Swan Just ordered a Swan Outback!

[Noodles]

Greetings all! There is much excitement in our household tonight as we have just placed an order for our first camper!

We (mainly me) have been researching caravans since early December when we camped at Nambucca Heads and our camper trailer got completely flooded after a huge storm. I decided I'd had enough of the two-hour setup and never wanted to spend all night mopping up water again.

We originally planned to spend up to $25K on a used van with bunks, then looked at new European vans but decided it was far too much to spend on something that would sit in the front yard for 48 weeks of the year. Then I thought it would be fun to buy a 1970s Millard or Viscount and do it up. Then we changed our minds again and were very seriously looking at Expandas. We came very close to buying a 2007 model but it was dodgy (insurance write off). We kept coming back to the fact that we didn't want something huge sitting in our yard that wouldn't get used much.

During our last trip to Brooms Head, a family with a Swan was on the site next to us. I got chatting to them about it and they absolutely loved it and said the setup time was pretty quick (compared to 2 hours, anything is quick). After lots of scouring Gumtree and Caravan Sales, we noticed that they really hold their value well. So we went and saw the guys at Gold Coast Jayco and told them the features we wanted and the quote came back at about $1000 more than similar 2015 models we had been watching on Gumtree. Husband went back today and haggled some more and got another $500 off. We should have it in November.

So, we are all pretty excited and can't wait for it to arrive. Can't wait to show photos and ask lots of annoying questions.,

 

[Bellbirdweb]

Congratulations @Noodles and welcome.

No such thing as annoying questions here, just plenty of us more than happy to help out and help you spend plenty of your hard earned $$ on mods.

Now just for the long wait, but at least you'll have it in time for Christmas.

 

[bigcol]

good stuff @Noodles
alot of people on here have started with the tent then camper then pop top then................

so there will never be an annoying question
we ALL started the same - and we all dont know everything yet

fire away with any and all questions anytime

 

[Rockape]

Hi @Noodles,
Congratulations on your purchase!
Cheers
Nick

 

[Noodles]

Here are the options we are getting.
-Coast to Coast control panel
-HWS and external shower (this was our main reason for buying new- weren't many second hand ones with this in our area)
-Fiamma awning
-Tap to A frame
-extra water tank and gas
-bed flies
-extended A frame
-Treg coupling
-roof racks
-2x bike racks
- Fridge cooling fan
-Anderson plug
-Starter kit

 

[Noodles]

Question- how do you connect up to a 12-pin connector?

 

[Bellbirdweb]

Question- how do you connect up to a 12-pin connector?

You'll need a 12 pin connector fitted to the car.

The fridge is usually connected to the extra pins.

Many change it to an Anderson plug instead, in which case you'd only need a 7 pin

 

[dagree]

Congrats @Noodles and as said there are no annoying or silly questions..... The only silly ones are the ones you don't ask

Question- how do you connect up to a 12-pin connector?

12 pin on trailer or car?
Connect as in plug it in?

Or

Connect as in wire it up?

 

[twscoot]

Congratulations. You will not regret the hot water. That's the thing that makes me most feel like I'm not camping but holidaying! Photos when it arrives or you never got it! Welcome.

 

[Noodles]

Congrats @Noodles


12 pin on trailer or car?
Connect as in plug it in?

Or

Connect as in wire it up?

Sorry, should have been more specific. We have a Discovery and it has two round 7-pin connectors. We currently have an adaptor to connect it to our camper's flat 7-pin...but the Swan has a flat 12-pin. The guys at Jayco scratched their heads over this, although surely they sell to many Discovery owners...?

 

[pauljygrant]

The round black 7pin will be similar to the standard Australian 7pin large round, running tail, brake and indicator lights. Will also have an earth and possibly a 12v accessory feed, but this could also be used for reversing lights or rear fog lights. I'm guessing that the other socket on your Disco has a white cover and is used in Europe for all 12v accessories such as battery charging, fridge etc.
If it was me, I would get them to fit a 7pin large plug on the camper and check the wires in your 7pin socket match.
Then either make an adaptor to take from the white socket to the Anderson plug on the camper or better still is to run heavier duty wires from the Disco battery to new Anderson plugs and effectively bypass the White socket.
Do you have a brake controller fitted? If not, then these heavier duty wires could easily be run at the same time.
We had a Swan and it towed very well - you'll hardly know it's behind you.

 

[davemc]

on our Disco 3 and Disco 4 we had the 7 pin replaced by a 12 pin plug and had the auto elec run heavy gauge cable to the battery through a redarc battery isolator under the bonnet and also load sensor.
The load sensor is because of the LED lights on the Swan the Disco will not sense there is a van there.
Our D3 the auto elec put in something to stop the lights pulsing.
With the D4 the auto elec said did your D3 have the indicator come on with trailer symbol? Said no. He said the guy must of use the wrong part.
you can also get as a standalone cable as well
http://www.ledtowconnect.com/2012/06/Discovery-3.html

Have you a brake controller yet?

you could split the Jayco 12pin to go to your round plug on the Disco its only screwed in.
The Fridge depends on current I know some who have made an adapter for the other cable for fridge only.
We had a large fridge and thought the setup in the Disco would not cover the amps.


http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/

Here is a thread I started here when we started not long ago
http://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/land-rover-discovery-3-4-how-do-you-connect-up.4759/

good luck ask away questions

 

[Noodles]

Congratulations. You will not regret the hot water. That's the thing that makes me most feel like I'm not camping but holidaying! Photos when it arrives or you never got it! Welcome.

Yep, looking forward to washing greasy dishes without having to boil the kettle enough times to fill up the sink!

 

[Noodles]

The round black 7pin will be similar to the standard Australian 7pin large round, running tail, brake and indicator lights. Will also have an earth and possibly a 12v accessory feed, but this could also be used for reversing lights or rear fog lights. I'm guessing that the other socket on your Disco has a white cover and is used in Europe for all 12v accessories such as battery charging, fridge etc.
If it was me, I would get them to fit a 7pin large plug on the camper and check the wires in your 7pin socket match.
Then either make an adaptor to take from the white socket to the Anderson plug on the camper or better still is to run heavier duty wires from the Disco battery to new Anderson plugs and effectively bypass the White socket.
Do you have a brake controller fitted? If not, then these heavier duty wires could easily be run at the same time.
We had a Swan and it towed very well - you'll hardly know it's behind you.

Correct, there is a black and a white 7 pin. We do have a brake controller.

 

[Noodles]

on our Disco 3 and Disco 4 we had the 7 pin replaced by a 12 pin plug and had the auto elec run heavy gauge cable to the battery through a redarc battery isolator under the bonnet and also load sensor.
The load sensor is because of the LED lights on the Swan the Disco will not sense there is a van there.
Our D3 the auto elec put in something to stop the lights pulsing.
With the D4 the auto elec said did your D3 have the indicator come on with trailer symbol? Said no. He said the guy must of use the wrong part.
you can also get as a standalone cable as well
http://www.ledtowconnect.com/2012/06/Discovery-3.html

Have you a brake controller yet?

you could split the Jayco 12pin to go to your round plug on the Disco its only screwed in.
The Fridge depends on current I know some who have made an adapter for the other cable for fridge only.
We had a large fridge and thought the setup in the Disco would not cover the amps.


http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/

Here is a thread I started here when we started not long ago
http://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/land-rover-discovery-3-4-how-do-you-connect-up.4759/

good luck ask away questions

Thanks davemc. Husband needs to join up so he can ask all these technological questions instead of asking me to do it! We do have a brake controller fitted. Will go take a look at that thread you posted.

 

[Noodles]

Here is our current setup. We love the space but hate the setting up time. We haven't been able to get it under 2 hours, even if we don't put the walls on the final annex. We are so looking forward to our Swan. The kids are beside themselves.

 

[JohngQld]

Hi Noodles,
As you are on the Gold Coast, go along and see the guys at Kakadu Annexes and check out the Ezi Camper Awning. I saw it at the Brisbane Caravan show and it has to be the easiest and quickest set up of all time. You can see it on their website and facebook page.
Congrats on the purchase, they really are a good unit.
John

 

[Noodles]

Got it a few weeks ago and we love it! We've made some shelves for the useless wardrobe thing, and a bed insert for the club lounge ($7 sheet of craft wood from Masters...didn't even have to make a cushion as the cushions from the dinette fit into the gap!). Also bought an offside awning to keep the fridge and offside of the van cool. Jayco forgot to install our fridge fan so we will see how we go without it...they've said they will refund what we paid for the fan if we feel we don't need it.

Absolutely love the Fiamma awning and are so glad we didn't get the bag one.

We need to get something to put on top of our mattress as it's about as comfortable as a pile of rocks. Clark Rubber wanted $130 for one of those egg carton topper things....anyone else got a cheaper option?

Two weeks and counting until we take it on its maiden voyage.

 

[Dobbie]

With the swan you've got two options.

For comfort egg noodle stuff is good, a thickish mattress topper is also good. eBay or Kogan offers appear to be ok. We bought a Kogan one years ago and it fitted bed the perfectly and was thick enough. I'm not sure of the cost now but it's worth a look. Spotlight, big W, K mart etc also have them....and, of course, Aldi.

The second option is to avoid any condensation or cold coming under the mattress itself and the eggshell is best for that. Or that's what we found.

I like the fiamma ....far far far better than the bag and a lot lighter.

Enjoy the whole package.

 

[bigcol]

I used to have small tarps I made to fit under the mattresses to stop the cold / moisture (although, we didnt get much of that over here in Wait Awhile)

I had the egg carton type of mattress topper - was about the best
then, I brought a 3" inner sprung mattress from Jayco
man - was nice

then we sold the Flamingo

still have the mattress - might have to take photo's and try and flog it off