We bought our caravan a year ago when it was just a year old. It is a robust comfortable 25 foot off-road van custom-built by Designer Vans, and whilst we're both a couple of years off retirement we are currently doing plenty of short trips in it, sometimes with the whole family (five of us plus our Aussie terrier "Ruby"), just getting the feel of it and tinkering with its setup getting it ready for multi round Australia trips and gaining experience and confidence getting the rig around and setting up at camp.

For a few years I'd been doing a fair bit of magazine reading and internet gazing looking at many vans, but not just seeing the sort of setup that ticked all the boxes. So when one came up for sale we jumped and got it and haven't looked back since.

Being big and robust the van has a hefty tare mass of 2940 kg and an ATM of 3540 kg, so for the towing capacity our tug is a Series 200 TTD Landcruiser. The cruiser tows it around effortlessly, both on and off road.

I've put some pics of our rig below. The setup should give us plenty of comfort and independence on the big trips. It's got a full kitchen with a 3-way frig, large L-shaped lounge, a QS bed and 2 adult bunks, an ensuite with separate shower and toilet, front loader washing machine and a heap of mod cons. Total water capacity is 350L, three quarters for drinking. There are 2 165W solar panels to charge the 2 100A AGM batteries, and I've put a gen box on the back for our 2.4 kV Yammy inverter. Reverse cycle air con, diesel heater, and plenty of fans throughout for good air flow. There's stacks of storage inside and out. There's a gas bbq outside and the hot water is either gas or electric. I've installed satellite tv for where there's no tv reception.

The bits I really appreciate are to do with its build and stability, which is mostly what contributes to its weight, as is the case with many off-road vans. It has a 6" dual beam hot dipped gal chassis, a screwed and glued timber wall frame bolted to the chassis, and a one piece fibreglass roof on a tig welded alloy frame. All walls and roof are fully insulated. Overhead furniture is bolted in place and the base furniture is screwed to the wall frame and floor. It's got 3.7T Cruisemaster independent trailing arm suspension with Alko ESC, 12" off road electric drum brakes and 16" alloy wheels with General Grabber AT tyres and 2 spares. We haven't dragged the van over any real serious terrain yet to test all this, but the previous owner took it to the Flinders Ranges and said it took a hell of a pounding and never flinched. So hopefully the build quality will see us through many years of reliable travelling.

To make the cruiser suitable I've given it an Old Man Emu & airbag suspension lift, added ARB draws in the back for my tools, compressor and other junk, and added a Tow-Pro electric brake controller, 2-way radio and heavy duty roof racks and have been interchanging bike and kayak holders or a roof tray. I haven't worked out how to have all 3 on top at the same time yet but am working on it.

Designer Vans folded a few years ago, so we can't get any first-hand feedback from the van's builders when we need to find out how details such as what this thing is or how that thing was installed etc. All the same I've gone over the whole van inside and out, up and down and front to back, learning how it has been assembled and how it's all connected. Also the original owner kept and passed over to us all the van's drawings, diagrams, component and appliance docs and manuals. I keep this stuff in a draw in the van and it's proven to be invaluable.

The whole rig has left a bit of a hole in the bank account but we're both still working for another couple of years before retiring, so that should sort that out. There's still a few things yet to do, such as install DC-DC charging in the van, put a snorkel on the cruiser and upgrade its tyres, however all in all so far we're very happy with the rig and have been enjoying our trips away in it, gaining experience and confidence getting ready for the serious travelling after we've fully retired in a couple of years time and hit the road, just us and the dog.