive to right hand drive. It will then have a bull bar, long range fuel tanks, side steps and a hard roll up lockable cover fitted.

For details of the towing vehicle refer to http://www.american.com.au/home/

The Fifth Wheeler:

After a lot of looking around at various Fifth wheelers in both Victoria and Queensland I elected to import a vehicle from the USA. This was based on a number of factors:

1) It had to be large and comfortable (my wife hates camping and will only go ***** 5 stars.)

2) I was not overly impressed by some of the locally made rigs. Sorry AUS but the USA has been doing it a lot longer than we have.

3) A lot of the more common American rigs that had been imported into Australia had very dark trimmings and furniture inside.

4) Most of the rigs have the bathroom and vanity basin incorporated into the bedroom and we wanted to keep this separate. I also wanted the armchairs at the end of the rig so one could have a view from the back – a number of other Fifth wheelers use this space for their entertainment areas.

So I ordered a 2008 Yellowstone 34FBR by Gulf Stream. I am reliably informed that Gulf Stream is the Rolls Royce of Fifth Wheelers so I hope they are right. These pictures were sent to me after the Fifth Wheeler had been manufactured and before it left the USA.

The unit is 25’ 10” (10.93m) long, 12’ 4’ (3.76m) high and 7’11” (2.44m) wide and has a GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) of 6536kg. The GCWR (Gross Combination Weight Rating) for both vehicles is 9979 kg (nearly 10 tonne!)

While the Australian 240volt wiring was used, and the left hand door was inserted when it was manufactured in the USA there is still a lot of conversion work to be done after it has landed. Amongst others is the complete overhaul of the suspension system, adding 10 tonne air brakes, replacement of all electrical and gas appliances and full Australian compliance certification.

Around AUS$40,000 of extras including 2 TV’s, Satellite dish, air-conditioning, inverters, reversing cameras, additional fans and awnings, washing machine and six solar panels will be installed.

The estimated arrival date of the Chevy in Melbourne is the 1st July 2008 with conversion completed within 6 weeks. The Fifth wheeler should arrive in Brisbane on the 22nd July with the conversion completed within 6 weeks. (Around the end of August 2008)

For links to the Fifth wheeler go to http://www.spectrumrv.com.au/FloorPlan.aspx?PlanId=49

Intended trips:

1) Currumbin Valley to Melbourne (or)
2) Currumbin Valley to Tennant Creek.
3) Melbourne to Tennant Creek (Via Adelaide) (or)
4) Tennant Creek to Melbourne.
5) Melbourne to Tennant Creek (Via NSW and Qld)
6) Melbourne to Karumba (Gulf of Carpentaria)
7) Melbourne to Yeppoon (Rockhampton) and back via Newell highway, New England - Country Way, and the Leichardt highway.
8) Following the Murray from east Victoria to the mouth of the river at Galwa and back via Robe, Halls Gap and the Goldfields of Ballarat and Bendigo.
9) The big one around Oz.

A lot depends on when both vehicles will be ready. I will have to drive the Chevy to Currumbin Valley (The Gold Coast - just over the NSW border in Queensland). We will then spend a week getting the hitch put on and learning how to drive and work the fifth wheeler. After that we will either drive to Tennant Creek (where our Daughter, Son-in-law and Grandson live) or back to Melbourne. As this will be around the start of September a lot will depend how the Bulldogs are doing in the AFL finals.

So what happens after this?

I will blog on our various trips to include the following:

1) Date and Name of Town/Place
2) Weather/Food/Wildlife
3) Places of interest.
4) Unusual Pubs.
5) Caravan Parks: Description and Cost.
6) Free Parking areas: How suitable for large rigs.
7) Diesel consumption and cost of purchasing Diesel/Petrol.
8) Condition of the roads.