I understand how you must be feeling regarding what is out there, but believe me ,what you find great in one you will find not so good in another,Vans today are made to look very prissy and tissy ,not built like they were only a few years back. Evan the off road rigs maybe marketed as off road ,but the appliances inside are no different to the on road vans ..We had our Supreme built to our specs as it is our home while working, but while it was being built it was still a head spin from wow to go.I demanded the 13 pack glue..no they only ever use so and so ,so had to go to all lengths to make them use that.They give us a date of completion 5 weeks later we took delivery.Lucky we decided to stay slose to where it had been built for a extra week , just in case we had issues with equioment not working or what ever..well you guessed it back we go again for the problems to be fixed...So what ever decision you make and you find it wasn't the right decision, or it was the right decision .it will be ok,you just learn to live with what you have and every thing dosnt matter, as tomorrow you just hitch up and off you go to the next camp.I guess what i am trying to say is a caravan is high maintance no matter what brand you decide on.We decided on the Supreme , due to top finish ,but i notice you say what you looked at was not that good. We are on our third van the two before were a off roader/and a pop top but the top top was just not our cup of tea, but some love the pop top,so every one has different ideas.of what best suits them.
-- Edited by herbie on Saturday 23rd of March 2013 01:19:49 AM
bazzaswife said
04:04 AM Mar 23, 2013
So glad I found this forum - and grateful for everyone who responded to my earlier post (even though I didn't understand some things about ball weight or whatevers). But....
My husband did a bad thing. He took me to the Melbourne Caravan and Camping Show - and we could only last for about 4 hours because it was too hot
Unfortunately that got the bug into me for a new van. We had traded in our landcruiser in August for a Prado and now I want a van with toilet shower and wash machine - because he wants to do some serious touring. So,,,, we are getting rid of our our 17 pop-top but the question is....which van to buy. Have been researching at dealers and online but getting confused.
We looked at the Supreme - but I thought that their finishing off wasn't all that great. I have seen some earlier models which looked much better finished - any one else notice this or am I being too picky? Also looked at the Galaxy, Paramount (but read some posts which said it had leak issues and poor warranty service in the past), Golden Eagle Eureka, and Avan. We have had a Jayco Flamingo (no.1) and a Concept Ascott (2). I was hoping I could prevail upon you to give me some recommendations on a new van. We are looking at about an 18-18'6 up to 19' but would like the tare weight about 1900 if possible. I liked the Evernew but it was just a little too much $$$ - having to watch what $$ didn't get destroyed in 2007 and not growing.
If you could let me know what vans you have been happy with would very much appreciate it.
Thanks and regards.
jetj said
04:41 AM Mar 23, 2013
Sorry, this may sound like a negative comment but looking at what used to be caravans after that cyclonic weather, I would be looking very carefully.
Grams said
05:02 AM Mar 23, 2013
Hi Bazzaswife,
We too looked at every van place we could find, looked in 100's of vans...it go so that one just looked like the next...but we found the van that we said "oh wow" as soon as we walked into it. Check out my thread in the Rigs section..."this is what we bought"
It's a 2012 19ft 6" Island Star Opal, it weights 2100kg so our Prado can pull it. It has a shower, toilet, washing machine, solar panels, batteries and even has an outside shower. We wanted a self contained caravan so we could free park, plus it will be our permanent home.
We also saw a lot of vans that had poor finishes, but this van is very well made, even has lights in the overhead cupboards, so you can see in the darkest places.
reglynn said
08:28 AM Mar 23, 2013
Arhhh which van???? Can i firstly say that we are new to the playground (2 weeks) we looked and looked and looked at vans for a long time, and finally settled on a new ROMA ELEGANCE, we bought it at the caravan show last year and have done several little trips in it before we embarked on this our dream trip.
We can thoroughly recommend this van, the set out is very functional and the detail is amazing (maybe i should work for them) check it out on the web, I am sure you will love it.
Look forward to catching up with some GN on the road soon,
cheers Lynn
I forgot to mention that it went thru cyclone oswald on the very top of mount tamborine on australia day!!!!! not a leak found!!!!!
-- Edited by reglynn on Saturday 23rd of March 2013 10:17:54 AM
Gerty Dancer said
04:29 PM Mar 23, 2013
Check out the Jurgens, we were impressed and have only met very happy Jurgens owners, they are generally lighter than similar makes. Also the Geist is a beauty but not sure if you can get new ones in Australia any more. The first question we asked salesmen when we were caravan-shopping was "What does it weigh?"... some avoided that question, but there are honest ones out there.
Cruising Cruze said
05:34 PM Mar 23, 2013
give yourselfs a bit of leanway try 1800kg so you've got a bit spare
I understand how you must be feeling regarding what is out there, but believe me ,what you find great in one you will find not so good in another,Vans today are made to look very prissy and tissy ,not built like they were only a few years back. Evan the off road rigs maybe marketed as off road ,but the appliances inside are no different to the on road vans ..We had our Supreme built to our specs as it is our home while working, but while it was being built it was still a head spin from wow to go.I demanded the 13 pack glue..no they only ever use so and so ,so had to go to all lengths to make them use that.They give us a date of completion 5 weeks later we took delivery.Lucky we decided to stay slose to where it had been built for a extra week , just in case we had issues with equioment not working or what ever..well you guessed it back we go again for the problems to be fixed...So what ever decision you make and you find it wasn't the right decision, or it was the right decision .it will be ok,you just learn to live with what you have and every thing dosnt matter, as tomorrow you just hitch up and off you go to the next camp.I guess what i am trying to say is a caravan is high maintance no matter what brand you decide on.We decided on the Supreme , due to top finish ,but i notice you say what you looked at was not that good. We are on our third van the two before were a off roader/and a pop top but the top top was just not our cup of tea, but some love the pop top,so every one has different ideas.of what best suits them.
-- Edited by herbie on Saturday 23rd of March 2013 01:19:49 AM
So glad I found this forum - and grateful for everyone who responded to my earlier post (even though I didn't understand some things about ball weight or whatevers). But....
My husband did a bad thing. He took me to the Melbourne Caravan and Camping Show - and we could only last for about 4 hours because it was too hot
Unfortunately that got the bug into me for a new van. We had traded in our landcruiser in August for a Prado and now I want a van with toilet shower and wash machine - because he wants to do some serious touring. So,,,, we are getting rid of our our 17 pop-top but the question is....which van to buy. Have been researching at dealers and online but getting confused.
We looked at the Supreme - but I thought that their finishing off wasn't all that great. I have seen some earlier models which looked much better finished - any one else notice this or am I being too picky? Also looked at the Galaxy, Paramount (but read some posts which said it had leak issues and poor warranty service in the past), Golden Eagle Eureka, and Avan. We have had a Jayco Flamingo (no.1) and a Concept Ascott (2). I was hoping I could prevail upon you to give me some recommendations on a new van. We are looking at about an 18-18'6 up to 19' but would like the tare weight about 1900 if possible. I liked the Evernew but it was just a little too much $$$ - having to watch what $$ didn't get destroyed in 2007 and not growing.
If you could let me know what vans you have been happy with would very much appreciate it.
Thanks and regards.
Sorry, this may sound like a negative comment but looking at what used to be caravans after that cyclonic weather, I would be looking very carefully.
We too looked at every van place we could find, looked in 100's of vans...it go so that one just looked like the next...but we found the van that we said "oh wow" as soon as we walked into it. Check out my thread in the Rigs section..."this is what we bought"
It's a 2012 19ft 6" Island Star Opal, it weights 2100kg so our Prado can pull it. It has a shower, toilet, washing machine, solar panels, batteries and even has an outside shower. We wanted a self contained caravan so we could free park, plus it will be our permanent home.
We also saw a lot of vans that had poor finishes, but this van is very well made, even has lights in the overhead cupboards, so you can see in the darkest places.
Arhhh which van???? Can i firstly say that we are new to the playground (2 weeks) we looked and looked and looked at vans for a long time, and finally settled on a new ROMA ELEGANCE, we bought it at the caravan show last year and have done several little trips in it before we embarked on this our dream trip.
We can thoroughly recommend this van, the set out is very functional and the detail is amazing (maybe i should work for them) check it out on the web, I am sure you will love it.
Look forward to catching up with some GN on the road soon,
cheers Lynn
I forgot to mention that it went thru cyclone oswald on the very top of mount tamborine on australia day!!!!! not a leak found!!!!!
-- Edited by reglynn on Saturday 23rd of March 2013 10:17:54 AM
The first question we asked salesmen when we were caravan-shopping was "What does it weigh?"... some avoided that question, but there are honest ones out there.