It was a great day. I picked up my new Lotus OffGrid from Brisbane RVs Burpengary; super quick pack on Sunday and off with the ACC Gold Coast Gadabouts for a round trip/tagalong through Cooyah, Boondooma Dam, Monto, Biloela, Lake Awonga and finally Chris and Phil Coad's Music Muster just south of Bundy. 

Overnight on the way home, we went to the old Matida at Kybong south of Gympie and home to Brissy. This was going to be fourteen days of fun with our friends. 

With 1650 kms and around 17 litres to the 100 klms, this was a fully loaded Van ATM 2500 and BT50 at 3330 (re-plated from 3200). Unfortunately the kayak and roof top tents didn’t help. Lots of hills and a strong head wind for a good 100 kms or so as we towed with and without WDH using Vehicle Components DO35 setup at the speed limit mostly.

We thought initially downsizing from a 19 foot 6 van to a 14 footer would be challenging, however this was not the case. Tons of storage inside and out with space to spare. 580kg payload was heaps even with all the outdoor cooking gear. We only turned the generator on to fire up the coffee machine (ALDI of course). Other than that, we were still on our first 4.5kg gas bottle and we went 6 days at Awonga on the 2 x 95 litre tanks with the batteries never going below 12.5v. What was really great was the TV reception and power usage. LED lights were well positioned as did the 80 litre Waeco indoor upright fridge. This was supplemented with a Waeco CFX 50 in the BT50. 

All-in-all this was more than enough for 2 weeks. We towed behind the BT50 like a dream but having always had independent suspension in our vans that was a given.

The colour of the van took some getting used to but as a fellow traveller on UHF said, “Turn your lights off mate, we can see you". Club members now insist we are first into sites so that they can direct others easily. Colours aside, as a reasonably experienced van owner this is still good value for money. Easy tow, tons of storage, easy on fuel, more than enough off road extras, (the purists will always find faults but heaps of opportunities to add on in that respect) and a huge bed (7' x 6' 3"). It has an equally roomy shower/toilet, inside and outside kitchens with a 240v, 12v and USB to burn.

What would we change? It needs a longer awning to cover the outdoor kitchen. Keeping the toilet paper dry, towel hanging space and locks are key operated only so you are constantly having to lock them. Grey water? Maybe. LED lights in the tunnel boot (which was huge) could do with a lower profile. HWS power lead needs a check out in the door to accommodate the cord, and a flat plug There is a ton of unused space in the outdoor kitchen/Weber tunnel and room for shelving for those bulky lightweight items such as chairs etc. Easily fixed.

Most important point here is that we weren't sold this van but rather we did our own research and chose it. Our previous experiences have made us wiser and the Brisbane RVs folks were very supportive. This was their show van and they let us have it so we could go away with our mates. Having experienced the OffGrid and driving this around for 2 weeks along with my"friends" crawling all over it with heaps of insults on me was bound to happen. If you are thinking of nicknames like ”Kermit" this is already taken.

We absolutely love our OffGrid.

Cheers
Ray and Kaye

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Ray is showing his van at the Queensland Caravan Camping & Touring Supershow at Brisbane Showgrounds 8-13 June 2016. 

Drop by the Brisbane RVs stall #200 in Building 1 – Upper Level for a chat with the Ray about his new prized possession’s features and see the incredible OffGrid in all of its real-life glory!

Check out the OffGrid features.