Dirty Harry 14' Off Road Caravan
Submitted: Saturday, Aug 17, 2013 at 05:52
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troopytrek
Hello!!!!!
Well finally back doing some research after some time not connected to the off road travelling crew. We have decided to ungraded from our trusty off road camper trailer which has done it's more than fair share of travelling of this fine country of ours since 2004. My question's are related to the Dirty Harry 14' Off Road Caravan, has anyone got one that they travel with at the moment and how do they find it ? I would also like to hear from anyone who may have any of the other caravan's Off Road in the 14' category as we really wouldn't like to go any bigger. We would like to still have access to all the wonderful
places we have had so far, that usually most don't go when purchasing a caravan. Our adventures we love ducking and weaving through rough terrain.Hope you all can help.
Reply By: ozjohn0 - Saturday, Aug 17, 2013 at 08:42
Saturday, Aug 17, 2013 at 08:42
While most magazines are usually complimentary with their reviews even with some pretty ordinary products the latest Caravan & RV (NRMA) mag was not impressed with the finish of the Elite Dirty Harry. And for a 14' van it has a pretty hefty price tag.
The 300Kg payload allowance is quite frankly
well below what I would consider even marginally adequate.
With a shower on board one would have to assume that the van has two water tanks. Now even if they're only 80Lt each that's 160Kg of water. To that add 18Kg of LPG and a minimum of 40Kg+ in jerry cans for the jerry can holders on the drawbar. Then there's the weight of water in the HWS. That's going to be another 14 or 23Kg depending on the brand of HWS.
At a bare minimum that's 232Kg of the allowable 300Kg already used before anything else is added. Hoses, lead, food/drink, bucket, broom, clothing, beddings, pot/pans, crockery/cutlery,tools etc. It can't be done unless you want to dine out, live in the same cloths all the time and use sleeping bags.
This post should not be seen as signalling out Elite as many, many, van builders fail to provide realistic payloads.
OJ
AnswerID:
516558
Follow Up By: Ross M - Saturday, Aug 17, 2013 at 09:29
Saturday, Aug 17, 2013 at 09:29
ozjohn0
That is a good assessment of what caravan makers do and I like the bit where magazines always state the positives but rarely the negatives in any meaningful detail.
The vehicles sold to tow these things are overstated, so between what is the towing and the towed, there is usually a fair bit of squashy unknown area which leaves the purchasers with no clear decision able to be arrived at regarding performance, reliability etc.
Although some jump on
forum people who make legitimate negative "awareness" comments, forums such as this is the only form of balance for people who are trying to make a wise decision which will suit them.
ozjohn0 should be ozjohn1, No 1 in sensible realistic informative comment.
Cheers
Ross M
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Reply By: Member - graeme W (WA) - Saturday, Aug 17, 2013 at 21:31
Saturday, Aug 17, 2013 at 21:31
Hi Troopytrek. Also been looking at 14ft vans x 6ft.6 pop tops as i think 7ft.6 is to wide. We have the coromal compac 13ft x 7 ft offroad at the moment and will probibly keep it fot a few years yet given the prices of what we want. Vans built to the specs we want include bushtracker ,phoenix ,trackmaster and a few others but are at or getting close to $100,000. Quite a few that are 7ft.6 wide including goldstream,millard are around the $60,000 mark .These in comparison are better value but they are set on the 7ft.6 for some reason. We spent a bit on the coromal with full annex and in the process of making an outside shower come
toilet cubicle that attatches opposite the annex side to enable more comfortable living while we search for something better thats not 5 times the price.Spoke to coromal as to why they dont build a 14ft van and the answer was they dont sell.He was wrong of course.
cheers Graeme
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516599
Reply By: Member - Chris_K - Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 at 16:03
Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 at 16:03
Hi Troopytrek
I reckon buying an "offroad" caravan is a function of "how deep are your pockets". We bought one of these a couple of years ago - about 14' (you can also get a longer drawbar) it's been great, with no bulldust getting in at all so far...IMHO when it comes to "offroad" you really get what you pay for. It's also quite narrow - our previous Jayco was always making it's own tracks behind the car.
http://www.australianoffroad.com.au/models/Quantum/highlights_Quantum
Cheers
Chris
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516630