Caravan Finder in Australia

[Dustydog]

The CF programme I saw last night was a real eye opener. Most of the caravans cost more than £30k.
Jayco have 46% of the market yet there are 126 manufacturers !
A lot of the designs looked most innovative to me. eg aluminium side panels is considered old hat, the way forward being lightweight metal frames with fibreglass sides.
Triple axles are not uncommon.
A lot have wonderful pull out sides giving more room.
Owners think nothing of pulling them through rivers!

I realise their roads and vehicles are different to ours but even so their products looked great.
However the cost is enormous. Where has the UK gone wrong, or have we

 

[Lutz]

No, I don't think anyone has gone wrong. One has simply got to accept that the conditions in Australia are different to over here.
Even lightweight metal frames with fibreglass sides are not necessarily the way to go. If they were, Hymer would be producing that type of caravan across the board rather than the just the Eriba Touring range.
Triple axles are simply to allow a large and heavy caravan to be built with the smallest possible wheels, otherwise I see little point in that configuration. Bearing in mind that most caravans in the UK and Europe are towed behind run-of-the-mill family saloons or estate cars and not behind big pickups as in Australia, we will never get into a situation where triple axles are required.
I am very sceptical about pull-out sides. Most major caravan manufacturers that have tried them stopped producing them later. They add a lot of weight and are very susceptible to leaks where they are supposed to be sealed against the rest of the caravan.
One should also bear in mind that a lot of caravans over here are used in winter and have to be suitable for such conditions, too.

 

[Gafferbill]

 

[Parksy]

If you are using Internet Explorer 9 Gafferbill have a look at the first sticky post in the Our Website section which will give easy to follow instructions on how to configure IE9 so that your text appears on this forum.

 

[Gafferbill]

.......nope.
Just trying to post a photo of an Australian caravan I took last year from a photobucket a/c without much success.
I followed the instructions you gave us as I saved them....... I think I made my album Private so the HTML code did not work on this forum!!

 

[Gafferbill]

............Cracked it

.
How to post one of my photos that is!!

I really like this outfit that I saw in Western Australia last year, photographed when leaving a pitch.
The tow vehicle carried a 12 volt battery bank for power when away from EHU.
A bit heavy for the UK but Ideal for the wide open spaces of Australia.

 

[joeby]

go to this website www.watsonscaravans.com.au , and look at the jayco sterling range , we were in Australia last year and cant wait to go back , the caravans are expensive , but they are made to go off the beaten track ,they have proper leaf spring suspension , and pushing the sides in with your fingers they dont give way like ours some of the twin axles are well over 2 ton and have a ball weight up to 190 kgs , some have built in auto washing machines , spare tyres on front and back , twin gas cylinders on the longer than our A frame , but they are over double the price of ours

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Joe
I can't open Watsons but see this one
http://www.jayco.com.au/Products/Caravans/default.aspx

 

[joeby]

Hi Dusty , try typing watsons in google ,seems to work in there , if any body wants to go onto one of the Australian caravan mags web site and go onto there reader forums its www.caravanandmotorhome.com.au worth a look

 

[Cruzer]

It's called evolution.

These types of van are better suited to the terrain of Aus than ours, likewise you'd struggle to get one of those monsters down a narrow Cornish lane, but would you expect to?

They all started from the same basic principle but each has developed to suit it's own environment.