Camper Setup (Travelander)

Lots of options here! The market is swamped with different possibilities for on and off road campers. However, we both didn’t want to tow anything as we want to freely access beach and off road destinations. So, from the start we wanted a slide-on option for the back of the dual cab ute. Again, still lots of options to consider. However, we made up our mind fairly quickly when we spotted the Travelander Dual cab slide-on Evron DC5.

We liked the quick setup (electric remote control) and the thought given to construction with a queen size bed, hot and cold water, heater, and enough storage to make life comfortable. The camper is quite easy to remove from the ute, and comes with its own legs, which lets you take the camper off the ute, if staying more than a couple nights somewhere. Lance, Adam and the rest of the crew at Travelander (now at Port Kennedy) were very helpful and did their best to make required modifications to suit our needs. They are also distributors for Conqueror off road vans.

Our kitchen was modified to enable a larger and lighter pull out bench, a Coleman HyperFlame FyreKnight 2 camp stove, and a collapsible sink. Also, one of our drawers was cut short to allow extra space for a freezer, a chemical toilet (needed if venturing into national parks) or other. We also have the shower kit, awning and walls for an extra room if needed.

My friend Mike used his excellent welding and creative talents to make a trolley for the camper. The trolley lets me wheel the camper around and position it effectively when I take it off the ute. The trolley Mike developed uses the Travelander legs as supports, so no need to take them off.

The camper comes with a 200amp Enerdrive Lithium battery, and can include a 240w solar blanket. This relies on good sunlight, and works on the formula Power = Volts x Amps. So the with 12v system (can vary to 20v), the best output the blanket will produce is 12 amps/hour. So the built in fridge and the Engel 39 both use about 5 amps/hour for a total of approx 10 amp/hour. So, it’s easy to calculate that when solar is working it will offset the usage of appliances, and hopefully contribute to charging the battery. The Camper comes with a REDARC display that lets you see consumption. We will need to determine if a generator is required. Not sure yet..

Julie has been buying plastic boxes that fit the dimensions of the pull out draws for clothing and food. The kitchen area requires some thought, as to how many pots, plates, glasses and cutlery you take along. We are trying to abide by the rule that “less is more”!