Off rd verses Dirt rd

We ended up with the same thoughts when changing to a van from the Off Road Camper and still wanted to travel outback roads. We ended up going for a new van, just to have it the way we wanted it fitted out.

Lotus Trooper ticked all our boxes, 20.6 (to get the door in the back), 4 water tanks, 3 solar panels and 3 AGM Battries, two spares and all with a ball weight of 180 kg.

GVM of van 3450 kg on 3500 kg control rider suspension. We still swag it on remote tracks, but then I wound not take the camper on them.

‘Prefer around 2ton empty, 18ft or smaller, must have inside toilet shower. Not interested (cost a issue) in heavy off rd vans.’
That may be a bit difficult if you want a true off road van. There are off road vans and true off road vans. So what do you mean by off road? Would one of the smaller vans like the below suit you? Kevin

http://www.bushtrackerforum.com/viewforum.php?f=43

Have you checked these out?

Alan

The smaller dirt road vans will go anywhere those great big shipping containers on wheels will go. Getting into some national parks involves threading through trees and a single axle van is the ideal size for that. Remember also that all vans have the same PC items in them so your stove microwave and fridge are the same weakness in every van.

There are plenty of smaller vans available This one is available for $66K in off-road shower/dunny format.

Have a look at the Kedron caravans Cross country Compact.
They have a facebook page as well as a website which shows internal & external pics of various vans including the compact.
Cheers

Darryl

Hi Grundle

It depends on the roads. Any caravan should be well built enough to handle unsealed maintained rural roads, even if they do corrugate a bit. After all, we have been driving our sedans on roads like that all our lives, and anyone who comes to visit us has to drive on one as I do daily in my small sedan. A corrugated short road into a campground taken at crawl speed can be handled by any rig.

If you are planning on taking routes such as the Tanami, Savannah Way, Plenty and Great Central Roads, you would be wise to consider only the dedicated heavy duty off roader brands. Routes with hundreds of kilometres of corrugations are the most damaging. Every corrugation is doing damage, and it is cumulative.

Read the fine print for the branded 'off road' model it may well read; suitable for sealed road, and short distances on unsealed roads such as to campgrounds. Or off road but excluding - - - and proceed to describe roads through much of the central areas of Australia. A corrugated short road into a campground taken at crawl speed can be handled by any rig unless clearance is an issue on the track. A few got wiped off our 'to look at' list in our early research due to these ridiculous disclaimers for a model claiming to be off road. Generally you get what you pay for.

It is practical to use a tent for the Gibb River Road and return via the Highway, but for long distances like the Savannah Way or the Outback Way (Plenty and Great Central Roads) it does not work. As someone once said to me "You'd need to go back 3,000 kilometres for the caravan".

I support purchasing pre-loved rather than new.