Remote Comfort

With the same chassis and suspension as a Kimberley Kamper, the new Karavan was always going to be tough. But it's also the cleverest and best designed rough-road caravan on the market.

For years now Kimberley Kampers has been churning out this country's premier flip-top style camper trailers. Tough as brick outhouses and good looking too, Kimberley's campers have been designed and built for those who want to go further than a conventional rough-road caravan will allow. So its recent decision to build a rough-road caravan has caused quite a stir. And for all the right reasons, too.

First of all, the Kimberley Karavan is unlike any other rough-road caravan on the market. It's a blend of Kimberley's expertise in building tough, go-anywhere camper trailers and ground-breaking caravan design and technology.

But why bother building the Karavan in the first place? Well, according to Kimberley it's all because of customer retention. It turns out that quite a few of Kimberley's long-time customers were, instead of upgrading their trailers, actually drifting towards rough-road caravans. Many of them, it claims, had outgrown canvas walls. Oh, they still wanted the clever packaging and ease of towing that a camper trailer offers but they also wanted four solid walls. Enter the Kimberley Karavan.

Technically talking

At first glance you'd almost mistake the Karavan for one of those low-slung teardrop campers with barely enough room inside for a bed. But look again, more closely, and you'll notice there's more to the Kimberley Karavan than meets the eye.

Kimberley's Karavan, which has a (travelling) body length of just 4.9m (drawbar included) and a width of only 1.8m, is smaller than most conventional rough-road caravans. But thanks to some clever new technology and a brilliant 'outside-the-square' design, the Karavan is anything but a squeeze inside. And converting it from a compact towing package to a spacious holiday home for two takes only minutes.

Simply unlatch the four locks holding the two halves of the Karavan securely in place, then drop the corner jacks, open the rear boot (the controls are in here) and then at the simple press of a button the upper half of the unit rises up. It's that simple. Then, once you've locked the upper section in place, climb inside and slide the (queen-sized) bed out towards the back; the fold-out tail-gate panels become the roof and rear wall, the side walls rise up from the bed and click simply and easily into place.

The Karavan sits on the same tried and tested hot-dip galvanised chassis as the camper trailers and similarly runs trailing arm and coil spring suspension and shockers to help with rebound and damping. Over-ride disc brakes are standard, electric operation is optional but recommended for peace of mind.

According to Kimberley, it modelled the Karavan to be a perfect match with most four-wheel drives. For instance, the Karavan's track is 1620mm, identical to the front track of a LandCruiser 100 Series. Its wading depth of 600-900mm (depending on preparation) is also bang on the LandCruiser's recommended wading depth. That said, the Karavan's departure and ramp-over angle of 26 and 27 degrees, respectively actually betters the 'Cruiser. And that the Karavan is only putting 800kg of pressure onto the ground through each tyre (a LandCruiser applies 750kg) is a bonus when towing on sand or mud.

The inside story

From the start, the Karavan was designed to offer the sort of creature comforts that can only be dreamed about in a camper trailer. It might be physically small compared to some of its competitors, but the Karavan blasts them all away with its list of standard equipment.

It comes with a 130-litre fridge/freezer, microwave, an Exide Absorbed Gas Mat (AGM) battery pack with a capacity of 350amp hours (Limited only, base model has storage for 140amp hour). There's a Webasto diesel-powered water heater, while another diesel unit controls heat for the stove cook top. There's also an external cooker and sink which is perfect when coupled with the cost-optional Bedouin-style awning.

All lighting is via LED (which use minimal amounts of electricity and last for ages) and there's even a multi-media system that runs on either 12V or 240V. A 17-inch LCD screen TV is cost optional.

The drawbar holds two 20-litre Jerry cans and a 9kg gas bottle while the lockable storage box holds the Webasto diesel tank, toilet vac-flush unit and battery pack. There's enough space leftover to fit a small generator, too.

Once the Karavan is all set up there's actually loads of room inside, and you'd easily fit four good friends around the dinette. And if you want a little bit more room then just slide the table back under the bed. There are two large storage drawers at the end of the bed, too.

As impressive as the Karavan's packaging is, the method of construction is equally interesting. No timber has been used in the construction of the body; it's an alloy and fibre-glass construction. And inside, marine-grade polymer which offers a non-slip finish has been used (all of the walls are of a sandwich-board construction keeping it light but strong - it won't rot, either). The head-lining which is a marine-grade melded fabric offers a velour-like finish.

In the end

To abuse a well-known saying, the Kimberley Karavan is a small step for a camper trailer builder but a huge leap for RV manufacturing. Other RV makers would do well to take a leaf or two out of Kimberley's book when it comes to design, and using non-traditional materials in construction.

So if you've outgrown your camper trailer and want something just as capable in the bush, but infinitely more comfortable, then look no further than the Kimberley Karavan. It's well designed, tough, incredibly easy to tow and it makes bush-camping a dream.

Article published in Caravan + RV magazine, Autumn 2007. Words Isaac Bober, photos Cameron Johnston.