Concept Caravans Randwick 2006 Review

By Malcolm Street

Concept Caravans is a relatively new player in the Australian caravan building business but its owners, Keir Smith, Steve Caruso and Bruno Caruso, are not.

With plenty of years experience working for others, they decided to set up business for themselves in 2004 and now, having initially produced the Ascot range, from Concept come the Belmont and CW’s review van – the Randwick.

Concept builds its caravans to standard layouts, usually between 15ft 6in (4.7m) and 24ft (7.3m) long and packed with features, but they also offer a custom building service as well.

Conventionally built with DuraGal chassis, timber frame and aluminium clad sides, the Randwick has moulded acrylic-styrene-acrylonitrile (ASA) front and rear ends which give the Randwick a very stylish and streamlined look.

Just in case you are wondering about that ASA material, it’s a sort of plastic material that is two-phase thermoplastic material combining styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer and acrylic rubber. Just knew you would want to know that!

Incorporated into the moulding are grab handles (front and back), boot lid (front) and tail lights (rear). The end result is a very good looking van.

More traditionally, the chassis rides on leaf spring tandem axles fitted with mag wheels. Quick drop corner stabilisers are fitted to all four corners. Up front on the drawbar are two 9kg gas cylinders plus a mains pressure tap, while the spare wheel sits on the not quite full width bumper bar at the rear.

Hiding in the front galvanised sheet-lined boot are the battery and charger. Windows are tinted Camec acrylic hoppers and the door a Camec triple locker.

Up the drop step and into the van reveals a very pleasant looking Euro-style layout.

That is, curved cabinets, a timber look that predominates on everything except the ceiling, velour upholstery and bubble style halogen downlights.

All the cabinet work is built from ply timber and is cut to shape by a special computer-controlled router in the Concept factory.

There are no curtains but all the windows have slimline Venetian blinds.

All the benchtops are laminated and the kitchen and table have moulded timber edges.

Our test layout is a popular one with full width rear bathroom, mid-nearside dinette, mid-offside kitchen and front island bed.

In the bedroom, large windows on both sides, the front window and the overhead Seitz hatch all give plenty of light and ventilation. A 6ft 2in x 5ft (1.9m x 1.5m) innerspring mattress bed sits on a metal and curved timber frame.

Lifting the bed reveals a non-compartmented storage area. There are advantages and disadvantages about the lack of compartmentation – large items can be stored easily but smaller items move around when travelling.

On either side of the bed are a small wardrobe, drawer, floor locker and powerpoint. In the wardrobes, the hanging space is partly restricted by a lower bulkhead. Above the bed are two overhead lockers and there is also a nice wide shelf behind the bed.

Lighting is quite generous with two halogen reading lights and three overhead bubble style halogen downlights. In the nearside corner at the foot of the bed, there’s a small diagonal cupboard with good sized wall mirror above.

Most catering needs can be handled without too much difficulty in the culinary department. Along the kitchen bench are a stainless steel sink and drainer plus a full Caprice stove – four burners, grill and oven.

The microwave sits above between two overhead lockers. Alongside the stove, a decent sized two-door Dometic fridge sits off floor level with two floor lockers located underneath.

Under bench storage consists of two cupboards, a cutlery drawer and a diagonal cupboard at the end of the bench which can be used as a small pantry. Given the kitchen bench length, there isn’t a great deal of drawer space or benchtop area.

Kitchen lighting consisted of a halogen lamp in the rangehood and two overhead halogen downlights. The position of the latter did leave part of the sink area in shadow.

Mounted at the front end of the bench is a flatscreen TV which can be swivelled to be seen from the bed or the dinette.

Not only looking good with its velour upholstery, the contoured foam dinette is also comfortable to sit on. Measuring 4ft 2in x 1ft 9in (1.3m x 530cm), the laminated table top was of a decent size for two people to use easily.

Under seat storage was accessed by timber panels under the cushions or floor lockers at either end of the dinette, and part of the area is taken by the wheel arch.

Table lighting is supplied by two overhead lights and one reading light.

At the rear of the van, the bathroom is of a decent size and has all the usual items – separate shower cubicle, Thetford cassette toilet and a vanity cabinet complete with wash basin and mirror, plus drawers and cupboard underneath.

In addition, built into the rear offside corner, there is a cabinet containing a top-loading Lemaire washing machine. Other bathroom features include towel rails and five overhead lockers.

Throughout the van, powerpoints are provided in all the relevant places, except near the dinette. In addition to the TV, entertainment is provided by an AM/FM radio/DVD player mounted above the TV.

In the cupboard above is a powerpoint for the TV plus an antenna connection for the Winegard antenna (handle in the ceiling above).

The Concept Randwick is an interesting example of how to make good use of the space available.

Some ensuite vans have a small bathroom. This van has quite a large one, especially as it has a washing machine on board as well, which means the kitchen area (bench/storage) has to be smaller for the given length of van.

That isn’t a criticism, just a choice that a buyer would make unless they’re after a longer van.

Generally speaking, the Randwick appears to be well constructed and looks very stylish with its moulded ends on the outside and Euro design on the inside.

Two people planning long-term and/or self-contained travel will be very comfortable in this home away from home.

For more information contact Kratzmann Caravans, 174 Eastern Service Road, Burpengary Qld, (07) 3888 2755, www.kratzmann.com.au or for your nearest dealer visit www.conceptcaravans.com.au

We liked
• Very stylish and modern look of the van exterior
• General fit and finish of the ply cabinet work
• Shelf behind the bed – room to store books, glasses and night time items
• Decent sized two-door fridge

 We would have liked
• A light above the sink in the kitchen
• More drawers in the kitchen
• Second reading light for the dinette