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.

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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A caravan with all this remote country ability might indicate a lack of creature comforts within. But it's not the case. There are a number of layouts available and there's plenty of room for a decent-sized double bed with the dining area converting to a bed as well, so a small family could travel in comparative luxury. The cupboards and drawers are well constructed so that everything remains the way it should in even the roughest country. You can order your Kedron ATV with either a pop-up roof or a full height, but the pop-up arrangement works quickly and well and is an easy operation for one person. A four-burner gas stove handles the cooking and there's even a small oven. After a big day on the tracks, you can lose the grime under the external shower. For the Cape York trip, the blokes fitted two extra water tanks bringing the total to three. This meant that they could refill a tank from anywhere for showers and washing and keep their drinking water separate.

On a product as sophisticated as this it was bit of a surprise that the suspension was not independent. The Galls prefer to keep things simple though and have gone for a solid axle with butterfly-type leaf springs. These springs are designed to work a lot more progressively than standard leaves and in the towing test proved to be very stable and forgiving on bitumen, gravel and rough bush tracks. With the butterfly springs there is no need for shock absorbers either and this not only helps to keep costs down, but reduces the weight as well. All Kedron vans have a fully hot-dip galvanised chassis and the drum brakes are 'marinised', meaning they can be flushed out just by fitting a standard garden hose up to the fitting in the top of the drum and turning on the water. The water then runs out of the drain hole at the bottom of the backing plate.

The tow hitch was also a bit of a surprise. You almost accept that a Treg is the only way to go for serious off-road travel, but once again, the Galls have thought along different lines. They like a Hyland Hitch for this sort of use. It still uses a 50mm ball, but the ball is set on a higher shank than standard and the hitch allows a full 360 degree rotation as well as more than adequate articulation through gullies and creek crossings. We also used a Hayman Reese load-distributing hitch and the tow vehicle was set up with an electric brake adjuster. Our test route took us out of Brisbane and up through Caboolture to LandCruiser Mountain Park near Jimna. The tracks we subjected that van to closely approximated the sort of thing it tackled on the Cape and our two days out were incident free. The LandCruiser 100 Series turbo diesel did the job with no fuss at all.

For those who would like to see what the Gall boys have been up to, there are a series of videos available from them on previous trips including the Kimberleys and the Gulf of Carpentaria.

 

 

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