Saturday, Jul 09, 2011 at 18:45
Michael
The Tvan towed
well over corrugations and no problem getting it over rough tracks. The tent is off the ground so you don't get wet from beneath or have any issues with banging in tent pegs.
It was also good not to have to pack up the bed each day - a big saving in travel time.
We found the Tvan wasn't dustproof, with a lot of dust coming in (mostly around the wheel arches). After trying to plug the leaks with silicone and stuffing things like wine bladders into the suspect areas it was reduced from having piles of dust in the tvan after each days driving to a smaller amount that could be wiped up. We also had a leak up the front with a small amount of water running down the inside front after a heavy dew. We managed to seal that up with some silicone.
The stone guards on the tvan weren't very effective, so the previously pristine front of the tvan was chipped by stone thrown up by the towing vehicle. We noticed that other people towing had stone guards attached to their tow bars to stop the tow vehicle throwing up stones. In hindsight, this would have been a good idea.
The tvan we hired had an awning (in addition to the standard shade sail). We discovered that you need to decide to put up the awning before you put up the tvan tent, since it involves feeding the awning through a channel fitted to the lid that opens up. It's impossible to reach it once the tent is up (unless you happen to be carrying a tall ladder).
Packing up the tent needs some thought. It was quite difficult until we talked to other Tvan owners on our trip and soon worked out the easiest way to pack it into the roof of the trailer door. The owners manual doesn't help with this info.
The trailer added 4 Lt/100km to our fuel economy. We have an 80 series TD usually getting 13.5Lt/100km.
I hope this helps.
Laurie
FollowupID:
733069