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Equipment Tests > Britz Bushcampers
Britz Bushcampers
Words and photos by Gregor Stronach
We've all seen them, usually chock-full of backpackers wending their way across Australia on the adventure of a lifetime. They stick out like sore thumbs on the remote highways, which at this time of year are generally populated with large 4WDs towing caravans - set ups that can cost in excess of $100,000 before you even get moving.
So how do you beat the expense of buying a 4WD, a caravan, stocking it up and heading off around Australia? Easy - hire a campervan and use someone else's gear to see the sights. It's a comparatively low expense option for anyone that's been bitten by the travel bug and who wants to see the parts of Australia that the family sedan just won't get near, when motels are boring and camping out just isn't an option.
Britz has been hiring out their 4WD campers for a number of years now, and the most popular has always been the Bushcamper. It's based on a 4.2-litre naturally-aspirated diesel Toyota TroopCarrier, with a few major - and quite obvious - modifications. The standard six cylinder mill produces 96kW of power, and a healthy 285Nm of torque, which is enough to get the added weight of the Bushcamper moving and cruising at legal highway speeds.
The first thing people notice about the Bushcamper is the roofline. A fibreglass extension has been added to the top to allow for headroom and two beds in the back of the vehicle. The roof extensions give the Bushcamper an overall height of 2.9 metres - that's a tall vehicle in anyone's books. But it's a necessary evil - without the extra height in the back, the Bushcamper would only fit two occupants at best, and even that would be a little cramped.
As it stands, the Bushcamper is advertised as having a three-person capacity, but those three people would want to be very good friends. Any sort of long distance driving with three across the cramped front seat would get uncomfortable after about an hour or so on the open road, and it becomes tight off-road after just half an hour. The middle seat is very small, and I would suggest that the definition of a gentleman would be someone that could change to second gear in one of these without getting his face slapped. The Bushcamper cabin is pretty much a standard affair - there's an AM/FM radio cassette for musical accompaniment on the long drives and the rudimentary Toyota air conditioning that needs to work pretty hard to keep the cabin cool on hot days. The hard TroopCarrier seats don't really lend themselves to long spells behind the wheel.
But it's not the cabin that the Bushcampers are famous for - it's what lies behind the driver's seat that sets them apart. In the rear, there's a host of accessories to make life on the road a lot more comfortable - not as comfy as a caravan, but a lot better than spending the night under canvas.
There are three sleeping berths - one single, one double bed - that fold away in a cunning fashion when not in use. The double bed is essentially two wooden boards that fit into dedicated rails at what is normally the roofline of the TroopCarrier, while the single bed folds out from the couch that runs down the left hand side of the cargo space. The mattresses provided are of a suitable thickness, and the beds offer a restful night's sleep. Pillows and bedding are supplied, along with sleeping bags for each occupant.
With the beds folded out of the way, there's even more to explore. There are storage pockets aplenty, with four cupboards along the right hand side. Most of these cupboards are already used for storage of a lot of equipment necessary for day to day survival - pots and pans, plates and cups, a two burner Coleman gas stove and a sink with a pump-operated tap are all right there in the rear. There are two tables - one supported on a centre stand in the middle of the vehicle, and one that folds down from the large rear door.
To keep your supplies nice and cold, there's an Engel 40-litre fridge situated right behind the driver's seat. The only complaint here is that the basket within the fridge has a tendency to rattle around off-road, adding to the general cacophony of any off-road drive. Stuffing paper towels into the gap between the basket and the fridge wall helped somewhat, but even then it was obvious that the fridge, and its contents, were taking a bit of a battering.
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The overwhelming question that I was asked by other drivers along the way was "what's it like to drive?" The answer is pretty simple - it's like driving a cross between a Troopie and a billboard. The extra height requirements of the vehicle mean that the Bushcamper is a very top-heavy vehicle. Add to that the propensity to be blown all over the road in high winds means that the driver needs to stay constantly alert for sudden gusts of wind from side-on. There were several moments along the drive that I found myself suddenly on the wrong side of the road. Learning to anticipate when the vehicle would suddenly decide to shift direction required a careful eye for telltale signs of dust movement off to the side of the road.
Off-road, the extra height and higher centre of gravity can be a bit of handful at times - the usual side-to-side swaying that occurs when crossing wheel ruts is accentuated to the point where one could be forgiven for getting a little sea-sick. For safety, it's best to remain mindful of the fact that the Bushcamper could be more prone to tipping than a standard 4WD, and needs to be driven as such.
The extra weight in the rear of the vehicle also lends itself to bogging very easily. Bushcampers are supplied by Britz with an astonishing 60psi tyre pressure in the rear wheels, which doesn't help if you head off the bitumen at any stage. A U-turn by the side of the road just outside Andamooka turned into a major operation when the Bushcamper sank almost instantly in the soft red dirt - 15 sweaty minutes later, I was back on the bitumen, but having thought about the fact that many people likely to hire this sort of vehicle would probably not have known what to do under those circumstances, and could conceivably still be there.
The extra frontal area of the vehicle does have an effect on fuel usage a well - for this trip we covered 3439km, and used 563.43 litres of diesel, giving an average usage of 16.38 L/100km - a little more than the advertised usage of 15L/100km from the Britz promotional material and the 14.7L/100km we got from a standard Troopie.
There are a couple of bits of gear missing from the standard package that need to be addressed. There is an 'Outback Safety Pack' available for hire at an extra charge, which contains a snatch strap, EPIRB and a folding spade. You can hire this at an extra cost of $95 per rental. Items like a UHF radio at the very least should be included in the rental as a standard item - as anyone that has ever had to stop by the side of the road would attest, there's nothing quite like the feeling of helplessness that accompanies standing by the side of the road with an immobile vehicle, hundreds of kilometres from anywhere. The rental companies could look into this in future, as adding safety features like a UHF radio could only enhance their reputations within the tourism industry.
Britz vans are noticeable, and the lovely folks in rural and Outback Australia all seem to enjoy the same joke. It took me a while to find out what they were yelling at the vehicle as I rolled past, but I was finally advised as to what it was by Scott, who runs the Mobil service station in Andamooka. Be prepared for the ubiquitous "stay with the vehicle!" from just about everyone as you drive by.
A Britz Bushcamper will set you back $189 per day of hire, plus a one-off fee of $428 for insurance. This includes unlimited mileage through the hire period. It is recommended that you return the vehicle clean, tidy, full of fuel and with the LPG bottle refilled to avoid extra service charges at the end of your trip. For the full details on how to hire a Bushcamper, head to www.britz.com.
We've all seen them, usually chock-full of backpackers wending their way across Australia on the adventure of a lifetime. They stick out like sore thumbs on the remote highways, which at this time of year are generally populated with large 4WDs towing caravans - set ups that can cost in excess of $100,000 before you even get moving.
So how do you beat the expense of buying a 4WD, a caravan, stocking it up and heading off around Australia? Easy - hire a campervan and use someone else's gear to see the sights. It's a comparatively low expense option for anyone that's been bitten by the travel bug and who wants to see the parts of Australia that the family sedan just won't get near, when motels are boring and camping out just isn't an option.
Britz has been hiring out their 4WD campers for a number of years now, and the most popular has always been the Bushcamper. It's based on a 4.2-litre naturally-aspirated diesel Toyota TroopCarrier, with a few major - and quite obvious - modifications. The standard six cylinder mill produces 96kW of power, and a healthy 285Nm of torque, which is enough to get the added weight of the Bushcamper moving and cruising at legal highway speeds.
The first thing people notice about the Bushcamper is the roofline. A fibreglass extension has been added to the top to allow for headroom and two beds in the back of the vehicle. The roof extensions give the Bushcamper an overall height of 2.9 metres - that's a tall vehicle in anyone's books. But it's a necessary evil - without the extra height in the back, the Bushcamper would only fit two occupants at best, and even that would be a little cramped.
As it stands, the Bushcamper is advertised as having a three-person capacity, but those three people would want to be very good friends. Any sort of long distance driving with three across the cramped front seat would get uncomfortable after about an hour or so on the open road, and it becomes tight off-road after just half an hour. The middle seat is very small, and I would suggest that the definition of a gentleman would be someone that could change to second gear in one of these without getting his face slapped. The Bushcamper cabin is pretty much a standard affair - there's an AM/FM radio cassette for musical accompaniment on the long drives and the rudimentary Toyota air conditioning that needs to work pretty hard to keep the cabin cool on hot days. The hard TroopCarrier seats don't really lend themselves to long spells behind the wheel.
But it's not the cabin that the Bushcampers are famous for - it's what lies behind the driver's seat that sets them apart. In the rear, there's a host of accessories to make life on the road a lot more comfortable - not as comfy as a caravan, but a lot better than spending the night under canvas.
There are three sleeping berths - one single, one double bed - that fold away in a cunning fashion when not in use. The double bed is essentially two wooden boards that fit into dedicated rails at what is normally the roofline of the TroopCarrier, while the single bed folds out from the couch that runs down the left hand side of the cargo space. The mattresses provided are of a suitable thickness, and the beds offer a restful night's sleep. Pillows and bedding are supplied, along with sleeping bags for each occupant.
With the beds folded out of the way, there's even more to explore. There are storage pockets aplenty, with four cupboards along the right hand side. Most of these cupboards are already used for storage of a lot of equipment necessary for day to day survival - pots and pans, plates and cups, a two burner Coleman gas stove and a sink with a pump-operated tap are all right there in the rear. There are two tables - one supported on a centre stand in the middle of the vehicle, and one that folds down from the large rear door.
To keep your supplies nice and cold, there's an Engel 40-litre fridge situated right behind the driver's seat. The only complaint here is that the basket within the fridge has a tendency to rattle around off-road, adding to the general cacophony of any off-road drive. Stuffing paper towels into the gap between the basket and the fridge wall helped somewhat, but even then it was obvious that the fridge, and its contents, were taking a bit of a battering.
read on below advertisement
The overwhelming question that I was asked by other drivers along the way was "what's it like to drive?" The answer is pretty simple - it's like driving a cross between a Troopie and a billboard. The extra height requirements of the vehicle mean that the Bushcamper is a very top-heavy vehicle. Add to that the propensity to be blown all over the road in high winds means that the driver needs to stay constantly alert for sudden gusts of wind from side-on. There were several moments along the drive that I found myself suddenly on the wrong side of the road. Learning to anticipate when the vehicle would suddenly decide to shift direction required a careful eye for telltale signs of dust movement off to the side of the road.
Off-road, the extra height and higher centre of gravity can be a bit of handful at times - the usual side-to-side swaying that occurs when crossing wheel ruts is accentuated to the point where one could be forgiven for getting a little sea-sick. For safety, it's best to remain mindful of the fact that the Bushcamper could be more prone to tipping than a standard 4WD, and needs to be driven as such.
The extra weight in the rear of the vehicle also lends itself to bogging very easily. Bushcampers are supplied by Britz with an astonishing 60psi tyre pressure in the rear wheels, which doesn't help if you head off the bitumen at any stage. A U-turn by the side of the road just outside Andamooka turned into a major operation when the Bushcamper sank almost instantly in the soft red dirt - 15 sweaty minutes later, I was back on the bitumen, but having thought about the fact that many people likely to hire this sort of vehicle would probably not have known what to do under those circumstances, and could conceivably still be there.
The extra frontal area of the vehicle does have an effect on fuel usage a well - for this trip we covered 3439km, and used 563.43 litres of diesel, giving an average usage of 16.38 L/100km - a little more than the advertised usage of 15L/100km from the Britz promotional material and the 14.7L/100km we got from a standard Troopie.
There are a couple of bits of gear missing from the standard package that need to be addressed. There is an 'Outback Safety Pack' available for hire at an extra charge, which contains a snatch strap, EPIRB and a folding spade. You can hire this at an extra cost of $95 per rental. Items like a UHF radio at the very least should be included in the rental as a standard item - as anyone that has ever had to stop by the side of the road would attest, there's nothing quite like the feeling of helplessness that accompanies standing by the side of the road with an immobile vehicle, hundreds of kilometres from anywhere. The rental companies could look into this in future, as adding safety features like a UHF radio could only enhance their reputations within the tourism industry.
Britz vans are noticeable, and the lovely folks in rural and Outback Australia all seem to enjoy the same joke. It took me a while to find out what they were yelling at the vehicle as I rolled past, but I was finally advised as to what it was by Scott, who runs the Mobil service station in Andamooka. Be prepared for the ubiquitous "stay with the vehicle!" from just about everyone as you drive by.
A Britz Bushcamper will set you back $189 per day of hire, plus a one-off fee of $428 for insurance. This includes unlimited mileage through the hire period. It is recommended that you return the vehicle clean, tidy, full of fuel and with the LPG bottle refilled to avoid extra service charges at the end of your trip. For the full details on how to hire a Bushcamper, head to www.britz.com.
