Caravan-hauling Kenworth turns heads

There's plenty of debate around safety issues when towing a big caravan, and choosing the right tow vehicle for the job.

But that's not something NSW-based Brian Pokorny has to worry too much about, with the ex-truckle erring on the side of overkill when it comes to hauling around his 21ft Kedron AT5 caravan in his retirement.

While Brian has a perfectly good Toyota LandCruiser at home to tow his Queensland-built three-tonne-plus off-road van, he much prefers to stand out from the crowd and hitch it up to a re-purposed 2001 Kenworth T950 – the prime mover he's owned since new and logged around 2.5million kilometres during a truck driving career that spanned 40 years.

"I just enjoy doing it,” he said. “The comments I get on the UHF radio are just unbelievable!"

"I just took it up to the Rusty Iron Rally (classic machinery show in Macksville, NSW) and there were a lot of people interested in what I've done."

The shiny Kenworth prime mover was fully restored a few years ago, and also boasts a fully certified tow-bar conversion for caravanning, with assistance from NSW-based Truck Towbars Australia, which also included upgrading to a 4500kg rated Cruisemaster DO-45 caravan coupling.

"I spent quite a bit of money to do this, and to ensure it's properly governed through the NSW regulations with a GVM upgrade as well as the engineer's report," he explains.

"A lot of (the prime movers that tow caravans) are not done that way, they're done in the backyard, but I wanted it done properly."

The Kenworth T950 weighs 12 tonnes and runs a 620hp C16 Caterpillar diesel engine with an 18-speed Roadranger gearbox, so it's light work to say the least when towing the three-tonne caravan.

"You can notice it's there but you can't feel it," he explained. "When it's pulling the van around there's no load on the engine at all so the fuel economy is probably similar to the 'Cruiser's!

"Back when it was towing the cement tanker and it was grossing 43 and a half tonnes, the fuel economy was about 2.4 kms per litre. I haven't done enough kilometres with the caravan to get a good average, but I can tell you that the truck has now used 1.13 million litres of fuel over its lifetime…

"I could have sold the truck but I sat in it all of its life, no-one else has really driven it… (What's more) the whole truck was rebuilt from the front to the back about six years ago, so it's all in 100 per cent running order."

The recently retired truckie and his partner Lee like to go to old machinery and truck shows, and when they're not touring around, the truck and van are stored in a purpose-built shed on their rural property in Dyers Crossing.

While he's got a foot in each camp when it comes to the controversial topic of roadside rest stops, Brian says he does like to squeeze into the odd caravan park.

"A lot of people say you won't get the truck in there, and while that's true in some cases a lot of the caravan parks are truck friendly," he reckons.

Don't expect him to rush past you on a downhill stretch on the highway though, with the 'speed limiter' mindset from his working days still firmly in place.

"You don't want me speeding around with a caravan anyway," he chuckles.