Bailey vans conquer corrugations

Two prototype Australian-built Bailey on-road vans travelling across Australia from east to west have survived the caravan-unfriendly Great Central Road including around 200km of punishing corrugations.

Travelling across Australia by the most direct inland route, the West2East Challenge started in Denham on Western Australia’s coastline on August 22, travelling along sealed roads to the remote mining town of Laverton via Northampton and Mt Magnet.

They then hit the dusty Grand Central Road, which at 1126km from Laverton to Yulara is Australia’s longest major Outback highway.

A mix of soft sand, rocky sections and corrugations, the mostly unsealed road proved relatively smooth sailing allowing for speeds up to 90km/h all the way to the West Australian-Northern Territory border, thanks to a number of graders along the route.

However, after passing through Tjukayirla, Warburton and Warakurna, the corrugations came out in force at the WA-NT border with a scenic but bumpy 232km stretch from Docker River to the turn-off to Uluru, Yulara and Kata Tjuta (Olgas) via the picturesque Petermann Ranges.

The leaf-sprung caravans towed by Toyota 200 Series LandCruiser wagons still managed a decent 50-60km/h by dodging the worst of the corrugations and hugging the softer, sandy banks along the sides.

Given the new Rangefinder models are standard ‘on road’ vans, it was no surprise both prototypes sucked in a significant amount of red dust, mainly through mandatory external gas vents around the cooktop and fridge.

There was no direct evidence of structural damage to the Australian-built chassis or Alu-Tech composite bodies from the constant pounding, with only minor issues visible such as screws working loose on a cupboard hinge and a removable speaker panel falling off.

Only one other on-road caravan was spotted along the entire stretch of dirt highway, with big off-road vans, smaller off-road campers and trailers, and the odd 4x4 truck-based motorhome making up the RV numbers.

Apart from hundreds of rusted car wrecks, spotted en-route was a variety of Spring wildflowers including the bright red Sturt’s Desert Pea, and abundant wildlife including wedge tailed eagles, brumbies and a herd of camels that blocked the road briefly as they crossed the road.

Speaking at the Ayers Rock Campground, Bailey Australia boss Adrian Van Geelen said he was already planning a number of design changes and improvements to the new vans based on the first 2400km of ‘real world’ testing.

“I think considering that they are prototypes and they are an on-road van that is being used severely in off-road conditions, I think we’ve done OK,” he said.

“I’m pretty happy what we’re going to present to the public (in October) is a really good quality and value for money on-road tourer.

“We’re not going to tout them as an off-road van but we’re going to say you can use them off-road (in certain conditions).”

Van Geelen was also pleased that new positive cupboard catches on trial during the trip had also stood up to the abuse.

“(Our main objective for the trip was) to prove that the cupboard doors and the lockers and things like this would stand (up to abuse)… so now we’ve tested them, we’re happy with that…”

He said cupboard door hinges on production versions will be better secured with “a longer screw and PVA glue”.

Other proposed changes to improve rough-road ability include increasing the ride height by a further 25mm, fitting bigger mud flaps plus a more user-friendly double entry step.

The West2East Challenge is also providing an opportunity to directly compare the two caravan stability control systems now available, with Al-Ko ESC fitted to one of the vans and Dexter DSC to the other.

Based on early impressions, Van Geelen said the Al-Ko system allows more sway or movement before activating, making it less intrusive on dirt, whereas the more sensitive Dexter system does its best work on bitumen where it detects and corrects any sway earlier, often before it’s noticed by the driver.

“I think more work needs to be done on the Dexter product, in understanding how it works properly in the Australian environment. Certainly the Al-Ko seems to be better off-road, and the Dexter better on-road.

“I’m happy with the Dexter but I think we need to get the off-road (calibration) sorted…”

After passing through Alice Springs, the Bailey convoy will continue to Tobermorey, Boulia, Bedourie, Birdsville, Windorah, and Roma before finishing at Byron Bay.

Van Geelen said he hopes to have at least one of the ‘unwashed’ trans-Australia Bailey vans on display at Melbourne’s Leisurefest from October 8-11, alongside final production versions of the new three-model 'Aussie' Rangefinder range.

MORE ON THE BAILEY RANGEFINDER:

Big Plans for Bailey Oz
First Bailey Slide-out for Australia
Bailey Rangefinder Nebula Review