Feldty's 17.56-2 OB

[ROnEM]

Kev,

Guess it is easier when upgrading from the Swan to the Panda than from a tent as we are doing. Upside is that once we get to a destination, we will be set up in a fraction of the time it took to put up the tent and rain will really not matter any more. :smile:

The Prestige Add-A-Room was fitted on Friday and you have almost the same features/options was we do. Also added gas bayonets front & back, light over external shower, solar pre-wire (for 200W panel), double 240v points and 12v points under each dinette table, 12v fridge fan, second picnic table.

Interesting that you got your Control Panel fitted near the sink - we asked for ours to be fitted there and it was on the sign-off, but it has been fitted low on the seat where the other switches are. This is the only thing I could see was not as ordered when I looked at the van in Geelong.

Really like your list of planned trips.

As the kids are only young once, we are looking forward to the spontaneous weekend trips to caravan parks and some remote sites - far easier than trying to put up a tent for a few days.

Ro

 

[Feldty]

Nah mate.all they would do is rivet on the wall rails to the body and drill the holes in the awning roller for the two required stays so the awning material won't sag down from rain.did they not inform of options for the annex/awning?

They did not particularly give us any options, I was told that the prestige annex was perfect for us, so I did not particularly check up on options. I just said that we wanted the same as the unit they had on display. This works for us I think. The skirt press studs I would imagine may need to be match fitted, but I guess this could be done during the first service?

Am I missing anything / options that I should have been advised of?

 

[Pace]

Well then if you allready saw what you ordered then all good.tebbs offer wide range of screen doors/windows/vents.entry doors types.sewn in pockets in the walls.hanger hooks so on.prestige are different I have heard that.our van is a page bros.cheers.

 

[Feldty]

Hi Ro,

I wonder why our annex is taking so long. Your van may have been ready earlier than ours I guess and therefore measured earlier?

I think the extra power points may be a regret for us. I wish we had have ordered these, but not to worry. I may get an electrician to have a crack at them for me if we get too frustrated.

I only presume that our panels will be fitted where asked, as I was advised that it was o.k. I am now not vary confident that they will be fitted where I thought they would be. Far from the end of the world but still a little frustrating. The standard location is such an impractical place to fit them. My three year old will have lots of fun with the switches I am sure. May need to look into some of the mods the others on this site have performed to either move or cover them.

Kev.

 

[Feldty]

Hi Pace,

I had a Tebbs annex on my swan and found it great. The prestige one looks pretty good too and is fitted lacking the Anti Flap Bars which I think will be much easier to fit. That was the main reason for my choice. I am a fair novice in regards to annex walls though.

Kev

 

[Pace]

She'll be right mate. enjoy it with the family. cheers.

 

[ROnEM]

Kev,

Gotta love little fingers!!

Not so much of a problem for us as kids are 8 & 11. Still, can get knocked by heels, etc as people get in and out of the dinette table. As you pointed out, might look at mods others have done to move them.

I think the Annexe is made in Geelong. Measure the van twice, cut the canvas once!

When I was there last week, there were a large number of vans waiting to go through pre- delivery, guess there is a bit of a backlog.

Ro

 

[Feldty]

Just got off the phone with the Dealer. Must say he has been rather accommodating.

We decided that we don't particularly need the annex walls for our shorter trips. So long as we have them by our Queensland trip things should be fine. I cant even imagine us putting them up unless we stay in the one place for more than a few days. That means Swan Hill should be fine without the walls.

Decided to take delivery of the van without the walls and then have them fitted during the first service. I think that we should even be able to drop the van off at the dealers for its first service on the way back from Swan Hill killing two birds with the one stone....

So Thursday is the big day.

Cant wait.

 

[ROnEM]

Hi Kev,

Bugger - you are going to beat us to pickup!

Good luck with taking delivery and have fun in Swan Hill with your new baby.

Cheers,

Ro

 

[Feldty]

Don't worry. We won't be beating you by much. The dealer was great though. I just made the suggestion of picking it up prior to fitting the annex and he basically said how about Thursday. So all good. Good luck with yours on saterday.

 

[relgate]

I'll be ther on Monday next week....

 

[Feldty]

Hi All,

Well, we have it. Sitting in our driveway waiting to be packed and for the first trip tomorrow.

Jayco Bendigo were great, and I could not be more happy.

Traveled from Wangaratta to Shepparton to stay at the in-laws on Wednesday night, as the boys stayed with them on Thursday while we traveled to Bendigo to pick up "Evie" the expanda. The boys thought the van needed a name and so they chose "Evie". Perhaps not my pick but they were happy with it.

Left Shepparton at 8:30 and arrived in Bendigo at 10:30 where we fueled up just prior to Hand over. I thought it would be good to get an early indication of fuel economy so I re-set all the trip computers etc. Hand over was very thorough, explaining all the ins and outs. Taking lots of notes seemed to help all the info sink in. John seemed to know his stuff and had stacks of good advise throughout. All the items seemed to work well as intended and seemed to be as expected. I spent a fair amount of time crawing over and under, opening and closing without finding an issue.

I was very impressed with the neatness of the cables and pipes below the floor. They were all cable tied securely and ran in a reasonably practical manor. The only worry I have is the exposure of plastic style fittings, just waiting for a rock or stick to knock them off. I can imagine a mod of some sort to help cover the entire chassis area may be in order, particularly prior to any dirt / gravel road travels.

I have seen in other threads that the Battery monitor and HWS were not able to be moved to a preferred location, but I can gladly say that ours are located below the microwave near the sink area in a nice and convenient place. The battery switch is the only item left on the end of the seat, but this is in fact not a bad location, as it seams handy to be able to reach inside the door and switch the battery on in order to turn lights on before entering. I may need a plastic style cover for this one, but time will tell.

The extended draw bar seems huge. There will be more than enough room for a draw bar box, pending weight issues.

Hooking the van up to the Nav went well. The unloaded tow ball weight managed to drop the Nav's rear around 55mm and raise the front about 30mm. This is without any items inside the van with the exception of roughly 140lt of water and 18kg of gas. Once the HR WDH was fitted, all the measurements come back to original. The van looks to be sitting perfectly. Pictures to come as soon as I can work out how to upload them.

So off we went, initially nervously, but soon grew more confident. The combination seemed to work well together and power seemed no issue with the TUG. You could feel the WDH doing its thing with any bumps or dips in the road hardly effecting us at all. From a ride point of view, it seemed to tow better than the swan did without a WDH. I must thank everyone for all there advise on the WDH issue, and could not recommend it any higher. For the record, the Nav's computer suggested an average of about 15.3lt per hundred km for the return, traveling up and down over some reasonable hills. The fuel gauge suggested that I used almost exactly half a tank for the 220km trip, so perhaps not quite as good as I had hoped, but I guess not as bad as it could have been. I will need to mount a jerry can to the draw bar I think before we go on any long distance travel. Without the van, the Nav averaged 9.3lt per hundred km.

The weather was terrible on the way home, stopping around 50km down the track to check the wheel nuts (all good). Picked the very excited kids up and traveled home arriving back around dark. I must say the van is filthy and will probably get a bath fist thing in the morning before we start to load, as I am a little pedantic about that sort of thing.

Looking forward to keeping you all informed and adding lots of Pics.

Kev

 

[ROnEM]

Kev,

Congrats on getting your baby home. Yep, the team at Prestige Jayco in Bendigo are very easy to deal with. Lots of people I talk to speak very highly of the Bendigo team.

Looking forward to seeing some pics.

Did you see both our's and relgate's vans sitting there waiting for handover? We have pushed handover back to Monday afternoon at this stage.

Cheers,

To

 

[Feldty]

Ro,

There was one 17.56-2 being pre-delivered in the Left hand workshop. This one had a Stone Guard and mud flaps fitted to the front. There may have been others there as well, but not that I could see. If they were there, they were well tucked away out of harms way I would suggest.

Good luck on Monday.

Kev

 

[ROnEM]

Kev - that's it! Had the stone guard put on as I just don't have time right now to build one before we go away.

Hope the return trip and shakedown went well.

Cheers,

Ro

 

[Jennymay]

Great van Kev! Thats the van we were going to get but changed our order to 18.57.5OB . Its exciting loading van, I love it. Have purchased a few new little pressies like coffee maker and padded mattress protector for this van. It makes the beds extra comfortable and I love my cappuccino in the mornings. We cant wait to go away in January for a few weeks. Time is against us getting it out again now until then. Gee I wish I didnt work!
I guess it pays for the pressies...lol
Jenny

 

[Mistiqi]

Hi Kev

Can I ask a question. Are you using the HR WDH with the Nissan factory tow bar or did you get it replaced?

Lots of different stories around for nav tow bars so a bit confused...

 

[Feldty]

Hi Mistiqi,

No we are not using the standard Nissan bar, as they were not rated with a WDH. We had the bar replaced with a HR Bar. That being said the bars appear to be identical but may be manufactured from different grades of material. I guess it is a call you need to make your self. I started a thread that may help.
http://www.expandasdownunder.com/showthread.php/1485-Nissan-Navara-D40-Towing-17-56-2
I personally think that it was well worth changing over simply for the piece of mind.

Kev