Philip Lord•17 Nov 2016

REVIEW

Drifta DOT 5 Equip

A light, compact bush trailer designed for hardcore off-road adventures

Less is more when it comes to hardcore, off-road camper-trailers. Towing anything in steep, slippery tight terrain is difficult enough, so if you’ve got a camper slung behind you want it to be as light and compact as possible.

This is where a camper trailer like Drifter’s new DOT 5 Equip comes in. Here we have an off-road trailer that is light, compact and nimble...

Drifta built its name as the go-to company for camping and camper trailer kitchens and 4WD cargo drawer systems, but has since expanded to include camping gear and camper trailers.

The DOT (for Drifta Off-road Tourer) range spans nine models, all of which keep to the ‘simple is best’ theme. All are built at Drifta’s Gloucester NSW factory and use Australian components.

AL-KO supplies the trailer parts, Austube the Duragal steel, Mullins the steel wheels, the toolboxes, sidebox and canopy by Diamond T and the awning is from Supapeg. Canvas and material is from Nolan/UDA, and is sewn in-house by Drifta.

The DOT 5’s RHS Supagal steel chassis is 40mm x 40mm with a 100mm x 50mm drawbar — nothing out of the ordinary there — but what makes it different is the T-piece section welded in between the longitudinal drawbar lengths. This is a good thing, because it beefs up the section of the camper trailer chassis that’s under most stress.

The DOT 5 has a long ‘wheelbase’ — its coupling-to-wheelset length — which helps improve stability when towing and provides plenty of room up top for storage. The downside is that cut-in is more pronounced and the trailer’s ramp-over angle is reduced — although given the high clearance it’s unlikely this would be much of an issue.

Underbody protection is well covered-off, with the most exposed item under there — the roto-moulded 80L water tank — protected by a sheet-steel plate. Checker plate aluminium protects the rest of the underside.

There are also large, thick mudflaps each side under the stone guard to stop the towing vehicle pelting the camper with debris.

Back at the front of the drawbar, there’s an Ozhitch off-road coupling and AL-KO heavy-duty off-road swing-up jockey wheel and an Anderson plug ready to hook up to the tow vehicle, followed by a PVC-covered, steel-frame stone guard with a neat PVC rubbish bag attached behind it.

There’s an open section between the stone guard and the checker plate toolbox, with two tie-down points on the marine-grade carpeted 3mm checker plate floor.

The dust-sealed toolbox, accessed via a locking top lid (with a neat 12v LED strip light attached to it), provides a heap of open storage space and has a sliding tray on its top section to store small items. This is a great idea, saving on fishing around for small stuff rattling around in the large open section.

The toolbox also houses the batteries, 240v battery charger, inverter and fusebox, all easily accessed for trouble-shooting. There are also two 12v auxiliary ports fitted here.

Between the toolbox and camper body is a narrow, partitioned aluminium box — ideal for firewood or additional jerrys.

Sitting on top of the trailer body is an aluminium checker plate box, which serves as the main internal storage area on the camper. On the front of this box you’ll find the MaxTrax recovery boards installed — one of those things you hope you’ll never need but are great to have close to hand.

The batwing awning pulls out easily from its stored position on the offside roof adjacent to the Rhino roof rack.

There’s a large, lockable lift-up hatch on each side (both strut-assisted) which reveal a large, partitioned and carpeted storage area. Each side has a LED strip light and the hatches have rubber dust sealing. There are also useful small, dust-sealed lockable boxes each side above the wheel arch.

On the nearside, there’s the 4kg gas bracket ahead of the wheel arch and just below that a checker plate aluminium box that opens to reveal the water pump and water outlet.

Behind the wheel arch on the nearside is the water tank filling point (with a locking cap), two auxiliary ports and — on the back corner of the trailer — a hand pump.

The offside body houses the water jerry ahead of the wheel arch, and side boards ahead of and behind the wheel arches feature grippy black aluminium checker plate step plates, ideal for when grabbing stuff from the rood rack.

At the back of the camper there’s a swing-away tailgate (with the spare wheel attached) that once opened gives access to two deep slide-out drawers.

Each has fold-down legs to support them and the offside drawer houses the EvaKool fridge, although there’s still a small storage space ahead of the fridge. The nearside slide-out drawer is deep and long and will house a large amount of gear, and includes a storage spot for the DOT’s picnic table.

Both drawers are lined with marine-grade carpet, and there’s a 12v LED strip light set high above the drawers.

VERDICT

The DOT 5 Equip removes any unnecessary complexity from bush camping, and appears to have the makings of an excellent base camp.

While lightness and simplicity are kings off-road, it’d be nice if there was an integral camping solution, although other Drifta trailers are available with a roof-top tent option.

WE LIKED:

>> Simple off-road base camp

>> Solid construction

>> Plenty of storage

NOT SO MUCH:

>> No integral tent (on this model)

>> Lack of rear recovery points

>> More lighting on offside would be good

DRIFTA DOT 5 EQUIP

Travel length: 3860mm (12ft 8in)

Body length (open): 1500mm (4ft 11in)

External body width: 1870mm (6ft 2in)

Travel height: 1850mm (6ft 1in)

Tare weight: 650kg

ATM: 1150kg

Ball weight: n/a

Body: 3mm checker plate aluminium

Chassis: 40 x 40mm RHS steel (100 x 50mm drawbar)

Suspension: AL-KO five-leaf springs, 45mm solid axle

Brakes: 10in electric

Wheels: 8 x 16in steel rims with LT245/75R16 tyres

Fresh water: 80L

Battery: 2x120ah AGM

Solar: Optional

Gas: 4kg (optional)

Hot water: n/a

Cooking: Optional

Fridge: EvaKool 47L

Shower/toilet: n/a

Lighting: 12v LED

Price: From $14,950 ($21,875 as tested)

Options fitted: Rhino roof rack with front/side rail kit and gutter panel ($1100), two Drifta storage boxes, including pole cradle ($1000), second battery (with box) and wiring upgrade to a 25amp/240V Projecta charger, with solar MPPT charger ($495) MaxTrax mounted including mounting pins ($320), 12V 10.5L/min electric pump, deluxe tap inside kitchen, inside electric pump under gas bottle holder ($595), three Drifta custom-made side walls ($1070), 20L plastic water jerry ($25), 3mm checkerplate wood box (425mm x 390mm x 185mm), mounted behind toolbox ($350), silver with black trim paint colours (no cost), 47 litre EvaKool fridge ($1220).

Supplied by: Drifta Camping & 4WD, Gloucester, NSW

Drifta DOT 5 Equip

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