Crusader Caravan Musketeer Palace - Pickup, Process and Issues - Shakedown Trip

[@ronporter6903]

Love your videos. Very well researched and presented. Some of the best on KZbin. Have just ordered our 2nd Crusader. A point you may be interested in, we lost our 1st Crusader due to a Lithium battery fire under our bed. Batteries fault, not Crusader.

[@man.i.literally.failed6772]

What brand battery was it

[@janiceatkinson5112]

At last. Congratulations on the new caravan. Let the adventures begin.

[@ewkaus]

Yes we still can’t believe it. Thank You 😊 Looking forward to it!

[@jluscombe33]

Great overview and congrats on the new Crusader. We have an Excalibur Duke hopefully arriving in Sept ‘23. Keen to follow your progress. Keep us updated on all the things you find and the fixes you make.

[@ewkaus]

Thank You. Great to hear. Hopefully they will iron out a few more things by then. Most definitely keep you updated. We just finished our Christmas trips and will share more of our experiences and modifications in another video.

[@kathleenwhelan6500]

Great video. Hope you have many travels. Yes I agree having to pay for d shackles etc is ridiculous.

[@zacbereznicki7577]

Great vid, awesome to see Crusader are making little changes along the way. I’m patiently waiting for our Castle. May see you guys on the road

[@ewkaus]

Cheers. Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah it’s nice to see they are listening. Hopefully you will see a few more improvements for yours. 😉

[@RobynFord-st2pf]

We did our shakedown to Umina too. Tricky driving the van on the skinny road in the park. Great video. Funny how different models have different components. We picked up our Nobleman 30 Oct and have an iTech inverter, no extra latch on bathroom door, different tv. Availability of parts is apparently still an issue. Enjoy your travels. We love our Crusader so far.

[@ewkaus]

Nice. The roads are skinny and there are some lower lying trees to watch out for. Definitely was on edge with the new van 😂. Thanks for the compliment. Yes it’s definitely strange to see the different components going in because of shortages. Hopefully it settles down now for others expecting there vans and there is some consistency.

[@davidcox8943]

Congratulations guys. Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences. We are also waiting for our new Crusader Prince hopefully in April. Enjoy your travels 😊

[@ewkaus]

Thank You ☺️. Our pleasure. Not long now 🤞🏼

[@noelthomas]

We picked up our Excalibur Full composite Serenity in December. Only issues are with two blinds being a bit crooked and the same window opening issue as you. Our electrical setup is BMPro although the inverter is Projecta. Two 120 amp lithium batteries and 2 170 watt solar panels on the roof plus a solar blanket if needed. We stuck with the 3 way fridge as (and I know it’s unusual) we have never had any problems with it in previous vans and it makes us less dependent on fine weather. Not sure why your system requires a manual switchover from mains to inverter. Ours just goes straight to everything running from the inverter as soon as the mains is unplugged - even runs the A/C to give the van an initial cool down. Agree regarding the Weber but the slide does come out a bit further than you think after the initial pullout (still not far enough though). I solved the problem by turning the Weber around the other way - slightly awkward adjusting the knob, but other than that it seems fine and I’ve used it for both a long roast and to grill. You should find the van weight a bit lower than expected. The shift to full composite reduced our expected TARE by 65 kilos. We were told the move to put the water pump on the outside on a steel plate was to reduce noise vibration. I know you still think it’s loud, but you should have heard the noise we used to have from the pump in our A’Van. Overall we’re delighted so far (only lived in it for a total of three weeks) and pretty pleased that all we have to request at the first service are some adjustments to blinds and windows. Enjoy your travels and thanks for the vids - well thought out and presented. Cheers, Noel

[@keiththorp2854]

Thanks for the video,I'm also on a wait list for my Gladiator,it started at 12 months and has now blown out to 18 months with no assurance I will get it then, the quality control at Crusader obviously needs some improvement,hopefully that's the last of your issues,I will certainly be having a lot harder look over mine on pick up after seeing your experiences so thanks for the heads up.

[@ewkaus]

No problem glad it helped. We hope all the issues are sorted as well although they were minor. Real test comes now with the after sales support. 🤞🏼

[@janbaker9486]

Thanks

[@terry2833]

Hey guys welcome and I hope you go places, just a point I noticed that your JG (John Guest) fillings dont have retaining clips on the red and blue hoses, I would advize stongly to get some clips and fit them to every connection point this will ensure the hoses don't pop off.

[@ewkaus]

Thanks You and thanks for the tip. Will definitely look at this. 👍🏽

[@lyndoncarter1528]

Congratulations nice looking van

[@ewkaus]

Thank you! 😊

[@placestosea]

good to hear your experience. you might want to confirm the 'do not overtake' sign rules, regarding mandatory or not.

[@ewkaus]

Thanks. This is from Transport NSW website - “A caravan and towing vehicle with a combined overall length of 7.5m or greater is required to have a ‘DO NOT OVERTAKE TURNING VEHICLE’ sign attached to its rear, if the vehicle and caravan combination intend to momentarily occupy an adjacent lane (‘straddle’) when making a turn.” Not sure if it’s different for other states.

[@placestosea]

@@ewkaus thanks , we have a sign , but I think it's not mandatory. The size and type of sign is very specific, if you do have one.

[@shafmahar4974]

Thank you for recording this. I am process of finalising the palace and your videos are really really helpful. Couple of questions: 1. What does it take to get the bunks changed from one side to other? Is crusader open to that or do they charge? 2. I noticed you got it from Newcastle crusader, where do you get it serviced? Do you need to take to them? I am Sydney based and wondering if you could recommend any dealer? Thanks guys

[@ewkaus]

Great Glad it’s helped. Crusader charged us to move the bunks to other side. At present yes we are servicing with Newcastle Crusader. However have just learnt that ERV are now distributing Crusader here is Sydney and service out near Blacktown I believe. Have not used them so can’t comment on their service. Newcastle service and team however have been good to deal with.

[@chrisp3044]

Excellent review and for those of us waiting for a new van somewhat concerning as to the quality control and hand over checks performed by Crusader and the delivery agent. I agree that Crusader appear to be making changes based on feedback however the pump operation and Redarc configuration are two examples of a very poor process by the manufacturer.

[@ewkaus]

Cheers for that. Hopefully with more feedback QA will improve. It’s shame they have such a great product and it’s the little simple things that could be done better.

[@brendonanderson989]

Hi guys, great van, we are expecting delivery of a Musketeer Palace In March and also swapped bunks and ensuite. Did you get a built in external TV hutch given the third bunk is now on the other side? Thanks.

[@bildad1234]

Great review, gee I hope I bump into you guys in my travels. You seem like beautiful people. Hard to tell from vid, but is it convenient to turn your BBQ around 180 degrees so the lid opens the other way?

[@ewkaus]

Thanks mate! Appreciate the kind words. You never know we may bump into each other it’s such a small world. We did try flipping the BBQ but then it just didn’t come out far past the van, so when cooking feels like your using half the BBQ.

[@brendannolan847]

Try using a wireless mouse with your TV. Treat it like a tablet. Using a mouse is easier to navigate around the TV interface.

[@ewkaus]

Thanks. Using the remote as mouse feels cumbersome especially lying down. Will probably end up putting something like an Apple TV and have a bit more flexibility. Thanks for tip! 😊

[@ozmid40scouple]

Check that the "transit bolts" have been removed from the washing machine.....you will need to remove the machine to see or remove the bolts from the rear......

[@ewkaus]

Cheers. The machine brackets and washing machine appear to be all Sikaflex in so I’m assuming they did this already but will try and see what I can find.

[@Mathew-Costa]

Got the same van on order due April. Have you compared your weights from when you ordered to what was delivered.

[@ewkaus]

Not long now 🤞🏼. The last month and weeks were a killer in anticipation. No we haven’t weighed everything yet as we still waiting on a bike rack for the front of the van and few more mods. Once those are on we will get the van weighed properly.

[@zacbereznicki7577]

Hey guys, any more updates to the van? How are the trips going?

[@ewkaus]

Sorry we have been so slow in updating our channel due to work. However just uploaded a new video with mods we have done. Will also be posting videos of our 3 month trip. Thanks for asking. 😊

[@acoucou]

Hello, we are Acoucou Battery. It seems that you have not updated for a few weeks again. We enjoyed your video content so much that we would like to invite you to introduce our LiFePO4 battery and look forward to getting your response.

[@Chance_It_Oz]

Could you imagine buying a $100-150k car and having all the basic issues needing to be fixed?! Regardless of Covid and “demand” issues, the overall caravan industry QA is appalling…

[@ozmid40scouple]

Anything made by humans will have issues....humans aren't perfect. And yes even spending 100,000 + on a vehicle you still can get problems.....also mostly made by humans....

[@Chance_It_Oz]

Look at a the number of YT videos and FB posts about QA of caravans and compare that to cars…it’s no contest.

[@donnamerigan469]

Is your tow vehicle still the Toyota hilux?

[@ewkaus]

We have just recently changed to the Next Gen Ford Ranger

[@donnamerigan469]

@ewkaus that's awesome.

[@donnamerigan469]

Turn the Webber the other way,

[@ewkaus]

Yes that was an option but still get in the way a little. Thanks for idea 😊