2023 CRUSADER CARAVAN WALKTHROUGH REVIEW | Power Setup & Options
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ค. 2024
- Are you thinking of Caravanning Australia in a Crusader? Join us as we review optional extras, our power and solar setup, cost and tare weight of our Musketeer Palace. We also touch on our experience with the thermal insulation of our light-weight fully composite caravan, the sphere wireless reversing camera, the Carafan, and use of a CPAP machine.
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0:00 Preview & Intro
1:00 Exterior Extras
10:50 Power & Solar Setup
19:46 Composite Thermal Insulation
23:03 Interior Extras
29:58 Tare Weight
30:37 Total Cost
31:25 Final Thoughts
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Fantastic work guys
We had concerns about the Crusader Musketeer and you have help us to make our final decision .
Hi John, thanks for watching. Glad our videos were able to help! If you have any questions, leave us a comment and we will try to answer it in a video.
Hey guys just discovered your channel. We picked up our treville 12 months ago after a 18 month wait. Crusader make a great caravan. Cheers and i have just scribed
They do don’t they! Thanks for watching and subscribing, much appreciated.
If you’re not already aware, there are a couple of Crusader Owners Facebook groups that offer great crusader specific discussions. I’m pretty sure there is even a Treville specific group.
Safe travels, hope to see you on the road one day!
Just ordered the Palace. Finding you videos very useful and informative. Keep up the good work 👏
So glad to hear they’ve been useful! Thanks for watching.
That was a great walk around 👍👏
You are both so funny and look so relaxed in front of the camera.
I have a new off road caravan and you have the same solar and and battery system, and thanks for the reminder on the charging systems the fridge is the same and you explained it better the the dealer.
Have a wonderful week. 🍷🍷😎👏👍🦋
Hey Paul, glad you enjoyed the video and that we could help offering some explanation! Did you go with a Crusader for your off-road van?
@@AnotherAusAdventure Hi
We have a..Brilliant Caravan.. it’s a small company in Melbourne.
@@AnotherAusAdventure we also have the same set up as you, with the 800w solar and 400amps Lithium batteries.
It’s like building a house you always add a bit more as you go , we have two large windows in the kitchen and dining area so we can see the beautiful views when inside the van .
I have also ordered a new V6 wildtrack to tow the van , but I ordered it 13 months ago , and was told by the dealer that they forgot to order it 😵💫🤷♂️ so we are not going anywhere for the next 8 months.
So all the best on your travels take care on the road.cheers 🥂
I’m glad you clarified that Brilliant was the brand name 😂 otherwise I might have been scratching my head thinking ‘I’m sure it is!’ 😂
Oh no, you must be so annoyed the dealer didn’t order the car right away! But I can assure you it’s worth the wait. It tows like a dream you will love it!
Great video guy's, a big thank you. We recently received our new Crusader Excalibur Prince and are off for our maiden journey to Shoalhaven Heads next week. I agree that the build quality of the Crusader caravans sets them apart from many other manufacturers - we are very happy with our purchase. I believe the issue with insulation is similar in all vans, a lot of the heat comes through windows, hatches, and vents. All the very best in your travels
Hi, thanks for watching. Congratulations on your new van, such an exciting time! All the best on your future adventures. Perhaps we will catch you on the road 👋🏼
Very good walkthrough vid, came for the Ranger content however enjoying watching you start out and your enthusiasm for caravan life, all the best.
Hi Nathan! We’re aiming to get some Ranger content out in the near future, so hang in there. Thanks for supporting our channel in the meantime 🙏🏼
Hey Guys,
Love the new video. We picked up our Excalibur Serenity from Carlons in May after 16 months wait. Have been away for about 6 weeks in total so far. It's funny to hear about the minor issues your having as well. Very happy with our purchase and hope to catch up on the road one day.
P.S. Also have a Ranger Wildtrak as a Tug.
Happy Travels.
Hi Mitchell, no way! Carlons have been great to deal with so far, sad that they are no longer a Crusader dealer though. Glad we were able to sneak in there before they swapped brands.
Have you experienced the same inconveniences with your van?! The bugs?!!!
And how good does the Ranger go! We love it.
Hope to see you out there 👋🏼 thanks for supporting our small channel.
Enjoying the channel, thanks for sharing your journey so far.
Would love a prequel to explain how you got to this point.
So many options and so much info, would love to hear your thought process ❤
Thanks again
Hi! Thanks for supporting out channel. That’s definitely on our list - why we decided to buy a caravan and why we went with Crusader.
Keep the content suggestions coming!
GREAT VID GUY'S WELL DONE
Thanks Jeff, appreciate the feedback!
A great looking caravan. I would have gone for 2shock absorbers on each side simply for the size and possibility the weight you are carrying with your water tanks and grey water tank but that’s just my opinion. I’ve seen many caravans your size with 2 shocks on each side
Awesome video, great details. 👍🏻
Thank you for watching Bella! Safe travels 👋🏼
Good walk through team, I loved it and yes sadly the girls are always right, at least in my case they are. External showers are a big income earner for the caravan industry, they are never going to give away this little scam. Most solar charge controllers are either MPPT or PWM, but there are some DCDC charge controllers that can also handle solar input these days. What brand name are your two 200 Ah LiFePO4 batteries, they looked reasonably compact. Insulation of your van is great, pretty sure they have a waffle composite floor and double glazed ranger style windows, the loss comes through those roof vents/skylights, huge energy input. I love the choices you have made and think Crusader are the van of choice for me, they seem to be doing almost everything correct and seem to take a lot of pride. You are correct with your refigeration principles decribed, to take that a little bit further - Three way fridge is absorption refrigeration principle (not very tolerant for Aussie condition - shit really), vastly different to mechanical compression. Compressor fridges are mechanical compression principle, just like in your house fridge, except that the caravan industry in Australia want to rip you a new one for choosing 12VDC compressors. Lastly, you are a lucky man, your wife is lovely and very very clever.
Nice, honest review of the caravan. Interesting what you said about the thermal properties.
Our first caravan was sandwich foam panel so when we sold that and went to traditional “stick and tin” I was concerned about the how well the caravan would be in hot weather.
Well it was surprising we found the new caravan was actually better than sandwich panel. I believe this is because of the air gap. Mind you skylights are a massive entry for heat.
The only thing for me is checker plate down the sides of the caravan are mandatory for us.
All the best.
Great job guy's. Much needed info as like you said nobody has really done a Crusader in-depth reviews from an owners perspective. Just ordered an Excalibur so really enjoying these! Can't wait for the pizza making episode 😉
Thanks for watching Mark! How exciting that you will soon be a Crusader owner too. I’m sure you’ll love it.
Haha we do love our pizza! Might have to try and do a camp oven pizza soon.
Good video we ordered a crusader caravan it arrives late February 2024 can't wait its a full off road
How exciting, congratulations! You’ll have a great time making memories in it.
Great video
Thanks!
Great to see an honest review. We don’t have a Crusader but ours is very similar. Not sure if its been mentioned but we have just one observation on your suspension. If you look at where the shocks are there’s a pin for another shock. They are designed for 2 on each swings arm. Not sure what’s on the upper section but its definitely on the lower section. Given how Australia’s roads are I would get another 4 from Pedder’s and add them. You will definitely notice it with not only how the caravan sits when on tar and driving over the usual potholes, cattle grids when out west but also on dirt, even if you only intend to go on a small amount of dirt. I would then call your van ‘off road’ suspension with dual shocks and swing arm. They more often use the term ‘semi off road’ if there’s an axel and leaf springs.
Thanks @Julielee4820. We checked it out and see what you are saying, good pick up! We will definitely keep in mind to upgrade when we start getting out there a bit more.
great video. Upgrade to the Renogy 3000 watt inverter. It has an auto switch which will detect shore power and automatically switch it over from the battery. Once you unplug the shore power it will automatically switch back to battery power
Thanks for watching and great suggestion @kaozau!
I have a very similar sized solar system in my palace and you recommend adding a additional Independent mppt solar controller so you can charge from both solar and the dcdc at the same time.
900w roof Solar alone i have seen 68.4 amps, then can add the redarc 50amp dcdc on top.
Thanks Mathew, we might have to look into that option. It's good to know that you're able to get 68.4 amps from your 900w system though, this reassures us that we can get 50A with our 800W if we adjust our wiring.
Nice video. Turf ride is good. My caravan has a turf ride suspension. I later put a turf ride air suspension and it rides smoothly. Something you might want to consider in the future. The ride is on another level. I’ve got a video on that. You can check it out.
Sounds great! Thanks for watching.
Rules changed sometime back where thd RCD switch and batteries hsd to be installed out side the van from what i was told
We are getting safety Dave fans too. But we got quoted $500 for two extra.
That’s good news, sounds like you’re being looked after. Congratulations on getting a new van!
Hi guys, just wondering if you had to change anything on the roof of your van to fit the extra solar panels you put on.. I have been advised I might have to lose the ensuite hatch so I have enough room to fit 4 x 200w panels. We're getting a Musketeer Treville.
Hi @narmar181 , no changes on the roof for us. You can see both the shower and bathroom hatches at 11:07 (the two white hatches, the clear one is in the bunk area). It could maybe be because the Treville is slightly shorter than the Palace?
Personally, if we had to pick something to remove it would be the aerial. The supplied TV is a smart TV so you can watch any free-to-air TV via streaming. We were going to remove this when we ordered, but found out there was no take-out price for doing so, so just decided to leave it as we could fit the panels we wanted within the existing space.
Best of luck, let us know how you go!
Thanks for the reply. We did opt to take off the aerial.@@AnotherAusAdventure
@@narmar181 nice! When do you expect to get your hands on the Treville? Exciting times ahead for you!
Just signed off on the variations, so I'm expecting November next year.@@AnotherAusAdventure
Hi guys... Can I ask if you have weighed your van with its options? The dealer weights are never accurate... Cheers
Hey Adam, we sure have. You can check out our weighing video here
Weighing our Next Gen Ranger & Crusader Caravan | GCM GVM GTM & ATM Explained
th-cam.com/video/JhWnhfW8a9E/w-d-xo.html
I don’t know of any van that doesn’t heat back up as soon as you turn the aircon off…. The battery system is most thing I want to know about…. My initial thinking is a 2000watt inverter is to small.
Yes, we were definitely very naïve! The joys of being new to caravanning. Hopefully we can help other newbies realise this too.
What size ft is this van ? Thanks
Hi Michelle, it’s 21’ ft internal length.
If you like to loss more kgs off your van give me a reply back it's to do with your gas bottles
Hey Tom, we’re good with our weight at the moment, but you should still share your tip in case others want to know! Is it to swap them out for 4kg bottles?
No it's a new plastic gas bottles
Oh cool. What’s the brand called?
Composite gas bottles
Cheers! We’ll check them out.
16:25 dont forget to get the smart alternator turned off or you DCDC will not work well
Great video
Thank you!
@@AnotherAusAdventure shame we missed you in Conjola we are in the Musketeer Recliner with staffie
(From Nowra)