off road caravan?

goodday marilyn
have you done any caravanning before ?
if not my advice would be to hire a van for a short term holiday and try before you buy as it may not be for you
a lot of people jump in and buy a van (lots of bikkies for what you would like )and half way around oz 1 or the other partner says i dont like thsi i want a motel room or i want to go home , uses to much fuel
you get the idea so to people who a me and they are just starting caravanning i personally always tell them to hire a van first

just my opinion

steve

Hey Marilyn

If I was about to buy a caravan I would defineately go for a Kedron. I have just been doing some research on them and have asked several owners regarding them and yes you may pay a little more than average caravan but what I have read and heard from the owners is that these are no ordinary caravans. Just have a little look on the their web site.

Cheers
HLC

Hi Marilyn,
We have a coromal pioneer corvair, it is dual axle 5.5m (bigger models available) with independent suspension which is standard on all models, have travelled up to kalumburu and gibb river rd with it and no probs. It is not a super duper off road bush caravan and that reflects in the price. For those you have Kedron and Bushtracker from Qld manufacturer, and Trackmaster from Vic.
The Coromal is made in WA where we are from. The only one I wouldn't use off road is the Jayco speaking from experience. In your shoes I would see if you have something available closer to home, but we have had no problems at all with ours. Recommend you check on prices etc first. regards Ric

Ground clearance, internal frame, internal fit out of furniture, chassie design are the key things to look at for a off road van.

Ground clearance is your main issuie and can be incriest by fitting larger wheels and tyres and you will proberly find a well built will go 95% of the places you would want to go.

If you dont think this is going to be sufficent, then go the full way in the deign stage you would raise the chassie Make sure the internail frame is well braced and furniture glued and screwed and you would have inderpendant suspenion.

I have a traveller they are made in Melbourne and I recomend them they are second to nun and they represent good value for money.

Have a look at Forum Post 35493 Van Srlection ther is more imfo on my dealing with Traveller in QLD 07 3888 4455

Hope this helps

BBB

I have seen plenty of not so offroad vans in offroad locations. What they are like at the end of 12mths is anyone's guess and dependant on the driver to a certain degree. If you are pushed for time and drive too fast for the conditions your van and vehicle will pay for it but if you take it easy your van's ability to follow will surpise you.
Long stretches of corrogated road will test even the better offroad vans if driven incorrectly. So my opinion would be not really necessary to go a super dooper offroad van for most places but if you really want to get off the main road travelled then spend the extra on a well constructed offroad van.
Of the onroad vans IMO Golf vans look to be well constructed with sturdy framework (maybe I don't know what to look for ??) to handle more than the average on road van. I have not owned a Golf due to budget restraints so have no 1st hand experience with them and I may be proven wrong???

Regards, Trevor.

Marilyn, as you are not going to go really outback, many wonderful places are easily accessible and to go bush camping is often a simple as pulling off the road into a gravel pit or old track - any vehicle could do it. Camps Australia wide 3 (ExplorOz bookshop) has many recognised free and low cost camps - probably all easily accessed. Have fun.

Hi all, thanks for your thoughts, looks like a normal van would be the go as long as it is well built. Have looked at the Kedron site, they look good and come standard with a lot of the fittings whereas other road vans have to be optioned up and end up costing the same price anyway. Have also looked at Coromal (have a poor web site) and Phoenix. Anyway Im off to check a few out. Cheers

Hi marilyn,

all the above is good advice and should be given much consideration,

If you do decide to go off -road vanning I would consider a smaller van and shower outside, if you're bush camping you should be fine to shower outside, we campers do it all the time.
As for the brand caravan debate everyone has different ideas on what's good but imho Phoenix are pretty good.
Friends of mine have a 20' phoenix and had a tyre blow out on it whilst on a range, the van flipped and got dragged for for a while on it's side, the inside was a complete mess but the van only suffered cosmetic damage! the bubble windows that it skidded on didn't even break. That was about 8 yrs ago now and the van is still going strong.

You can't beat that for product testing!

cackles