12 month caravan review of our Zone van. Likes, dislikes, hacks and mods
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
- This episode we review our Zone RV 18.6 Base van after 12 months ownership, as many of you have requested. @nextleveloz. Are we happy and what would we change?
We get lots of questions about our Zone van while we're on the road, so its time to give a thorough overview of van setup, what's good, any mods and hacks and what we'd change if we knew then what we know now.
Welcome to our Big Lap Gap Year. We're David and Paula @NextLevelOZ. Like many of you, we've worked hard for 40 years, but we are too young to retire. So we're taking a gap year from work, we bought our first ever caravan and are now doing a Big Lap around Australia taking in the iconic destinations of our fabulous country.
In our Big Lap Gap Year series we hope you join us as we do our Lap of Australia. In our technical "Equipment" series we answer the equipment and planning things we get asked about our Zone RV van, our Defender as a tow car and as first timers how we worked through the confusing choices to choose a caravan and how we've planned our lap.
If you haven't already seen it, also check out our Defender Tow car review as well. Then we will resume our Big Lap Gap Year series of episodes in Tasmania.
This channel is for fun and to share our trip of a lifetime and if we get enough subscribers and watch time on our videos, 100% of any ad revenue earned will go to charity.
We'd love your comments, questions and tips. We hope you will like and subscribe and we look forward to sharing our journey around this magnificent country.
Thanks for sharing. 😊
Thanks for watching. We’ve covered a bit more since then but hope that helped. Good luck with your own thoughts and preparations for your own big adventures. cheers
Good review. Thanks for the video.
Thank you. It seems so long ago now! All the best.
Hi, great balanced analysis of the Zone. Like you we are very happy with ours(ZB297). After 1 year & 8000km we have not had any issues other than a water leak under sink. Zone have been great with any questions or back up. Van in for Service next month + getting a few additional modifications done to make it even better and then a couple of weeks around Sunshine Coast. look forward to your future episodes. Travel safe.
Thanks Richard. We’re ZB 279 (same numerals in different order) so happy birthday to your van also. That must be just be about now?? Great you are enjoying the van and having few issues and Zone are looking after you well. Sunshine Coast has a number of good options to stay. Thanks for watching and we are pleased to share!
Great review, thank you. Good to hear that you still love your caravan after 12 months of owning it. We are still getting used to our Sojourn, we are in the 3rd week and enjoy the freedom of not having to go to caravan parks and dump points (we have a composting toilet). Apart from the handover and the testing of mains in a cp just before the 1st service we have camped off-grid all the way and loving it. We charge our appliances, using them when ever we want and never run low even when we have rainy days. We've got 900 watt solar and 600 amp batteries. Not the highest they offer to install but good enough for us. We are super happy.
Enjoy your travels, see you on the road 😀
Thanks for watching and the feedback. it’s much appreciated. Yes that extra bit of freedom in being able to be off grid is terrific.Lowest we’ve ever got in battery power is 39% of our 400AH and that was a few days in part shade followed by a few days of rainy overcast weather. We didn’t have our DC2DC charger for 4 weeks so we were solely dependent on solar. We have the Enerdrive set up - I expect you’ve got Redarc. And keep an eye out - come and say G’day if you see us and we will do likewise. cheers
@@nextleveloz yes we have the Redarc system. We definitely keeping an eye out for you. We are on the road for 18 months now and lately starting to run into or at least see a lot more Zone caravans (especially the Base 18.6 like yours) around SE Qld. We always say high if possible 😀 Looking forward to meet you guys.
You are such a beautiful couple. It is like watching two best friends. Love your videos and always look forward to seeing the next one. ❤
What a lovely comment. Thank you. We edit out the barnies! 😂 (Mostly David getting in trouble, again!! 😜) We celebrated our 40th anniversary this week so we’ve got to know each other a bit ! We’ve had some laughs along the Lap as well. Thanks for watching, we really appreciate it. Merry Christmas and all the best for 2024. cheers
Thnx for your review. We luv our Zone ZSP034. Just need to get away a little more. Safe travels
Hi Rob, hope you're well. Glad your new van is going well. Yep, getting away is the big challenge. We were in a better position to just do it! Say g'day to Bob from me. cheers Dave
@@nextlevelozHi Dave, how do you know Bob? Cheers Rob
@@JustcruznRob-AlanaBuick I first met Bob when he and Harry and several others were advocating for medals regarding Long Tan. I was involved in that process way back when… only partially successful at that time in the early 2000s.
@@nextleveloz Hi Dave, I recall now, we have messaged previously and u did tell me the above. I’ll say hi to Dad. Cheers Rob 🍻
Our #ZB082 has done a bit over 14k kms, and nothing has broken as such. The fridge door inside panel that holds the seal ( they're molded in and cannot be replaced ) Rang Bushman, and fridge and freezer doors sent and arrived in 3 days, along with 2 new shelves that cracked where the supporting wire pops in.....really good service as far as I'm concerned.
Two things I would change now. One is the tunnel boot bbq slide ( would've made my own wider one that is more stable ) Two - have a separate solar controller fitted.
Looking at doing a retrofit later ( a few years ) of the OGO composting toilet.....
Safe travels.......
Daz
Thanks Daz and great comment. They are great van. Yes the separate solar controller has been great for us. we would likely not get our tunnel boot composite slide again . Not that it's bad, we just don't use it. But another Zone owner dropped by today and he looked at it and loved it compared to his full out kitchen ... I don't know much about the other brands of composting loos. Been happy with the natures head though. All the best and safe travels
Another great review - so our thanks! I like your storage solutions and consistent approach to keeping things in their place - just like the saying “a place for everything and everything in its place”. Keep them coming!!
Thanks so much. To be fair some of our hacks were learned off others, but we also appreciate that some people are new as we were not so long ago, and some of the hacks and mods aren’t always readily apparent to new van owners. And even older van owners don’t see new innovations.We had another Zone owner drop by us the other day - virtually identical van but different tunnel boot options and he was in photographing our tunnel boot slide. We barely use it but he wants and alternative to a full
pull out kitchen. It’s how we all leave and share and enjoy our vans!
Excellent video and love the walk around you have done on the Disco and the van!
Definitely nice vans BUT the response and human interaction is what made us decide on another locally made van in Caloundra with their openness and regular updates in communication.
Keep enjoying the journey and stay safe!
Thanks Tony. Absolutely agree that each person / couple will make personal choices that suit them best and how they see it. I respect that - and as you might have seen in some of our videos - i’m not tribal and I’m not paid by any brand to sell their product. It’s why we try to focus on things that might help people’s considerations about options and considerations in their van choice. I do think there are a number of good vans out there. We love ours and happy to share and equally happy to hear why people made alternative choices. BTW a certain van product from Caloundra was in our final 5 when we down selected our options. They simply couldn’t show us a van and while we loved some things they were trying to do (perhaps better than Zone) there was a couple of things about layout that didn’t suit us. So for us Zone ticked more of our boxes (and of course we bought one) But if we are talking about the same product in Caloundra - it’s a very good product so I expect you are very happy with it and have a ball taking it where you want to go. We really appreciate the feedback thank you.
Our 186 Base is nearly 12 months and 14.5k on the dial. Good review. We agree with everything they say. We are in Warranty mode with our rear ladder being finally installed, ensuite sink being replaced due to a crack running through to both sides and water tanks imploding to a point where we only get 70 litres of fresh water in at max.ZB322
Hi, thanks for watching and the feedback. It’s much appreciated. Wow, a couple more breakages than us!! Glad it’s being addressed. We are at 16745kms today. We shot the first part of that video a few weeks ago. So we are both roughly on par for the small gap in build dates! ZB 279
thanks for sharing, good video, heaps of information!!
Thank you for watching and the feedback👍👍👍
I’m really enjoying your videos thanks. Appreciate the objective comments and telling it as you find it.
As a D4 owner I particularly related to your comment in an earlier video about the Land Rover company culture - right on the mark!
I think you have chosen a top combination of car and van. Also agree about the drawer catches. My 7 year old AOR Matrix has the steel press in to lock ones and I think they are far superior. Maybe Zone could consider using those in future builds.
Keep up the good work (and hopefully you can do something about the sound quality in future videos - it’s sometimes really hard to understand what you’re saying over the wind noise).
I’m looking forward to your next post.
Cheers
Thanks for watching and I appreciate the feedback. I hear you on the wind noise. For most of our videos we use GoPro because we want to capture it as it was and have a wind muff on the mike - but in this case the wind across the mike was a problem. It didn’t feel that windy TBH. For some of the higher production ones and formal piece to camera (rare) i’ve used a DJI mic and should have clipped one of those on at least tas a back up. Generally the technical equipment videos aren’t edited as tightly but I agree with you, the audio particularly a couple of sections at the back end weren’t where I wanted them. Good point. Thank you.
Like the videos. only comment is about batteries and solar. Wife and I have a smaller van, not Zone, but 510Amp/H of battery linked with 800 W Solar. We run all electric. Induction cook top, toaster & microwave. No gas, No AC, No TV - diesel heating. Away from the coast we don’t struggle with power/solar but sometimes on the coast with overcast weather we can get close to our limits of power and begin to be careful. Talking here about multiple days without travel and charging from vehicle. If you are going induction I think the 600 Amp/hrs is a better/safer choice. I carry a very small burner in the car to boil the billy so could resort to that if batteries got so low we couldn’t use induction, the same as running out of gas.
Love the Defender but I don’t have to worry as much about scratching the D4.
Hi thanks for watching and the great comment. Yes, absolutely if you want to be gas free and use the inductions you might want 600AH of battery and then you need to be able to replenish that with with north of 1080w solar. So it does add up a bit for many people in terms of cost and weight. For us, we like the versatility of the gas for the moment because it helps with very poor solar periods. We have two jetfoils as well for our walks and camping away from the van - so like you guys we aren't going without our cuppa any time soon 🤣. Thanks again. Great comment based on your usage and experience.
P.S. too late to worry about scratches on the Defender. It will need some touch ups when we get home!
Hi, Enjoyed the video. Agree with your thoughts about the van. Like the fridge bar and shower hanger hacks. We have a Zone 20.6 Venture and are very happy with it 3 years on and 20k km's down the track. Got it for the light weight and composite construction initially. We are under 3T fully loaded. Warranty issues got dealt with quite well when we got it back to Zone but we live in WA and so agents are not as familiar with the construction. Their service department are excellent when you get to them. They actually did quite a few mods to make us happy with learnings they had from prior feedback. We under did our power with 200Ah battery and 450W solar but I use a solar blanket and now have 150Ah secondary battery in the car and I can transfer power across. May put some more panels on. A water hack you may wish to consider is we changed our shower head to a Bricor Ultramax one that only uses about 2.2 lpm. See you on the road. From ZN450.
Hey thanks for watching and the feedback. Great comments. It’s great you are still enjoying your Zone.
Be great to see you on the road sometime. We are in WA as we speak (our channel videos are desperately trying to catch up 😂.
I disagree with the battery. we have 600AH and it's just enough, even with 900W of solar (500 roof, 400 external). but cooking is all electric internally (gas Weber outside which does get used in warmer weather). We wish we had double solar capacity.
I do agree about the TV, and we barely use our Fusion, laptops for everything.
Composting toilet FTW
Hi. Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts. Its an interesting discussion on battery and solar isn’t it?. It’s going to come down to weight, cost, your usage and ultimately the ability to keep that capacity charged. Some people feel they want more because they are living in their vans full time and that might well be necessary in our view. In that case though, The general rule of thumb is that you need about twice in watts as your battery capacity now in amps. So we run 400ah and with 720 solar on top and 200e blanket we’ve been pretty good (wish we had one extra panel). So if you want to run with more battery people need to consider having more solar to keep it charged. So say, 1200w in your case which might be why with 600 you think it’s just enough ??? 1200 would probably be ideal. But that’s another 15kg to carry. The challenge many people will find is that if they don’t have gas and rely more on battery - will be whether they can keep that extra battery capacity charged. We had the DC2DC in the car fail early in our lap - so we relied purely on the solar input. And we had gas in some quite cold conditions. So in our case because we have the gas and just enough solar we were fine. But extra battery would not have helped us then. But as we get toward the end of our lap we’ve met tons and tons of people having a ball with even less battery than us. Yep- don’t need a TV, other devices do the job. And composting! Thanks again, interesting discussion. cheers
@@nextlevelozhey mate, cheers for the reply.
yes I agree with double solar vs battery capacity. we bought our van (Kimberley E3 Kruiser) second hand, so didn't really get a choice there. 1200W would be ideal, and would also keep pace with AC usage, not to mention the kettle, slow cooker and induction hob etc.
I've considered getting 2x 430w light weight panels to boost input, and also replace the existing external glass panels (super efficient, but heavy)
We live and work from the van, so our demands are prob higher than most ;)
@@bonezed No worries. And yes living and working makes a difference. If we are off grid and using starlink big time that has a bit more of a draw. Understand re the van. I don’t know if they can even fit extra. We were told we couldn’t fit an extra on ours at the time, but they can. The AC is a big draw Weve only used ours off grid for a couple of hours to take the sting out the day. Have a good one and thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. We love it when people share their experiences - it adds to the collective experience. cheers
Great video - thank you!
Love your quilt cover, can I please ask where it’s from? Thanks
Thanks for watching and the comment. Much appreciated. Sorry for the delayed response, we are in and out of communications at the moment. The quilt cover pattern is Scion, by Harlequin. I think I bought it at the Bed, Bath and Table outlet store at DFO in Brissy. So I’m
not sure you can still get it. I bought an extra doonah cover on sale at the time to
sew up some pillow slips which I couldn’t buy at the time. ❤️ Paula
@@nextleveloz thanks so much for the info. Look forward to following your journey. Safe travels 😊
Makes me feel a bit better about owning a Chinese made caravan. it's been good to me and I'm happy with it, but it goes to show that even the most expensive caravan can have problems. But maintenance is also key.
We’ve been very happy with the Zone. Made in Australia and the chassis and composite panels are also made in Australia. In this video the breakages were items from Truma (since fixed) and the Enerdrive DC2DC failed and was replaced under warranty. The drawer/ door catches were irritations noting they are easily fixed. Given where the van has gone now over 32,000km and structurally excellent we are very happy. Glad you are happy with your van also.
@@nextleveloz I'm actually looking at getting a crusader by the end of the year, made in Melbourne, their 13. & 14 ft models aren't too bad on price.
@@man.i.literally.failed6772 You certainly see a few Crusaders on the road. Good luck with your decision and safe travels .
good advice about going for a small van, shame the small Base was stopped. so we opted for another brand. Also its worth comparing weights between brands, off their spec sheets.
I understand they wanted to rationalise the models. You’re quite right the smallest was the 19ft Peregrine. I’m not sure what the length of the new expedition is. In the grand scheme we’ve got a reasonably large van at 18.6 which we’re happy with having seen some monster rigs out and about! cheers
@@nextleveloz I think they made a smaller single axle base.
@@placestosea You. are correct. Sorry my typo i meant to say “is” not “was” 🤦♂️🤦♂️ in regard to the peregrine to agree that 19’ is. oq the smallest . Yes they previously made a 17 ‘ van and before that they made an even smaller Expedition. I think that want to only build double axle trailers now.
Great follow-up video on your 12month old Zone. I have a 18.6 Off Road Zone that is soon to have its 1st birthday. I was interested in your comment about the small Crashpod fitting your BBQ slide perfectly. That prompted me to purchase one. I measured and noted the Crashpad dimensions for the small crashpod is H=160mm, L=450mm, W=220mm. I note the only difference with the "Large" Crashpod is an addition 100mm in Width. I'm thinking the Off Road tool box (BBQ Slide) may be smaller but it looks consistent. My BBQ slide is only 350mm across at the rear (as your Crashpod sits) Can you confirm the crashpod Length is 450mm . I will also sent an email to Crashpad as I think their dimensions could be wrong. Thx Bill
Thanks for watching and the question. I'm a bit tied up sorting out a problem with the Defender currently - but let me check and provide more info if I can to help. It's not a "perfect" fit, but goos enough for government work😉 if that makes sense. Wait out and I will check! cheers
I like the idea of the sink bag. Do you know who made it?
I’m afraid not. We bought it from the Zone team at a Zone owners muster.
Are there any band names or markings on the bag? Or do you have any contacts of the muster people that I can contact to get a sink bag? It looks marvellous!@@nextleveloz
@@Abstar101Zone. Check with ZoneRV to see if they still have them or can point you in the right direction. cheers
I note in the tool box you have the damp rid type containers beside the Weber - are you having issues with water getting into that box. I ask because we have water getting into ours whenever it rains.
Also keen to know how your freezer goes freezing ice cream?
Hi Dave, thanks for watching and good questions. I did have a small section on the tool box and moisture but took it back out for time reasons and the fact they have replaced the tool box in future models. No we don’t get moisture in as such - seals are tight, so we don’t have the issue where some people have had to tighten the latches and we don’t have an apparent leak. Our experience was that of rain getting in while the door is open (and we’ve had to operate in heavy rain) or you get the water dribble out of the hoses (that reminds me i should have included the flat reel water hoses and grey water hoses 😳🤔🙄). In that case the moisture can hang around and the tool box deals so well when it heats up you get condensation on the tool box roof and it can recirculate a bit like a terrarium 😂. or a water still 😂. So we wipe the top with the towel and decided to put those in to help as a preventative. On the freezer - we haven’t had any ice cream in the freezer. Most things freeze very well in the main compartment - but it’s worth noting that at the lower setting they recommend to prevent premature icing up, items in the freezer door might not completely freeze. So we use that for the frozen lime slices (ie we cut up fresh limes if we see them at an ok price, slice them, crivac them and put them in the freezer for our G&T or soda water. As they don’t stay there as long we are happy to take the risk they aren’t solid frozen. So we have heard the issue with ice cream, but we have had any in the freezer. If we did we’d probably put it in the freezer compartment in the car fridge which mostly stays set on wine fridge temps to save that car portable battery a bit. Sorry - long answer. But the damp rids are a preventative because we know we have the hoses in the tool box and eve had that recirculated condensation occur and no have had ice cream in the freezer but certainly read the reports. cheers Dave
Where did you purchase the mini clothes hanger for in the shower? That black thing.
Hi Kerrie, thanks for watching and your question. I think you mean the All Smalls hanger. We bought it direct from their online store allsmalls.com.au. Hope that helps. All the best.