converting jayco penquin on road to offroad.

That may not read right - in saying custom built i do not mean a one-off, but a good off road model camper.

Mh

As MH said, the internals would have to be strengthened, so with all the conversion there would not be much original left. Better and easier to get a purpose built one.

All we did to ours was fit a hyland hitch, put the axle under the leaf springs and fitted quality 14" light truck tyres, took an extra spare wheel and tyre and a spare leaf spring and we easily did an east west crossing and many other off-road trips without any problems. Don't load it up too much, lower the tyre pressure, enjoy the scenery and drive to the conditions and you will go most places. Remember that people have pulled heaps of old vans all over the place before it was trendy to have an off road van.
Cheers
D&J

Yes, but back in those days, there was at least some attention to detail and quality in construction. I would not even consider taking any modern "road" van over thousands of k's of corrugations... not if you want it to be in one piece when you get to the other end.

For those who doubt the difference between the construction of a road going van versus a quality off-road unit, have a look at these pics...

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I know which one I would rather take off the beaten track, but each to their own.

Cheers,

Mark

I'm with David and Jan. If you take it easy and don't drive to the clock, there's little reason why you can't get around. People driving too fast, driven by press-on-itis, is a huge factor leading to accidents and breakages. Remember, Force = Mass x Acceleration, so reduce both if you can.

In terms of internal strength, I agree endless corrugations can take their toll. Perhaps re-enforcing joins etc with a quality flexible adhesive might help, such as Sikaflex. That stuff is absolute gold! If you're not too precious about the camper, fit some re-enforcing angle brackets (screwed, with Sikaflex) to hold it all together. I'm currently doing the same to an old wind-up and she's stronger now than she ever was. Having done some boat building, it still amazes (shocks) me when I see vans and houses built without any sort of glue?! If you're wanting to know about gluing techniques, there are some wood-working and boat building sites worth poking around at.

But again, in my opinion, speed is the big issue.

No affiliation with Sikaflex either, I just use it everywhere! Selleys and Bostik make something similar...?

Joshua.

Mark E
While the 1t pic looks bad,i don't think that the van failed due to inadequate construction but rather through some type of driver accident going on the condition of the assumed towing vehicle [patrol] in the back ground and fact that the emergency personnel are in attendance. [would love to see a pic of an offroad van in a similar rollover]. I don't doubt that a purpose built offroad van would always be better than some other vans,but i have done something similar to what is proposed and after 10years and a few outback adventures we have had miminal problems, driven to the conditions. As always it comes down to budgets and then common sense, the dvds of the Kedron vans seem to always have big $budgets but usually lack commonsense
cheers Rags

Both of the above vans were involved in rollovers....... it's fairly clear which one survived with minimal damage. Clearly one is built stronger than the other.

I do understand that road going vans can probably be taken over some degree of terrain that they're not really constructed for, but in my humble opinion, if you want to travel over the more difficult terrain, then I would rather have purpose- built equipment...in my case I use an off-road camper trailer as it suits our budget and lifestyle for the time being.

I have been investigating caravans for about 12 months now in preparation for a prospective trip in a few years when the kids are old enough to appreciate it, and have done a LOT of reading and sussing out.

The main thing that I have learned is that there really are no 'STANDARDS' when it comes to caravans.... you only have to read a bit through this thread:

Horror Stories

to realise that purchasing one of these things is a minefield, and at the end of the day, unless you can see it being constructed at various stages, you really have no idea of what's under the 'skin'. There are so many shonky ones around. Even for road going vans, some of these would be unnacceptable and have left their owners stranded in remote areas...not something I would like to have happen to my family, nor the obvious consequences for my bank balance for the cost of recovery in remote areas.

I realise that there are some good ones at reasonable prices, but I think quality construction at a cheap price has gone the way of the do-do. You will get what you pay for. That certainly doesn't mean that everyone needs the biggest heaviest, meanest looking off-road van that costs in excess of $100k, but in my circumstance, I would rather buy something I know was built strong and with attention to detail at the start, even if a little outdated and a few years old, rather than the newest flashy van with lots of bling, that has a question mark over whether it will survive driving over the corrugated roads that Australia is so covered with.

I'm by no means any sort of authority on caravans as I have very little practical experience in their use...still researching and learning and always open to suggestions.

Cheers,

Mark

PS the old Swan in the pic lasted 30 years. After the GRR in '05, the Cape in '08 and the SA deserts in '09 it had one more trip left in it but SWMBO won out and we got the Dove.....W

That does not take into account that some manufacturers don't actually make road-going vans.

Cheers,

Mark

Thanks to all for great comments. I understand there is no difference in jayco vans from the chassis up . As guy007 has said just drive sensibly to the conditions . Ground clearance is the main thing i was looking for. Many thanks from Macca