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As per Dot's royal command, decree, threat, or what ever it was, here are some details of our rig that we purchased in early March of this year and have been constantly improving/changing since.

It began its life as a 1976 Denning Mono coach and on its retirement it was built into a motorhome in 2006, it is engineered and registered for a driver and 3 passengers, although we are greedy and have now set it up for just the two of us, and the occasional odd (?) visitor (family).

It has had the roof raised and has 7 feet of headroom with 4 large roof hatches (2 are electrically operated) for great ventilation and the body has been totally re-skinned, it has a fully insulated roof and walls and has 3 doors; a main passenger side, a drivers, and a rear emergency exit. It has electric retractable stairs that lead to a one level flat floor throughout. An optional fold down step can be used (without using the electric stairs) when street parking.


Internally our Denning has a lounge with a driver and passeng....r, er sorry, co-pilot captains chairs, a fold down sofa bed, and 2 recliner rockers all in black leather. The kitchen has a full size gas oven and stove, and a 240 litre 12/24 volt Vitrifrigo fridge/freezer. Tasmanian oak bench top, double sink, and lots of drawers, it has a pressure water pump and seperate filtered drinking water. The bathroom has a full size shower, a hand basin and a composting toilet . The bedroom has a queen size island bed with storage underneath and access to the engine compartment if needed, and has built in wardrobes.

It has a Daiken split system cool/heat air conditioner and a stereo sound system to all rooms. There are 4 X 9Kg gas cylinders that supply the programable Bosch instant hot water system and the stove. We have 750 watts of solar panels on the roof, 4 x 125 ah deep cycle house batteries and a 2300W inverter, with a silenced 6 kva generator for back-up.
The engine is a 6V71 Detroit Diesel with Jake brake, coupled to a Spicer 5 speed 'crash box' that averages around 3.2 km to the litre, it still has the original motor and gearbox with all matching numbers. We carry 500 litres of diesel giving us a great range (and price choice) and have a 726 litre stainless tank for fresh water, and 400 litre grey and 120 litre black water waste tanks.
We have only recently returned from a 3 month trip to the Boonah rally and have decided to become full timers in early 2013, the house has now been rented and as soon as we finish re-doing the flooring and fitting an automatic satellite dish and a 5.5 metre electric awning (photos to come in another update), we will be gypsies back on the road again.

We hope you like our rig, best wishes to all and we look forward to catching up with many of you some where up the road, you can tell it's us by the 'Rat Fink' on the front of our home.

Lorraine and Steve...

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Got all the bells and whistles there Steve...Is the motor turbo,d how many horses.

Hi Guys, Yep the MH is loverly, the GM has it own howl and its some thing , used to drive a truck with one in and you could hear it comeing 5 ks out in the bush. But the car, very nice, They used to be every where when I was younger now you just see them when some one tricks them up .Welcome here, you have the right idea( full time) and the car. Mate love it...
Bob n Bev....

what a rig, love it, nothing like the sound a good GM makes as it turns $$ into noise I wondered how you got the 3.2km/ltr and had to do a double take, it's a 6V71 not an 6V92 or 8V92, much better choice for fuel consumption. Those 8V92's get under 1km/ltr on the heavy pull, friends found that out the hard way 3/4km/ltr across the Nullabour, very expensive travelling.

The electric front steps, tell me more what height from floor to ground can they handle and do they sit on the ground level every time they are put out? the steps are still one of the things I need to sort for Rustic Inn Perfection, there is a cut down aluminium ladder in use at the moment.

T1 Terry

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Thank you for all of the nice comments, we're very happy with our coach and look forward to going full time next year.

Norman, it is a supercharged V6, 2 stroke diesel engine that I believe produces about 280 - 300 bhp, although Terry would know better than me on this, all I know is that it is ultra reliable and has enough power for me.
Bob n Bev, thank you we love our 36 Ford coupe as well, we originally imported it from Argentina 8 1/2 years ago and have spent the last 4 years turning it into a street rod. It has a 415 bhp Chevrolet motor with twin 4 barrel carbs and alloy cylinder heads, with a TH 700r overdrive transmission and lots more, it also has power windows and a/c for those hot days.
Terry, you're right about it turning $$ into noise, but what a noise. It will do 110 kmh on a freeway but I prefer 90 - 95 kmh where it will cruise all day and get that 3.2 km/ltr. The steps are a really smart piece of engineering by the original builder, they sit in a channel under the coach internal steps and are supported on the top rail with bearings and are attached to a low geared electric motor by a steel cable secured under the bottom step.
Gravity is used to put them down and in the last 24 cm of travel the bottom of the storage cavity slopes downward at about 30 degrees, this allows the steps to drop and find their own level on the ground. To retract them the motor is engaged and it winds the cable back in pulling the steps back into their cavity until they hit a switch at the top of their travel that shuts down the electric motor. It works very well and is basically maitenance free, just grease it yearly, hope this makes sense to you.

Lorraine and Steve...

Thanks Steve. our stairs are all external, the floor comes all the way to the door so the steps need to project from there. I like the idea of the botom step pivoting to allow the step to drop down at a steeper angle if needed. I don't think it will work for me because of the height, the added distance or reduced distance would put the stairs at a dificult to use angles but maybe a second sliding pice could pivot the stairs as well.
The pulling up in town is going to be the tricky part, the floor is 1.2mtr off the ground and the top of the door is 3.2 mtr off the ground, makes cleaning up low hanging awnings a problem and the steps that project out into the middle of the walk way. I'm tossing up between a landing that slides out and the steps going forward but parallel with the bus or slide out stairs similar to yours and also a set of steps cut into the side like the emergency exit steps on some buses below the rear emergency window. The door might need to be one of those parallel slide out things like the city trains use.
Still thinking

T1 Terry

Nice set of pipes I will be seeing this beast and the coach in a few weeks.

Steve ,You have both camps covered with a Chev. motor in a Ford love it. We were camped at Cooktown some years back and was asked if I could drive one just like that back to Cairns . As the ladys hubby had a small Heart attack and was in Cairns hossy.. It had grunt and that box took some working but got it there in one bit. ( had to hich a ride back) All good.
Bob n Bev

Love the hot rod, saw the coach at Boonah, very nice, ask him how much he paid for it
We blew our motor just as we drove into Cessnock, lots of $$$ later and a replacement and we are back on the road.
Heading down your way in March, Lardner Park, will you still be home. You owe me an email
Regards
Gary & Trish
"Out there In The Longyard"

Gary I'm sorry it took us 5 days to approve your post.
I'm not sure why it never notified me that a post is waiting approval. It's usually instantaneous.
Sorry!!