Friday, Mar 23, 2012 at 21:56
HI Laurie,
We considered Bushtracker, Kedron, Phoenix, Sunland, and Spinifex. We did a lot of comparisons looking at the caravan show, research on the caravan
forum and visiting the manufacturers (all of the above 5 are within 30min drive of where I live in SEQ). All of these 5 are worthy vans and are built to last – very robust. But there was 1 or more aspects on each we did not like e.g. Bushtracker is a great van but their
suspension in my view is not the most suitable for corrugations (but is the best for driving over logs, boulders, holes etc – very good articulation). In the end we chose Sunland as they were the closest to all the options and build characteristics that we wanted – e.g. they use cruisemaster trailing arm independent
suspension with 8 h/d Gabriel shock absorbers. ( I have a friend who has a PhD in mechanical engineering who advises that for corrugations – shock absorbers are essential part of the
suspension). Living in Queensland I am a bit paranoid about hail storms – so wanted a full fibreglass van – Sunland will build that for us (out of 5mm fibreglass sheeting) that will withstand hail the size of oranges. It always seemed odd to me that so-called off road vans have checker plate 600mm up the sides and then paper thin aluminium sheeting – I’ve seen photos of off road vans with big slices down the side from hitting an overhanging branch. So we are getting full fibreglass sides as
well (an option with Sunland). We wanted a full box aluminium frame – Spinifex use C channel and so on.
I could go on and on but it comes down to what build characteristics are important to you. All of the above a high quality vans and will last the distance off road (as I suspect ON The Move will as
well). But I would recommend a look at the Sunland Blue Heeler,
Winton or Patriot SE. in your comparison.
Cheers
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