Thinking of getting an 'off-road' van?

rockylizard · Guru

Thinking of getting an 'off-road' van?

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Sounds like a paid advertisement.
I would never choose air bags or coil springs or a tandem axle for an "off road" trailer.

Cheers,
Peter

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

Yeah, we all have our preferences of what is the best for us ... Ya'd think Kedron wooda learnt summit by now. cry

".......... fitted with Kedron's new 'ALS' auto-levelling airbag suspension. Twelve months in development and designed with the Airbag Man, the ALS system includes a dedicated external locker containing a German-made pump, air inflation tank and hand-held control offering three 'auto' modes: off-road, highway and parked, along with manual adjustment."

Kedron 01.JPG

http://www.kedroncaravans.com/als---auto-leveling-suspens.html

Cheers - John

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Yep.
They have learned to supply what the current fashion wants.

That air "inflation tank" (it is usually called an 'air accumulator') does not seem to be in a "dedicated external locker"?

Cheers,
Peter

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

And who is to say that when you've almost broken your car, van & wife's will just to say that "I took my van there" (I noted the (pose) photographer) that the view/location was not as good as it was thought & he had to turn around after a short distance!

Any old codger (like me) wanting to go to those places needs his head read!

The Gall Boys with their Kedrons always have lots of back ups for when the going gets tough.

Desert Dweller · Guru

There's fair bit of happy hour bragging these days regarding ''we took our van to an obscure, difficult place to reach & lived to tell the tale''.

We just smile politely & secretly think that one day they'll come a gutsa''. No fool like an old fool, so they say.

We're looking for relaxation on our travels not adventure. We both had stressful jobs when we were working. Each to their own though. smile smile

HandyWalter · Senior Member

There is no such thing as a true off road van. Its just that some are more capable/adaptable/small enough to take just about anywhere a 4wd can go. But note not everywhere. Ie I would love to see and Kedron Bushmaster Vista Van etc get up the Trigg track switchbacks near Walhalla! The main difference is a specifically, purpose built van will survive with LESS damage at a given speed than a base "on road only" van, on a dirt or corrugated road. However if you drive your van to the conditions then you will go as far as any off road van of a similar size, UNLESS you require high clearance. It is possible to lift most vans by 2" to help this, so I agree with the article that most of the "off road" hype is just window dressing to make the basic van look tough. Having said all that I have what my manufacturer states is an off road van. I have done so many mods to make it dirt road ready, it now can handle the "main tracks" we want to go on without damage. However I would not dare take it on the Simpson,Anne Beadell, Gunbarrell, (even though I saw a person has taken a caravan there), or the Canning. If someone can show me an off road Caravan that has done all 4 of them without damage, then I would be the first to buy one!!

Bill B · Guru

Desert Dweller wrote:

Each to their own though.

So why do you find it necessary to continually denigrate other people's choices

-- Edited by Bill B on Sunday 29th of July 2018 12:23:42 PM

Desert Dweller · Guru

Bill B wrote:
Desert Dweller wrote:

Each to their own though.

So why do you find it necessary to continually denigrate other people's choices

-- Edited by Bill B on Sunday 29th of July 2018 12:23:42 PM

Forums are there for people to express opinions, we express ours, you express yours. We don't always have to agree on everything otherwise it would be awfully boring.

Now do you have any opinions on ''off road'' travel? blankstare

Branchie · Senior Member

At its entry level, its a checker-plate dress-up kit designed to impress your neighbour, but little more; at the other extreme, it describes something that is built to survive hundreds of kilometres of brutal corrugations.

Strange comment made here, as both Spinifex and Kedron who are both respected off-road builders, use "Dress Up checker plate" down the sides of their vans.....

HandyWalter · Senior Member

And Branchie I have seen neither in all my travels on Vic High Country tracks, Simpson, Canning, Gunbarrell etc. They are not fully off road, just better built and perhaps better prepared to handle the rough stuff. Off road is a misnomer.

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Hi Walter,
Your comment about doing a number of Len Beadell's tracks takes me back to 1986 when we were members of the Far West 4WD Club (Ceduna, SA). Six vehicles were in the convoy. Our main ambition was to see the Serpentine Lakes & we travelled from Ceduna to Nullarbor, up to Cook, then up to Vokes' Hill Junction on the AB "Highway". From there we travelled west until heading south to ****lebiddy, via Rawlinna - checking all of Len's markers against our maps. We had to carry all of our fuel & water (although the latter was topped up from a bore) with us! No-one had a trailer, they would not have survived.

While going along the Anne Beadell HW, we decided one afternoon not to put up our large cabin tent - it was painful to pack it up again in the morning. All went well until the only cloud in 10,000 sq kms decided to open up & the tent went up in 5 minutes (a record)! Later that night we heard others on the HF who were further west - they panicked in the dark, heading out before they got stuck in the mud. We saw their tracks later the next day - where they went, no 4WD should ever go! Even a camel would have struggled.

Whether the track has widened over the years, I do not know but the bushes were scraping the sides of our cars - we all had our exterior mirrors pulled in. To take an "off-road" van through those conditions would have been impossible without a LOT of pruning!

Keith, This was the trip that really got Pat (& me much later) into bird watching. Two ornithologists came over from Adelaide to a survey through the Great Victoria Desert (both were members of the Nissan Patrol Club of SA); one knew Peter Slater's twin volumes off by heart! I was rather sceptical (emus, ravens, crows, wedge-tailed eagles - there's my 4 species!). To my surprise we found & identified 65 species! The trip from ****lebiddy to the Eyre Bird Sanctuary via Twilight Cove was extremely interesting! No Kedron, Bushmaster or Bushtracker could ever do that trip! I had the heaviest car in the convoy (MQ Nissan diesel LWB) & was the Tail-end-Charlie. On one section of the beach we had two long tow ropes & a snatchum strap between us & the next vehicle & the tide was coming in!

So if you're going "off-road" with a caravan, stay only on unsealed roads only - it can get traumatic!

HandyWalter · Senior Member

Hi Warren,

I personally met Len when he came to the TLCCOV in the late 70's. We then proceeded to do all of his "roads" over then next few years, visiting him in Adelaide to get the run down on what to see and where each time we went out. Everything was in miles measurement. Recently I redid the Anne Beadell and used my old notes to see things that most do not see as they are now well off the "beaten" track. I probably violated some indiginious policy but I it was worth it to still see some areas that are still "pristine" and not destroyed by the wayward traveller.