What to buy for longer off road trip before we get too old
cernobila said
11:48 AM Nov 2, 2020
We are new here and are in a quandary.
We are both 63 and still fit. Up until recently we had been camping with a roof top tent and basic items.
Now we no longer want to climb a ladder and want to have more comfort from rain, wind, mossies etc. we will keep our new Isuzu MUX as our travel vehicle.
We plan to still do the Gibb river road, Palm Valley, The Savanah way, through the middle of WA, Rainbow Valley and others of similar difficulty.....in no particular order.
We do not stay longer than one night in any location, so are after something easy and quick to set up and pack up the next morning. (just the two of us, no kids or pets)
The trailer/van have to have good large storage to carry water, fuel, gas, wood, food, tools etc.
So, my questions are;
For those that have done these places, what did you have with you in the form of camper trailer/mini caravan or other.
Would you consider the Avan Aliner/Cruiser with the adventure pack suitable for this kind of travel.
Considering the worst part of getting to these places are the rough corrugated roads shaking the heck out of the vehicle and trailer, which camper trailers or mini caravans would you NOT recommend for these trips.
Would you buy Australian made over overseas made if your budget is around $40 thousand.
Your help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
To add.....
I know that there are many choices of type of trailer such as
Forward fold, Rear fold, Side fold, Soft floor, Loft, Hybrid, Tear drop, Pop-up (Jayco/Avan) etc.
Question is, which one and why....
-- Edited by cernobila on Monday 2nd of November 2020 12:05:29 PM
dabbler said
03:16 PM Nov 2, 2020
Off-road Teardrop with awning/s and optional awning tent. No setup time unless you want extra shelter for longer stays. Ours is a Riptide Tsunami, it's the biggest on the market and made on the Gold Coast. We use an awning tent and I can set it up myself but two people make it easier of course. We carry 200 litres of water, a Joolca gas shower and a porta potti.
TheHeaths said
03:25 PM Nov 2, 2020
I was going to post a long explanation of what I think you need to consider, but you seem to have a reasonable grasp of the problems you face wrt what will kill your camper/van.
As I read your post to suggest you favour a camper trailer type unit, and you have a good budget for good second hand units, I would leave Jayco, Avan, even Goldstream alone, and look at used Kimberley Kampas, Cub Off-road, Tvan and the like. All units will do the trips, some will just do them better, longer, and with less damage, when operated correctly. The rest such as layout, inclusions, size etc is down to your personal preference.
Your main issue as I see, beyond that, will be getting something with a big enough payload to carry everything you are suggesting.
Good luck with the search.
PS these are just my opinion, I do not own one of the units I suggest are better suited, and our Jayco Outback caravans have taken us along the Birdsville and Oodnadatta Tracks, the Robe River Rail access road, and other rough dirt roads, with minimal damage.
-- Edited by TheHeaths on Monday 2nd of November 2020 03:27:43 PM
cernobila said
03:32 PM Nov 2, 2020
dabbler wrote:
Off-road Teardrop with awning/s and optional awning tent. No setup time unless you want extra shelter for longer stays. Ours is a Riptide Tsunami, it's the biggest on the market and made on the Gold Coast. We use an awning tent and I can set it up myself but two people make it easier of course. We carry 200 litres of water, a Joolca gas shower and a porta potti.
Wow, did not think that a teardrop would make it as one of the first suggestions, although we have had a look at the "Stockman Rover" and for a while really liked the idea. My wife's main complaint with our old set-up with the roof top tent was that we got undressed to go to bed in the car or outside of the tent and then climbed in.....and in the morning we got out and into the car to get dressed......other than that, the idea of very quick setup is appealing.
Thank you for the input.
cernobila said
03:39 PM Nov 2, 2020
TheHeaths wrote:
I was going to post a long explanation of what I think you need to consider, but you seem to have a reasonable grasp of the problems you face wrt what will kill your camper/van.
As I read your post to suggest you favour a camper trailer type unit, and you have a good budget for good second hand units, I would leave Jayco, Avan, even Goldstream alone, and look at used Kimberley Kampas, Cub Off-road, Tvan and the like. All units will do the trips, some will just do them better, longer, and with less damage, when operated correctly. The rest such as layout, inclusions, size etc is down to your personal preference.
Your main issue as I see, beyond that, will be getting something with a big enough payload to carry everything you are suggesting.
Good luck with the search.
PS these are just my opinion, I do not own one of the units I suggest are better suited, and our Jayco Outback caravans have taken us along the Birdsville and Oodnadatta Tracks, the Robe River Rail access road, and other rough dirt roads, with minimal damage.
-- Edited by TheHeaths on Monday 2nd of November 2020 03:27:43 PM
Thank you for that info.
A friend of ours who has plenty of experience with the Jayco poptops is in the process of completely revamping one of the bigger units from top to bottom so it could handle the rough roads on a regular basis without very regular repairs.....so I get what you said
cernobila said
04:41 PM Nov 2, 2020
Is there anyone out there that has done some of the above mentioned trips with the Avan Cruiser or Aliner with the "Adventure Plus Packs" fitted?
I was keen on this type of camper trailer but maybe not a good idea......
Mike Harding said
06:39 AM Nov 3, 2020
I had a roof-top tent for a few years, they have positives and negatives.
Good advice already given so just a couple of brief thoughts:
Do not consider *any* of the standard caravans for the roads you mention.
Perhaps consider a quality ($1k+) single centre pole canvas tent? Very quick to put up/take down and you would not have to drag a trailer behind.
Whenarewethere said
02:12 PM Nov 3, 2020
We mostly sleep in the car, mostly one night then move. Have done GRR, Great Central Road, Purnululu etc. Water is the biggest issue so about a week then restock. Could go longer if we were to say put.
Batteries & solar for fridge are more than adequate. We grind our own coffee!
A spreadsheet down this page is a list of what we fit into our car & we manage pretty well. Three months is about the maximum we want to do at any one time as it all gets a bit of a blur.
We are new here and are in a quandary.
We are both 63 and still fit. Up until recently we had been camping with a roof top tent and basic items.
Now we no longer want to climb a ladder and want to have more comfort from rain, wind, mossies etc. we will keep our new Isuzu MUX as our travel vehicle.
We plan to still do the Gibb river road, Palm Valley, The Savanah way, through the middle of WA, Rainbow Valley and others of similar difficulty.....in no particular order.
We do not stay longer than one night in any location, so are after something easy and quick to set up and pack up the next morning. (just the two of us, no kids or pets)
The trailer/van have to have good large storage to carry water, fuel, gas, wood, food, tools etc.
So, my questions are;
For those that have done these places, what did you have with you in the form of camper trailer/mini caravan or other.
Would you consider the Avan Aliner/Cruiser with the adventure pack suitable for this kind of travel.
Considering the worst part of getting to these places are the rough corrugated roads shaking the heck out of the vehicle and trailer, which camper trailers or mini caravans would you NOT recommend for these trips.
Would you buy Australian made over overseas made if your budget is around $40 thousand.
Your help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
To add.....
I know that there are many choices of type of trailer such as
Forward fold, Rear fold, Side fold, Soft floor, Loft, Hybrid, Tear drop, Pop-up (Jayco/Avan) etc.
Question is, which one and why....
-- Edited by cernobila on Monday 2nd of November 2020 12:05:29 PM
I was going to post a long explanation of what I think you need to consider, but you seem to have a reasonable grasp of the problems you face wrt what will kill your camper/van.
As I read your post to suggest you favour a camper trailer type unit, and you have a good budget for good second hand units, I would leave Jayco, Avan, even Goldstream alone, and look at used Kimberley Kampas, Cub Off-road, Tvan and the like. All units will do the trips, some will just do them better, longer, and with less damage, when operated correctly. The rest such as layout, inclusions, size etc is down to your personal preference.
Your main issue as I see, beyond that, will be getting something with a big enough payload to carry everything you are suggesting.
Good luck with the search.
PS these are just my opinion, I do not own one of the units I suggest are better suited, and our Jayco Outback caravans have taken us along the Birdsville and Oodnadatta Tracks, the Robe River Rail access road, and other rough dirt roads, with minimal damage.
-- Edited by TheHeaths on Monday 2nd of November 2020 03:27:43 PM
Wow, did not think that a teardrop would make it as one of the first suggestions, although we have had a look at the "Stockman Rover" and for a while really liked the idea. My wife's main complaint with our old set-up with the roof top tent was that we got undressed to go to bed in the car or outside of the tent and then climbed in.....and in the morning we got out and into the car to get dressed......other than that, the idea of very quick setup is appealing.
Thank you for the input.
Thank you for that info.
A friend of ours who has plenty of experience with the Jayco poptops is in the process of completely revamping one of the bigger units from top to bottom so it could handle the rough roads on a regular basis without very regular repairs.....so I get what you said
I was keen on this type of camper trailer but maybe not a good idea......
I had a roof-top tent for a few years, they have positives and negatives.
Good advice already given so just a couple of brief thoughts:
Do not consider *any* of the standard caravans for the roads you mention.
Perhaps consider a quality ($1k+) single centre pole canvas tent? Very quick to put up/take down and you would not have to drag a trailer behind.
We mostly sleep in the car, mostly one night then move. Have done GRR, Great Central Road, Purnululu etc. Water is the biggest issue so about a week then restock. Could go longer if we were to say put.
Batteries & solar for fridge are more than adequate. We grind our own coffee!
A spreadsheet down this page is a list of what we fit into our car & we manage pretty well. Three months is about the maximum we want to do at any one time as it all gets a bit of a blur.
https://thegreynomads.activeboard.com/t65110614/towing-weights-again/