Thread: I want to set up to tow a Van

Some interesting ones here, although I'm not sure if they're tough enough for rough roads.

Top-5 small caravans - www.caravancampingsales.com.au

I've seen this one and was impressed.

Winton 10 - Lightweight compact caravan | Ezytrail Camper Trailers

I don't tow a van, but I have towed a 6.7 M and 2,500 kg boat, on a dual axle, electric brake trailer, some 30,000 km in the last two years with a 2015 D4 (TD6).

• The D4 tows the boat almost like its not there. The boat does not push the D4 around!
• With electric brakes the D4/boat, it seems like the combo stops at least as well as the D4 alone. The trailer brakes come on just ahead of the D4 brakes and then get progressively harder as you stand on the brake peddle
• 10L/100km without the boat - 17L/km with the boat
• I can tow comfortably on the speed limit, whatever that may be - 100, 110, 130 kph
• You know the boat is there when you want to pass something, but the extra margin of clear road required is not all that great.
• The boat has most of its weight, and therefore the dual axles, towards the rear and it seems to me that that eliminate any tendency to for the boat/trailer to get the "wobbles". I see more and more vans on the road with the dual axles towards the rear rather than in the centre of the van - I assume that helps with towing stability

http://www.fototime.com/F8F57C0C521618D/standard.jpg

Originally Posted by Bails

I have been looking at Sunland, Zone , and Mountain Trail, full size vans. Leaning towards the Sunland brand ATM.

I ended up ordering a Zone because of the lighter weight and more modern looks and good customer service that their owners talk about. (They have a Facebook page that Zone, Enerdrive and Cruisemaster sit in on) Getting the Venture series 20.5ft at 2350kg Tare, 3500kg ATM. Everything else was too heavy. I hope to keep mine under 3 Tonne.
Cheers

Originally Posted by PeterC

I ended up ordering a Zone because of the lighter weight and more modern looks and good customer service that their owners talk about. (They have a Facebook page that Zone, Enerdrive and Cruisemaster sit in on) Getting the Venture series 20.5ft at 2350kg Tare, 3500kg ATM. Everything else was too heavy. I hope to keep mine under 3 Tonne.
Cheers

Great choice, fantastic vans. A few here have them and can’t praise them enough.

Originally Posted by PeterC

I ended up ordering a Zone because of the lighter weight and more modern looks and good customer service that their owners talk about. (They have a Facebook page that Zone, Enerdrive and Cruisemaster sit in on) Getting the Venture series 20.5ft at 2350kg Tare, 3500kg ATM. Everything else was too heavy. I hope to keep mine under 3 Tonne.
Cheers

Yes the Zone is a very nice looking Van, My three selections are based on weight and function. I aim to visit factories in the first half of the year . Did you have a look and the Mountain Trail LXV series by any chance?

I've carefully inspected other Mountain Trail campers at shows and they appear to be quality products. Haven't seen that particular one.
The Zones I've seen seem nice, but I wonder how robust they would be on rough roads.

Composite construction is stronger than fastener construction - once its bonded you need to physically destroy the join to take them apart.

Styromax do a large number of composite builds doing some extreme use and never had a failure.

Zone also do a clever “harness” system for their wiring - it’s like a vehicle loom, plugs along it to take off or feed in components and all accessible. A very clever design that makes the wiring robust.

A good friend has one and has taken it down the likes of the Anne Beadell, the GRR etc and never had a problem with the unit - same cannot be said for his 76 towing it.

I don't anticipate extreme off road use , but I have a belief buy in case you change your mind. I own a BMW R1250 GSA and don't do a lot of extreme riding but if I want to I don't have to consider if I am about to damage my Vehicle.

Anyway for me this is part of the journey which I enjoy, took 18 months of research before I purchased the Sport , so I expect some time before a final decision is made. In he mean time I should have a brake controller fitted soon.