A Random approach to a Bluestorm 150 GXL D4D automatic

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Getting the last few things organised for our usual camping trip before Christmas I had to come up with a new location for the axe and shovel or relocate the reversing camera and reuse the bracket I made up years ago. Well it was easier to drill some holes in the roofrack!

As the D handled shovel will now live in the Rodeo and it seems our awning is lost forever to the Rodeo as well it was an opportunity to get another awning and shovel. I bought a longer straight (ish) handled shovel so that gives us a better shovel too. I was going to get a Supa-Peg awning as recommended by Craig but the cost is a bit much for the occasional use we get. As the awning is on the roof rack which isn't usually on the Prado it was a waste. I then had a look at the usual cheaper suspects. We have an OzTrail awning that is now on the Rodeo and while it is ok the cam locks aren't that impressive and it is on the lighter side of things. I think the TJM awning is just a rebranded OzTrail, could be wrong but it looks the same. ARB told me that theirs is a rebranded Rhino awning but I didn't check it out in person. I managed to pick up a Rhino Sunseeker II for a pretty reasonable price and while I was there bought the proprietary brackets made up for the Tracklander. The brackets aren't anything special but did save me a few hours and they fit straight on. I have the advantage too of being able to shift the awning in and out depending what else is in the roofrack. I left a big enough gap for a couple of ropes and clove hitches without catching hands or the rope. If I can fit the awning to the lower bracket holes I will be able to fit some more fishing rods or kayak paddles above. I will see when I get around to fitting the roofrack on the Prado next weekend.

The shovel and axe are mounted with proprietary quick fist style holders. I put rivnuts in the tray for the axe and drilled and tapped the top rail for the shovel. The axe will be secured with a chain and lock and I will probably throw a couple of cable ties on both just to stop any rattles.

I bought a second Rhino bag and both fit neatly in the roofrack. So the plan is to carry the solar panel in the Prado. Axe will sit on the trailer until we get to camp where it will then transfer to the roof. The shovel will sit on the roofrack for the duration as will the awning.

Pretty happy with how it all fits even if it was a lousy photo just before the storm hit yesterday.




All I need to do today is check trailer wheel bearings and make sure I haven't lost the bolts and nuts that hold my home made kayak rack on the trailer. Oh and charge the auxiliary auxiliary batteries that are now mandatory in the camp to keep all those iThings charged.

I finished running the solar in feed cable but the sticky stuff I used to hold the cable in place up the back isn't holding so I will resort to gorilla tape for the interim undtil I find a better quality silicone stuff. Works fine though. The cable is fixed to the Toyota rails and it is a simple matter of plugging in the Anderson plug from the solar panels once the panels are up on the roofrack.

I didn't get around to running an LED light bar on the rack this time so that is a job for the future.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Bit of an update, sort of a trip report / build review.

Just back from our usual camping holiday on the Fraser Coast and just about everything worked as planned.

Typically we pack up over the weekend or a Friday and set off at crack of dawn and then set up camp once we arrive, so you end up tired, hot and dirty. This trip it was pretty wet for a couple of days before and we only really packed at the last minute. For a change we drove up the afternoon before and stayed at a nearby caravan park cabin so instead of arriving at camp after the drive we had a leisurely breakfast and then drove to the camp site and had it all done before lunch.

We arrived well after dark and finding somewhere to park the Prado with trailer was going to be fun. Luckily another cabin was empty so I just reverse parked the lot onto the pad outside. Much disappointment for a couple of vanners who came out to watch hoping for some entertainment. It did bring home to me how useless the fog light is that I fitted as a reversing light on the trailer, an LED bar is needed bigtime.



Some positives... The LED lights we bought for the gazebo worked wonderfully well. Very clean bright light which made the gas lights look very dull and yellow. 11 nights worth of use and the battery in the trailer was still at 12.3V. Very happy. The remote which I thought was a bit of a gimmick was really quite useful. Head into the tent, get ready for bed and click off go the lights outside!



I bought a Nikon1 AW1 specifically to take kayaking since it is pretty much waterproof. Unlike the little point and shoot I bought for the same purpose a couple of years ago the image quality is really quite good. I took a few videos with it sat on the front of the kayak and played in the water for a shot or two as well. I tried to take a panorama with it in the waves but they didn't work since I kept changing the height too much.



All but one day was like this, absolutely beautiful weather. Water got a little choppy for a couple of afternoons otherwise it was easy kayaking up and down the bay and into the adjacent rivers.



One night all the birds near our tent kicked up an almighty stink and next morning we saw evidence of a visitor. The paddle is 2.25m long and the skin is at least a half metre longer than that by the time it winds up and down the log and also across the grass and around the smaller piece of wood, not huge but getting there.



I did manage to get a panorama as we were packed up and leaving so it works. I will just reference the thumbnail since it is a bigger picture.



Once home the clean-up started and the obvious way to drain the trailer after a thorough hosing was to park on a lump of earth... Good articulation from the Treg.



Then the Prado needed some loving, any trip that requires snow foam is a good one. Finished the underbody clean on the 150 but I need to wash it properly and get the polisher out, lots of tracks tight with vegetation equals new pinstripes.



Things I need to work on. The solar panel on the Rodeo didn't achieve much. Given we go up with two 4wds now one or other will sit in camp for a few days and not get started so I was relying on the solar panels to keep the auxiliary batteries topped up. No problem with power in the Prado but the ute battery got low and a run for a couple of hours was needed to bring the battery back up. Perfect excuse for some 4wding even if it isn't up the Prado for comfort or capability. I didn't help leaving the maxtrax on the side of the canopy so the traxrax and frame would have been shading the panel and it is only a 7 year old 100W so now maybe 70W or so. I won't be so lazy next time and put the maxtrax in the tub. We also don't park out in the sun or chase the sun so we are only getting a portion of the available solar power. The cable I fitted to connect the Prado panel to the DCDC charger was good but the connector was hard to get to and the panel only just had long enough tails to reach. I will change this and put the Prado connector at the back of the Toyota rails facing backwards and fit longer tails to the solar panels. The roofrack was great, easy to install and easy to remove. Having the shovel and axe up there was a bit different and we had one day of heavy rain but as we keep an eye on the forecasts the shovel was sitting in camp waiting to be used to dig the obligatory drains the next morning. The DCDC chargers that have in built MPPT controllers allow the DCDC charger to run its algorithm charging the battery. On a couple of occasions I saw 14.5V on the monitor while the sun was on the panels so it was quite happy to take the charger into absorption. The lowest voltage I saw was 12.4V at that was early morning before the sun came up. The Prado sat for a few days at times. This has been the first time I haven't had to worry about the auxiliary getting low and needing to go for a drive to top up the battery.

The fridge mount in the Prado served as a nice stable platform to pack the roofrack from too. I need to do some more dry runs with the rack and bags, coming home I put the camp chairs in the wrong way around and had to redo the pack. Another thing I need to think about is the axe. It gets rusty and up on the roof isn't such a good idea, I will get a proper bag for it to keep the salt air away as much as possible.

Sadly the gas fridge died and failed to fire up properly. Pretty poor since we worked out it is only 23 years old! Actually as it was getting cold just not cold enough I think it is probably a fairly easy fix so I will have a look now I am back.

That's about it, the Prado did well as kitted out but then we didn't really throw much at it. All the tracks were rain dampened and only just started getting soft as the next batch of rain came through. As usual we saw a few idiots who have no idea how to drive. A P... came flying down the track so fast that it was setting up a bow wave of sand over the bonnet. No idea how fast it was going since we were only doing 20 going towards it. A few others came through with their primary aged kids hanging out the windows and there were more than the usual number who don't take any notice of the tide times and just drive out on the beach and then wonder where all the sand was. We had almost had a hypothetical moment with an old Disco that ventured onto the beach to find not much sand to drive on. The Disco bogged down and tried to get back to the track. The sand was too soft for it and I thought we were going to be asked to come and pull him out which would have meant driving out with not much beach and a rising tide. Anyway after much valve bouncing it got to safety and waited out the water.

Other than that a very pleasurable trip with much kayaking, a fair bit of swimming and lazing in the water and the odd bit of fishing. Mostly feeding of fish but a couple of stories for a camp fire.

EDIT: I forgot to mention the snorkel socks I fitted once we were at the camp. To be honest we fitted the Rodeo sock because we had read it quietens an induction noise that you get with the Safari snorkel and also fitted the Prado as well since we bought three in a pack. I have to highly recommend these things. The tracks were pretty dusty and the socks were black with dust when we took them out. They definately help keep the air clean and reduce the load on the paper element in the airbox.

[vxcruiser08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close vxcruiser08]

Great write up mate. Looks like a very well thought out setup!

[Canaust Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Canaust]

Michael

Great build and you obviously have a lot of skill to do all this.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Alan I reckon see if you can track down the ORS floor, it will save you a lot of stuffing around. Thanks for the compliments, the 150 is a good beast.

[jimmyb Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jimmyb]

Very cool setup mate!
I'm hopefully picking up a V6 version of your Blue Beast here this week - can't wait to start modifying it (previously had a 120 V6)
cheers, Jimmy

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Thanks Jimmy. Decided after camping this year it was time for a Dulux overhaul on the trailer. Lots of surface rust, nothing nasty. Sanding, rust converter and zinc rich primer and top coat. #1 told me recently that the LED lights I put on about 5 years ago were no good so I have replaced them too, full rewire. Was going to fit a hitch socket in the centre pipe so I could fit the bike carrier to carry the fat bike but didn't borrow the 240V plasma in time so gave up on that. Sides and underneath done. Two pack tub liner to go and top coat on the head and tail gates. Will post up a pic running GXL alloys. Was going to paint the trailer Bluestorm but the Minister for war and finance said no. So grey it is.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

My offroad capable box trailer was in need of a dulux birthday. Just surface rust but definitely necessary. My trailer is now 23 years old so I reckon it looks pretty good for an oldie! The push to tidy it up came because the LED tail lights I fitted about 10 years ago were quite faded (not ADR approved) and I replaced them and ran some new wiring. Late last year I replaced the hubs and bearings and fitted up GXL alloys to get me some proper spare spares.

Anyway I did have a lead on a panel beater who would do the painting and an old neighbour who would do the whip blasting but both had such full schedules I was likely going to have to wait for a loooooooooong time. So I power wire brushed, power sanded and rust converted anywhere I couldn't get to. I was going to etch prime where the gal steel plate was exposed, then zinc rich prime and top coat but time meant I did the back panel with the lights using good old spray cans and a zinc rich top coat. After pricing the real stuff I continued to use the spray cans and all up cost me about half what it otherwise would have. Not as good a job but I will shout it a proper whip blast in a few years anyway. I did the underneath as well with a spray on bodyshutz.

For the inside I researched some of the products that can be DIY for ute tubs and I picked on the Rustoleum system. Absolutely superb product though because you mix up the full 4L in one go you don't stop until it is done. I am so impressed I will be taking the tub liner out of the Colorado (hate the things) and doing this too. I also did the jerry holders too. Don't think the salt water from kayak transporting duties will be an issue now.

Quite happy with the overall result. Took the opportunity to fit a second reversing light which is a worthwhile improvement.

Anyway some pics:

Front, the head board pivots down and/or comes off to give me a flow through trailer.



Side view, Note the GXL alloys and hubcaps! Will have to pull the Toyo logo and put something else there.



The new lights and rear view, lights are from Sunyee and ADR approved:



Liner shots:







Took a few weekends all up but doing it the way I did I could do a bit, paint it and then do the next bit a week later while the trailer was getting used in the meantime. Have to rest it for a week while the liner cures.

[Pugaree Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pugaree]

Nice job, just about to do the same to mine. Do you have a link to what you used in the tub?

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

http://www.rustoleum.com/en/product-...-bed-liner-kit

They also do a touch up kit which I have ordered as well as another kit for the ute. Autobarn are agents.

[Pugaree Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pugaree]

Thanks for that, somehow I missed the part where you mentioned the name when i read it the first time.

[bilo33prado Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bilo33prado]

Great write up mate.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Thanks Bilo.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

After many years of lusting and looking I finally bought a camper trailer. Picked it up this afternoon after a problematic delivery. Too many storms to do anything other than check the GXL alloys fit and park it up until next weekend when the full layout checks will be done. Heading off in a little over two weeks so some serious review going to happen... Bang on 18 months old and with the works which is a bit different to how the specification started out.



To be honest I blame mlc.

[Mattfunk 120 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mattfunk 120]

That looks very nice. Good one! Keen to here how she goes
Matt