Iron Cat
Iron Cat is a Fiat Based campervan built by Malibu a company of Carthago better known for large A Class motorhomes. We down sized from our 8.5m Rapido A Class to Iron Cat a sleek 6m long van conversion.
We loved the space in our previous motorhome but felt restricted by not being able to visit towns and cities because of the size and weight, 5250kg limited access to some sites as did the length. This coupled with quite a few issues with the Rapido we chose the smaller was better route and this blog is our record of our adventures in our new mobile residence!
As with all of the motorhomes we have owned all seem to be a compramise in one way or another, Iron Cat is no exception but here we will describe what we have done to make him more suitable for our travels.
Iron Cat is small, only 6m long but that does not mean he is not fully equipped.
He has an awning to keep the human occupents shaded when the sun is out to play or in the UK to keep the human occupents dry!
He comes with a Truma 6E combo heater that is more than a match to anything winter in the UK can throw at him, he would equally be at home in the French Alps skiing, if only his owners knew how to ski, the point is he can be real toastie warm when he needs to.
He has an inboard fresh water tank that protects it from the cold as is all of the plumbing, the waste water tank is underslung but well insulated and also has electric heating to keep it from freezing.
A two burner gas hob is standard so cooking is catered for if a little limited.
A compressor fridge is fitted to this model and as such twin 90 amp gel batteries are part of the recommended spec.
The specified equipment is suitable to allow all year round use, but there are refinements to be made and I intend to list the modifications we chose to make our extended use of Iron Cat more home from home than make do.
We added equipment that would extend and enhance our use of Iron Cat, we intend to tour extensively with him so making sure we can adapt to any weather condition or other circumstance is important to us.
We specified a refillable gas system when we ordered Iron Cat and stated we had to be able to fill from outside of the van so an external filler was to be fitted. Iron Cat has fixed low line beds so the locker space beneath the beds is limited and twin 6kg Gaslow R67 tanks were installed, this gives about 24l capacity, much less than we were used to as all of our previous vans have had 11kg tanks @ 22l each, but we feel we will be able to eke out more from these smaller tanks as Iron Cat is smaller internally so less volume to heat and the fridge is a 12v compressor so no gas used to keep the beer cool, sorry food cool.
The compressor fridge does seem very efficient but does put a strain on the habitation batteries, the two 90 amp gel equates to 90amp usable energy before we need to move or charge so solar is something that would prove to be a priority to see us realise our future plans.
We did not specify solar when we ordered Iron Cat as we wanted to see what our needs and usage of various electrical consumers would be before we commit to a sizeable investment in equipment, weight and of course money.
From past experience we again looked at providing off grid mains power, we have a Kipor generator and for all it does what it says on the tin, it provides 230 volt clean mains, it does not suit our style of use and in fact never has done.
“For sale one Kipor generator little used £350 or offers”
So an inverter is the solution, we fitted one to our previous A Class Rapido but we had acres of room and little trouble fitting one in, Iron Cat was going to be a real challenge and we would take a big chunk out of our payload. An inverter is a big bit of kit that needs to be sited next to the power source, the batteries, another sizeable and weighty component all of which has to be wired together and controlled, oh and did I mention charged!
We did what we have learned to do through wrong purchases and rushed decisions, we waited to see how much we would miss having mains on tap so to speak!
So we enter the coffee debate, we both like coffee and I like good old tea, but I am a sucker for a nice fresh brewed cup of coffee.
At home we have a Dolce Gusto machine and it made sense that we used a similar but smaller machine in the van, then I found tea that can be used in the same machine, so no brainer then we had to have a Dolce Gusto machine, so back to needing the inviter then!