Goldstream Sovereign

All,

Futher to my prior ramblings, there is a few other mods I'm planning for the Goldstream. Bit like our old camper trailer seen on my Profile!

Have fitted numerous extra shelves in the cupboards (same ply and pine construction), and have lined each shelf with anti-slip matting (from Clark Rubber) to stop things sliding around.

Recently fitted a 15" LCD TV, antenna, STB, DVD player, powerboard to a cupboard exclusively set up for our AV requirements. (2.5 YO, you know)

Currently fitting a 4 speaker car stereo with USB connectivity, including aerial.

More storage! Underneath, on the draw bar and the rear bumper bar (sans wheel carrier).

I wont elaborate on the cutlery tray inserts, weather station mounting, extra lighting, outside stove mods (if you're Goldstream owner and have a external slide out 2 burner - you'll know what I'm on about), and dining table mods (to fix that inevitable "wobble").

I promise I'll take more photos during contruction this time, rather than crawl around in the dark (after the little fella has gone to bed) to take the photos!

If you have other great ideas, feel free to email me via my profile. Apologies to Mark-n-Troods if I've hijacked your thread somewhat.

Cheers, Matt

DAMN!

Sorry Tony and Julie - I stuck my reply in the wrong spot!

Hopefully no offence taken.

Matt

No need to apologise Matt its all good info ...... keep it coming

Brian

I purchased an 2007 Storm RL late last year, and so far very pleased. Have not done a lot of km's towing it, but used it locally as much as we can. Plan to go further a field later this year.

We you say "I think that I have now fixed my weak points"....I am curious as to what you did. I am not sure if you are up to sharing what you did, but if I sent you an e-mail address....would you share the good and bad points of what you have found with your camper.

Thanks

Simon C

Cheers Brian

We too would be interested in the faults you found and how you fixed them. WHere was the main dust prob , we thought the vent in the door would be a prob for dust ??

Ditto that!
We've got a 2007 Storm which I'm currently fitting a CD Player/speakers/etc too. But, I'd like to know what you've found.

Incidentally, I've just converted that rear interior step to the rear bed into a nice storage area to hold lots of stuff!

There are many hidden nooks and crannies in the Goldstream (and suspect other models too) that can be converted into extra storage room!

Cheers, Matt

Thats sounds like a good idea Matt,whats under there? Got any pics of ya conversion?

Cheers for that Brian :-)

Cheers

For that Matt some good pics and some useful info there

Matt, love your work on the rear step. I have a storm also and want to make the step into Storage. How did you make the top so it opens easily. Mine hits the cupboards on the side.

thanks

Oops, forgot to ask, where do you get the timber, especaily the door frame material?

Boobook2,

Thankfully, no rocket science involved! To get the top off, I first had to remove that door visible on the left hand side.

Next, remove that '70's brown plastic trim on the leading edge, and save that bit for later.

Next, there was approximately 4 phillips head screws to remove, and with a bit of "jiggling" the top came off.

That was a pain, so I cut the lid into 2 pieces (and the plastic trim) so I had 2 easily removable pieces. They just lift off when required.

The small area seen in the 3rd photo (with the side panel removed) is a bonus. You can box it up like I did (You'll notice a cable mechanism in at the outer end), and it'll comfortably hold 20 cans of your beverage. The other side is the same deal. The 4th photo shows the same area with the side panel fitted, I used an "interference" fit, but you could use velco tape to hold the side panels in place.

All the timber came from bunnings. It's just lengths of 19 x 19mm pine and 42 x 19mm pine cut to fit. The panels are made from 3mm ply from the same place.

Most of the time and effort was involved in making cardboard (old beer cartons) templates so everything fitted properly when cut and assembled. The cables for the roof ran along the floor so I notched out the pine so the cables ran unobstructed under them.

Behind the rear panel (visible in the first photo, and others) I re-routed the wiring which was mainly for the 12 volt trailer lights. This involved cutting the wires and splicing in 500mm extensions so they would sit behind the panel, soldered and insulated of course. Prior to this, the wiring was just stretched across the void and was a mess.

The lot was assembled using a staple gun and brad gun for the ply, and chipboard screws for the pine. Aquadere was used where necessary.

Fiddly - yes, worth it? - yes!

The storage under the lounge was easy as I was installing an Explorer TV amplified antenna system. Once again, 4 screws were removed the panel, and I had access to the area.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Matt

Nige,

I would love to get more details on what battery charger you use plus a wiring diagram for it. I assume you too have a big switch in the front storage compartment?

Mine hasn't got the 12 volt option fitted, and I would like to put it in. I've contacted Goldstream themselves, and they're unable or too lazy to supply a witing diagram for the camper or 12 volt battery system.

You also mention you have a Prado rim on the spare wheel carrier. Is it 16" or 17"? Last time I checked no-one did a 17" Prado rim! I would like to change my dodgy 15" combo to 17" to match our 2006 Prado.

When one pays big dollars for a decent brand of camper, I'd expect their R & D to at least be able to supply a wiring diagram!

Any help would be great.

If anyone else can help, I'd love to hear from you!

Cheers, Matt

I remember your post about the wiring diagram and were surprised by their response... I found them to be very helpful. Send me an email to hgmonaro at hotmail dot com (replace the obvious bits) and I'll send you a couple of suggestions.

I don't have a wiring diagram. I do have the big switch in the front compartment. Can't find the documentation for the 'smart charger'. Will be here somewhere, just isn't where it's supposed to be! I'll keep looking just in case it has a suggested wiring layout in it.

Our camper has 15" rims... can't remember why I didn't option the 16"'s but did ask about getting 17's fitted to match the Prado. Was told they wouldn't fit without changes to the wheel wells however I did run into a guy with 17"s on his. He had fitted some spacers to push the wheels out a bit so they didn't rub on the inside. He had dragged it all over Oz without any problems. Back to why I have my 2nd Prado spare on the rear wheel carrier. I have an optional 2nd spare underfloor wheel carrier on the camper but the 265/65/17 Prado wheel is too fat to properly fit in it. It only does up a little bit which isn't enough for safety so I put the campers spare in it and the 2nd Prado spare on the rear carrier (if I take it... I don't always). BTW, I have a set of six 17x7.5 steel wheels. There's a few companies that make them, about $110 each (for white)

I happen to have a picture of the camper with 17"s

Goldstreams

17" Wheel close up



Cheers, Nige

Same for me I have emailed them before regarding other things and they didn't reply.

Great campertrailer but crap back up

Thanks Nige,

I'll email you off line soon. Nice to know someone actually reads my posts! No-one from Goldstream EVER called me, so I can assume that they dont frequent this website. Shame really, they (and others), might learn a thing or two and improve their product for the better!

It's sad when you pay as much money as you do for their product and they cannot even supply a wiring diagram. I would have thought it was a "duty of care" - particularly if their people needed to fault find the trailer! (bet they'd find one then!).

As for the charger, I'll be happy if you can tell what brand and size you're running. Otherwise I'm going to opt for C-TEK, and I'll use an Optima sealed Gel battery (or two) which I can mount up under the trailer (in any position) rather than use up valuable drawbar space. Not to mention, if theives cant see it, they probably wont steal it. I'm not one to advertise!

I'm overjoyed to hear someone now makes 17" steel rims (who and where, by the way?). When I checked late last year, no-one did. I've got three 265/65/17 tyres sitting here doing nothing at the moment (ex-prado, replaced with Coopers). As for clearance, my axle is currently over the springs, but by re-positioning it below the springs I'll maintain my wheel well clearance.

The crappy Triangle brand 15" tyres fitted to the camper dont instill me with confidence, I'm afraid. Why? Max pressure: 35 psi. Max Load: 920 kg at 35 psi. Ply Rating: 4 ply tread, 2 ply sidewall. Nearly on the limits of this trailer. You get my drift?

Cheers, Matt (Hello? Goldstream)

I'll need to go and look at the charger, but I'd guess a C-Tek would be a better idea anyway. The one I've got is a multi stage charger but I don't know the specs (need to find that manual!). Hiding the batteries up underneath somewhere sounds like a good idea... just remember to incorporate a bash plate to protect them from stray rocks. The one on the drawbar is in a battery box sitting on a steel tray which protects it from the elements somewhat.

I bought my 17" steelies in 2007 so they are about. You might have to ask a few different wheel suppliers. Over at Pradopoint there's a thread with 17" options (Toyota where doing a deal on factory 17" steelies at one stage) and I think that thread names some of the suppliers. I can't remember what mine were... I'll have a look at one to see if it's got a name on it. If you fit some to your camper, make sure you check the clearance between the chassis rails/inner wheel archs as I think that's why the guy I meet had used the wheel spacers (unfortunately I can't remember how wide he said he used)

Mine has Wrangler AT/R tyres. They've done 25K+ and show minimal signs of wear. I've never rotated them with the spare so I could/should measure the tread depth vs the spare to see just what the real wear has been.

Cheers, Nige

Matt, still can't find the manual but poked my head into the campers access hatch and could read enough to determine it has a "sinergex purecharge" fitted. Found a user manual online but no overall wriring diagram in it. Looking at it though, it is plugged into a power point and has the pos/neg (red/black) wire heading off to the battery.

Here's a site with lots of Ctek PDFs if you need to read up on them.

Since the internal 12V lights only work when a switch (in footwell of door) is flicked on, I presume power from the battery runs to that large isolater switch in the front boot and then off to the switch and on to the lights. There's also a switch (in the footwell) there for the external light. My Goldstream 'Operating Instructions' says there's a 20A fuse in the 'smart charger' loom

Here's the Pradopoint thread about the steelies. Looks like Toyota still have theirs at a decent price.

Cheers, Nige

Nige,

Thanks for the info. I'll do some research into it. That said, the C-TEKS are the "ducks insides" and will probably what I'll chose - Missus permitting!

Wiring diagrams. Hmmmm - I still haven't heard from Goldstream, and probably never will!

As someone else eluded to; Good product - Sh1thouse aftersales service. Not uncommon these days it appears.

Maybe we are in the minority by speaking out?

You know I could have saved $20k and bought the Jayco equivalent...........

Cheers, Matt

I've written this story before but I'll repeat it here. Our camper's winch fell apart in the Kimberley, Silent Grove to be exact. We rang Goldstream to figure out how to try to fix it and they suggested what my father-in-law had decided was the problem (he's a farmer so is a bit knowledgable on mechanical things like winches). Anyway, they also said to take it to some guy in Broome (the direction we were heading) to get it fixed properly and when we return to send them the bill. When we got home I took it to the factory to get it checked over and a few little things attended to. They decided the winch was 'not quite right' and replaced it along with fixing the other odds and sods. We had also cut out a chunk of panelling inside the access hatch to get at the winch (roof was in the down posi) and they tidied that up with a screw on panel. They also replaced the fridge surround which I had stood on and broke. I told them that it was my fault but they said there'd be no charge (they actually had to order in the replacement part)

We've had a couple of problems but I can't fault their attitude and ability to fix them. Not doubting your dealings but ours have been the opposite.

Cheers, Nige