Dust Exclusion

We have never, in 7years of travelling, had any problem with dust whilst traveling.

We don't have a problem with dust inside either, but did notice a fair amount in back of fridge after a short while, have been putting glad wrap over lower vent, seems to have helped alot,(compressor fridge), will internal vent next improvement.

Did the Oodndatta a few months ago, Farina had a nice big grassy campsite, a real credit to the volunteers, Talc Alf (Lyndhurst) is worth having a chat to if you have an open mind.

Cheers Ken

John & Viv, hi, hope your both well, and blowing a tune ... :-)

I sealed the fridge vents when I internally vented our 1st fridge, also disobeying the rules I taped over the door vent rather than bother with foam .. Don't even bother closing the water proof door,

Those simple changes and our BT has never had dust problems worth worrying about, some owners get dust in the 4 seasons hatch but a lot to do with we're it's situated and the tow vehicle aerodynamics ..

If I know I'm travelling an excessively dusty track I've been known to tape over the battery clamshell vents but it's not something I always bother with, slow travels = less dust ;-)

We are with Smick - never had a problem. We do close the external door in high dust conditions with a foam strip between the two doors.

I certainly would not recommend opening a roof vent to 'pressurise' the van. I think it is a fallacy and would work pretty well doing vacuum impersonations sucking in dust from passing vehicles.

The poor buggers parked next to us at Weipa in their three month old 'dream machine' a 'Grenade' van, spent three hours cleaning dust out after they arrived before hubby started trying to sort out fridge problems Contacted the dealer, who blamed the supplier, who blamed the manufacturer as they reckoned the wiring was undersized.

They left the van there before proceeding north as they did not think it would make it up to the top. I did discover he was running 50 psi in his tyres on the van and he was staggered that I was running just 24 psi.

John and Jean

As above and we also used a Stone Stomper when doing the Gibb which seemed to keep the dust down and push it out around the van. Good bit of kit that!

Regards
Richard

Much the same with us, have done the Oodnadatta track, as well as the Gibb & many other roads/tracks & never had an issue with dust. Did try venting the fridge to the inside once for a year or 2 but have gone back to the original external vents as I'm convinced the fridge works better particularly when camped up somewhere.
Still, with all those dusty roads & sometimes "bull dust" that has swallowed up the van to the point where we could just see it in the rear view mirrors, we have not had any problems.
We always travel with our "flood door" shut (no foam over vent), & for quite a while have had an exhaust fan venting to the outside through the top fridge vent which we switch on (if we remember), before travelling a dusty road.
Our vans a 1999 model (an "oldie but a goodie" !!), & very happy with it.

Cheers Tony

G'day John & Viv,

So you can now send emails from Beltana!

We installed a scupper vent (Marine type) which is open all of the time. It works well. We had previously installed internal venting for the fridge and practiced closing the dust door with a slab of foam over the vent. Also tried a slab of foam in the 4 seasons Hatch. I would try the scupper vent installation first....you may find that the other things are not required.

I've never heard of a Camec door that doesn't let some dust in, but I must say that Bushtracker Vans are certainly more dustproof than any other brand.

Safe travels....are you going via the Painted Desert? The Piderka track to Dalhousie can be pretty bad, so too the Finke to Alice Road, particularly after the Desert Race event.

Rob and Liz

This thread is from the Caravaners Forum and discusses how to adjust the new hatches.
Adjusting new hatch flaps

Thank you everyone for your advice and re assurance, it's great to belong to such a sharing and supportive Group.

Hope to see you on the road
Viv & John