Equipment Tests > Kedron Camper

Words and photos by John Denman

It's a safe bet that back in 1962 Barry Gall had no idea that the caravan business he began would be what it is today. In those days, Barry was operating out of the back of a service station in Brisbane and living in the nearby caravan park. Today, the company he founded still trades out of the original Gympie Road yard in the Brisbane suburb of Kedron. While Barry and his family have invested a lot of time in the sales side of caravans, it was only recently that they took the big step of building their own. That was in 2000, when they began manufacturing out of a factory further north at Brendale.

These people are more than just members of the caravan industry. They like to get out and see what their product will do. After 40 years in the one business you get a fair idea of what works and what doesn't, but they needed to reinforce that knowledge - and so began a series of annual bush treks. The most recent was a two and a half week trip up to Cape York. You don't see a lot of caravans much north of Coen. The roads are hard enough on a 4WD, let alone caravans and trailers. It's the sort of country where you really must have your gear set up just right, because if there's a weakness anywhere the tracks of Cape York will find it.

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Barry and his sons had done plenty of Outback travelling before in the 'All Terrain' vans they build, but Cape York has more than just rough tracks. They had to negotiate all the creek crossings, as well as some very tight pinches along the way. As part of the trip plan called for the Old Telegraph Track to be included, they knew it was going to get very interesting before it was over. As it turned out, they need not have worried - apart from having to remove the roll out awning from the side of the van in one tight section, the whole thing came through with only a couple of minor dents and scratches.

Kedron build their ATV's to go into the bush and, to this end, they take no chances in build quality. The van they took to Cape York is pretty much the same van you can order from the showroom, although there are a few extras they included to make life a bit easier on the dash to the Cape. However, those extras are nothing that a potential adventurer couldn't order for their own van.

Basically what you have when you get an ATV is the next evolutionary step from a top-level camper trailer. So, if you have reached the stage where a camper trailer lacks the refinements you need, then it's probably time to consider something like this. The Cape York Van has three 80-Watt solar panels mounted on the roof, where normally there would be only one. But those extra panels were needed to power the Vitro compressor fridge they fitted into the van, plus lights and the shower. The solar panels feed two 90amp/hour deep-cycle batteries and during the course of the trip, the combination of the batteries and the solar panels handled all the power demands placed upon them. This, of course, meant that the vehicle's charging system only had to look after the most basic tasks.

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