Pioneer Longreach

In Longreach, an outback town in central western Queensland, all the streets are named after birds: the main street is Eagle St, Jabiru St will take you to the racecourse and Wompoo Rd leads you to the Stockman’s Hall of Fame.

If you’ve ever had any interest in seeing these birds in the wild, the Longreach, a hard-floor camper trailer from Pioneer, is the perfect vehicle to get you out into the wild and flying alongside them.

The Longreach is arguably one of the best looking camper trailers on the market, with sleek geometric lines that are punctuated by neat rows of shiny silver rivets.

This appearance is the result of a redesign launched after Pioneer was taken over by Acto Pickering Metal Industries (APMI) in 2011.

APMI has been fabricating custom sheet metal for government, defence and industry since 1974 and, upon acquiring Pioneer, a fairly small manufacturer with a rock-solid reputation, they launched a thorough 12-month research and development process that led to the launch of the new generation designs in 2013.  

The Longreach sits within the ‘Luxury’ range of Pioneer’s campers; the models in this range offering an extra 100mm of width over the ‘Compact’ range, allowing space for a queen bed inside.

The drawbars on these Luxury campers work overtime, with the Longreach offering a large fridge box by the kitchen (right where you need it) in addition to a 500 litre storage box, a lockable compartment for three jerry cans, a clever 50 litre wood storage nook and protected space for two 9kg gas bottles.

There’s also a hand pump here to allow for easy access to the camper’s 90 litre water tank when on the move, which will be very welcome when you need to wash the dust off your hands after hitching up.

The front of these storage compartments also act as the camper’s stone guard and are coated with an extra tough Rhino Linings polyurethane coating. This coating is one of the only things that Pioneer doesn’t do itself, the panels sent off to the experts to get the best finish and quality possible.

“We do almost everything in house,” Mark Hawkins, Pioneer’s National Sales Manager, tells me on a tour of the company’s manufacturing facility. “We laser-cut the sheet metal, bend it up, weld the chassis… the only things we don’t do are the hot-dip gal and the coatings.”

Customers are welcome to visit Pioneer’s Dandenong factory for a tour, so they can see for themselves just how each camper trailer is made, and the rigorous attention to detail that goes into each step of the process.

“Each camper is assembled from hundreds and hundreds of individual components,” he continues, “and assembly itself takes around 100 hours, not including any of the time it takes to manufacture these components.”

After assembly each new camper is then extensively tested for quality control to ensure the company lives up to its ISO 9001 Quality Management Certificate.

Pioneer believes it's the only camper trailer manufacturer to hold this accreditation and I can’t refute the claim.

All this means that when a Pioneer camper trailer rolls off the production line and gets hitched to a customer’s 4WD it’s ready to tackle almost any track they’re willing to take their new toy down.

The Grafta independent coiling arm suspension is rated to 2000kg and will soak up the bumps of the track with ease, while the Trigg hitch enables the full range of movement required offroad.

My only complaint with this setup is that the Trigg can be quite difficult to hitch and unhitch, but thankfully the Hitchmaster DO35 is available as an option, and it would be a good choice.

The Longreach tows incredibly well because at 980kg empty it’s relatively light for a camper of its size and features.

A travel height of 1435mm means you also get an almost completely unobstructed view of the road behind you, while the 1850mm width makes it only marginally wider than the 2015 HiLux I was using to tow, so it’s also easy to see around.

Hard floor camper trailers are popular because of their incredibly quick set-up for overnight stops and the Longreach definitely pleases in this regard.

Simply unlatch the roof, lift it up with the assistance of gas struts and lower it down to access the tent, which is made from the gold-standard of materials, Australian-made Wax Converters Dynaproofed canvas.

There’s a winch on the drawbar to help you lower or raise the floor, but it’s very easy to set the camper up without using it, though it could come in handy during windy weather.

To complete the tent set up there are only two interior supports that require extending. There’s an awning that extends over the drawbar that can be set up to provide some heat protection for the fridge box.

There’s also a large awning that zips on along the entire length of the tent can also be set up for longer stays or in inclement weather, and it will take you about 15 minutes to erect.

An ensuite for the shower, a kids’ room and walls for the awning are all available as optional extras.

Inside the tent you’ll find a queen bed surrounded by three large windows which feature café blinds and an LED reading light on both sides.

The bed lifts up, supported by gas struts, to allow access to the generous storage space underneath. This storage space can also be accessed while on the road, via a door in the rear of the camper.

This trailer offers lots of smart storage compartments throughout, including the large storage box that has a neat compartment for the tent poles. I’ve also never seen a camper before with a little nook for storing smaller objects in front of the wheel on the offside.

The hot shower is also stored in a nook on this side while the nearside houses a nook that allows access to the electrical controls on the run.

The kitchen slides out of the nearside of the camper and has a sink fed by an electric mixer tap. For cooking there’s a two-burner stove fitted to the model being tested but it normally comes with a three-burner as standard.

There’s also a cutlery drawer at the end of the kitchen and a slide-out stainless steel bench at the rear to offer some preparation space.

The Longreach as reviewed here also featured the optional boat loader (worth $1995) and the swing-away outboard and jerry can holder on the rear (another $1685) – both add-ons that offer the promise of a lot of fun days on the road for a keen fisherman.

VERDICT

Pioneer’s Longreach is a resounding all-round pleaser, with its handsome looks, rugged construction and smart storage options.

The effort Pioneer has gone to in its research and development process is also reflected in the fact that everything on this camper simply works; there are no niggling design features that will ruin your holiday, a rarity on something as complex as a camper trailer.

At $43,615 as tested, it isn’t the cheapest off-road camper on the market, but I have no doubt that if you treat it right it will last you for decades.

WE LIKED:
>> Generous and clever storage options
>> Exterior access to electrics and underbed storage
>> Solid and handsome construction

NOT SO MUCH:
>> Unattractive winch
>> Trigg is fussy to hitch and unhitch
>> I'd like to see the ensuite standard, as you’ll need it to use the shower

PIONEER CAMPERS LONGREACH

Travel length: 4950mm
Body length: 290mm
External body width: 1850mm
Travel height: 1435mm
Interior height: 1700mm
Tare: 980kg
ATM: 2000kg
Ball weight: 120kg
Body: 1.2/1.6mm Zincanneal walls, 2mm marine-grade aluminium storage boxes and steel/composite roof.
Chassis: Hot-dipped galvanised
Suspension: Independent trailing arm coil/spring
Brakes: 12in drum
Stability control: not available
Wheels: 16 x 7in with 265 / 75 / R16 GT Adventuro II all-terrain tyres
Fresh water: 90L baffled stainless steel tank, electrically pumped to the kitchen sink, hand pump by the LHS gas bottle
Battery: 110Ah AGM deep cycle battery with Redarc battery management system
Solar: optional
Air-conditioner: not available
Gas: 2 x 9kg bottles
Hot water: Truma gas hot water
Cooking: three-burner gas cooktop
Fridge: not included, but fridge slide located in front box
Microwave: not available
Toilet: not available
Shower: exterior shower included
Lighting: LED lighting located at the fridge slide, kitchen and one each side of the bed
TV: not available
Price (as tested): $43,615 (inc. on-road costs)
Options fitted: Rear swing away jerry can holder, including Outboard motor holder, and boat loader
Supplied by: Pioneer Campers, Dandenong, Victoria