JimB replied:

G'day Paul,

No mate, haven't had that experience. Our 100 Series is a '98 diesel, purchased by us in Jan 2001 with 60,000. It had done some work already which was obvious but still reasonable nick. Pretty early on I replaced the suspension with OME and that made a huge difference to the ride. Also replaced the original tyres (BFG 285/75 16's). The major trips we have done with it (Cape York, Gibson, Great Sandy, Tanami deserts) we have not towed but set the vehicle up to sleep in. Only problem we've encountered has been with shockies that were replaced by ARB under warranty. Have now done over 75,000k's without mishap.

I wonder if the problem could be related to towing? Our last trip (6 weeks ago) to Mungo, Murray-Sunset and Mutawintji we did tow our Heaslip and felt quite a difference. Still mate, I just plod along, certainly noticed a difference in fuel consumption towing at 100k's comp[ared to 90k's.

JimB

JimB replied:

Happy with the Heaslip. The only inconvenient aspect of it is that the kitchen requires that the annexe roof and front wall be put on if you want to use it in inclement weather. We had previously had a camper trailer without a kitchen and found that the ability to move the stove around according to the wind / rain was a real benefit. The low pressure stove on the Heaslip also made it much slower to boil the billy when a wind was blowing. I have since made up a shield that goes around the stove, that should minimise the draft when the breeze is up.

We have taken the trailer on a number of very slippery roads and found that it tracks and rides superbly, just follows along like a faithful dog. Really forgiving even when the Cruiser gets a bit out of shape. The again we just potter along ay.

JimB