Caravans what to get

Hi Brenton,

What are using as a tow vehicle? Are you staying on the road, doing a bit of dirt road or need to go off the beaten track? What sort of $$$ are you willing to part with?

If you can give us all a bit more detail I'm sure the answers / opinions will come flowing in!

For my 2 cents worth, when we upgraded to a "big" van, we went with one of the large manufacturers. We didn't go the "off road" route as we couldn't see us dragging 22ft of van down some of our favourite tracks any way.
With the large manufacturers you probably don't get quite the choice of fitments you do on the custom vans, and maybe some say the quality is not as good, but we're happy with ours.
And with the larger builders there are dealerships all over the country if you do need parts / warranty work.
You could probably pick up a nice 2cnd hand off road Jayco sterling for around 40k. Or you can spend over 100k and have a van that is near bullet proof with all the bells and whistles!
Any way, just my opinion

Keith

Brenton W
Ten nights, so probably eleven or twelve days to wonder around our beautiful State, not enough time, should have been twelve weeks (all said with tongue in cheek).
We have a 18' Concept Cross Pack with simplicity suspension, queen bed, shower and loo, have had it to WA, Kimberly's, FNQ,Central Aus, plus many Ks around Tassie and it has stood up to it with no problems, would thinking South Aus you would pick up a good second hand one for under $40ks.
But its your call, as you are the only one who knows what you want and what you $$ you have to spend and what you have to tow it with.
Cheers
baz

Hi Brenton

Have a look at the Crusader X Country it is an off road van with all the features you have mentioned at a reasonable price, we have sold our CT and ordered a X Country after much research, just hope it is as good and tough as it looks.

Good luck on whatever you decide

Hi Brenton

As Keith says, there are a lot of questions before anyone can advise. Then their reply will be most likely based on what they chose for there needs. Posts like these come up frequently and usually raise more questions than give answers.

Why are there hundreds of different caravans out there? Because we all want something to suit our needs, family size, time on the road, types of roads and places we choose, hip pocket, personal preferences, tow vehicle capacities, style of travelling (eg move every day doing the Big Lap or go to the seaside for annual holidays) - the list goes on and on.

You decide what you want to these criteria, then go somewhere where the your type of travellers will be, look at their rigs and ask questions.

Consider pre-loved caravans. Most people don't get what they ultimately want first up. If you buy second hand you don't loose as much as if you buy new.

We also needed a QS bed, and got the yacht style (sideways) which gives us heaps more space in our 18' van. We also have a small but adequate combined shower and toilet bathroom. We have four water tanks (one dedicated drinking water with a separate outlet tap, four solar panels and four batteries for independence.

Cheers

Motherhen

Hi Brenton,

You seem like a guy that has done some bush bashing in his time and once you have done that it is hard to get back on the sealed roads again. Motherhen has some good advice as do the others. He is dragging a $100.000 Bushtracker around and they make life in the bush easy life.

If you are a handyman kind of guy and can make some improvements to a good "gravel road" second hand van, I would head that way.

Weight will be tight with a Prado (2500 kg if I am not mistaken). Pop top off road Coromal, traveller, or one of the others mentioned. Put on solar panels, some water tanks and some extra batteries.

If you want a genuine all roads caravan, look at this one which is for sale

Pheonix for sale

Mh