A'van Adventure Plus

Great van, but does have a couple of issues – We bought the Avan Adventure Plus Aliner in 2016. Though the literature says 'not suitable for off road use' (not really sure what that means), it has taken us through the centre, some gnarly rocky roads (into Palm valley, Hugh Gorge, etc) in the area, across to Mt Isa and Karumba before going south again to Victoria. Last year we took it up to… Read more

Seisia (tip of Cape York) via a number of corrugated dirt roads and return.

For the heat we bought a small 12/240v fan and this kept us comfortable when temps were in the +30s without power. The windows all opened out and let a considerable airflow through.

When cold (around and below freezing) the van condensated quite badly especially on the exposed overhead aluminium strips. This is quite normal and isn't a design fault. To rectify this I bought some thick fabric and glued it on - no problem since. The heater/aircon worked exceptionally well and kept us toasty warm when we were on powered sites.

It sets up really quickly and as yet we haven't had problems when erected/pulling down in rain. If it was torrential we would leave it for a few minutes/half hour until it eased. Once up, it is completely dry inside, even when the rain is wind driven.

The short drawbar does make reversing/turning quite difficult. You need to be extra slow as the slightest twitch on the steering wheel does have a huge effect on the van - this is the case with all short trailers - take it easy and with practice you get used to it.

Though one of the smallest and lightest vans on the market, it is roomy for two of us. It has lots of storage capacity and all the external cupboard door access have also internal access too. The benefits of being a small van does have BIG advantages. We found a few places we could get our van in, but other larger vans had missed out.

The corrugated roads up north and in the centre didn't affect our van at all. The clue is to drop tyre air pressures all round, so the tyres absorb the bumps and work with the magnificent off road suspension.

When I bought it, our first dirt road brought in a lot of dust. I looked everywhere for openings that might let dust in (there were quite a few, but expansion foam fixed these). I also have cut 'tunnelcore' from Bunnings and tape up the external vents - this has completely solved the dust issues.

Just a word of warning, be careful with creek/river crossings. Make sure the water level is lower than the floor as water can damage the aircon unit (under the bed).

I know of a bloke who towed is Avan Adventure Plus Aliner across the Simpson desert and again no problems.

If you don't mind not having an ensuite and want to visit some amazing places - consider this camper.

Great Design. Quality variable – Basic construction and design is good, with some excellent components for the price, such as off road suspension, electric brakes, aircond , hot water system etc, but it's let down by poor fit quality and some downright shoddy peripherals such as door locks, curtain guides and inadequate 12v wiring. OK though if you are prepared to spend a bit… Read more

of time and money bringing it up to standard. So far in 2 years had to replace the battery with a larger deep cycle, replaced the useless three way fridge with a compressor unit, fixed the roof vent winders (twice) and replaced all the gas tubing which was leaking. More seriously the floor is now somewhat warped and has detached in places from the chassis - not sure what we can do about this. As noted by others, lifting the roof is something of a challenge, and attaching the annex is a major exercise. If there was a better built alternative I would upgrade, but until Bolwell sort themselves out, I guess I'll just have to keep fixing it up...it's pretty comfortable and sleeps 3 (and 2 dogs), .the hard wall is so much better than a canvas pop-top, and its easy to tow with my Prado.