There has never been a better time to get out and explore this wide brown land and at Expedition Australia we are committed to helping you with information & inspiration which we'll deliver to your Inbox through this newsletter.
Do you have a story/article/insight/advice you're itching to share with the world? If so then why not send it to us and we'll consider publishing it on our website and in a future edition of this newsletter.
Are you planning your own adventure? Then why not share it with your own Expedition Website at www.expeditionaustralia.com.au - they are still FREE, but not for much longer.
So start scrolling down and checkout what we've put together and if you have any feedback, we'd love to hear it.
Regards
Steve & the ExpOz Team
Expeditions Update - When the wheels fall off . . literally!
Gear Guide - Yamaha EF1000iS Generator
4WD Skills - Sand Driving
Tech Talk - Camper Trailer Brakes . . The Facts
Steve's Blog - Rolly Polly Pajero
Just For Fun!
From wheels falling off . . . literally, to epileptic seizures, life on the road is never dull!
Here's the latest news on some of the Expeditions we are currently hosting.
Douglas Family Do Oz
The Douglas Family are having a great time exploring the east coast but things went seriously pear shaped when this happened on day 46 of their Expedition
"On our way to Taree, the car was running as good as it ever had, and we were looking at getting between 800-900 kms to the tank, up on our average of 700kms per tank.
1 km short of the Taree exit, whilst cruising along at 100km/h the drivers side wheel decided to leave the car. To say that i was shitting myself is an understatement . . . "
Click here to read the full account
Howletts On Holiday
The Howletts are making their way west along the south coast and snapped this great shot at Port Victoria on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula. However they have had their share of adrenaline . . .
". . . so off I ran to where they were and what I see is this guy, about 19 years old, lying on the ground, frothing at the mouth and his body having big jerking movements. We had no idea what was going on, we didn't know if he was having a really bad reaction to something, like an anaphylaxis or what was going on!"
Click here to read the full account
Having your own Expedition Website is a great way to record your adventure in words and pictures while sharing it as you go with friends, family and the ExpOz community.
Click here to find out how to get yours.
Yamaha EF1000iS Generator
Having trouble viewing this video? Click here to view it on YouTube
Click here to go to Yamaha's Generator Website
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Camper Trailer Brakes - The Facts
We asked our expert, Keith Corbett from Tambo Campers for the inside story on camper trailer brakes.
To Brake or Not to Brake
Take a typical standard offroad camper trailer weighing say 550kg and add a few options such as kitchen and toolbox. Then fill up a couple of jerry cans and you're already at around 630kg and within striking distance of the legal gross weight of 750kg.
If you were to add a water tank say 60litres then it's a no contest in our view, put brakes on! You'll be legal and while that's part of the objective, you're safer and that's what it should be about.
For many years and for foreseeable future we expect secondhand camper trailers to hold their value, so there's a better than even money bet you'll recoup most of your investment in brakes if you sell. One of our Tambo customers gave his camper 4 years extremely hard labour and sold it for only $1,000 less than he paid for it. We hear these stories all the time and are convinced that if you can handle the $550-650 investment, go for brakes.
If you believe you can keep the weight down and you're comfortable without brakes, that's fine and you can stop reading this article.
So the next question is which set-up will be work for you. There are three main types of braking systems to choose from.
Mechanical Override
These are drum style brakes that rely on the special coupling being compressing when the trailer pushes against the vehicle during braking. A cable then becomes taught and pulls on a level that applies the brakes. I'm not a fan because they are either ON or OFF with minimal if any variability. If the vehicle is on unmade and slippery tracks these brakes will only work with weight or inertia being applied to rear of vehicle. They can then oscillate between on and off that makes it difficult to control your trailer.
Hydraulic Override
Instead of a cable activating the brakes, this system uses hydraulic fluid. The special coupling has a reservoir and is connected to the brakes via copper tube or brake line. If you go this way remember the fluid needs to be checked for impurities, especially water and changed regularly. These brakes have the same operational limitations as do Mechanical Override in that they are virtually ON or OFF.
Electric Brakes
Through a controller mounted in your vehicle, electric brakes apply a constant and variable amount of braking on your trailer. Your trailer is braking and not pushing your vehicle which is a huge benefit. Electric brakes are smoother and safer especially in off road situations. The brakes can also be manually applied via the controller in you vehicle - great for drying out brakes after a water crossing. Also if you are in a situation where you are descending in low range in a low gear you can apply trailer braking manually as and when required to take the load off the vehicle.
A point to consider with electric is the extra expense in having a brake controller fitted, say $250-350 depending on the unit. Further, if your camper were to be towed behind a variety of vehicles, they would all have to be fitted with a controller.
Drums are by far the most common style of electric brakes. The disk brakes can be more vulnerable to the stones, rocks dust that spray over them in an offroad situation.
Tambo Campers fit electric drum brakes in the vast majority of cases where brakes are required and receive great feedback from our customers.
Handbrakes
If you choose to go with brakes, consider the convenience of having a handbrake fitted. With each type of brakes discussed here, you can add a handbrake relatively easily. A good quality handbrake fitted to an electric brake set-up usually would cost less than $200.
and finally the Brake Controller
If you choose electric brakes, you will also need to install a brake controller in your vehicle. The controller sets the power or severity of braking and the timing of when brakes are activated. Brake controllers feed power through the normal trailer wiring and communicate with the brakes. The pendulum style controllers are considered the best and will send the correct amount of braking to the trailer depending on how severely the vehicle is stopping.
Steves Comments - For our Big Lap we opted for electric brakes on our Tambo Cooper and had Boronia Auto Electrics (Melb 03 9729 7299) fit the above Prodigy Controller. Both performed beautifully and I was able to adjust the braking strength such that I could feel the trailer pulling on the car when braking which kept everything nicely in control, especially on long downhill runs.
Tip - make sure your brake wiring is well shielded from flying rocks and flexing suspension as a broken wire = no brakes.
Email me if you want to discuss this further.
Tambo Campers www.tambocampers.com.au
Rolly Polly Pajero
The occupants had no major injuries but were very lucky the tree stopped them from rolling all the way down the hill else it may have been a different story.
Russell, the driver and an ExpOz subscriber wasn't doing anything wrong or stupid, it's just a simple case of bad luck - could happen to anyone. No doubt he has said "if only" a few times though.
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Click here to read more in Steve's Blog
If only we could get full size 4WD's to fly like this!!
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