Why choose an expanda?

[Jo1]

For those who own an expanda why did you choose it over a full van? Was it weight/towing vehicle? Needing to store under a carport/restricted area or that you would be able to go more places with it due to the smaller size whilst towing?

We are not restricted by towing vehicle or storage area but like the idea that the expanda might be able to get to more places. We have 2 kids and leaning towards a 16ft or 17ft with bunks and bathroom. We usually do a lot of free camping and beach camping and currently have a camper trailer.

Anyone been to some crazy places in expandas or full vans? We also like the new 19ft Starcraft with bunks...

 

[bigcol]

I drive a Patrol (and a Landcruiser), both have 3500kgs towing and a GCM to go with it so towing weight is not a problem
it is parked in my back yard (corner block) so parking is no problem
I chose my 16' Pop top Expanda for several reasons

because I didnt want a full height Van
- I drive a 4wd that is already as aerodynamic as a brick, and was not keen on a Van being that much bigger again

having more usable space inside than the equivalent full sized Van, but smaller to tow (as the beds fold in)
- most Vans are set up for 2 or 4 (with bunks), my 30yo daughter travels with us, and a bunk bed was not appealing for her

far less setup time compared to Camper Van we had (Flamingo)
far less setup time than the Camper Van before that (old old Dove)
far less time to setup that any of the 3 camper trailers we had
so much easier and less problems than the Tent we started off with, with 3 small kiddies

extreme towing was way way back, a long time ago, long before Gov. intervention into National Parks, and a good campsite was usually a good 2 or 3 hours off road somewhere
now they have sealed roads and resorts where we used to camp
eg:
the last time I stayed at Coral Bay (1996), there was a dirt road from Minilya Roadhouse and free camping where ever you wanted
now there is 1 resort and 3 caravan parks, and they charge like wounded bulls

the last time we stayed at Quobba (1995), you parked where ever you wanted and again, it was a dirt track from the Hwy
now its a bitumen road with a Caravan park full of Grey Gonads


there is as many different reasons for going for an expanda as there is people

is just seems to fit a lot of people and their styles of Camping

as for Extreme off road, they are not built for that, so you would really need t think about just where you go, and how much repairing and maintenance you want to do
I know of people who have done the Gibb River Rd (@Crusty181 & @Smirke ) with no or little problems
but I have a mate who broke his 2014 Sahara driving it....... meh, depends on the day and the driver

 

[1DayIll]

For those who own an expanda why did you choose it over a full van? Was it weight/towing vehicle? Needing to store under a carport/restricted area or that you would be able to go more places with it due to the smaller size whilst towing?

As for me, the Expanda was

- Quick to set up
- gave us lots of internal space,
- easy to tow
- value for money
- could pull up on the side of the road and had full use of facilities

Towed it for three months through the center and down the west coast with no problems.

 

[Dobbie]

Space inside

Weight

Height for towing

Clearance

Robust for some careful off-road work

Comfortable

Toilet / shower

And again....internal space

Towed it on lots of bad roads, particularly in south Australia, and did about 20k kms, probably about 6k of that off highways.

 

[Jo1]

I drive a Patrol (and a Landcruiser), both have 3500kgs towing and a GCM to go with it so towing weight is not a problem
it is parked in my back yard (corner block) so parking is no problem
I chose my 16' Pop top Expanda for several reasons

because I didnt want a full height Van
- I drive a 4wd that is already as aerodynamic as a brick, and was not keen on a Van being that much bigger again

having more usable space inside than the equivalent full sized Van, but smaller to tow (as the beds fold in)
- most Vans are set up for 2 or 4 (with bunks), my 30yo daughter travels with us, and a bunk bed was not appealing for her

far less setup time compared to Camper Van we had (Flamingo)
far less setup time than the Camper Van before that (old old Dove)
far less time to setup that any of the 3 camper trailers we had
so much easier and less problems than the Tent we started off with, with 3 small kiddies

extreme towing was way way back, a long time ago, long before Gov. intervention into National Parks, and a good campsite was usually a good 2 or 3 hours off road somewhere
now they have sealed roads and resorts where we used to camp
eg:
the last time I stayed at Coral Bay (1996), there was a dirt road from Minilya Roadhouse and free camping where ever you wanted
now there is 1 resort and 3 caravan parks, and they charge like wounded bulls

the last time we stayed at Quobba (1995), you parked where ever you wanted and again, it was a dirt track from the Hwy
now its a bitumen road with a Caravan park full of Grey Gonads


there is as many different reasons for going for an expanda as there is people

is just seems to fit a lot of people and their styles of Camping

as for Extreme off road, they are not built for that, so you would really need t think about just where you go, and how much repairing and maintenance you want to do
I know of people who have done the Gibb River Rd (@Crusty181 & @Smirke ) with no or little problems
but I have a mate who broke his 2014 Sahara driving it....... meh, depends on the day and the driver

Thanks Bicol, that was a great answer to my questions and very helpful. I like the idea of an expanda as we are planning to park it in our driveway so a full van would take up the whole driveway where as an expanda would be much more convenient there. I like the convenience of a full van and less work too! I guess it's finding a happy medium really as nothing is a perfect fit.

We are planning on hopefully doing a 3 month trip with the kiddies in the next few years if we get our long service leave so a full van would probably work better for that but for the normal camping that we do I think the expanda would be a whole lot more suited.

We have to buy a new vehicle anyway as currently have an Toyota FJ Cruiser and the towing capacity is not going to stretch without a $3k upgrade and it's the most unpractical car with child seats anyway as we have a 10 month old baby and a 3 year old.

At some stage we would like to do the Gibb River Road, hubby is pretty handy and fairly experienced driver off road so there is a good possibility we would chance it.

We definitely plan to take it on the beach so I'm wondering if there's much between the 16ft and the 17ft? I think I understand that single axle is better for this but it doesn't seem to be clear cut as I have read some people say dual axle is better too!

We have 2 girls so if we get the 16ft they would be sharing a bed, maybe down the track we could convert the dining but as far as set up goes the 17ft would probably be more convenient although appears to have less storage than the 16ft. Oh the decisions!!!!!

 

[Bellbirdweb]

Space inside was our main reason.

Room to do the grey nomad thing if only 2 of us (actually huge amounts of room), but also heaps of room if the grown up children and now grandchildren want to come camping.

Only negative it the canvas beds, I hate noise, and SWMBO hates having to climb over to get in and out of the bed.

Will more than likely change to a Silverline/Starcraft down the track

 

[Red1]

Same as the others. You get the extra room Where the beds expand for"free". Compared to our friends with 20 ft vans we have so much more room. The slide out lounge makes our van huge. We have done the Gibb River road as well as lots of other places with our previous swans and I would definitely take the new van to any of those places.

 

[bigcol]

We definitely plan to take it on the beach so I'm wondering if there's much between the 16ft and the 17ft? I think I understand that single axle is better for this but it doesn't seem to be clear cut as I have read some people say dual axle is better too!

its an either either type of thing
small under powered FJ cruiser hehehehe) def get the single axle
going for a real 4wd (Patrol/cruiser) dual axle betterer

with the size of your littlies, a 16' will be more than comfortable for you all

if your wanting the shower / toilet I would say maybe the 17' - as the room in the long run will be worth it
if getting new - delete the bunks and put in a cupboard instead

 

[Moto Mech]

SPACE, so much internal space. Easy and light to tow, quick set up too.

 

[Crusty181]

as for Extreme off road, they are not built for that,

... really? Whoops

We've had 2 Expandas, a 16 and the 20. We didn't really factor in the compact size as such per se, I prefer the bed east/west because Im of the opinion that north/south are just a waste of valuable space making a van bigger than it needs to be. We love the tent bed end because of the open and airy feeling and that was our biggest motivator. That especially comes into its own free camping. With a fan we've never needed the aircon as the breeze just flows through. We regularly experience the vast difference in comfort from our free flowing tent end, to the more standard caravan bunk end.

As for the climbing over each other, I can dream. One day I might not get that kick in the 'cousins' as i past over.

We have a 20ft single ended bunk Expanda and traveled extensively with close friends who have a 21ft New Age bunk model. Even with that extra ft the internal space is no comparison. The 22ft Starcraft is a similar layout to our Expanda, and 3 ft shorter inside because of the main bed encroaching into the cabin, so our 20ft Expanda is like a 25ft Startcraft. Even with the lack of thermal resistance of the bed end, we've not experienced major issues in heating or cooling.

Coming from a camper trailer this wil be all old news to you. Our bed end (properly seasoned) hasn't leaked nor caused any water issues for us. As mentioned noise is a potential issue; I would sleep through the second coming, but the Princess is a light sleeper. On the few occasions "people noise" (and its only ever people noise) has caused an issue I suspect a solid van wouldnt have helped much. So no different to what your used to.

Set up time and effort is no different to a standard van. We only have one bed end and takes literally 1 minute to open. Pack up is much the same, maybe 2 minutes. Packing up in the rain is a negative that 'non believers' often mention, but even in the rain there's infinitely much more time time spent packing up hoses, power leads, waste pipes, awnings, stablisers, bikes scooters, chairs, tables and all the other crap that's strewn about. The bed end is the easiest, quickest and most straight forward element. With our friends in the New Age, we would pitch camp and break camp faster on every occasion.

I short we got the space and weight of a 25ft van in a 20ft package with zero compromise, and we got to keep our sense of the outdoors. Ive dragged the 3ton 20ft'er over plenty of sand without issues. We decided when buying the 20ft'er we wouldnt be dissuaded from taking it anywhere because of the size, weight or difficulty, and we've taken it many more places than we ever took the 16ft'er ... and a lot of that was off road. So any size Expanda will do you well

Good luck with your decision and most importantly enjoy the process

 

[Outback heaven!]

Hi Jo1.
We owned an 17ft Expanda for 12 years. Prior to that we owned a Millard pop top caravan and as from last year, a full height 20ft Starcraft. Our vans have morphed over the years due to our changing family needs, what our towing car was at the time, what we could afford and how we were going to store it.
We absolutely loved our Expanda because it was low enough to store under our carport, loads of room inside even with the beds up (we once had 11 people around the table during a spell of bad weather), flexibility with the beds without internal room being taken up with permanent bunk beds that may not always be used, access inside when in transit and in storage. In the end however, we got sick of the bed set-up and strip-down every time you arrived and departed somewhere especially when your lengthy trip had lots of short stays. Our kids always preferred to sleep in tents anyway but in awful weather or overnight stays, they had the fallback of the end bed and couch.
We went for a full height Starcraft because the roof mounted air con, even on the pop top version, meant that we could no longer fit it under our carport so for further ease and extra cupboard space inside decided to go with the full height.
We took our OB Expanda on heaps of outback roads (Strezleki, Oodnadatta, Painted Desert, Flinders Ranges, Barmah, Mereenie Loop, high country in Vic, Grampians). Always driving to the road conditions but always mindful of...just because you can, do you really want to subject your van and car to those stresses and will it pose warranty issues?
We are heading off for an 8 week trip up North soon and plan on doing the GRR but only if the road has been recently graded and in reasonable nic. Not worth the van being shaken to bits just so you can say that you've done it!
We bought a Mazda BT50 to tow our new Starcraft bec the trusty old Paj was only rated to 2.5 tonne. Our new van will be more expensive to tow and not as easy to squeeze into camping spots like we've been able to do in the past. There are compromises with whatever you buy.
Hope this helps.

 

[twscoot]

Another option - given the comments about space taken up by a north south double bed - which I agree with.
Single beds in our 20.62-3 Starcraft Outback gave us the floor space (and more) we enjoyed with our previous 16 foot Expanda.
For us, there's nowhere we haven't been able to go (but we haven't done the sand or Gibb RR thing....)

 

[chartrock]

I agree with @twscoot, we swapped our Expanda (14')for a Journey OB pop top with single beds because of the extra space provided. You can get dressed between the beds instead of standing in the kitchen/eating area. Picked the pop top for the lower height although I can stand up in the Journey and only bump my head on the air con unit.

 

[Jo1]

Just want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who replied to my questions and apologise for not getting round to replying to everyone sooner. All the replies were incredibly helpful and swayed us to buy the 17ft expanda. We toyed with buying new v's secondhand and found a secondhand 2014 model which looked almost new and had only been used 3 times with lots of extras included which we were both pretty happy with. We upgraded the towing car and hopefully by next week we will be in possession of the new vehicle and caravan. Feeling very excited! We sold our old camper trailer today and now trying to decide where to take this caravan on it's maiden voyage!

We will definitely keep you updated if we manage to go anywhere crazy in it and likewise if we get stuck/bogged

 

[Crusty181]

You can get dressed between the beds instead of standing in the kitchen/eating area

I dont get dressed in the kitchen/eating area either

 

[Dobbie]

Whoops @Crusty181 ........do you get dressed? Sometimes? Often?

That photo from last year(?) is still memorable..

We've been away for weeks at a time in cold, drenching wet and extreme heat (not all on the same day, unlike Victoria) and really enjoyed the space and flexibility of the expanda design.

We're currently away again....and enjoying the great weather....and can be set up in under 12minutes. It's easy to choose what needs to be set up but the 12 minutes includes unhitching, stabilisers down, fridge on, awning out, chairs and table ready and beds opened .......anything more adds a little to the time but it's not a race.

That's why we stick with the expanda design.

 

[chartrock]

I dont get dressed in the kitchen/eating area either

Or anywhere else for that matter.

 

[Fabulous]

We didn't. Got a Starcraft instead !!

 

[relgate]

Just want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who replied to my questions and apologise for not getting round to replying to everyone sooner. All the replies were incredibly helpful and swayed us to buy the 17ft expanda. We toyed with buying new v's secondhand and found a secondhand 2014 model which looked almost new and had only been used 3 times with lots of extras included which we were both pretty happy with. We upgraded the towing car and hopefully by next week we will be in possession of the new vehicle and caravan. Feeling very excited! We sold our old camper trailer today and now trying to decide where to take this caravan on it's maiden voyage!

We will definitely keep you updated if we manage to go anywhere crazy in it and likewise if we get stuck/bogged

Congratulations!