Are you talking about the paint on the van or the paint on the drawbar? The paint on the van has held up really well. The front window shade did cop a fair few stone chips as did the drawbar but the drawbar paint actually held up not too bad. I will need to touch it back up at some stage though.

Hi there, definitely allow a good few hours with an extra set of hands to replace it. My wife and I did it together and it is easier with a second person to help get it positioned correctly. If we could offer any advice it would be to start with the top and then finish with securing the bottom. We did it the opposite way and screwed the bottom in first and it made it difficult to get the top done. All the best with it!

Not as cold as Canada but we still get into the minuses here in Australia during winter in some regions. In the NSW high country we’ve camped in -5 degrees Celsius a few times.

@@jossandell I've camped in minus 30 lol I'd kill for your winters tho minus 5 is t-shirt weather

@@adrianlecuyer I figured you probably would have! I can’t even fathom how cold that is 🥶 our summers can get to 45 degrees Celsius though, even higher is some outback areas. What are the summers like there?

@@jossandell they can get pretty hot I've seen +40 when Iived down south I live in Northern Ontario now here most days run 25°/30° so it gets pretty hot here I'd love your winter probably melt in your summers lol

@@adrianlecuyer that’s still pretty warm! Haha just as we’d freeze in your winters! All the best mate 👍

Thank you ☺️ loved Perth!

Sounds good! Thanks heaps I’m sure it’ll turn out great, all the best with it 🙂

I’ll just follow your steps I been quoted 5 to 6g I think I can do it cheaper

You won’t regret them mate. I’m still running those same set of tyres in that rig rundown video, 2 laps of Aus later and in 3000kms they will have done 100,000kms. I reckon they’ve still got a good 10-15,000kms left before they need replacing. They’ve been awesome.

@@jossandell Thank you

We went back to the bare aluminium in places so we wanted the best adhesion with putting down a primer first 👍

@@jossandellit depends largely on the existing condition of the original paint, most of the time you only need to sand back the original coat and paint over that. Nice paint job by the way, looks awesome in that marine yellow.

Hahaha absolutely 😂 thanks heaps!

Thanks heaps mate really appreciate it 🙂

Yeah we have, we’ve thought about adding a sail track to the top of the van and making up a piece of material with sail track one side to slide into the van side and velcro to the awning on the other but haven’t got around to it

Hey! We got our hatch from RV parts express, I’ll add the link here: www.rvpartsexpress.com.au/access-door-3-white-415-x-581-white.html The locking drawer slides were off eBay and I think from memory ours were 1200mm long 🙂

Through the drain in the shower base to the outlet under the van 🙂

Thanks heaps mate really appreciate it!

Thanks heaps mate! I don’t think we will, we love it too much

The wiring is pretty straightforward. It comes with an inline fuse already installed so it’s just a matter of hooking up the positive and negative wires. I ended up cutting off the fuse it came with and wired it into my existing fuse block and fused it there. We’ve had the heater a little over a year now and no complaints at all, it’s been fantastic 👌

Thanks heaps mate really appreciate it 👍

Hi mate, it charges our 200ah lithium no worries. Does take a little longer than a 40amp charger would take but it certainly does the job. It’s not about me wanting to take notice, I’m aware. Just didn’t see the point in paying extra for a 40amp charger when we’re off grid majority of the time relying on solar and so the 20amp works perfect for our needs.

That what I thought as well. It turned out it was only going to about 80%. Rang the supplier and he asked what I was charging with and he informed me that it takes a 40amp hour to get it to 100%. Just saying.

@@n.g.venaglia9590 what brand of battery and charger were you using? I find it odd as ours definitely charges to 100% every time we’ve used it and haven’t had a drama. Was yours only reaching to 80% and then not charging any further?

Hey mate, I think I just a Selley’s black silicone sealant from Bunnings and it’s still holding up well 👍

@@jossandell cheers mate. What about the air intake ? Any dramas being sealed under the lounge or have you run a vent under the lounge

@@robito1990 the intake for the diesel heater in mounted outside of the van tucked up against the chassis at the front of the van. I also added that foam insulation for water pipes around the intake pipe as it’s only made of a really thin material and dents easily from rocks on gravel roads. We have no vent in the floor as it sucks from outside. It all works awesome 👍

Thanks heaps! I can’t remember exactly where I bought them from, I think maybe Springers Solar online or Outback Equipment? From memory they are 250amp rated and have been excellent. I originally bought an eBay one for cheaper but the quality isn’t there, the metal is much thinner and I think it would’ve gotten hot so I didn’t take my chance. You do pay a bit extra for the better quality ones but they handle the current far better and are much safer 👍

It was originally $849 at the time and we bought when Jaycar had a sale and got it for $629. It’s been a great fridge 👍

Thank you. Good question, I’m pretty sure it’s built into the control panel so I guess keeping it away from any heat sources would make it more true and accurate. We had to position ours in pretty close proximity to the duct. We also carry a little digital temp gauge in the van to see the ambient temp is and when the heater is on the van definitely is a little cooler up the bed end away from the heater and warmer up the dinette end where the heater is. It works wonderfully though and it makes the van super toasty and warm.

Thanks for the reply. I know there are limits to where you can put the control panel, I've seen that in a bunch of insulation videos. I'm installing my diesel heater today and I've used a lot of ideas from the videos, including yours. One thing I'm gonna do that I thought of myself is buy a Wiltshire silicone mat from Spotlight. It can handle temps from -50 to 220 degrees Celsius, so I'm gonna use the metal plate as a template and cut out two silicone mats to put between the floor and the plate. I reckon that'll stop the heat from getting to the floor, create a good seal, and make it easier to take the heater out and fix it if I need to.

@@simonshipcott3275 that would be handy watching a bunch of videos and take away the best points from each one. That mat sounds like a pretty good idea too, would be keen to see how that works for you. Hope it all works out well for you 👍

Thanks for the feedback! Anytime and glad they’re helping! All the best with the reno!

Good luck with it all mate! Our pleasure, all the best!

Just used the one that came with the unit. A longer exhaust pipe would have been good though as I would have liked to of positioned the exhaust so it’s pointing out the other side of the van facing away from the door side

I didn’t fold the back seat forward as you can’t with the n80. I just moved the back seat out of the way to mount up the bladder and the when you mount the seat back int position there’s is just enough room for the bladder to be filled.

Hi, I’ll add the link from where we bought ours 👍 www.rvpartsexpress.com.au/access-door-3-white-415-x-581-white.html

Thanks mate! Would be a good idea to. We’ve stayed in the van in -3 degrees last winter and the lines never froze over but still can’t hurt to do it I suppose!

Awesome will have to try there, thanks for the suggestion 👍

The putty tape we used to seal the windows in hasn’t leaked at all and we didn’t go around it with the Bostik V60 either. We only sealed the j-rail in with Bostik V60 which has worked so well and hasn’t leaked either.

Thank you for replying and sharing your experiences.

@@soniacarr5932 it’s out pleasure 🙂 On the hatch door for our slide out kitchen which I mounted the same way as the windows, I’m pretty sure I did seal around it with the Bostik V60 as well so if you wanted to do it around the windows it can’t hurt. Just adds another layer of protection from water getting in 🙂

Hi 🙂 I can’t quite remember who many exactly but would have gone through at least 3 or so. I applied it pretty liberally to ensure a good seal. That Bostik V60 is by the beast sealant I’ve ever used. Hasn’t dried out or cracked and doesn’t seem to stain like other sealants and only around $10 a tube 🙂

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I just purchased 15 tubes to get me started, so I'm glad to hear your positive feedback about its durability and benefits. Thanks guys. Happy travels.

@@soniacarr5932 it’s fantastic stuff. Even if your don’t use all 15 tubes it’s great to keep a few spare for any leaks that might pop up in future 👍

Thanks so much! Yes that’s how we did it. We applied it quite thick to the J-rail and then screwed it up. Wiped away the excess and applied more to any gaps as well over the screw heads holding the J-rail on. That type of J-rail wasn’t the same as our original but I think it should work for most vans and I think it would be fine for your 76 Franklin 🙂

Cheers. Great to hear the j rails are somewhat universal. I am going to try and salvage my original, but won't get overly stressed if it doesn't work out knowing there is a backup plan to purchase new ones. Yours look great on your van by the way. They suit your overall van shape and makes it POP.

@@soniacarr5932 thanks heaps! We’re we’re going to go with the black J rail but we felt the polished alloy look looked a bit original 🙂 that’s it, we would have used our old J rail but we were missing pieces and some were damaged so we couldn’t really salvage it. Best of luck 👍

Thanks so much! We’re really glad our videos have given you some inspiration! Absolutely we plan on doing a video of a full walkthrough at some point, hopefully the next time we take it away. Hope your restoration is coming along nicely! Joss and Ell

Excellent comment and very well explained. I agree with you in the fact that Renogy should correct their manual. I think we will eventually upgrade to an Enerdrive or even the new iTech inverter that has the RCD built in. In saying that our Renogy inverter hasn’t missed a beat and has worked well so far for the price. Thanks again for feedback! Joss and Ell

@@jossandell glad to hear there have been no issues, I’m hoping to keep mine for a while 🤞

Thanks legends! 🙌

Thank you! We used the metal shield primer and silver from Bunnings in the spray can 🙂

Thanks heaps 🤙

Thank you! Works really well!

Glad you found it informative! Exciting stuff congrats! 🙂

Thanks heaps for checking it out 🙂 we got it off Etsy and used adhesive velcro to mount it in the entry 😊

Hey mate, the checker plate front is 1.6mm thick. Check out our episode 2 which is where we installed it 👍

@@jossandell Thanks heaps guys, great Jon on the van!!! it looks fantastic

@@cameronbutler5227 anytime! Thanks heaps Cameron we’re stoked with it!

It’s been great and does the job 👍

I was thinking the same thing

I filmed the start of this back when we were renovating the van but never did anything with the footage until now. So no, not rebuilding the van again haha.

All good! I enjoyed your build series and got a lot of ideas from you for my van renos. 😎👍

@@Crawer101 thanks heaps mate, glad it gave you some ideas 😊

Thanks heaps for the feedback! Really appreciate the comment. Glad you’ve enjoyed our vids and thanks heaps for tuning in 🙂 All the best! Joss and Ell

Really glad you found it helpful! Thanks for the feedback. It’s a been a great little unit for the price! 🙂

Thanks heaps George!

Can you link me to your cabinetry video? Cheers!

@@Doihavetospellitout sure mate here it is here 🙂 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mNmpetOHp7nGep8.htmlsi=Mfgyo-_fbWCFHYzo

Hey man, I didn’t get it at an auction actually. I bought it from a dealership in Homebush. I think pickles auction or greys online often sell ex-government utes and things though.

Thanks heaps Matt appreciate it!

Thank you! It works fantastic! We got Bagsnswags from Victoria who made our pop top skirt to make it for us 🙂

Thanks mate that’s good advice 👍 can’t hurt to add some in.