Overland with Kids

The following information has been taken from SA forums and websites we have been researching regarding the Xplorer.

Second-hand market
From what we have seen, there is an excellent market in South Africa for off road caravan/camper/van. Second hand versions in SA are currently circa anything between £5K -£7.5K upwards (the 3 main contenders being- B’rakhah, Commander or Xplorer) with a new van at circa £12K+. For UK import, you are probably better exploring with an SA established company although private ads do exist. There is also a market in Australia where other manufacturers are present but in Europe off road caravans appear to be virtually non-existent. At Billing exhibition in UK, Commander quoted was £15K. Both Commander and the Xplorer appear to have some presence in the Netherlands which we are exploring but have no news to report as yet - could be just maintenance bases.

Regarding second-hand import from SA – you can remove SA VAT but need to add on UK VAT. There will also be shipping and possibly other import fees involved. Budget recommended if you are looking at this route - £10K minimum so if you are not strapped for cash – could be worthwhile looking at buying brand new.

Jurgens Xplorer
The construction is the same as per normal caravans, i.e. aluminium outer skin, wood and foam inner sandwich and a plywood type inner skin. Some say that this is not strong enough for an off-road caravan but from scouring SA threads and websites many have been taken through some pretty rough terrain/corrugations with little complaints. If you compare it to a normal caravan of similar size, the weight differs a lot even though the insides are the same basic construction. However, be in no doubt that the Xplorer is heavy with the weight gain in the extra thick galvanised steel chassis.

The first Xplorers came on the market in 1996. 1998 saw the galvanised chassis (pre-1998 unglavanised but still steel) and 2000 saw the green outer covers changed to grey. 2004 saw some major changes with the 2×20l water cans (which we have in the 1999 model) in the nose removed and a 160l(IIRC) fixed tank fitted to the rear back of the caravan. Apparently due to the continued request from owners for more onboard water and also removed some of the nose weight of the caravan. There has been contined development on the Xplorer and the latest have a lot of changes from the original design. Most are small things that make life easier for the user like clips to keep the front bed up when you want to take something out of the fridge (2004 onwards), much improved bathroom tent (2000 onwards I think), etc.  The interior looks good compared with our 1999 version which is showing it’s age.

Like our Landrover Defender, what your buying is basically the same as it always was – essentially you ‘get what it says on the tin’ and looks as if you can add and modify etc. pretty much as you can as per the pre-electric Land Rover.

As already mentioned, our 1999 interior is really dated (e.g. old lino floor, very drab coloured units etc.) so we are sure that from looking at the later models, this now includes wooden floor (or possibly laminate look/effect) – looks much smarter.

In the later models, the removal of water to the rear made the nose lighter (slightly) but takes up valuable packing space under the beds in the rear, which could be used previously to pack heavy items in (extra coldrinks etc). The heavy nose design of the Xplorer is in line with its intended use, i.e. off road, when used off-road the continual shift of weight may remove down pressure from the back of the vehicle and actually lift its back wheels off the ground. This then leads to loss of grip and control! Not some thing you want when off-roading. Thus the need for a heavier than normal noseweight as even with some downforce removed there  will still be a fair bit of weight left on the back of the vehicle to assist in control. This also leads to a super stable tow on-road with no stabilisers required.

This thinking is in line with international movements where noseweight is higher than the SA norm (see UK caravan specs - the country with most caravans on its roads). Also in line with off road use, see Ausie offroad camper design specs which put the wheels well to the rear and with a heavy noseweight. This places alot of pressure on the towbar, and is where a lot of failure occurs off-road. The standard SA towbars are not designed to be used in off road conditions continuously. If you are intending to use the Xplorer or any similar trailer/caravan off road a review of your towbar is a MUST! Frontrunner, who manufacture off road products and understand the stressses involved, manufacture some tough towbars to look at and definately is worth the money. Standard tow bar versus a Frontrunner unit (chalk and cheese! in design and strength!). Similar failures have been seen towing a B’rakhah Ingonyama caravan so the Xplorer is not the culprit.

The standard awning on the Xplorer is excellent and when fitted with the optional side panels give great protection and privacy with the advantage of quick setup and breakup. The setup is considered to be one of the best of any of the competition.
 
Previous Xplorer owners advise they would choose the same again given the choice though some have mentioned they needed to put some screws back in the cupboards that worked themselves loose on corrugated roads in the first couple of years, but once re-fitted back with some silicon they stayed put.

Other than this, the general view is that has not missed a beat and works beautifully, particularly for a family of  four (2 adults, 2 children). The Xplorer has nationwide (SA) backup but sometimes gets let down by this as the caravan sales people do not always understand the off road industry and its requirements. From looking ourselves – there is not much readily available information or history – so off road caravans appear to be a bit of a select item of choice. The Xplorer also has the much talked about rubber damp axle!? We don’t know much about this but a significant thread that we found where we attribute most of the information we have found regarding the Xplorer from an owner themselves states “this was a worry for me but after 20 000km towing with 3 trips through the Kgalagadi and Mabua, over Baviaanskloof into The Hell and back not to mention numerous dirt roads in and around SA I am still hooked”

No extra shocks have been fitted.  Other comments on SA forums include that fitting the shocks made a big improvement to the van bumping/jumping, but two other people say the shocks did not help at all and actually broke off where they were mounted. Belief at this stage being that the rubber axle flex very little as it is and fitting a shock will only make it worse and prevent it from working as designed. The damping will then be too much. It is understood to be the case that the correct shock fitted also has a very low/soft damping setting so can’t see that it will do much except maybe assist in keeping the rubber axle cool and thus working more efficiently when worked hard continuously on say long stretches of corrugations. Opinion being that a better idea is to make sure that the tyres are inflated to the correct pressure for the specific situation in hand, be it sand, mud, tar, gravel etc. Having the correct tyre pressure also assists greatly in preventing it from getting stuck and will help in reducing unnecessary shocks through to the axle. Speed is also a consideration in this.

Another comment regarding shocks as follows - must agree about the shocks. I fitted some a couple of years ago. Both broke off at the mounting - and that still on the 60Km access road to the Kgalagadi. Removed them there and then and haven’t missed them since.

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