Seven easy ways to upgrade your caravan

It's been over 12 months since we purchased our second-hand Essential Exceed V3 van and we've been incredibly pleased with it overall. However, we quickly discovered that a few additions and modifications would improve our camping experience...

External shower

Luckily, our Essential caravan allowed us to easily install an external hot and cold shower at the van’s rear; simply by removing the vent panel, replacing it with the external shower locker, and plumbing it up...

Related: How to fit an external caravan shower

Chassis-mounted BBQ stand

When we purchased our van from Lawrence RV in Burpengary, Queensland, they kindly installed a gas bayonet at the rear, in addition to the factory-fitted front-mounted one. This gave us the option of using our BBQ at either end.

Sadly, the BBQ arm table that came with the van only suited a small Weber. At the time Weber barbeques had no flame-out protection that met the (AS/NZS 5601.2 and AS/NZS 5263.1.7) standards, but our Ziggy Nomad did. However, its larger size didn't suit the smaller store-bought BBQ arm table.

The other issue for us was that the supplied BBQ arm didn’t have provision for a support leg and could only be top-mounted into the holder. That might be fine for many campsites, but not so much for those off-grid camping sites next to a spectacular river or seaside panoramic scene where the bank steeply drops away and the table can be well over a metre off the ground, making cooking more challenging.

So I decided to modify the store-bought BBQ arm or, truth be told, I drew up the plans for a completely new one so I’d have the option to mount it in an underslung form. Now, when parked at a spectacular riverside campsite, it allows the choice of a lower table height where the ground at the rear of the van falls away.

The addition of a support leg also stabilises the table with the larger Ziggy BBQ. The new chassis-mounted bracket is stainless steel, and the new arm and table are aluminium, which I had powder-coated black at a cost of $250.

A quick footnote: Weber recently released a flame-out device for their smaller model BBQs that retails for around $200!

External diesel heater tank

For unknown reasons, the original diesel heater tank was located deep inside the tunnel boot. It drove me up the wall, mainly because everything in the tunnel boot stunk of diesel! Its location also took up valuable storage space, and made it unnecessarily time-consuming and messy to refill.

So I purchased a 10-litre external tank and mounting bracket. The mounting bracket was designed for the rear bar, but the installation instructions discouraged mounting the van’s diesel tank at the rear. I briefly toyed with the idea of fixing it directly to the caravan body but I doubt it would have survived the rigours of long-distance travel on second-rate roads. Also, I wanted it located closer to where I re-fuelled the tow vehicle.

So I designed a cardboard ‘mounting bracket’ template and assembled it to the tank to ensure it would fit snugly between the gas bottles and the front of the caravan. Once I was happy with the fit, I sent my drawings and template off to SEBA Sheetmetal in Devonport (after they had done such a good job with my ute fit-out) where the bracket was made out of aluminium and powder-coated black to match the front of the van.

The tank mount’s bottom support gusset also allowed for the convenient re-location of the original freshwater tap mounted on the chassis.

Now, I can quickly fill the diesel heater tank; there's more storage space inside the tunnel boot, and there are no more diesel smells. All up it cost $550.

Bike rack

My wife and I spoke to a lot of seasoned caravanners about bike racks and whether they are better mounted at the front or rear. We soon discovered there is no right or wrong way to do it.

After much deliberation we decided to pursue the drawbar-mounted option. As the biggest downside of this approach is the additional ball weight, we opted for the Victorian-built Wild Boar bike rack because of its lighter alloy construction.

It's not the cheapest bike rack, but it does come with many features including a tow bar mount option (We paid $1950 with the towbar option). It’s straightforward to install and tips forward to facilitate changing gas bottles. To satisfy my curiosity, I did trial mounting it on the van’s rear bar to reduce ball weight, but the rear bar didn’t appear up to the task of supporting 54kg for any length of time.

Water filters

You quickly realise that water quality varies immensely from one location to another as you travel around, so we decided to install a dual filtration system on our rear bar, which connects to the standard hose fittings.

There are numerous options available on the market; we chose a Stefani CRV2 from Bunnings on a $50 promo deal. I probably wouldn’t have purchased the Stefani model if it wasn’t on sale, mainly because the plastic 12mm-1/4BSP housing connectors are prone to snapping easily. To prevent this, I quickly purchased a pair of brass fittings.

When travelling, we remove the dual filter from the rear bar and store it in a plastic sealed container to keep it clean.

Remote fresh water tank drain

As caravanners we're always mindful of our weight, and the new bike rack and two bikes on the drawbar quickly added 54kg to the ball weight. This means I now have to drain water from our freshwater tanks to get the ball weight down to where it needs to be.

It’s an easy enough task in theory but in practice, it's painful. I have to lie under the van to turn on the two drain taps, but once the first tap is open, water flows out rapidly while I open the second tap. Inevitably, I get wet! Not the sort of thing you want early in the morning before heading off on the next leg of your trip.

My solution was to rig a hose to a remote tap that I could open easily without getting wet. The most expensive component of this modification was a brass vandal-proof tap from Bunnings ($28.50). The rest of the fittings cost just $6.50, including the P-clamps, brackets and protective spiral wrap.

I chose the vandal-proof tap to avoid someone accidentally draining our water supply, and including a standard 12mm push-on hose connector allows me to connect up a hose to route the water away from the van, or conveniently fill water bottles, without starting up the van’s pump. Best of all, I can now quickly drain the tanks without getting soaked.

Reverse light

Like many caravans and unlike tow vehicles, our Essential Exceed-V3 caravan came without reversing lights. With most vans parked up well before dark, you’d be right in saying they're not really necessary. However, as frequent travellers on the Spirit of Tasmania, reversing lights while boarding on an evening sailing can come in handy. A bright reverse light also illuminates the area behind the van, making it easier to see what is happening with the rearward-facing camera. So we fitted a Stedi Micro-V2 flood light at the rear of the van ($55), with the associated hardware (wires, connectors, relay, etc.) another $50.

Final word

Don't forget that when making any additions, adjustments, or modifications to your caravan, the changes must not compromise the structural integrity of the original caravan design.  

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