I have a Gypsey Rascal 2008 and there is a few caravan parks I want to visit.

Some of these parks have gravel roads to them, so from the national road to the turn off ,sometimes you have to travel like 30km dirt road to get to the parks.

Can my caravan handle a dirt road or only tar road ?

If I reduce speed and obviously take the condition of the road into consideration,would it be possible ?

Thanks 

Ek persoonlik sal nie by n plek bespreek waar ek 30km op n grondpad moet ry met n pad karavasn nie. 

Relaxed Camper wrote:

Ek persoonlik sal nie by n plek bespreek waar ek 30km op n grondpad moet ry met n pad karavasn nie. 

En toestande verskil van tyd tot tyd. Onlangs het iemand by n Sanparks oord in Kaap gekuier waar dit ook omtrent 30km grondpad was. Hy het gesê pad was pragtig waar hier op forum terugvoer was dat mense nie eers met off-road karavane daar wil sleep nie

I would travel on the road if its in good condition, close up the side vents and the ones under the van, but only for a short distance as I would slow down to walking speed. However Mokola national park will never see my van the two roads to the park (we used one going in and the other coming out) were extremely bad and I was thankful we never had the van with us as it was only a day visit. I actually felt sorry for the Pathfinder that day.

The problem comes with the changes of the condition of the gravel roads and each persons perception of a good road.

Some will report that the road is great to tow on and when you get there it is corrigated like mad.

This is the main reason why I would not even go there to make a reservation at a resort where I have to travel further than 5km on a gravel road.  Even in such a case I will drive walking speed and tell my wife if she wants to get there much quicker she can get out and walk.

I can still only use my dome tent and Gazebo.  Will have to go without the luxury of the caravan for one camp trip.

Normal caravans are not gravel roads proof, FULL STOP.

I took a group of tourist to Welgevonden. Quantum bus with a Venter trailer. 17km dirt road OUT OF HELL!!!!

Could not drive faster than 20km/h otherwise the bus start turning by itself.

I ended up with 2 broken shocks and all the exhaust brackets broken.

Nobody at the Resorts warned us of the poor road condition.

If I towed a caravan, I would have been lucky if I only had the chassis left.

Be carefull. Nobody will inform you of the true state of the roads and 99% chance you will not be able to turn around. 

Grumpy/Hannes wrote:

I took a group of tourist to Welgevonden. Quantum bus with a Venter trailer. 17km dirt road OUT OF HELL!!!!

Could not drive faster than 20km/h otherwise the bus start turning by itself.

I ended up with 2 broken shocks and all the exhaust brackets broken.

Nobody at the Resorts warned us of the poor road condition.

If I towed a caravan, I would have been lucky if I only had the chassis left.

Be carefull. Nobody will inform you of the true state of the roads and 99% chance you will not be able to turn around. 

This is a true statement.  Because if they tell you the true condition of the road nobody will visit them.

Leon

The worst is, it is International tourists. They pay between R8000 and R12000 per night! At this lodge.

The attitude was plain....O the Goverment must do something to the road.

I say no..... i need tourist...I must do something about the road.

Back to topic....

Trust no one

I have a personal policy - I will not visit a caravan park if I have to drive more than 2 km on a dirt road. I stayed over at Bass Lake Lodge - a fantastic resort regarding neatness in all aspects. But the horrible 2 km dirt road to this resort will prevent me from ever visiting again.

I really want to visit Balule in the Kruger National Park, but the dirt road to this wonderful rustic camp prevents me from visiting this apparent little gem - edpecially bearing in mind the terrible conditions of Kruger's gravel roads during our visit this past March.

The gravel road to Maroela in Kruger during my last visit to this little camp (also one of Kruger's gems) healed me from ever visiting this camp again. Arriving at Eiland Spa after leaving Maroela, I found my van's fridge door lying on the floor.

I have too much respect for my 1993 Caravette 6B.

My Exclusive (19 years old) is my 6th caravan and I have been camping 55 years. At most I will travel 10km to reach a caravan park. Once in Kruger I took the wrong turn off to Balule and was forced to complete a 24km gravel road.  The Exclusive itself had no problem in handling it, but the dust inside was terrible.  Never again will I travel on a gravel road more than 10km and only at a very low speed.

A Sprite Tourer SW is rated a graveler Caravan and if I look at it's interior it looks the same as my caravan.

Does this SW Caravan have a different under chassis, so how come can this be used for gravel travel, what is different. 

So therefore my question was how far and can I travel with my caravan on gravel roads. 

Obviously road condition will determine my speed and I won't ignore the potholes and bad roads. 

Some Caravan parks is just a few km off from tar road.

My 30km is a bit over calculated, say 15km?

Johan, the construction that is adopted to make a caravan gravel road capable is generally not visible from the outside. It is built into the construction of the caravan after extensive design and field trial improvements. I spoke to people who were involved in the field trial tests for the Sprite Tourer SW and it took several years of trial and modifications to modify the broken parts to get the caravan to be classified as a gravel roader. I have also seen a Sprite Tourer SW at a repair shop after some extensive gravel roads in Namibia. The insurance had written it off but Alfred undertook to repair it. Be careful.

I have towed my Exclusive at <15Km/h with the tyres let down to 1.5 bar on a gravel road near Mkuzi Game Reserve for 30km and nothing moved inside. On gravel roads just drive at a fast walking pace and deflate the tyres and for short distances only. I have never taken the 747 into neigbouring countries and you don't see on-road caravans outside South Africa. For me going off-road means I tow nothing. My tent or Challet for overnighting.

I would say as far as your patience will last travelling at a very low speed. With a ordinary caravan I think the smaller the van, the safer it is to drive on a good gravel road. I would for instance certainly not tow an Exclusive anywhere than on a tarred road. And then some tarred roads even are not suitable for any caraban.

Camping at Paindane Moz

We have camped at Balule many times with the Exclusive and my wife even once traveled in the caravan on the 5km dirt road and she said only the indoor unit of the aircon rattled. I feel comfortable with this short distance and the gravel surface is always very good. What got to us last February was that it was 42C every day, 27C at night and there is no power for the aircon. It was exhausting to say the least.

n Ou moet maar oppas as jy n pad-karavaan op n grondpad neem. Die versekering is deesdae so vol nonsins, as daar iets verkeerd gaan mag jy dalk vind dat jy die koste gaan dra. Die hele aspek van versekering is in elk geval n deurmekaar-spul. Niemand kan vir my uitklaar presies HOE vier-by-vier ek mag ry nie, dit lyk my ek kan maar in enige toestand gaan ry, ek is gedek teen klippe of. water. Nêrens op my polis staan waar ek mag ry nie. So ook met my pad-kravaan. 

Ek dink as jou gewete vir jou sê jy vat nou n kans, moet jy maar jou gewete glo. Oor sowat 50 jaar het ek nog geen afgekeurde eise gehad nie so ek het nie n negatiewe gevoel oor die versekeringsbedryf nie. Ek dra wel kennis van vriende en kollegas wat probleme gehad het maar ek kon dit goed verstaan. Een persoon het gereeld sy begrotingstekorte met n vals eis aangevul soos om n sogenaamde duur horlosie se verlies te eis. Sy versekeringsmaatskappy het uiteindelik geweier om hom verder te verseker.