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It's been a long time since writing to you all.
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We arrived back from Western Australia in May 2017 having made the fateful decision to sell the caravan, our vehicles and buy an off road motor home strictly speaking an expedition vehicle.
While we were making some of these plans we decided to morph Derek's seventh birthday into a wedding. A very casual and probably a bit outrageous affair conducted in the Glen Waverly Bowls Club. My wonderfully musical family played. Niece Simone even wrote an original piece and played same at the wedding. 11/11/2017 Derek's birth date is actually on the 12/11/1947 Blackpool UK
An ISUZU 7.5 ton tray truck was our choice of vehicle. We are extremely satisfied with the vehicle. Unfortunately we bad a bad choice of manufacturer for the Pod (essentially a caravan without wheels which sits on the tray - ours is a slide on slide off) with a company called Trailblazers in Braeside Melbourne. Not only was the promised date late by seven months, we have had problems ever since the day we picked it up 18 December,2018.
1. There was insufficient reinforcement around the door area so when we took the pod off it bowed making it almost impossible to close the door and/or move out the bed.
2. This was taken back to the manufacturer who instead of supporting the pod correctly actually made the situation worse by tearing the fibre glass above the door. The fix by them was shoddy and ineffective.
3. We decided to part ways with the manufacturer after this episode.
4. Given our concerns about the pod we decided to take it on a shakedown journey up the William Creek, Maree, Oodnadatta. The Painted Desert, the Adelaide Hills to see some friends, The Coorong and back to Horsham.
5. What went wrong on this trip:
a. The draw under the stove completely came apart - we discovered the draw wasn't even square. This was rebuilt in Horsham. All the draws have been made with ordinary kitchen materials. Derek has reinforced every draw.
b. The bed mechanism broke. A temporary fix was undertaken on route. We were referred to a family in Horsham whose business is named Wombat Conversions. They fixed the bed at our cost.
c. The battery system was not operating effectively This surprise, surprise was not Trailblazers fault. The importer of the batteries had given out incorrect information as to how the batteries were to charged so everyone has cooked their batteries. We upgraded to lithium batteries and they are working most efficiently. Again at our cost.
d. We were unable to extract the last 150 litres from our water tanks approx. 40% of the total. Derek with his young gorgeous helper stripped out the tanks finding welding faults and poorly attached tanks They were almost falling out of the pod. Rewelding was done in Horsham the tanks put back under the pod with substantial strengthening to ensure they do not sag or fall out. We have had some ongoing issues with the way the tanks are plumbed - this is a work in progress which seems to be ok now.
e. The bowing at the door was fixed by an engineering firm in Melton. Again at our cost.
f. Derek and I lived in the sheds of relatives during the Victorian winter fixing what we could do with a couple of overnight stays in various camping locations.
g. Total money expended to fix pod in excess of $30,000 Ouch ouch ouch. Derek estimates 300 hours of labour by him
6. On about 7 September, 2019 we finally left Horsham to make our way via Orbost, Canberra, Kiama, Sydney and Orange - mainly for Family History reasons - with the aim being to arrive in Perth for Xmas
7. We are now in Orange 1 October 2019 and another problem. The tray of the truck built by Trailblazers, at their insistence, has warped. We have had the good fortune to come across an engineering firm who is in the process of fixing the tray. Being good country people we're staying on their property in the meantime. Squatting again.
- comments
Robyn Kelm Hello Annie & Derek, What an epic start!!! Your travels have to get better .. enjoy your time traveling It is cold in Horsham Hay season has started Catch up Love Rob xx
Chick & Chris Wiese Hi Derek & Annie, well hopefully things will get better and better. Chick got sick 18 months ago and after travelling to Geraldton every second day for treatment we decided to move from our beautiful community of Horrocks to the big smoke!! So we are now living in Baldivis and would be great to catch up at Christmas time when you are over. Happy and safe travels Chick & Chris xx