Our Expanda- from mild to WILD

Moto Mech

Well-Known Member
Jul 18, 2012
582
1,106
93
Mole Creek, Tasmania
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Nothen like chopping a flamin great hole in the roof of your caravan.
Seeing as its snowing outside(I kid you not), decided to start fitting the shower vent.
Pretty strange forward job, cant finish it off till Ive got van out of shed but only have to seal it down, hook up wires to fan/light and screw on interior shroud.
Test fit and wire, perfect
 

Moto Mech

Well-Known Member
Jul 18, 2012
582
1,106
93
Mole Creek, Tasmania
View attachment 58488 View attachment 58487 View attachment 58486 Nothen like chopping a flamin great hole in the roof of your caravan.
Seeing as its snowing outside(I kid you not), decided to start fitting the shower vent.
Pretty strange forward job, cant finish it off till Ive got van out of shed but only have to seal it down, hook up wires to fan/light and screw on interior shroud.
Test fit and wire, perfect
 

Moto Mech

Well-Known Member
Jul 18, 2012
582
1,106
93
Mole Creek, Tasmania
Started removing the old crappy stickers today, came off alot easier than I thought they were going to. Get them to just the right temp with heat gun and they just peeled off, glue and all. There is a faded inprint of the Expanda sticker so might have to get new one made. Other than that, whats left will be vinayled over in orange.
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Moto Mech

Well-Known Member
Jul 18, 2012
582
1,106
93
Mole Creek, Tasmania
Finally grabbed some shower walls from Bunnings and set about fitting them.
Due to their thickness(2.2mm) I had to add some more framing behind walls to stop the walls flexing to much. T
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hey come in packs of two PVC walls plus corner joiner.
Just gotta run some sealant around bottom and ends, add some PVC angle around top and then sort out a door.
 

Moto Mech

Well-Known Member
Jul 18, 2012
582
1,106
93
Mole Creek, Tasmania
Bought a pack of Tic Tack Tiles off ebay to replace the splash backs around sink and stove. Well only got one pack to try them but wrapped with the look and they stick like you know what too, put the first one on wrong way round and when removing it it took a layer of veneer off with it.
3 more packs on the way
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Moto Mech

Well-Known Member
Jul 18, 2012
582
1,106
93
Mole Creek, Tasmania
Very nice work going into this, almost finished?
Near, still gotta do suspension/axle, some nice alloys/tyres, compressor fridge and extra solar and grab some interior panels off Jayco to replace some scratched panels in van....till I think of something else.......or even sell it and upgrade and start again
 
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DaveR

Well-Known Member
Mar 13, 2017
287
545
93
Gold Coast
Go the fridge 1st, it is very nice to turn it on and 30 min later it is ready for loading from the kitchen fridge.
Do your math 1st, check the power consumption, storage and charge. Typically it can be a 50% increase in the fridge price to upgrade the 12 volt side to cope, then there is the battery weight also.
 

Moto Mech

Well-Known Member
Jul 18, 2012
582
1,106
93
Mole Creek, Tasmania
Go the fridge 1st, it is very nice to turn it on and 30 min later it is ready for loading from the kitchen fridge.
Do your math 1st, check the power consumption, storage and charge. Typically it can be a 50% increase in the fridge price to upgrade the 12 volt side to cope, then there is the battery weight also.
Done that upgrade in our last van(comp fridge), so so much better than a 3way. Have 200w’s of solar on van now, have another 200w panel in shed ready to go onwhen fridge is fitted, just gotta upgrade solar controller and add anither battery.
The 3 ways are ok down here in Tassie but Id never venture into the tropics again with one so will look at replacing it before our next mainland trip.
 
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Boots in Action

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Mar 13, 2017
2,054
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Ferny Grove, Queensland
Done that upgrade in our last van(comp fridge), so so much better than a 3way. Have 200w’s of solar on van now, have another 200w panel in shed ready to go onwhen fridge is fitted, just gotta upgrade solar controller and add anither battery.
The 3 ways are ok down here in Tassie but Id never venture into the tropics again with one so will look at replacing it before our next mainland trip.


Comps are great when you are able to carry the extra weight of battery storage and have plenty of continuous sunlight. More than 3 days of cloudy/rainy weather and your battery storage is in trouble when off the grid. After that, it is use gennie (if allowed) or move to power. Just dead weight in that situation. Been in the tropics of Queensland and even here in Brisbane with 3 way when ambient temp around 35C, and stayed ahead in the cooling race. Levelness is essential and the extra cooling fans make that possible IMHO. Have to admit that in the initial cooling and fast pull-down race, comps are streets ahead - as long as you have the power to run them and some power left to keep them going.
 
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