Off road caravans

If you intend to travel distances on many inland Australian dirt roads, check the caravan or camper carefully for a strong chassis, well covered pipes and wires underneath, and solid and properly attached cupboards and fittings inside. Regular caravan manufacturers can make a beefed up caravan model, put off-road in its name, or use some outback name which gives the impression of a go anywhere van, but if you read the fine print on a number of these, to take on rough, corrugated or stony roads would invalidate the warranty.  Even without this disclaimer, they may not be suitable for long distances on corrugated roads, every bit of which can do damage which will eventually show. 

Many of our inland roads are just that; thousands of kilometres of corrugations.   Even soon after grading (which leaves the base corrugations) it only takes a week or two of traffic before they are just as bad.  Long distances of corrugations are far more damaging than going truly off road and making your own tracks.  Some of these models may be suitable for taking a short distance on a dirt road to a camp ground or tourist feature, but are not intended for long distance travel off bitumen.   Top of the range off road caravans should also be relatively dust proof. 

Strength is heavy, and the top ‘rough road’ brands are all heavy.  When purchasing such a van, choice of tow vehicle may be an issue.  When you look at what you will put into the van and tow vehicle to provision yourself for outback and independent travelling (including yourselves), many Landcruisers and Patrols towing large caravans would be over the total rig limit, so for the larger heavy vans, tow vehicle such as F250 or F350, Silverado or other light trucks may be more suitable as a tow vehicle.