OUR FACTORY BUILD OPTIONS
Anybody who has purchased a caravan or motorhome knows that there are a lot of decisions to make before you take delivery of your pride and joy and hit the road.
As first-time buyers of a motorhome, we were at a disadvantage in the respect that we had no previous experience to draw on, which made some of our initial choices seem naïve later in the process.
After making our initial choices for make and model of motorhome, interior materials and colours, decal colours etc., we had to get down to some more serious choices like kitchen/cooking appliances, cupboard layout and heating and cooling options.
In this Article
KITCHEN
Our first iteration of choices for cooking included the factory-standard 240v oven and microwave.
After talking to other owners, reading through the Explorer Motorhome Owners Group about other owners’ cooking choices, and looking at our intentions to travel mainly off-grid, we decided to ditch the oven and microwave because we wouldn’t be connecting to 240v power very often, if at all. This decision had the added bonus of providing us with more storage space.
So, our cooking is done either inside on the 3-burner gas cooktop, or outside on the Companion BBQ (see What Else to Take? for more information).
HEATING & COOLING
The Vision motorhome comes with a 240v air conditioner as standard, and one 12v fan in the bed area. Although we weren’t planning to camp on 240v powered sites very often, and therefore wouldn’t be able to use the air conditioner, we thought it would be useful to leave it in the build for resale value.
Explorer offer a diesel heater as a build option for $2,500. As we don’t like the cold and were going to plan trips around taking advantage of warmer weather, we decided against this option. Leaving the diesel heater would also reduce the build price by $2,500.
However, after chatting to other local owners one morning at the Sea Salt & Vine café early in the build process, they persuaded us that while you may not use the heater very often, when it is cold you will really appreciate it. This decision was confirmed as a good idea on our second outing to Lake Moogerah in September where the overnight temperature was around 6 degrees.
We also had an additional 12v fan installed in the bed area, so that we would have individual fans for each bed, at a cost of $220.
Build price + $2,720!
UHF RADIO & ANTENNA
Another option Explorer offer is a UHF radio and heavy duty antenna for $790, which we initially chose not to include. Once again, after the meeting with other owners noted above, we decided to include this option, which seemed would be valuable when travelling in remote areas and for communicating with trucks on inland roads.
Build price + $3510!
INVERTER
An issue with being on the road for long periods, and not having access to 240v power, is that there is no way to charge 240v appliances with the standard build options.
We decided fairly late in the build process that we would need a means of charging, at the very least, my electric toothbrush and laptop. This could also include other appliances such as rechargeable razors when travelling long term.
I purchased a 1000w inverter from iTechworld, a battery specialist company based in WA, who I’d previously purchased an emergency starter/power pack from, and which I was very happy with.
Explorer fitted it for us as part of the build at a cost of $1,000.
Build price + $4,510!
INTERNET
After a lot of research online, much of it on the Whirlpool Forums website, I decided to go with a Netgear Nighthawk M2 mobile wi-fi router, with an additional external Blackhawk Marine Antenna to improve reception where necessary.
The Nighthawk requires a mobile SIM card to connect to a phone network, in order to provide access to the internet. Telstra provides the best mobile coverage Australia-wide so we needed to find a company that sold Telstra SIM cards, and preferably not Telstra (a pet hate of mine!). I found a company that fit the bill called Boost Mobile, that sells prepaid mobile plans, which use the Telstra network and are about half the cost of a similar Telstra product.
Boost have a variety of 28-days plans that we used for our first few forays out into the wild, and we’ll upgrade to a 12-month plan when we hit the road for longer periods.
POWERED AWNING
We loved the idea of pulling up at a campsite, pushing a button to extend the awning, setting up table and chairs and opening a beer, so we went with the $850 powered awning option.
Build price + $5,360!
BIKE RACKS
We cycle often around our local area so thought we’d like to be able to take our bikes with us on the road. Explorer have an option to fit Fiamma bike racks on the back of the motorhome for $750, which we went with.
Build price + $6,110!
MAXTRAX RECOVERY TRACKS
After reading that recovery tracks were essential if we were considering off-road driving, we purchased Maxtrax recovery tracks from BCF, but we weren’t sure where we could store them easily in the motorhome. Explorer came to the rescue and mounted the tracks on the back of the motorhome, behind the bike rack, for a cost of $350.
Build price + $6,460!
ONBOARD AIR COMPRESSOR
It doesn’t take much reading/research to realise that having a means of inflating and deflating tyres when going off-road is an absolute necessity.
After reading about other peoples’ solutions for this we decided to go with an onboard compressor, mounted in the engine bay. One advantage of this solution is space saving –more storage space is available for other equipment that would be taken up by a portable compressor. Another advantage of a compressor mounted in the engine bay is that it keeps the additional weight in the front of the vehicle.
Convenience is obviously another advantage of an onboard compressor. Plug the hose in, flick the switch to turn the compressor on and you’re set.
Explorer supplied and fitted an ARB compressor at a cost of $1,250.
Build price + $7,710!
ALLOY WHEELS
Okay, there’s nothing essential about this one, and it took a lot of persuasion on my part, but we eventually decided to go with the alloy wheel option, despite the $3,500 cost.
If you’re going to spend $150,000+ on a motorhome, would you really want it sitting on boring-looking factory steel rims? I certainly didn’t!
Build price + $11,210!
SNORKEL
This is another one of those options we initially dismissed.
Our thinking was that it would be unlikely we would ever drive through water deep enough that we would require a snorkel. If we did, wouldn’t water get into the motorhome through vents or compromised seals?
This was probably more one of those ‘make like a boy scout’ decisions – be prepared for any eventuality.
Explorer supplied and fitted an ARB snorkel for $790.
Build price + $12,000!
ECB BULL BAR
This option comes under the ‘protecting your investment’ category.
While perhaps not entirely essential, there’s a lot of money tied up in the motorhome, so we thought it was worth protecting with a bull bar, supplied and fitted by Explorer for $3,250.
Build price + $15,250!
LONG RANGE FUEL TANK
The Toyota Hilux 2.8 D4D that the Explorer Vision is based on comes standard with an 80-litre diesel tank. Explorer offer an option to install a 140-litre fuel tank for $2,000.
Because our longer term plan meant going off-road as much as possible we thought this option was essential. The only other option for carrying additional fuel would be jerry cans stored inside the motorhome, because we didn’t go with the towbar option, so no trailer, which a number of Explorer owners do.
Build price + $17,250!
SOLAR PANELS
Once again, because we planned to be off-road and not plugged into 240v power, we thought the option to install 3 solar panels for $2,000 was essential to charge the house lithium batteries when we would be parked up for a few days.
Build price + $19,250!
OUTSIDE GAS BAYONET
With our decision to ditch the standard oven and microwave, and our plan to cook as much as possible outside on the Companion BBQ, we needed to include the outside gas bayonet option to connect the BBQ to the gas supply, at a cost of $350.
Build price + $19,600!