slownse
Australia
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Ouer 19' Coleman trailer newer mised a beat 16000 miles Florida al the way op the top to Proudhobay and back not iven a flat tyer.
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RobertRyan
Australia
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Baljahaha wrote:It would not be economical feasible for a US manufacture to market an off road trailer, there is just no market for one. The US has insidiously become a nation of RV parks and concrete.
Very different expectations here, so RV's have to be much more robust here.
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westend
all over
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A couple of different ways to approach this. The easiest is to look for the most sturdy and robust TT frame and suspension, hook up, and take to the road. There could also be modification of the frame/suspension so that endurance and peace of mind are increased. The ultimate may be finding a knowledgeable builder to build one from the frame up. In any of the above models there would exist the possibility of breakdown. The forces at work can't preclude the occasional repair due to road/off-road hazard and encounter at speed.
I see where some folks dismiss the Airstream as a capable model but Wally Byam took caravans of Airstreams across some of the worst terrain on the planet. I'm sure some had issues but I would assume all made it back home. The airframe style construction of the top works is pretty strong.
'03 F-250 4x4 CC
'71 Starcraft Wanderstar -- The Cowboy/Hilton
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69 Avion
Phoenix, Arizona
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If someone could buy an Airstream shell and build an Avion style frame with a good suspension and decent ground clearance, they would have a very durable travel trailer. If a person is going to do extreme dirt road traveling, the aluminum shells are expensive to repair.
In Australia they have so many places to go off road that the off road TT seems to be a popular option. If there was a market in the US someone would fill it. I built my own trailer to put my 1969 Avion camper on, simply to do what many folks already do in Australia. It will go back as far, and last as long as any currently built US TT in it's weight class will, that I know of. I couldn't find anything in the US that fit my needs. Mine won't do the extreme off roading that some of the small Australian TT will do, but that is an entirely different class of TT. To do the extreme off roading, a TT needs to be very light, with a low center of gravity and high ground clearance. I don't think that is what the OP is looking for. It does appear that he is looking for the type of TT that is common in Australia for rugged off road usage and yet is comfortable to live in. The closest I've seen so far in this thread is the Arctic Fox. If I didn't have a camper to start with I would buy a large Livin Lite 11.5 camper and put it on my trailer. It would certaily last a long time.
Ford F-350 4x4 Diesel
1988 Avion Triple Axle Trailer
1969 Avion C-11 Camper
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Bajahaha
Kalifornia
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RobertRyan wrote:Baljahaha wrote:
It would not be economical feasible for a US manufacture to market an off road trailer, there is just no market for one.
The US has insidiously become a nation of RV parks and concrete.
Very different expectations here, so RV's have to be much more robust here.
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Robert Ryan,
My statment "The US has insidiously become a nation of RV parks and concrete" is so true--and so sad.
Maybe some day, some one, in the US will import an Aussie line of trailers or copy their features and produce a true off road model in the US...But as John Wayne once said "That'll be the day!"
Currently if you want an off road trailer is US modify one as we did or build one as has been suggested..
SDM
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RobertRyan
Australia
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Bajahaha wrote:My statment "The US has insidiously become a nation of RV parks and concrete" is so true--and so sad
I have seen some US RV parks they strangely, are not to the standard of many here. Very Very true concrete everywhere. To scratch the itch of the "One Big Lap of Australia" yes you can stick to paved highways in Australia but to experience more obscure destinations you need to hit the dirt roads, not Gall Boys tough, but still dirt roads for hundreds of miles.
* This post was
edited 01/25/13 02:16pm by RobertRyan *
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slownse
Australia
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Manny butiful places to go camp in the states, u dont have to go to a RV resort, but they do have more sealed roads than in OZ, u dont have to travel on interstates and we normaly try to avoid them.
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Wes Tausend
Bismarck, ND
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...
Probably the best type off-road travel trailers presently on the North American continent would be the smaller egg campers. Since the major monocoque structure has few, or no, joints, it is unlikely that they will come apart from vibration. That, and their lightness is their greatest off-road asset. Most American made trailers, including many recommended here, simply weigh too much to be off-road. Imagine pulling through muck, snow or sand in the middle of nowhere with something that weighs over 7000 pounds dry, on 4 purposely tiny trailer tires.
These smaller "egg" trailers also have very good resale (and one other advantage to small, is fuel economy for a rather long trip). So sell it when you get back and buy a roomy, gas-hogging, flimsy blacktop model for lower state touring.
You can pretty well bet that one of the main off-road advantages of Australian RV's is less average weight than the luxury behemoths built here.
Check out RV.NET small TT's forum.
Wes
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Days spent camping are not subtracted from one's total.
- 2000 Excursion V-10 - 2004 Cougar Keystone M-294 RLS, 6140# tare
- Hensley Arrow - Champion 4000w/3500w gen
- Linda, Wes and Quincy the Standard Brown Poodle
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RobertRyan
Australia
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Wes Tausend wrote:You can pretty well bet that one of the main off-road advantages of Australian RV's is less average weight than the luxury behemoths built here.
Maximum weight is roughly 8000lbs. A lot weigh that. There have been 27ft Off Road Caravans about 11,000lbs but you would be struggling with an Ford F450 pulling that Off Road. The stop go nature of Off Road Caravans puts a lot more strain on hitches etc than running on a road.
This "Mack" basically a rebadged Renault Truck was used eventually to pull this 27 ft Bushtracker. It was a combination Horse Float and Tow Vehicle. Slightly ridiculous solution that worked, but shows the problem of having too heavy a Caravan Off Road. Wes,after talking to a Caravan builder he put the Main advantage down to much more sophisticated suspension systems and there is a very wide variety of those available here.
* This post was
edited 01/26/13 03:08am by RobertRyan *
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RobertRyan
Australia
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RobertRyan wrote:Wes Tausend wrote:You can pretty well bet that one of the main off-road advantages of Australian RV's is less average weight than the luxury behemoths built here.
Maximum weight is roughly 8000lbs. A lot weigh that. There have been 27ft Off Road Caravans about 11,000lbs but you would be struggling with an Ford F450 pulling that Off Road. The stop go nature of Off Road Caravans puts a lot more strain on hitches etc than running on a road.
This "Mack" basically a rebadged Renault Truck was used eventually to pull this 27 ft Bushtracker. It was a combination Horse Float and Tow Vehicle. Slightly ridiculous solution that worked, but shows the problem of having too heavy a Caravan Off Road. Wes,after talking to a Caravan builder he put the Main advantage down to much more sophisticated suspension systems and there is a very wide variety of those available here.
F450 Ford and 23ft Bushtracker
A Ford F250 with a 18ft Kedron
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