Books by Collyn Rivers

Published October 2001

The Campervan & Motorhome Book

Tens of thousands of people travel Australia in caravans, campervans and motorhomes. For retirees in particular, such travelling is a regular way of life. Until now, little independent information has been available about buying, building, converting or even using these vehicles. The just-published ‘Campervan & Motorhome Book' fills this need.

Written by Collyn Rivers, a writer/engineer with forty years experience in designing and using these vehicles, the book is packed with information on what vehicle to buy; advice on building your own; gas, water and electrical systems; solar power; communications, TV reception; travelling and camping safely, legal issues, what it all costs, how to save money, where to go, plus a great deal more.

The book is updated yearly to ensure topicality and, as with all of Collyn’s books, carries no advertising. The book costs $37 including GST, postage and packing and is available from CMCA National Headquarters or via the Secure Online Store .

Published May 2002

Motorhome Electrics - and Caravans Too!

Campervan and motorhome (and caravan) electrical systems are an unsatisfactory compromise between cost and performance. They are put together from components intended to provide electricity for moving vehicles - not those at rest. As a direct result, most provide and store only sufficient energy for one or two nights. Extending this use overly-discharges the batteries, seriously reducing their life and capacity. These problems are worsened with vehicles in irregular use.

Compounding this, there is a lack of competent service. Auto-electrical training excludes solar energy. Solar technicians rarely understand vehicle charging systems. But in recreational vehicles, these systems interact and it is difficult to find anyone who can rectify subsequent faults.

In its seventh updated edition, and now also including New Zealand related content, Motorhome Electrics – and Caravans Too! bridges this knowledge gap. It explains how the systems work, identifies what is commonly wrong, and shows how to fix the problems. It explains how to design affordable systems that really work. And how to install them. It warns of unrealistic expectations when away from mains power, and stresses that contrary to all-but universal belief, an '800 watt' microwave oven draws over twice that amount and depletes a battery yet further.

Along the way it introduces and explains electrical bits and pieces such as alternators, regulators, batteries and solar modules. Whilst intended primarily for owners, designers and builders of caravans, campervans and motorhomes, it may also serve as a general introduction for auto-electricians seeking to enter this field (and its outstanding business opportunities).

The book costs $42.50 including GST, postage and packing and is available from CMCA National Headquarters or via the Secure Online Store

Second Edition

first published October 2006

Solar That Really Works!

Now in a virtually new second edition, Solar That Really Works! covers all aspects of implementing solar in campervans, motorhomes, fifth-wheel and conventional caravans – also in rural cabins, small properties etc.

This, the best-selling of all Collyn’s books, is written in totally down-to-earth English and accompanied by many illustrations. Solar That Really Works! covers every aspect of the subject and includes a number of descriptions of successful owner-designed successful – and one that was spectacularly less so!

A large number of CMCA members (and thousands of readers worldwide) have implemented well-working solar systems following the advice given in this and previous editions of the book.

As with all of Collyn’s books, to ensure perceived as well as total actual objectivity, Solar That Really Works! contains no advertising.

The book costs $42.50 including GST. It is available from CMCA National Headquarters or via the Secure Online Store

Author Biography

Originally a General Motors research engineer, Collyn Rivers specialised in measuring vehicle behaviour and performance. In the 1960s he drove a 4WD laboratory/Motorhome twice across Africa, monitoring track conditions (see pages 29, 30 and 31). Moving to Australia in 1963, he subsequently founded the worldwide 'Electronics Today International' magazine (which, in 1976 was awarded the title of 'Best Electronics Publication in the World'), and over twenty other books and magazines in electronics, business computing and music.

He later became Technology Editor of 'Australian Business' and 'The Bulletin', and also wrote the Federal Government's 'Guide to Information Technology'.

Collyn and his sculptor/psychologist wife (Maarit), for ten years owned a fully off-road OKA motorhome that they have drove nine times across Australia, including to the very tip of Cape York, over the Simpson desert, and along most of Australia’s inland tracks – both major and minor. They now own a fully off-road TVan and may also build up a fully off-road early VW Kombi similar that which they owned prior to the OKA (and have mourned ever since!).