Michael Browning•4 Feb 2016

REVIEW

JB Family Bunk Dirt Roader

Four person families that like to get off the grid will find plenty to like in this 22ft bunk van

JB is one of the relatively new names in the Australian caravan industry, but one that has garnered a lot of respect and word-of-mouth endorsement from satisfied owners in the six years since it has been doing business under its own nameplate.

Before then it was building caravans for other companies that were sold under names such as Bellarine, Liberty, Yarrawonga and Red Centre – and still does today in the case of the latter two.

But when it hung up its own shingle in Craigieburn, it was determined to have key points of different over the many other caravan brands that emanate from factories large and small in Melbourne’s north.

One is the company’s aim to become a one-stop-shop, building or warranting everything in the van in its two factories, rather than fobbing customers off to suppliers if proprietary products fail.

So JB Caravans welds its own chassis on site from 3.22mm thick zinc-galvanised Australian steel, builds its own timber wall frames and furniture and has become a Dometic service agent.

To ensure continuity, it has also standardised on Vehicle Components’ CRS or full-blown XT independent coil spring suspension for all but its sole entry-level Dreamliner on-roader, while all JB caravans have Al-Ko ESC fitted as standard.

Another key decision that has shaped JB’s current range was to specialise in building dirt road and off-road caravans – the continuing growth area in the Australian market.

The wisdom of this was reflected in the 22ft Family Dirt Roader reviewed here, which is a caravan built to take families on long distance adventures to most parts of Australia.

READY FOR THE ROUGH STUFF

Unlike many caravan makers, JB doesn’t tell its customers where they can or cannot take their caravans, supporting their products wherever they go provided that owners ‘travel according to the conditions’.

So if you want to explore Australia but don’t want to be daunted by unsealed major roads, the nine-model JB Dirt Roader range that spans lengths from 19ft to 22ft 3in is a good choice.

On the other hand, if you're intending to do regular rough road travel, the tougher Scorpion Off-Road range with its meatier underpinnings, greater ground clearance and more adjustable and robust Cruisemaster XT coil or airbag suspension, might be a better choice.

To be honest, the 22ft Dirt Roader is probably as much caravan as most families will ever need, given that you would probably require something at least as big and tough as a 200 series Land Cruiser to haul it on unsealed surfaces when fully laden to its 2950kg ATM. I’d prefer an even bigger American-sourced 4WD pick-up up front if I planned to take a 3500kg laden Scorpion Off-Roader into tricky terrain.

As configured, the Family Dirt Roader is a pretty tough customer. JB’s home-built chassis looks sturdy and is well finished, with most of the vulnerable stuff underneath like its twin 95 litre fresh water tanks and separate standard grey water tank, all tucked up high out of harm’s way.

The exception is the short PVC waste pipe and its shut-valve that is right in stones’ path. A simple shield or lagging with carpet or rubber would solve this.

The Cruisemaster CRS tandem coil spring trailing arm suspension with its twin shock absorber per wheel is a particularly neat and compact installation that should ensure this van has a smoother ride over corrugations than a conventional roller-rocker leaf spring set-up.

However it’s nowhere near as strong in its construction or mounting points as full-blown Cruisemaster XT and is obviously intended for dirt, rather than rough road use.

Outside, the Family Dirt Roader is similarly prepared for the worst of main roads and this includes waist-high grey checker plate stone protection all round, good ground clearance, a stone tray and a standard truck-mesh stone shield on the A-frame with lower mudflaps to protect the foremost of the four sturdy Al-Ko corner jacks.

The stylish light grey stucco finish on the JB’s external cladding should also make it more resistant to hail damage than vans with regular ribbed cladding.

SUITABLE FOR FREE CAMPING

A pair of 120Ah deep cycle batteries fed by 300 watts of solar panels on the roof, plus 190 litre of fresh water and a separate 95 litre grey water tank make the Family Dirt Roader a practical free camper for a family and should allow it to be independent of caravan parks for a number of days running.

To achieve maximum interior space in a 22ft van, the Family Dirt Roader eschews an external front boot, but makes up for this with a large and unobstructed full tunnel front boot that passes under its island front queen-size bed.

The other great exterior storage area at the rear on the door side gives two-way access to the sizeable space under the lower of the van’s two single longitudinal bunk beds. This would be an excellent place to store longer, lighter things like folding tables, chairs, beach umbrellas and so on.

The front door gives great access to the van and leads you straight to the L-shaped lounge, which is clad in quality albeit rather firm leather.

Unlike a café dinette, this lounge can seat four people if required, while the rectangular dining table can drop down on its gas telescopic single strut to form an emergency bed if required. If you plan to do this you’ll need to visit Clark Rubber to obtain your own infill cushions.

There are skimpy foot rests on both ends of the lounge, but the one at the bed end won’t open unless the bed is raised on its telescopic struts, so this needs a rethink.

While the bed is up, you'll be impressed by the sturdy construction of its rectangular base that frames a very useable storage area.

While the lounge is roomy enough to accommodate the parents and two kids that you might expect to find in this family van, the kitchen opposite is on the small side – an expected space compromise given the separate shower and toilet bathroom, top-loader washing machine and twin vertically-stacked bunks in the rear of the van.

True, there’s enough serving space with the lid of the Swift cooktop down, but as this can’t be lowered until the cooker cools, this area is best reserved for food preparation. However the large lounge table opposite could double up for serving, if required. This is a caravan, after all, not a full-sized home!

A single slide-out pantry on the door end of the kitchen provides welcome storage.

Kitchen cupboard space is quite good without being exceptional, but there's good partioned storage available opposite in the lockers above the lounge.

One feature that will be appreciated by travelling families is the large, tropical-rated 190-litre Dometic RMD 8555 fridge/freezer that's accessed easily at the rear end of the lounge.

KEEPING THE KIDS HAPPY

Of course in a family van, the bunk area needs to work and there has been good thought go into this area of the 22ft JB.

Both single bunks are fixed in place, with timber head-end bolsters and a fixed aluminium ladder keeping restless sleepers in their place.

Each bunk has its own opening window with block out blind and fly screen, while the review JB was also fitted with drop-down DVD players for both occupants.

Another key area in a family bunk van is the laundry and here the JB also excels, with a 2.5kg top-loading Sphere washing machine located in the centre rear of the van.

The hinged lid over the washer and the twin cabinets above are handy areas for storing used or clean towels and linen, or might do double duty as a bathroom bench.

As it is, there's no bench space at all beside the hand basin in the toilet area opposite the bunks. So if you're looking for somewhere to rest a toilet or make-up bag – or even your toothpaste! – while you're using the basin and its mirror, your choice is the closed lid of the toilet or the washing machine top, around the corner on the other side of the solid sliding bathroom door.

A simple wall shelf, a mirror-faced wall cupboard, or a folding shelf are simple solutions that are sorely needed here.

The separate fibreglass shower cubicle in the right rear corner attracts no criticism though and with its companion hot and cold exterior counterpart, the standard 23-litre Suburban hot water service should easily get the whole family clean.

WE LIKED:

>> Generally well thought out floorplan
>> Quality build and finish
>> Standard grey water tank for free camping cred
>> Rough road suspension

NOT SO MUCH:

>> No bench space in the bathroom
>> Vulnerable underbody waste pipe
>> Fiddly lounge foot rests
>> More payload capacity for a family van would be good

VERDICT

The 22ft JB Family Dirt Roader is a well-built, well-laid out family caravan that should be ideal for a travelling family. Well-equipped to access all major roads and set up for free camping, it's an easy to live with caravan for the long haul although you'll need something pretty powerful to tow it.

But for its lack of shelf space in the bathroom and a couple of other niggles, we would have found it hard to fault.

JB CARAVANS 22FT FAMILY BUNK DIRT ROADER

Travel length: 8700mm

External body length: 6700mm

External body width: 2400mm

Travel height: 3000mm

Interior height: 1980mm

Tare weight: 2550kg

ATM: 2950kg

Ball weight: 200-350kg

Body: Meranti timber frame with stucco-finish ribbed aluminium cladding

Chassis: Supagal 150mm x 50mm A-frame and 100mm x 50mm chassis with 50mm raiser

Suspension: Tandem axle 3.2 tonne Cruisemaster CRS independent coil spring and trailing arm

Brakes: 10-inch electric

Stability Control: Al-Ko ESC

Wheels: 16in alloy with LT245/75 tyres

Fresh water: 2 x 95L fresh plus 1 x 95L grey water

Battery: 2 x 120Ah deep cycle AGM

Solar: 2 x 150W roof-mounted

Air-conditioner: Ibis reverse-cycle

Gas: 2 x 9.0kg

Hot water: 23L Suburban gas/electric

Cooking: Four-burner gas/electric Swift cooktop, plus grill and oven

Fridge: 190L Dometic RMD 8555 (Tropical-rated)

Microwave: 25L Premium Black

Toilet: Dometic cassette

Shower: Separate fibreglass cubicle

Washing machine: Sphere 2.5kg top-loader

Lighting: LED

Price: (As reviewed, ex-Melbourne): $75,000

Supplied by: JB Caravans, Craigieburn, Vic

JB Family Bunk Dirt Roader

Tags