How well will a normal road caravan hold up to Corrugations?
We will be buying secondhand and there are a lot more options if we look at on and off road caravans, also more chance on picking up a deal, we wont be going 4x4'ing with it, but suspect that we may want to go somewhere down a long dirt road on our travels around Auz, so, could we get away with a normal road caravan?
Our van is a 16.5 ft Jayco. When it was virtually new, we took it to Gladstone Qld, then turned West, South, West, South etc until we got to Nocundra. Then we headed South to Tiboorburra. Fabulous trip, but the corrugations were horrendous. Nothing broke on the van, although an overhead cupboard which was simply stapled together (well done Jayco) started to fall apart. A bit of drilling and a 2" screw strategically placed fixed that and the other side as well.
Caravans generally ride quite well. However, they are not normally built for rough stuff and you can expect something to let go if you do too much rough driving. Once I had some light gauge wire which I was going to put through a drilled hole in the towball to prevent it coming undone accidentally. I forgot and found it still sitting on top of the coupling when I had driven about 150 km over pitching roads. Incidentally, our van doesn't have shock absorbers either. It is over 16 years old and has about 180000 km, so I am a bit more careful about where I take it these days...
-- Edited by erad on Monday 28th of March 2016 03:35:34 PM
Our first van was an Island Star pop-top, 16' single axle, slipper springs and no shockers. We took that van on some of the roughest corrugated roads around. This included the Mereenie Loop, down through Mulga Park station as well as Farina to Andamooka via the top of Lake Torrens... and there was much more in between.
We broke nothing, but did get it bogged in the dry bed of the Finke river once, which was interesting.
As long as you drive to conditions and make sure you let your tyres down a bit when you hit the rough stuff, chances are you'll be fine. Just don't be in a hurry and leave yourself plenty of time. Oh, and don't attempt to "skip" over the corrugations by driving faster - that will most likely end in disaster.
We've had two larger, dual axle, dirt road (not off road) vans since and although we don't tow remote like we used to, we still quite happily tackle the odd back track and bumpy road. I'm not sure what size van you are looking at, but in my opinion a single axle van will generally handle the rough stuff better than a dual axle van.
Good luck in your search and happy travels mate.
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Cheers, Gerry Lexus LX470 2012 Traveller Sensation Pinnacle 21' Member VKS737 - mobile 3535
I'm hoping you'll do well, as we are planning to do the same! The van we bought is a single axle on road Island Star pop-top, with the axle under slung & flipped, giving it more clearance. Apart from that, its an on-roader. My biggest concern is dust ingress. To combat this I'm going to put a small sliding pin lock a the top & bottom of the door to compliment the door lock currently in place. Corrugations make doors flap & that means dust inside! The van already has a scupper vent to pressurise it & I'm also going to tape cardboard over all of the vents & cross my fingers lol!
We're new to caravanning, but not new to driving on long corrugated dirt roads, which we've done till now towing a soft floor camper. We let our tyres down way lower than most on dirt roads & I always get negative comments when someone asks & I tell them how low we go. The late Adam Plate of the Pink Roadhouse Oodnadatta used to give out free charts of tyre pressure recommendations & we stick with what he recommended, it has served us well.
The speed you travel at is also very important! Its really either go very slow, or "get up over the corrugations" driving in between is a nightmare on corrugations! It won't take you long to work that out though lol!
Good shocks and lower tyre pressures . Larger higher aspect ratio tyres help also .. I have similar issue with rear suspension on RV being too firm . The more travel the better . As most just worry about ride hieght and weight capacity ..
It depends on how corrugated you call corrugated lol
My van is called an "all terrain" - which is supposed to be half way between an on-road and off-road RV. Its just marketing and sales hype and about the only thing I can see by casually looking at it is that the chassis is much heavier than the on road ones.
I have taken my van down corrugated roads, but not ones that haven't been apparently graded for years and the road looks like looking out at a rough and choppy ocean.
Buying a older 2nd hand van which seem to be much better constructed than the new ones may be much better on roughish roads.
And I agree about dropping tyre pressures - much sure you invest in a decent quality larger 12v air pump - I bought a $79 SuperCheap one which was as slow as a wet week to put air in and eventually stopped working. Went to a good car parts shop and spent $249 on a good one - still going well and bangs the air in pretty quickly (oh, and carry a good quality tyre pressure gauge as well)
Have a great time and drive safely !
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
As has been said in previous replies, driving to the conditions, being aware of the limitations of the vehicle and van, wisdom with tyre pressures, wisdom with travel speed etc etc.
Cars today, and vans today (perhaps ) are at least as good or better than when we woz younguns
We used to travel to everywhere, and anywhere, in the old EH Holden and the like, with the only sort of vans they built, and got there, enjoyed it, and got back.
These are the sort of things we had back then -
So, exercise the same caution, wisdom and skills that were exercised in the "good ole days" - and enjoy the challenge
Cheers - and happy travelling - John
-- Edited by rockylizard on Monday 28th of March 2016 09:42:01 PM
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2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE Auto - 2008 23ft Golden Eagle Hunter Some people feel the rain - the others just get wet - Bob Dylan
Thanks for the comments, sets my mind at ease when looking at a on road.
It will be occational, but i just want to know that if we need to do a strech of corrigation that i wont be writing off the caravan :D
And i fully agree, drop the tire preassure a bit (20% is a good number from what i hear) then 50-70kph depending on what is smoother and the conditions, visibility and ability to stop
P.S. we also in a soft floor camper at the moment, getting tired of the setup time and not being self contained as we move around a lot for contracting work
Just one more thing to bear in mind when you're travelling over corrugations. Do not assume that the ride you feel in the car is what's happening at the van. They have totally different suspension dynamics so what may feel smooth in the car may in fact be rattling your van to bits.
Slower, rather than faster is always a safer bet. I've been down to 5 - 10 kph on some stretches! Painfully slow, but when you eventually get there, you're much more likely to enjoy that beer at the other end.
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Cheers, Gerry Lexus LX470 2012 Traveller Sensation Pinnacle 21' Member VKS737 - mobile 3535
Thanks for the comments, sets my mind at ease when looking at a on road.
It will be occational, but i just want to know that if we need to do a strech of corrigation that i wont be writing off the caravan :D
And i fully agree, drop the tire preassure a bit (20% is a good number from what i hear) then 50-70kph depending on what is smoother and the conditions, visibility and ability to stop
P.S. we also in a soft floor camper at the moment, getting tired of the setup time and not being self contained as we move around a lot for contracting work
Hello Normad Kev
Around 1987 or thereabouts, I was in employment about 30 kilometres east of Kookynie, which is about 70 kilometres north east of Menzies WA. It was a very rough track, from Kookynie to our site, (4x4 only).
One Saturday evening returning home to Kalgoorlie, we had to stop and remove from this one lane track the following debris.
1 x caravan roof hatch
1 x caravan rear window
1 x caravan passenger side wall, complete with door
1 x caravan fridge complete with broken copper pipe
1 x caravan cooker complete with broken copper pipe
I could only assume that the driver must have heard the unusual noises, stoped and seeing the front and drivers side of the caravan intact, had thought that everything was OK.
We never did find out who the caravan belonged to, where it came from, or where it ended up.
Don't worry most Off-Road caravans never go off the bitumen. Their owners always stay in CP's & wash them every day. We've had an On-Road caravan with decent shocks & an under-slung axle for more ground clearance & a better approach & departure angle for the past 4 years. We're away 6 months of every year in the bush doing nature photography mostly where no-one else is around but us. Our van has gone extremely well using a little commonsense & not taking it on any ''hard core'' tracks. We wash it twice a year at home.
Vans with stapled chipboard cabinetry seem to last about 5 K of serious corrugations before things start to disintegrate. Ask any AVan owner who has tried the Tanami about their experience. As said above, what you experience in the cab of the tow vehicle is no real indication of what is happening in the van. You might judge your current speed to be "smooth" but what is happening back there will be different. An Off-Road label on a van is not that much use because the quality of a dirt road varies so much, plus tyre pressure, shock absorbers, length of springs, and travel speed are all variables in the equation.
It's not all bad though, you can get just about anything down a rough road if you take it real easy.
Another thought - once the damage is able to be seen, turning around is not much of an option. Once things are loose, continued travel just accelerates the process.
Iza
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Iza
Semi-permanent state of being Recreationally Outraged as a defence against boredom during lockdown.
A couple of our friends, both with serious off-road caravans, decided to "investigate" what really happens inside the van over corrugations. They both got their wives to drive, while they travelled back inside the van armed with hand held UHF radios.
They both said the noise was deafening and the shaking, at all but very slow speeds, was incredible! It completely changed the way they tackled these roads from then on.
I'm not suggesting that people should try this as it is completely against the law to travel in a moving caravan, but it certainly was an eye opener for them. I only wish they took some footage back there (but I guess that would've been incriminating ).
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Cheers, Gerry Lexus LX470 2012 Traveller Sensation Pinnacle 21' Member VKS737 - mobile 3535
Speed and tyre pressures down to suit conditions, and you should be able to get through safely. And by speed down, we had our last dirt road Jayco down to 15 - 20 kms on sections of the Oodnadatta Track to try and keep it together. 50 - 70 kmh is often the top speed you can attempt on better sections of roads!
Remember, however, that there is a big difference between most On road/ Off road vans, and the true Off Road vans that cost a mint to buy. Such vans as Bushtracker. Kedron, Trakmaster, and several other very expensive models are true Off Road vans, and are made for a lot more rough usage than the "soft roaders", dressed in checker plate and lifted a bit (like ours!). Most of the others are really only dirt road vans, as they have very little difference in manufacture furniture and interior wise to the on road versions.
So, vans such as ours will start to wear out quickly if subjected to continuous use on corrugations and rough roads. If you are considering things such as the Gibb River Road, Savanannah Way around the Gulf, Great Central Road, and other such bush tracks, then a 2nd hand "true" off roader would be a better bet to stay together, but will bleed your budget dry much quicker.
Hope you find what you are looking for.
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Regards Ian
Chaos, mayhem, confusion. Good my job here is done
Good shocks and lower tyre pressures . Larger higher aspect ratio tyres help also .. I have similar issue with rear suspension on RV being too firm . The more travel the better . As most just worry about ride hieght and weight capacity ..
Thanks for the comments, sets my mind at ease when looking at a on road.
It will be occational, but i just want to know that if we need to do a strech of corrigation that i wont be writing off the caravan :D
And i fully agree, drop the tire preassure a bit (20% is a good number from what i hear) then 50-70kph depending on what is smoother and the conditions, visibility and ability to stop
P.S. we also in a soft floor camper at the moment, getting tired of the setup time and not being self contained as we move around a lot for contracting work
G'day Nev, driving at 50-70KMH is right in the nightmare zone on corrugated roads mate! It will shake your fillings out lol!
) are at least as good or better than when we woz younguns 
).
