To boldy go where no camper has gone before...
THIS is insane.
Forum Discussion
What I noticed about the Australian Caravans is that most of them use a trailing arm coil spring suspension that would be great for off road use. They have good ground clearance and seem to handle well off road. I checked out a small trailer at the 2013 Overland Expo that had a similar suspension, but it had an air bag setup instead of coil springs. The trailer was nowhere near that large.
The difference that I see between the Aussie trailers and many of ours is that they don't seem to carry much water and very little propane. They like heating water with a diesel heater instead of LP.
When I built my trailer for my Avion C-11 camper, I split the difference for my needs. In the desert, we can't just go out and put the suction side of a pump in the nearby stream to get water. We have to take our water with us. My trailer won't go as far back as some of those but it will carry a quad that will go back much further than any of those. It also carries 80 gallons of water, 20 gallons of gasoline, 100# of LP (upgradable to 120#) space for 7 batteries, 15" of ground clearance, short overhang, and uses the same tires and rims as my F-350 truck. My trailer is 5,500# fully wet and will carry more than 7,000# gross which gives me over a 1,500# payload.
It all comes down to your needs. Personally, I like the Australian Caravans, but many of you are correct in realizing that they probably wouldn't sell a lot of them in the states.
The difference that I see between the Aussie trailers and many of ours is that they don't seem to carry much water and very little propane. They like heating water with a diesel heater instead of LP.
When I built my trailer for my Avion C-11 camper, I split the difference for my needs. In the desert, we can't just go out and put the suction side of a pump in the nearby stream to get water. We have to take our water with us. My trailer won't go as far back as some of those but it will carry a quad that will go back much further than any of those. It also carries 80 gallons of water, 20 gallons of gasoline, 100# of LP (upgradable to 120#) space for 7 batteries, 15" of ground clearance, short overhang, and uses the same tires and rims as my F-350 truck. My trailer is 5,500# fully wet and will carry more than 7,000# gross which gives me over a 1,500# payload.
It all comes down to your needs. Personally, I like the Australian Caravans, but many of you are correct in realizing that they probably wouldn't sell a lot of them in the states.
