Keevo52,s winnie

[Keevo52]

G,day my wife Glennis and I have a Winnie leisure Seeker, had it since 2004, bought it second hand with 17,000ks on the clock, we have put on an additional 81,000 in eight years,this was done with both of us working full time, as we have just retired we intend to spend much more time on the road as soon as I fully recover from a total Knee replacement that was done a month ago, our rig is reasonably self contained with two solar panels, inverter and a generator keeping the power supply up to scratch,extra water is carried in containers and a good three way fridge completes the set up

We recently had the engine fitted with a turbo with towing a trailer in mind, the trailer will be carrying a boat and car, I have built the trailer got it registered and we are just waiting for all of the stars to align before we take off probably in June next year.

Cheers

Chris

[T1 Terry]

Hi Chris,
how did you find a Winnie with only 17,000km on the clock, was it from someone who discovered the other half really didn't lke to travel?

Who fitted the turbo for you and are you happy with the result?

T1 Terry

[Keevo52]

Hi Terry

We got the Winnie through the Wanderer classifieds, we had spent quite a long time at Australian Motorhomes showroom getting ideas of layouts and what you got for your dollar, when we saw the Winnie in the Wanderer it was just what we wanted, we contacted the owners in Kempsey NSW and drove up the following weekend,after a two hour test drive we bought it there and then,they had gone around the block and a few other trips and health issues caught up with the husband and they had to sell, it was the only one we really looked at, we have had very little go wrong so far, no major repairs just the usual maintenance all done by myself.

As for the turbo, I thought long and hard about getting it fitted after market, as we wanted to tow it made sense to have it done, the first thing we noticed was the increased power low down, compared to what is was like before the turbo it took of like a rocket, very impressed to say the least, we have only done one trip of any distance and that was in the company of four pajero,s towing caravans, we travelled a 1,000 ks over ten days and we were getting better fuel consumption than them even though we were at least a tonne greater in mass our average speed was around 85k,s for most of the trip. so far I have only towed the boat and it went well I hardly noticed it was there.

we had the turbo fitted at Turboglide in Wollongong not cheap but I am sure it was and will be worth it in the long run

Cheers

Chris

[T1 Terry]

Ahh, turboGlide, they would have done a good job and set the fuel right on the dyno afterwards. They were my sort of opposition when I had the business so rather than fight one another they took the diesel stuff and I did the petrol and LPG stuff. Worked well as I was into drag racing etc so I was extracting up to a 400% hp increase and they were far more conservitive in their approach to performance increases so diesels suited them fine.
Only did few diesels by special request, keeping the exhaust temp under control was always an issue and water/methanol injection doesn't help on a diesel
The sons run the Turboglide business now I believe.
I'm thinking of fitting one of the electric turbos on the Mazda so I can bring it in when hill climbing etc but leaving it normally aspirated the rest of the time, just power it from the house batteries so the solar can feed it.

T1 Terry