Made for the bush

A behind-the-scenes look at how some of Australia’s toughest vans are built

Visually, there are only a few vans on the road that really stand out on the highway and one of them is the Bushtracker.

The forward brow over a pair of spare wheels mounted to the front is distinctive indeed, and so too is the large upswept rear under body. The convex shape of the roof is also noticeable from afar.

Sitting around the campfire, any mention of the name ‘Bushtracker’ usually brings a certain type of response: ‘One day’, ‘When I retire’, or ‘Yep; got one!’

The last comment is usually uttered by seasoned off-road traveller with a number of vans in their past, while for others the Bushtracker is their first. In the marine world you get brand loyalty with quality and CruiseCraft Boats (also in Queensland) are testament to that. Bushtracker enjoys the same fame.

We trekked north of Brisbane to the 20-year-old manufacturer’s Kunda Park factory to check out what makes the Bushtracker a caravan to aspire to…

HIDDEN DELIGHTS

As it turned out it took a bit of searching to find their main office, as this industrial estate seems to have Bushtracker caravans in quite a few shed yards on both sides of the street.

Two decades ago this low-volume manufacturer (they build not much more than 100 vans a year) was occupying much tinier premises, not far from the current site. The need for expansion saw them roll into Enterprise Street and restart from the one shed, eventually purchasing surrounding factories outright as demand increased.

This 'own everything outright and owe nobody’ approach has allowed Bushtracker to hedge against the hard times and provide more secure pricing. You can see this in the quantity of components racked up and ready for installation in the factory; no distant union action choking supply of parts is likely to cause problems here…

Every Bushtracker is custom built and body lengths from 14ft to 27ft are available, all built on a hot dip galvanised laminate chassis.

The running gear underneath is military-spec Simplicity, available in trailing coil and airbag style. Each wheel bearing and swinging arm assembly is over-rated by one tonne, while the specialised stub axle is rated to 60-tonne.

The independent suspension with coil springs has the coil anchored top and bottom, allowing the spring to act as it should under compression but also preventing over extension of the swinging arm when the van body lifts. Bucktracker says that makes it much stronger and more practical than a typical cable deployed for the same purpose.

The van body itself consists of a fully welded aluminium frame which allows for larger than normal windows without compromising wall strength. This is bolted to the chassis with a full sheet, fibreglass-covered PVC floor that was introduced two years ago, sandwiched in between.

The floor sheet has integral vertical pillars that while appearing to be on the short side, make the panel ‘crush proof’. This can be seen where the frame is pulled down tight and the alloy is starting to bow under squeezing pressure of the bolts anchoring the frame

This type of material is used extensively for domestic and industrial plumbing, both above and below ground, so we guess you couldn’t get a more water and rot-proof barrier protecting the underside of the van.

SHOWING SUPPORT

Moving on to the sturdy-looking alloy wall frame, the top hats are first riveted so the roof frame can be removed for furniture insulation and then re-fitted. They’re also welded when re-aligned before internal wall sheeting is glued then riveted to the frames.

Bushtracker installs the vinyl floor covering as one sheet before installing and screwing down the furniture frames prior to them being clad.

The electrical systems are all 12V with typical 240V back-up, and wiring around the van is laced through insulated tubular grommets drilled through the wall frames.

Styrene foam is used for insulation with the walls carrying one inch (25mm) thick panels and the roof three inch (75mm).

Bushtracker has been fitting lithium battery systems for the past five years and was one of the first Aussie RV manufacturers to adopt the technology. But to keep ahead of the game, the company hinted it’s about to introduce a new battery technology. Unfortunately, no amount of interrogation could shed any light on what’s in store; all they could tell me was that it was ‘revolutionary’!

NEW FANGLED FIBREGLASS

For the roof and wall outer skins Bushtracker buyers can opt for traditional aluminium, or more recently fibreglass after Bushtracker boss Steven Gibbs caved in to market pressures a couple of years ago.

Usaing either material, the roof is attached firstly at the rear; then pulled taut towards the front to remove any wallows in its surface before fixing. Wall sheets are next, fixed again under tension and alloy checker plate installed around the skirt of the body to ward off stone damage.

Bushtracker caravans are rated to a wading depth of 1.2 metres and to achieve this level of water resistance, a swinging water resistant gate closes over the bottom section of the entrance door. When highway travelling, this gate hinges back and is secured against the body and it can also be fitted with an optional outdoor table to give it another use.

The 1.2m rating doesn’t allow you to go boating with your new Bushtracker although it would help if you found yourself in deeper water than you bargained for during a creek crossing. It’s also useful when dragging the van through bull dust, which has a knack of finding its way into the tightest of crevices.

MARRIAGE SAVING DECOR

Looking at the different builds underway in the factory during our visit, we saw washing machines plumbed under the main bed to free up cupboard space elsewhere. Another half-built van had a full size, front loading 7.5kg washing machine that morphed into a 2.5kg dryer at the end of the wash cycle. We also saw a washing machine plumbed with a water filtration system that uses ultra violet light to make dirty water drinkable.

A kitchen that would put a Gold Coast apartment to shame and do a master chef proud was a feature of another van. We also noticed a slightly unusual mixture of fine traditional, dove-tailed timber furniture around the bottom half with the latest, super high gloss, acrylic style for the top.

Apparently hubby wanted wood and wife wanted something more modern; so they met halfway and Bushtracker were happy to settle the dispute.

If you’d like Bushtracker to solve your marital problems, or to organise your own factory tour to see for yourself, get in touch via the website.

Made for the bush

Tags