Off road and on road

You'll go as far as you like, we once saw a Datsun 180B around the northern eastern side of Lake Eyre back in 2000, you see lots of old falcons & commodores driven by locals in central australia. But reliability, comfort, some element of craziness will probably become a factor as to how far you venture off the main rd and add to that, towing a camper, will just improve those odds of getting stuck somewhere along the way offroad.

Yes but what I am wanting to know is "Are you abble to get to most places around OZ without having to have an"off road" camper

Height of the trailer would play a major factor here. Many areas off road and especially up north will require water crossings. I have just done the Gibb River Road, Mitchell falls etc and encountered many water crossings along the way.

Water ingress needs to be considered.

Personally, I'd get an off roader. Peace of mind and extra strength.

We too saw some vehicles in areas that surprised us but conversations with these people revealed the difficulties they sometimes encountered.

Look at it this way, it would be sad to travel a great distance only find 10 km's from your destination you can't cross as river or ???? whatever. You know what I mean.

Having said all that, we all work on a budget so buy what you're happy with, plan your trip and enjoy it.

Thanks Andrew. With these river crossings ...is a few centimetres in height going to make much difference?
I spose it will in some cases but I take the point about water ingress. I imagine that "on road" caravans are circulating right around OZ and may have to pass on a few places but overall they manage and there will always be the ones who will give anything a go regardless of what they are towing.

When we defined what we were after I just said it had to be an off road van without thinking too much about why......fully expecting that I would be heading off road but I wonder how many with that capability actually go 'off road".

Its much like 4WD owners..... most drive around town and never really go off road at all

I guess if your careful and take it easy you can go a lot of places. I have just been through this. I ended up with a Goldstream. Why? Ask Jayco&Coromal what there
warrenty covers.Classed as off road but take it off the black top and they dont want to know. cheers brian

Thanks for that - had been preferring the Goldstream off road but this Coromal turned up and was a good deal so thought it worth considering!

Hi Luig,

Often an on-road and off-road van look similar, maybe an inch or two higher, but otherwise a cursory glance they seem the same. However its the chassis and suspension, followed by internal construction, that set apart on and off road vans.

Generally an off-road van has 6" main chassis rails while on-road have 4". The suspension is generally heavy duty for off-road and often independent (though their are vast differences in the quality of independent and often good live axle is better than poor independent). And typically the cupboards are glued and screwed rather than stapled - but this is easily checked.

In my experience, corrugated gravel roads are FAR tougher on vans than true "off-road" where you tend to be going much slower and simply having to thread the van around obstacles. The constant vibration make short work of weak suspension and poor construction and this is when you you are likely to strike troubles.

If you plan to travel over corrugated gravel roads for hundreds of kilometres, IMHO make sure the chassis and suspension is up to it. But if only a slow drive for a few kays to get just off the black top, then you should be fine with an on-road van.

As for towing on the beach, if you cannot drive in 2WD without the van on the beach, then forget about towing a boat anchor behind you. Only true camper trailers have rear snatch points on them and if(when?) you get bogged, how are you going to get out? Trust me, not a good feeling being bogged with a van on the back (check out my rig pics below).

But don't let me put you off being adventurous with a van, I have been to places where a van shouldn't go but had great fun doing so (as well as ripping off awnings, lights and punching holes in the side!!!)

Cheers

Captain.

Have a serious look at the Jayco Outback models. We have the Outback Eagle and with the extra ground clearance, so far we have been able to get everywhere we have wanted. I would suspect that you will be more limited by your towing vehicle than by your camper trailer, but after owning one I would try to go the off-road model.
In the future you may upgrade the car to a possible 4x4 but the camper trailer you will have for many years.
Cheers,
Chris

Thanks everyone for the great response.......the Bride just pointed out to me that I am a goose and have given everyone the impression that our vehicle is a sedan and looking back she is right!! I am a goose!

Sorry about that but we have a 3ltr diesel Prado not 3 years old yet. Lovely truck! The question now is what to buy as we have been looking at all sorts of vans to go around this great land of ours.

Its just that I have checked out this Coromal which is pristine and at the right price but its not "off road". We want to go on the beach but not serious "Simpson desert stuff". But at the same time would we be able to get to the tip of Cape York or Coober Pedy?

I hear there are thousand of vans of all types out there on the road right round OZ but where do the "on road" ones start to pile up as wrecks on the side of the road and the "off road" ones keep on going??

Care is everything.
My father towed a 14' on road van around Oz with a falcon years ago.
Took it very slow on bad corrugations and had a good trip.
Had to miss a couple of places though.
Another friend des a lot of bird watching and visits national parks.
Tows a on road van with a disco.
They did an axle over conversion for extra clearance and go most places we would go with the off road camper trailer. They just take a bit longer some times.
Just be willing to get into trouble earlier, and be prepared to get yourself out.

And I am concerned why we have gone to an offroad 7x4 camper trailer and ditching the roof rack! Each to thier own. I am wondering about taking the CT where we have been :0)

G'day Luig,
I have an off road Coromal Silhouette 3.9. Paid extra but in the long run that has been worthwhile - higher clearance and extra water tank. The beauty is peace of mind (to some extent) and not being restricted to better tracks. Only problem is a bit of dust but that has been covered in previous threads although having said that on some tracks I would not want to go any longer. I pull it with a Patrol 3l diesel. Love it.
Cheers

I believe that Captain has explained the difference in on road/off road builds sufficiently well.

As for Coober Pedy mate, you can get there on bitumen all the way.

Well I must say this is the first post I have put on the forum and I have found you all very kind indeed and I would be glad to one day meet you on the road....sounds like a great life after 40 years of work!

regards Luig