Caravan Overlanding - Has anybody done it?
 

I'm not talking about those fancy expedition trailers, but standard off-the-shelf caravans. We're considering getting e.g. one of the old East German made QEK caravans (fiberglass body on a metal frame) for our Central Asia/Iran trip. Just wondering whether anybody has any experiences to share?

Regards,
Johannes

if your going off road, most people reckon even an off road trailer is a bit of a pain (well, a lot of a pain actually). A caravan simply isn't strong enough to go off road. It also lacks ground clearance, has piss poor approach and departure angles, acts as an anchor in soft going and massively increases the stresses on your tow vehicle. On road, not too much of a problem of course, but then why bother with the added expense of a 4x4?

I would probably uprate the cooling, and deffo sort out a cooler for an autobox even for on road use if your going to a hot country

Friends of mine took a supposedly off road caravan behind a defender 110 to Australia , they ended up leaving it in eastern Europe as it was getting harder and harder to try and keep it together . I used a tandem axle caravan with raised suspension in Australia , but I minimised the bush track usage , using it as a base to go solo with 110 and RTT , in various areas .

Iran, and going there trough Turkey is all good roads if you want. I'm not up to date with the major roads in Kazakhstan. 10 years ago those where rough most of the time. I recall decent roads in Uzbekistan, poor roads in Turkmenistan.

Thanks, guys. I wouldn't get an usual caravan using a wood structure and aluminium panels, but one with a fiberglass body. I'd swap the interior for something more durable. And the caravan would be a very small one ( <4.5m), and I'd load it as lightly as possible. For towing vehicle, I'm thinking Subaru Forester or similar. I wouldn't plan on heavy off roading (or just leave the trailer somewhere for those occasions).

Was that the family going with the South African made caravan? Yes, I've read their story and am cautious not to repeat it. ;-) As far as I understand, the wood structure of the caravan had rotten badly in the UK weather and broke apart over some potholes.

There was an article in Citropolis magazine ,many years ago about some people who towed a caravan behind their Citroen DS back in the 70s. May be of some interest?

You can put these Qek on a proper axle and big wheels. Seen one on a extended Sankey WT-Chassis years ago and found it quite tempting.

Now there is one offered for 5000€ on a german Land Rover Forum. Not sure, if it´s on a Sankey chassis and axle, too, as the seller only mentions the LR- wheel hubs/nuts pattern. But I don´t think so. It just weighs 400kg empty.
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Edit: Just noticed, you´re from Berlin. It´s located near Weimar, so have a look yourself. I could get in touch for you, as it´s offered in a closed section of the blacklandy-forum.

I think there's more to it than chucking a caravan body on a sturdy chassis. It will take a hell of a pounding and I suspect the body will simply fall to bits in any kind of sustained/serious off roading