Evernew 22ft E-Series 2006 Review

By Joan Green

Over the last few years there has been a surprising growth in what was already a crowded caravan industry. New models and new names, including some imported ones, seem to pop up almost overnight.

This is very exciting for caravan journalists – it gives us something new to write about every month. But we shouldn’t forget the successful smaller manufacturers that have been around for years, one of these being Evernew.

Evernew is not a name that you’ll hear on the airwaves or see at the shows. It’s a small family business building an average of three vans a week at its modest premises in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg, but has been owned and successfully operated by the same family for more than 40 years, longer than any other caravan manufacturing company in Australia.

Bruce Bailey’s family started the business on their property at 101 Bell Street in Heidelberg during the late 1950s.

“We didn’t actually build vans for the first few years, but one thing led to another,” Bruce explained.

The company has always been supported by its customers. A significant percentage of its trade is return business, with all caravans built to order and custom designed.

“Almost all the vans we build are larger sizes, from 18ft (5.5m) up to 22ft (6.7m),” Bruce Bailey said.

“We still make pop-tops too, but they’re not in such great demand these days.”

The 22ft (6.7m) E-Series is typical of the vans made to suit the requirements of Evernew’s canny customers, who are people with conservative tastes and an eye for quality at a fair price.

What they want is a well made, reliable caravan with the very best fittings and no gimmicks. With its sturdy build, tasteful interior and meticulous finish, this makes the Evernew E-Series a timeless classic.

This particular van is an off bitumen model, built to handle long distance travel on rough roads. Its heavy duty, hot-dipped galvanised chassis is matched to three tonne Simplicity independent suspension, 12in brakes and 15in light truck wheels, all of which raise it well above ground.

Galaxy wind-out acrylic windows, a Camec triple-lock security door with Bargman light and an A&E rollout awning, adorn the exterior. Two 9kg gas bottles are mounted on the A-frame together with a galvanised jerry can holder, and there are two well protected 80 litre water tanks under the floor.

The rear bumper is designed to carry a spare wheel, but for the van we tested the customers have specified an underfloor slide-out spare wheel holder.

There are a number of external locker doors which, Bruce explains, gives access to storage space under the bed, while another houses a deep cycle battery and Smartcharger. The third leads to otherwise unusable space at the back of the cupboard under the sink. On the roof there’s a Dometic air-conditioner, a solar panel and a Winegard boosted TV antenna.

Two Dometic refrigerator ventilation hatches, one above the other, on the vans offside indicate that this model has one of the larger capacity RM2553 three-way fridges. The hatches can be opened to avoid too much heat build-up at the back of the fridge when in the tropics.

The typical Evernew interior avoids fussy detail but has just enough discreet decoration – in the form of timber moulding, etched glass and delicately patterned fabric – to make it feel like home.

Light gold, ‘wash-and-wear’ polyester-laminate ply panelling is perfectly matched to the Tasmanian oak doorframes, knobs, beading and bench edging, complemented by pale cream Laminex benchtops and lower wall areas.

Slimline venetian blinds and neatly pleated curtains provide unobtrusive window dressing, and the co-ordinated look is set off by fabrics in a fashionable soft brown.

The Evernew’s layout is one that is popular in larger caravans. A lounge takes up most of the rear wall and there’s a shower/toilet compartment alongside a vanity and wardrobe at the front.

This arrangement provides the convenience of a full sized vanity unit for washing and shaving without a completely separate bathroom, which would add another 2ft to the length of the van.

The side kitchen has a space-saving angled bench, opposite a cafe-style dinette with adjacent fridge and storage unit. Living and sleeping quarters are partially separated by kitchen cupboards and a full height corner cupboard, with a folding screen to close the gap.

The van’s tidy furnishing conceals a few surprises, one of which is in the cupboard to the right of the entrance. Although it appears to be a conventional bench-height storage unit, the cupboard opens to reveal a Lemair washing machine complete with power and cold water plumbing.

According to Bruce Bailey, this little washer is preferred because it’s the smallest, lightest domestic washing machine available.

The kitchen also deserves closer examination. As well as a Caprice four-burner stove with separate grill and oven, a Dometic vented rangehood and a 1200W Panasonic microwave are built into the overhead cabinets, with a good quality domestic sink with two taps.

One of these is a ‘flick mixer’ to supply hot and cold mains pressure water for washing up, while the other, with a high rise spout, delivers pure drinking water via a twin cartridge filter under the sink.

As well as being extremely comfortable, with luxurious pillow upholstery, the large dinette and lounge area is versatile. The table can be completely removed from the wall to make more legroom, or used as a fill-in section (covered by extra cushions) when a second double bed is needed.

There’s plenty of storage, including slide-out baskets under the bed and dinette, and a drawer under the lounge, which brings to light an interesting feature inside the cupboards.

Every caravan pantry we know has a safety lip in the front of each shelf to keep the contents in place, but we don’t usually see this same feature in all the cupboards. In the Evernew there’s no danger of small items rolling out when you open the cupboard doors after a bumpy trip.

Power for the van’s lighting comes from its own 12V battery system, sustained either by the rooftop solar panel or mains supply via the Smartcharger. A control panel with all the switches and gauges, including a couple to monitor the water level in the tanks, is fitted in the bedroom’s upper corner cupboard.

Natural overhead light and ventilation comes from one conventional four-Seasons hatch as well as a modern double glazed skylight with sliding screens.

Bruce Bailey explained that this unit is Al-Ko’s Remi model, specially chosen to fit Evernew’s deeper than usual roof frame.

Evernew caravans may not be the cheapest in the marketplace but they’re worth their price in matching the high level of quality. This 22ft (6.7m) unit, including all the fittings and accessories as shown, is priced at $58,500 (the heavy duty Simplicity suspension alone is around $3000).

Inside, the van is 21ft 6in (6.5cm) long by 7ft 6in (2.3m) wide with a height of 6ft 5in (2m). Its Tare weight is 2150 kg, so it will require one of the more highly tow-rated vehicles, such as a Toyota LandCruiser or the new Jeep Cherokee.

As Evernew has no other retail outlets its customers deal directly with the company at 95-105 Bell St, West Heidelberg in Victoria, but this has never been a problem for people from interstate.