Just Browsing New to forum and Expanda's. Looking buying a 2nd hand 16.49-4

Blybo

New Member
Nov 7, 2019
28
20
3
Melbourne
Hi everyone. New to the forum and considering upgrading from our 2010 Swan to an Expanda. We have been very happy with the Swan for a few 10 day trips each year with our 8 & 10 tear old daughters during school holidays. Always go to caravan parks at this stage.

We are now looking to do more shorter weekend trips and we "think" a touring pop top Expanda with the bunks/2nd seating area is the right solution for us to be able to quickly set up, pack down. We find the Swan is not any quicker than a tent trailer to pack up, as most stuff is packed in like tetris with no permanent homes for much of the stuff we carry. Hense the idea of spending up to 2 hours packing up after 1 or 2 nights is far from appealing.

Our budget is in the mid $30k mark and obviously the newer the better. Going to look at a 2016 model tonight. Apart from cupboard handles on the 16 model, is there anything else I should be paying particular attention to? Being a first brief look over I'm not going to be checking the roof at this stage.

Also a couple of questions for those in the know.

1; Can the mattresses be easily folded away with sheets/doona still attached?
2; Is there a memory foam mattress option? We sleep on a Tempur mattress at home... Currently use a memory foam topper over our standard foam mattress in the Swan but it is heavy/awkward and can't be left in place as it's too high to allow us to latch down the roof for towing.

Our tug vehicle is a Volvo XC60 turbo diesel. Good for 2400kg with 240kg on the ball. A great tow car for light to mid weight vans and brilliant when not towing too. We don't want to go to a dual cab or big 4WD for the minimal towing duties we need a car for, hense we feel the 16" size to be the biggest we should consider whilst leaving some wiggle room.
 

KECL

Active Member
Aug 16, 2016
99
106
33
66
Secret Harbour WA
We have a 16 Expanda and we can fold the mattress' with sheets fitted and a relatively thin Doona. We have mattress toppers (memory foam), however it was a struggle to fold up with the mattress topper. We now remove th etopper when packing up - bit of a pain but the sleep comfort ois worht the extra time it takes to set-up and pack away. We too have a Tempur mattres at home, hence we need the mattress toppe rin the van to get a comfortable bed; the Tempur spoils you!
 

Blybo

New Member
Nov 7, 2019
28
20
3
Melbourne
Thanks @KECL. We are picking up our Panda tomorrow arvo! Can't wait. I guess we'll see how the toppers works in our situation, if not I'll look into a memory foam replacement mattress as the innerspring 1 feels VERY hard.