Popular view of French SUV's.

dacia4x4 said:
as I said Shane this set up suits our needs adequately,no need for more weight or jam tins (pistons) unnecessarily using oxygen. as for weight distribution in van that be a commonsense issue evident to most vanners.four years ago heading up the newell to toogoom Queensland came across Hilux twincab and dual axle van tripped over and van split open, wife and I stopped to help. elderly couple shaken, bruised but OK, said van got sway up and could not control it. don't know what speed they were doing or how can was loaded as most of belongings were scattered over road, but was on raised section of highway over flood plains think before parkes or Forbes? looking at wreck I was happy to have crappy European suspension and short rear, axle to tow ball distance compared to long tow ball to axle distance and cart springs on rear of hi lux........jim
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The pommy 'vans move around a LOT more than local vans. But correct themselves so long as you have some nose weight there. Aussie 'vans have lots of weight at the extremities which seems make them tow far more stable............................. right upto the point where they start swaying ...... at which point, all the mass at the ends takes control and you "loose it".

The grey nomad seem to have no idea how "on the edge" they are.

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This is my setup ..... the shitbox and block of flats..... Average speed ... maybe 85km/h ...... I'm towing this massive wind sail. Almost without fail the grey nomads will catch me on cruise control .... pull out to pass me... they get about level with the towcar and they start swaying .... pulling back infront .... I'm shitting myself watching them sway and walk all over the road ........ They have no idea how close to disaster they are. The panic, slow a bit for 10minutes.... then hit up the cruise control and set it back to 100km/h :eek: ... an insane speed to be towing a wobbly at.

Google the bailey caravans towing stability tests. Bailey even goes to the extremes of placing the gas bottles over the axle. All of the weight is concentrated over the axle(s) and none at the ends. It'll walk around, but you should never "loose" it.
 
Russell Hall said:
My nightmare when droving stock. A Falcon at 90 mph was a danger to humanity on its own let alone with a van. I'm sure the Falcon was the best contributor to the undertaking trade of all the popular models.
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No, that would be a VW Beetle!
 
Kim Luck said:
There are a band of Australian motorists with caravans who dream of being able to tow a 3.5 tonne van, but never need to because their vans gross out a lot less than that. Or should! By the time you acquire the $135K off road van from T-Van and a decent 280 kW $80K puller you will still be restricted as to where you can go and probably should have bought one of these: http://traveltrucks.com.au/expedition-camper which can still tow 3.5 Tonnes whilst you live in it....................
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Wow. that Expedition Camper is a well considered, designed and assembled bit of kit. I could see myself in one of those. At our stage in life, no children to consider it would be perfect. I like that it is self contained, and probably reasonable on fuel consumption. AU$400k is probably a reasonable asking price for what you get. But you need to be in a circumstance where you could use it for many months to justify the asset.
 
Whippet said:
Wow. that Expedition Camper is a well considered, designed and assembled bit of kit. I could see myself in one of those. At our stage in life, no children to consider it would be perfect. I like that it is self contained, and probably reasonable on fuel consumption. AU$400k is probably a reasonable asking price for what you get. But you need to be in a circumstance where you could use it for many months to justify the asset.
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I think you'll find you can obtain an Expedition camper with the lot for about $250K, still a bit out of my price range! :)
 
DoubleChevron said:
The pommy 'vans move around a LOT more than local vans. But correct themselves so long as you have some nose weight there. Aussie 'vans have lots of weight at the extremities which seems make them tow far more stable............................. right upto the point where they start swaying ...... at which point, all the mass at the ends takes control and you "loose it".

The grey nomad seem to have no idea how "on the edge" they are.

View attachment 131548

This is my setup ..... the shitbox and block of flats..... Average speed ... maybe 85km/h ...... I'm towing this massive wind sail. Almost without fail the grey nomads will catch me on cruise control .... pull out to pass me... they get about level with the towcar and they start swaying .... pulling back infront .... I'm shitting myself watching them sway and walk all over the road ........ They have no idea how close to disaster they are. The panic, slow a bit for 10minutes.... then hit up the cruise control and set it back to 100km/h :eek: ... an insane speed to be towing a wobbly at.

Google the bailey caravans towing stability tests. Bailey even goes to the extremes of placing the gas bottles over the axle. All of the weight is concentrated over the axle(s) and none at the ends. It'll walk around, but you should never "loose" it.
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Having had a 28 foot van come round to say hello at 90kmh I can vouch for the fact that once they go its just ugly. That was an old viscount, and even with the spares and gas bottle on the A frame, still only had 160kg ball weight..And that was with a 200 series tow truck.
We recently sold our replacement 23ft van cause the kids are now scared of caravanning (they were in it when I had the tank slapper, the cruiser was up on 2 wheels till the van smacked into a tree) so now I have a2019 bt50 that I bought through work cause I didn't wanna pay fbt on something nice, and needed to tow.
I think lots of folks make the same kinda choice as me, buy a 4 door Ute so they don't have to pay a stupid amount of fbt through their business on a 50k car
Having said that, now looking to sell the bt and just buy a wagon or SUV for $5-15k so we can still take the dogs places without them scratching shit outta the kids
 

I really like the lateral thinking of this design. Insulated fibreglass construction ( no sandwich or stick and sheet bodywork ) and the fold up drawbar. This level of options means a new price of C $ 76K though. You can buy a lot of conventional caravan for that much money.
 
GRAHAM WALLIS said:
You can get a lot of motel rooms for that!
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I guess it depends on the style of travelling, exploring, camping, holidaying, glamping that one desires to do. I don't consider that there is a "more betterer" approach or solution than another. Different people are in different stages of life with different aspirations and preferences and finances to fund their choice.

I agree that I do like the hotel option for when it suits. But there would be times when a fully self contained vehicle would also be a good solution. One of the benefits of a vehicle like the Scrubmaster, is that you can always sell it and realise some of the asset value. I like that it is not compromised, and if you wanted to drive around a town, or take interesting deviations, you don't need to go back to where the caravan is parked. If you did enjoy the more remote style of exploring, it would allow you to get to many places.
 
cam740 said:
Having had a 28 foot van come round to say hello at 90kmh I can vouch for the fact that once they go its just ugly. That was an old viscount, and even with the spares and gas bottle on the A frame, still only had 160kg ball weight..And that was with a 200 series tow truck.
We recently sold our replacement 23ft van cause the kids are now scared of caravanning (they were in it when I had the tank slapper, the cruiser was up on 2 wheels till the van smacked into a tree) so now I have a2019 bt50 that I bought through work cause I didn't wanna pay fbt on something nice, and needed to tow.
I think lots of folks make the same kinda choice as me, buy a 4 door Ute so they don't have to pay a stupid amount of fbt through their business on a 50k car
Having said that, now looking to sell the bt and just buy a wagon or SUV for $5-15k so we can still take the dogs places without them scratching shit outta the kids
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o_O I hope you don't mean the kids were in the van during the "incident"!

"Tank slapper" - obviously a bike rider from way back. I learnt to tie my luggage to the seat, and not use the rack when travelling on the highway.
 
fritzelhund said:

I really like the lateral thinking of this design. Insulated fibreglass construction ( no sandwich or stick and sheet bodywork ) and the fold up drawbar. This level of options means a new price of C $ 76K though. You can buy a lot of conventional caravan for that much money.
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Just make sure the slide out kitchen stove/sink etc is secured, or it has a secure latch, as this is what hit the rear of the Laguna in 2009 as the towing vehicle drove past our stationary car as we waited for pedestrians to clear so we could enter the driveway of a business in Echuca. it is like an extended battering ram. My good Lady was driving, saw it in the rear view mirror but could not do anything to get out of the way.

Fortunately we were both insured by the same company.!
Ken
 
Armidillo said:
o_O I hope you don't mean the kids were in the van during the "incident"!

"Tank slapper" - obviously a bike rider from way back. I learnt to tie my luggage to the seat, and not use the rack when travelling on the highway.
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Nah they were in the car, wouldn't have survived if in the van I think
 
cam740 said:
Having had a 28 foot van come round to say hello at 90kmh I can vouch for the fact that once they go its just ugly. That was an old viscount, and even with the spares and gas bottle on the A frame, still only had 160kg ball weight..And that was with a 200 series tow truck.
We recently sold our replacement 23ft van cause the kids are now scared of caravanning (they were in it when I had the tank slapper, the cruiser was up on 2 wheels till the van smacked into a tree) so now I have a2019 bt50 that I bought through work cause I didn't wanna pay fbt on something nice, and needed to tow.
I think lots of folks make the same kinda choice as me, buy a 4 door Ute so they don't have to pay a stupid amount of fbt through their business on a 50k car
Having said that, now looking to sell the bt and just buy a wagon or SUV for $5-15k so we can still take the dogs places without them scratching shit outta the kids
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did you have a big tire rack on the back bumper? You want no weight at the extremities.
cam740 said:
Having had a 28 foot van come round to say hello at 90kmh I can vouch for the fact that once they go its just ugly. That was an old viscount, and even with the spares and gas bottle on the A frame, still only had 160kg ball weight..And that was with a 200 series tow truck.
We recently sold our replacement 23ft van cause the kids are now scared of caravanning (they were in it when I had the tank slapper, the cruiser was up on 2 wheels till the van smacked into a tree) so now I have a2019 bt50 that I bought through work cause I didn't wanna pay fbt on something nice, and needed to tow.
I think lots of folks make the same kinda choice as me, buy a 4 door Ute so they don't have to pay a stupid amount of fbt through their business on a 50k car
Having said that, now looking to sell the bt and just buy a wagon or SUV for $5-15k so we can still take the dogs places without them scratching shit outta the kids
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That's probably about right. The old caravans such as mine aren't very heavy. What they are is a big wind sail. If you have a spare tire frame on the back bumper .... GET RID OF IT!!!! The weight of two big spares swinginig off the back of a caravan is insane!

These oldies don't have the mass to stop the wind having an enormous influence. I drive with my eyes glued to the mirrors. You don't want to be caught by a truck and be overtaken without realising. As soon as I see a truck is coming around ..... I lift off, gently apply ***only the caravan brakes***. That way the truck gets by faster and being sucked and pushed away from it as it passes has little effect.

Its all the wind, some days 100km/h feel fantastic (I never tow faster than 90 though) others ..... I don't give a shit, if 75km/h feels best, I travel at 75. Mountain ranges can cause very strange wind gusts. Coming into Ballarat through the hills, I've had winds take the towing mirrors clean off my car (they twist so much the brackets lift off). I always practice going for the brake controller in a panic before I tow anywhere. THAT is what will save me if I ever "loose" it. I've never got big sways up, but even the slightest wiggle from the caravan and I hit the brake controller to slow us up and travel at a slower speed. by hitting the brake controller, I mean I'm not touching the cars brakes. I'm applying only the caravans. If the shit really hit fan, I'd have the go pedal nailed to the floor boards and the caravan brake applied as hard as they'll go (you are literally trying to force the thing straight)

If you still want to do caravaning ... but don't want the stress of towing a wobbly. Now you have a ute, take a look at 5th wheeler caravans. They tow like a semi .... the towball is slightly forward of your rear axle .... it shoudl never really sway or move (when was the last time you saw a truck sway :) ).

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GRAHAM WALLIS said:
Tent will solve that problem.
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I detest having to dig holes to crap into or displaying my Apollo-like torso to passers-by whilst showering in broad daylight. Likewise, I'd prefer to sleep on a Hasbro mattress on Bonnell springs over anything directly touching the dirt. Was a time when we'd sleep in the open on banana lounges outside, next to the car, but those days are long past, as they might well be for others. I need comfort in my old age, tents are for refugees, disaster victims and circus troupes. :)
 
Semis do sway and its takes a skillful driver to bring them back. B Doubles sway and are very hard to bring back.
Sleeping on the ground is fine for a young fellow and all you need is your swag. As you get older the ground seems harder and a bed and pillow more attractive. When I used to go away on fires you tended to judge a place by whether a bed was provided. NSW was great.
There was a certain island somewhere else known for its tourist trade and hospitality industry that thought the firemen who came from all over Australia to help deserved neither beds nor good food. I was getting on a bit and found I'd wake up in the middle of the night feeling rather stiff and using a helmet as a pillow isn't the best. Made me appreciate a bed and a pillow and cured me of ever eating thin baked beans again. As for the island, Karma's a bitch and when it caught fire again years later nobody came to help.
Cars are ok to sleep in if you can put the seat down but they get very cold. Used to camp with a big old wartime army tent years ago.
 
DoubleChevron said:
I always practice going for the brake controller in a panic before I tow anywhere. THAT is what will save me if I ever "loose" it. I've never got big sways up, but even the slightest wiggle from the caravan and I hit the brake controller to slow us up and travel at a slower speed.
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Hi Shane.

I agree with you and have the ability to apply on the caravan brakes is an essential feature. Alas I suspect that many who tow vehicle caravan combos don't have any appreciation of the physics involved and by habit go straight to the vehicle brake pedal.
 

Back in the day C5s were highly rated by UK caravan users.... the combination of short rear overhang and the self levelling make them safe in dynamic chassis terms. Trouble is the relative lack of power when towing heavy and tall OZ caravans.
 
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