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Jayco Hawk Outback to Jayco Flamingo Outback

8K views 24 replies 7 participants last post by  rgren2 
#1 ·
We recently bought an older Jayco Hawk for long-weekend getaways and maybe the odd week of touring. As many of our friends have bought soft-top camper trailers and then upgraded to caravans, we thought we'd get a cheaper secondhand Jayco camper trailer to see how the two kids (2 and 4) would go and if it was easy enough to do what we needed. We bought the trailer for a very good price and thought if we need to throw a few thousand at it, we'd still be ahead. It is a bit tired and the canvas needs attention (probably replacement), but that is no biggy as the FIL is an upholsterer and has contacts that do these if he can't fit it in.

We did a long weekend away to Colac-Colac Caravan park with some friends a few weeks back, but this weekend was its first reasonable trip typical of the places we go camping. We went off to the banks of the Murray near Tocumwal. It was a good trip, but a few issues flagged up that need attention:
  • Sink sucks, mains tap sucks, hand pump is cactus
  • As the hand pump is stuffed, the water has leaked on the benchtop causing it to expand and crumble
  • Someone has added a head unit, a single 6" x 9" speaker in and some Supercrap Auto volt gauge and USB charger in the most useless spot that eats into storage cupboards and ends up being kicked and toyed with by kids
  • The 3-way fridge is a hassle
  • Provision for solar charging is very much needed. Currently hooking up to the Anderson plug on the tow connection, but something else is needed
  • The Hawk has a lot of seating and not much storage
  • The kids stand on the RCD when climbing up to our bed (at f'n stupid o'clock) and turn it off
  • Running a gas bottle between the inside cooker and the barby is frustrating
So we've got a list of some tasks to sort out that aren't too hard, although, how far do you go with an old trailer.
  1. Sort out the tap solution, maybe convert to 12V only (delete mains and handpump). Can put a tap off the tank drain if no power.
    1. This may require a new bench top and the possibility for a better sink set, as existing tap holes will be redundant
  2. Build an enclosure/step over RCD for kids to step on
  3. Needs a bike rack
  4. Setup a gas connection on the outside to hook up the barby to
  5. Swap out the old 3-way fridge for a Bushman
  6. Fit a solar panel, charge controller and lithium battery, wire up some additional 12V Andersons around for under awning lighting and/or remote solar input
  7. Redo the lounge to increase storage capacity and delete the old non-bluetooth headunit and commodore speaker
But only the taps are really essential. It didn't stop us from spending 3 nights away

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#2 ·
Gut it, save what you want and build to your standards. Only if you have the time an patience. You can have the machine of your dreams.
Sit down, make a list of what you want then plan it. Sometimes a little cardboard model helps. It will not be cheap.
 
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#5 ·
Yeah will model it up to be sure it's something we want to do before we make any drastic decisions.

Good luck with it mate, we had 2 (an eagle and a penguine off road) poorly built pos..
Not the best, but what's better for the same price, function and ease? Flip tips and that ilk are a no from me

Good luck mate as you will find everything is a compromise somehow with them.

A couple of your points as I saw them.
Fridge - never had an issue with the three way and figured since I already had the gas bottle connected why change.
I always figured if I have a few days of really crap sun, then the fridge would still run.
Kept the car fridge in the car, so could always charge that with a quick drive around.

BBQ - take a smaller 2.5 or 4kg gas bottle and keep the bbq away from the camper. If doing a roast or whatever you don't want either the heat or smoke where you are sitting, plus it also takes up real estate under the awning.

Tap - I set mine up and had mains and pump running to the same tap. Just put a one way valve inline in each line before they merge.
Good ideas there, I will consider that.

As for the fridge, the changeover, DC inefficiency and ineffectiveness and space being less than a pure 12V version is enough for me to consider change over.
Ps - your young bloke is learning his push bike riding skills the right way :cool::ROFLMAO:
He is bike obsessed and always has been. He comes a gutser and gets back on and off again.
 
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#4 ·
Good luck mate as you will find everything is a compromise somehow with them.

A couple of your points as I saw them.
Fridge - never had an issue with the three way and figured since I already had the gas bottle connected why change.
I always figured if I have a few days of really crap sun, then the fridge would still run.
Kept the car fridge in the car, so could always charge that with a quick drive around.

BBQ - take a smaller 2.5 or 4kg gas bottle and keep the bbq away from the camper. If doing a roast or whatever you don't want either the heat or smoke where you are sitting, plus it also takes up real estate under the awning.

Tap - I set mine up and had mains and pump running to the same tap. Just put a one way valve inline in each line before they merge.

Ps - your young bloke is learning his push bike riding skills the right way :cool::ROFLMAO:
 
#7 ·
Give you a tip mate..
Wind it up on level ground,
Measure the distance from the outside edge of the roof to the top of the side wall and cut a piece of 70mm x 35mm pine to fit,
Then lower about half way and cut another piece,
Then half it again annd cut another.
Take these bits of wood with you on every trip just incase the lifting mechanism breaks (so you can chock the failed corner and still enjoy your trip).
The above was told to me by the workshop boss at Horsham Jayco after our penguin shat itself at Cohuna a few years back.
 
#8 ·
Also, If in doubt , re-seal the outside roof joints with Sikaflex as they are prone to leak and will really fork your day..
We had our eagle stored in our backyard covered with a caravan cover and a tarp and it still took in moisture stuffing 1 mattress cover and I had to repaint the ceiling . :mad:
 
#9 ·
Wife and I had one for the kids (x4) when they were little. Bloody awesome compared to setting up a full camp for 6x people and then packing it all back up the following day.

3way fridge = inefficient troublesome horror from previous experience - will never own anything marked "Chescold" ever again. Useless on days above 25 degC, let alone with kids opening the door for drinks every 30 minutes.
100% agree with a 12v Bushman.

Cupboards / storage on ours was pretty dumb design, plus it fell to bits on corrugated roads, so rebuilt all the under seat storage with drawers and swapped the chipboard/mdf crap for decent plywood & steel frame.

The water pump/tap unit is the same as most others = cheap & nasty.
If you run a decent 12v battery for the fridge, a 12v water pump is brilliant, but as silly as it sounds, add a standard kitchen tap so you can control the flow rate or the kids will empty the tank and have water everywhere.
While you're at it - fit an external tap with garden hose fitting on the LH side of the van. Gives you water for handwashing, fish cleaning, and hook a garden hose to it for reverse flow tank filing instead of the slow dribble fill through the standard filler hatch. Also lets you drain the tank between holidays.

No comment on 45/70's thing about the bits of wood in case the top fails - ours was old school cable winder and we never had a problem.
 
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#10 ·
Sounds like we share opinion @Trollbasher. LH side tap is already fitted.

Got Fraser booked for a week at the end of the month.

I have the following ready for fitting:
  • 12V pressure switched pump to replace hand pump (don't care if it fails, got by for 3 nights without any tap by using tank drain)
  • BCDC1240
  • 135Ah lithium battery
 
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#11 ·
#12 · (Edited)
Done it all before (Rainbow, etc). My Cousin just moved to Harvey Bay, so shooting through to there first, then across to Kingfisher. Will camp around Eli Creek
 
#16 ·
I have invested in a fix for some of these issues...I found a replacement. Looks like we're getting a newer and much better condition Flamingo Outback instead :D

Only need to upgrade a 3-way to elec and make a bike rack still, everything else and more are already done and no canvas issues

A mate wants the Hawk, so we'll sell it to him for what we paid for it and I'll help him fit the stuff I've already acquired for it.

No loss.
 
#17 ·
The thread title changed as the project has evolved.

Wheel Tire Car Land vehicle Vehicle


Surprisingly only about 100kg difference between the old Hawk and Flamingo

Kitchen layout in the Flamingo is huge compared to the Hawk and Swan. It's basically 55% kitchen haha
Property Building Curtain Interior design Wood
Window Building Wood Curtain Plant


The Father-In-Law is a marine upholsterer, so made up some new multi-layered mattresses that fit perfect and are excellent support and comfort.

So some of the items I had and had ordered for the Hawk are now going onto the Flamingo. The ****ty mains tap is the same crap type on the Flamingo, so I've updated that to something more stout and still fold downable. Fortunately, someone has already plumbed in a sure flow pump, so that is a win.

Tap Plumbing fixture Automotive tire Kitchen appliance Automotive lighting


Also swapped out the Full River AGM for an Atlas Lithium battery. More useable power for less than half the weight.
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Just in the throws of adding a 170W solar panel, BCDC1240 charge controller and changing over the Weber to a bayonet (adding a converter extension hose if I can figure it out).
 
#21 ·
The thread title changed as the project has evolved.



Kitchen layout in the Flamingo is huge compared to the Hawk and Swan. It's basically 55% kitchen haha
View attachment 542045
They got the bonus larger kitchen depending on what model you got as there were two models for the flamingo.
One had a toilet and shower arrangement, and one didn't.

There are surprisingly big inside when opened out hey. I remember lying on the bed at one end and looking down the other end and it looked a long way away.

Azure Line Rectangle Engineering Font
 
#18 ·
Well the week away to Fraser Island has been done. The weather was atrocious and generally, the trip was a good test for most stuff this camper is likely to see with us. Left after work on Friday, drove to mid-night stopping at a Dubbo truck stop, 5min setup, kids transferred into the camper from car asleep, easy. Pack up at 4am, kids again transferred asleep and off to Brissy. Get into Brissy to see the sis and rain was absolutely belting down. The camper was fine, but packing up the next day was a bit of a hassle as we hadn't got our system right. We quickly learned to keep the bed end flys up until we were ready to wind the roof down. Just a drenched me, but no harm done. Towed up to Hervey, and was supposed to meet up with my cousin, but they came down with COVID so a solo trip it was. Got an early barge over to Wangoolba then drove up to Eli camping area and stayed in the dingo fenced area. Bumped into the local cops in Happy Valley who had a chuckle that we had a stock Everest and a Jayco on Fraser. Anyway, no drama at all towing through the tracks, along the beach, or rocks near high tide. Set up camp and toured around.

Unfortunately, the combination of pretty high winds and rain caused some leaks to show up near the bed ends where the canvas meets the body, but it wasn't too much of an issue. A leak did show up on the roof hatch, so that'll be replaced and resealed shortly. For a maiden voyage, it did awesomely. So glad I changed over to the lithium battery and the solar had zero chance to charge with the weather and the battery dropped from 13.5V to 12.9V over 4-days. Not bad in my book.

The new list of things to do with this thing;
  • Ditch the poly block hitch, it is garbage and dangerous. Vertical and horizontal alignment all at once is ****, with a stupid block that tilts. It's a cheap and **** design. Thinking DO35 will be the go.
  • Replace the 3-way fridge with a Bushman. The 3-way in this thing isn't great
  • Sort out the roof hatch
  • Make up a 1m bayonet to female POL gas hose
  • Maybe also consider another water tank
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Tire Car Land vehicle Plant Wheel
 
#19 ·
Its the biggest improvement i noticed going from tenting to a Swan, a tent in bad weather i was always out digging trenches, attaching tarps, tightening guy ropes etc, etc, where as the biggest problem in the swan in bad weather is, i have to turn the TV volume up heaps to hear it over the rain (lol)

Water is the only thing i ever run out of, ive got 2 x 80L tanks, ive thought about it, but haning a 3rd tank can create its own issues , at the moment i have 2 x 20L water Jerrys, on longer holidays we fill these jerrys if we can while out driving, i soon bought a 12V pump to put the water from the jerry into the main tank/s, this system has worked pretty well so far, and has been quite flexible depending on location and supply.

Your set up looks great anyway (y)
 
#20 ·
The DO35 is a great hitch, had it on our camper trailer and have it on our caravan. Highly recommended.
 
#22 ·
Never heard of the ST! I don't think it would suit us anyway. I do like the normal Flamingo. Great amount of storage, more than we had with our old Swan. I found the Swan had too much internal seating. We never used it all in all the touring we did.
 
#23 · (Edited)
We have a swan... I actually really like the lay out. But it doesn't work for everyone that's for sure. I just like them full stop really. Mad camping so much easier
 
#24 ·
Well I've been ticking away the items on my project list for this camper. We've been using it quite a bit, having taken it away to various; Tumbarumba, Tocumwal, Buckland, Bonnie Doon, etc. Heading off to Tassie for a couple of weeks next week.
  • Replaced the poly block with a DO35 (Love it). Pretty easy swap, just had to shorten the brake cable at the drums
  • Finished installing the Solar Panel
  • Added a BCDC1240
  • Got a 2m bayonet to gas quick disconnect hose for the Weber Q, now I can swap hoses quickly if taking the van or not
  • Continued to clean up some of the electrical stuff from the previous owner
  • Relocated the diesel heater fuel tank, pump and some of the wiring to free up space
  • Replaced all lights with LED
  • Replaced the old 3-way fridge with a 130L Bushman 12V only. Love the fridge compared to the old one. No intervention is required to change the source now. The solar easily keeps up with it. And now I can be confident ditching a gas bottle. It required a 20mm wider cavity, so managed to modify the adjacent cupboard facia and shelf easily enough. Just gotta make some new brackets to hold it in properly (even though it's gone on a couple of trips and not moved)
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