Aerovan close to production

The innovative Aerovan aerodynamic caravan that has been
developed to prototype stage by Echuca, Victoria brothers Alistair and Geoff Morrison may finally have got some traction on its way to limited production, although plans to display the unique RV at the upcoming Melbourne Leisurefest appear to have fallen through.

After shopping their streamlined and lightweight brainchild around caravan builders, the Morrisons appear to have an interested fish on the line, with discussions currently taking place with a well-known specialist Melbourne manufacturer with considerable experience in sandwich panel full monocoque construction.

“Let’s just say there’s considerable interest at board level and there’s better than a 50 per cent chance that there will be something to announce in the near future,” said Geoff Morrison, referring to the interested party. 

Morrisons’ brother Alistair decided several years ago to build his own caravan because he found traditional Australian ‘brick’ caravans dated in their design, too heavy when fully-equipped with all the current creature comforts such as full separate ensuites and washing machines, for cars and lighter 4WD vehicles to tow.

His research also found that traditional Aussie vans with their Meranti frames and ribbed aluminium sheet cladding were subject to frustrating leaks and hail damage.

The Aerovan in its second-generation prototype form employs a 39mm thick fibreglass sandwich flat wall and roof construction, with curved front and rear fibreglass ends fashioned in the Morrison’s factory adjacent to Echuca airfield, where they previously built ultra-light aircraft.

While the first Aerovan prototype on a G&S galvanised chassis featured a steel tube frame with fibreglass cladding screwed and glued to it and weighed close to 2000kg, the latest version tips the scales at just 1650kg – excellent for a fully-equipped Australian-built van measuring 6.5 metres by 2.4 metres wide.

One possibility of the new union could be the replacement of the Aerovan’s current fibreglass sandwich walls and roof with aluminium sandwich panels for further reduced weight, while better body clearance at the rear and a more sophisticated chassis and independent suspension (instead of the current leaf springs) is another possibility.

The Morrisons are both in their late 60s and are interested in an agreement to have the van manufactured by a caravan specialist, rather than tool up for production themselves.

An advantage of this arrangement is that Alistair can finally get off on that long-awaited caravan holiday with his wife – something he wouldn’t have time for if he had to build the vans himself!