Cub off road ability/towability

[Pj144]

G'day from Darwin. 
Thanks to all who have posted helpful insites here, it has been a great help as we try to figure with CT will best suit.  This will be our first CT.  As hard floor appeals to us, Cub has caught our attention -  we have read the Cub Club thread.  Contenders for us now are the Daintree speced up, Daintree LE or Supamatic Escape off road speced up a bit.  Up front will be an 80 series, 1HZ with no turbo, gutless but otherwise reasonably well set for touring.  I don't much like being limited in where we can go.  Cape York is next on the agenda, and return visits to Arnhem Land and Kimberley also. 
Questions for anyone who can help:
Does the off road Escape have real off road ability?
How well does the Escape tow compared to the Daintree?
Does the narrower double bed of the Daintree or LE leave you wishing for more space?
Any other advice also welcome.
Thanks in advance.
PJ.

[Wazza2]

G'day and welcome pj144!

We have the supamatic escape off-road with extended drawbar. Done a few mods with a few more to be posted up shortly. Got it in very basic form, Sept last year. A couple of teething probs and to their credit, cub have sorted without any hesitation.

To answer your question on off-road ability, we will take ours up the OTT in June and as long as I am comfortable to tow any trailer through what is in front of us, I'm sure the Cub will handle it fine. Simple, robust construction. We have leaf spring suspension BTW.

Can't answer your question on the comparison to Daintree for towing. All I can say is that ours is great to tow. Easy to reverse too. On the highway, initial prob was I had the tyre pressure too high but once that was sorted it's been gr8.

We were initially thinking we'd go the spacematic but just before we ordered we thought about where we'd take it more seriously. We don't want to be limited with where we'd camp either and the shorter supamatic made more sense. With a 6 month trip ahead of us we don't want to be stuck camping with the crowd all that time.

Good luck with whatever you choose. Maybe see u on our trip round. W

[Chippy76]

PJ

We have a cub kamparoo off road. Altho not a current model, I believe that it does have VERY good off roadability. I would consider a model with an independant suspension setup if you intend to do and "hardcore" offroading (as opposed to gravel roads and the odd rough track into a campsite.

I have towed ours with my 75series  landcruiser, and it tows on the highways no dramas. Hills can be a bit slow (as they are with a natural aspirated diesel)   

[Chippy76]

[pressed the post button too early]

I quess it comes down to where (and how fast) you want to travel. We have a gu patrol to tow our cub now, and hopefully it will get us into all of the places we want to go.

Good luck with your decision, and remember to keep us up to date!

Cheers Chippy

[gunna]

Hi all
We have a offroad Kamparoo towed by a 80 series
we drag it into a lot of rough area's no problem at all , just take it easy
tows behind the 80 great we sit on the speed limit or a couple over
would't mind a thicker mattess getting a bit older now could do with a bit more comfort  lol
  sheeds

[UIZ733]

We have a Brumby and I think the only limiting factor would be the towing vehicle.

[Pj144]

Thanks guys for the welcome and comments.
What ever we settle on, it will have have independent suspension.  I know there are arguements for and against, but my mind is settled on that question. 
Queen mattress vs Double: - those of you with Kamparoo/Brumby (narrower body) - have you been able fit a wider mattress?
Off-road Escape clearance: - does the Escape cut in close to trees etc on tight tracks?  Does the reduced departure angle cause any issues? 
The last thing I want to do is drive the family half way across the country to wrap the corner of the trailer around a tree, or rip the rear support legs off, or perhaps worse still - get stuck fighting with mission control for real estate on the mattress.

PJ

[hargs]

We have a Brumby and I think the only limiting factor would be the towing vehicle.

Thanks guys for the welcome and comments.
What ever we settle on, it will have have independent suspension.  I know there are arguements for and against, but my mind is settled on that question. 
Queen mattress vs Double: - those of you with Kamparoo/Brumby (narrower body) - have you been able fit a wider mattress?
Off-road Escape clearance: - does the Escape cut in close to trees etc on tight tracks?  Does the reduced departure angle cause any issues? 
The last thing I want to do is drive the family half way across the country to wrap the corner of the trailer around a tree, or rip the rear support legs off, or perhaps worse still - get stuck fighting with mission control for real estate on the mattress.

PJ

x2

love our Brumby...tows great behind a gas/petrol Hilux 2004. no electric brakes ...

[Hairs]

G'day PJ,

To Myswag,
Plenty of Cub owners here to help you out.
Hope you find what your looking and enjoy your time here.
Happy & Safe travels.

[idlegossip]

Hi PJ,

I have the 04/05 spacematic Drover offroad with independent suspension. It has the big wide body on it (3mt x 1.95mt). I took it on the myswag Cape York trip in 2011 and had absolutely no issue with the camper. I was also worried about the rear stabilizer legs but they were no issue at all.

One thing to also consider is how may people you need to accommodate. If you have kids will the floorspace in the smaller bodied hard floors be enough for them to sleep on and also store some of your gear when set up? 

Theo