First caravan buyers guide 

A caravan is a caravan, is a caravan, isn’t it?

Not to many Australian caravanners, who have distinct preferences about which way their beds point, the size of their windows, where the entry door is located, the layout of the kitchen, whether or not to have an oven, the height of the microwave, the type of lounge and the layout of their bathroom.

And we haven’t even started on the type of coupling, suspension or the size and number of batteries, solar panels and fresh and grey water tanks…

They say you need to own two or three caravans before you really know what sort of caravan is perfect for you. But that’s no good for caravan ‘newbies’ faced with the bewildering choice of hundreds of models when shopping at the local caravan and camping show…

Before making the hard decisions, it's helpful to know what the majority of Aussie travellers want. So we asked a number of caravan manufacturers and dealers, and it turns out that our preferences are unique and quite different to the priorities of caravan travellers in other parts of the world ­– some for good reasons; others out of habit and some because it’s easiest for manufacturers to build vans this way.

Size matters

Size matters when you’re living in a box smaller than the tiniest apartment.

The most popular size for an Australian touring (on-road) caravan is 19ft 6in-20ft 6in long, or six metres in metric size, measured inside from wall to wall. This allows good travelling room for a couple and the sort of comforts most now expect.

The most popular off-road caravans are generally about 2ft or 600mm shorter because they need to be more manoeuvrable.

Queensland’s Sunseeker says 20ft 6in is probably the most popular size for its caravans  because it allows buyers to have the more popular rear door option with safe weight distribution, while providing enough room for a separate shower and toilet, a north-south island queen bed and an angled kitchen with extra bench space and cupboard space, plus a full 3.5kg top loading washing machine.

The average Tare (empty) weight of an Australian van like this ranges from 1950-2450kg and will allow you to carry a payload of around 400-600kg, meaning that you’ll need a 3000kg-capable tow car.

Suspension options

Almost all touring caravans of this size have tandem suspension, as the axle and tyre loadings are too high for a single axle. Most single axle touring vans top out at 17ft 6in-18ft maximum length, however, you’ll find a number of single axle off-road caravans at this latter size, as they’re usually equipped with higher-rated axles, springs and tyres.

Leaf spring caravan suspension is – and always has been – perfectly good for touring caravans that generally stick to the bitumen. And as the wheels remain parallel to each other and at right angles to the road surface, the caravan is less likely to sway with side winds.

The problem is, we’re all becoming more adventurous and it has become fashionable to venture further.

Independent trailing arm suspension systems, usually assisted by telescopic shock absorbers (one or two per wheel), are now more commonplace on the majority of Australian caravans, as they give the van a more comfortable ride and handle corrugations better.

Most premium Jayco caravans are fitted with their own JTech trailing arm suspension, while Australia’s largest supplier to the rest of the industry, AL-KO, sells its similar Enduro suspension to an increasing percentage of the rest.

The gold standard is trailing arm air suspension, offered by Jayco, Cruisemaster and many off-road specialists, which irons out bumps even better and gives the caravan and everything in it an easier time.

Fibreglass or aluminium?

An increasing number of caravans are now being sold with smooth wall cladding – either full thickness composite, or outer cladding – versus traditional ribbed aluminium.

Aluminium cladding is lighter per square metre and cheaper, hence you will usually find it used on cheaper caravans. An exception here could be some top-end off-road models produced by Bushtracker, Spinifex or Trakmaster, who often apply a stucco finish for added rigidity, scratch and hail resistance.

Ribbed aluminium advocates say their walls are easier to repair if damaged; smooth wall supporters say that’s not true, as fibreglass is more resistant to denting and hail damage and point to the boat industry, where fibreglass spot repairs have been normal for many years.

Wall construction

A typical Campbellfield, Melbourne-built caravan uses Meranti timber walls, polystyrene foam in between the uprights for insulation and then has ribbed or flat aluminium outer cladding.

Another product being used to clad some caravans over framed timber or aluminium walls is aluminium sheeting such as Alucobond or Dibond, to list two of the most popular brands. This building industry-originated material is made in sheets that need to be joined mid-caravan and come in a variety of colours. But while popular for the individuality it offers, it hasn’t found universal favour because it’s heavier per square metre than the alternatives.

Queensland-based manufacturers generally use welded aluminium wall framing with any one of the above outer claddings, claiming that it’s more rot resistant in tropical areas than timber. Southern manufacturers say timber is suppler, absorbs shock better over many years and has no rot problems if the caravan is properly built and sealed. The jury is out!

Australia’s largest RV manufacturer, Jayco, uses full thickness fibreglass composite walls in the construction of most of its camper trailers, pop-tops, caravans and motorhomes, with framed and clad walls employed only on its cheapest caravans.

Smaller manufacturers mainly stick to traditional wall construction methods because composite walls tend to be more expensive unless in-house produced or purchased in volume.

Australia’s second largest caravan manufacturer, Avan, prefers full composite wall panels with an aluminium outer skin, claiming that aluminium is more resistant to yellowing over time and is more stable. Jayco and other fibreglass advocates, who represent the bulk of  composite wall users, disagree and there are companies like RVGard who make UV-resistant coatings for fibreglass panels.

Australia’s largest caravan insurer, CIL, offers policy holder with fibreglass clad caravans a 10 percent premium discount.

Exterior colour

The majority of Australian caravans are white – for two good reasons. Firstly, it’s cooler. Go to any caravan yard or show and put your hand on walls that are in direct sunlight. White is clearly the coolest and fibreglass is cooler than aluminium.

Silver is fashionable, but hotter, and black or red – well, you might as well live in a pizza oven!

Secondly, because more vans are white, white wall material is produced in greater volume and hence is cheaper for manufacturers to purchase.

Regular or off-road?

Travellers usually over-estimate their bravery or where they will travel, no matter how much they brag about where they’ve been when they return. But more people are choosing ‘off-road’ caravan specs to be safe and are happy to pay extra for uprated suspension, larger wheels and ground clearance and more stone protection.

Pop-top or hard-top?

Hardtop if you’re from one of the southern states. Probably pop-top if you live in the north or spend a lot of holiday time in the tropics, because of its better ventilation.

Being lower, a pop-top caravan uses a little less fuel (the equivalent of a cup of coffee every 100km) and is easier to store under a carport.

A hardtop has more cupboard space, is faster and easier to set up and holds its heat better in winter. Re-sale is much the same.

Fresh and grey water

With more people free-camping these days and access to National Parks easier, you need at least 100 litres of fresh water on board, ideally double that. Having a grey water tank is also a good idea for ‘leave-no-trace’ travel and for re-sale.

Some major manufacturers say they’re now fitting grey water tanks to up to 40 per cent of production.

Battery and solar

At least one big on-board battery of 100Ah or more and one 100W or larger roof-top solar panel – preferably two of each for free camping. Spend more on lithium if you want to reduce weight or plan a lot of off-grid camping.

Front or rear entry door?

It always used to be ‘rear door’, but market demand for caravans with full separate shower and toilet ensuites, is slowly changing this.

Most buyers prefer a rear ensuite, usually to the right of a rear entry door so that day-users and guests don’t need to tramp through the bedroom and kitchen to get to it.

However, the more compact the caravan, the harder it is to squeeze a bathroom and rear entry door behind a tandem axle set without taking weight off the trailer coupling, which generally makes it less stable to tow.

The simple way around this for many caravan manufacturers is to put the entry door ahead of the axles, but this can encroach on the bedroom and create a footwell hazard on some vans for those sleeping on the door-side who need to make a toilet stop in the wee hours.

Front or rear bed?

So why not have the ensuite at the front and the bed at the back? Good question, but the sloping front roof of most vans mitigates against this.

British and European manufacturers often put the lounge at the front, so when you reverse onto your ‘pitch’ you can watch the world pass by from the scenic comfort of your lounge.

Australian caravanners generally prefer to have the bed at the front, but the disadvantages of this is that this is the noisy end of the van when you reverse onto your site in most caravan parks, as youngsters, garbage removalists and other early risers pass within a few metres of your bedhead.

Ensuite position 

Australian vans tend to have rear ensuites to keep all those bodily functions and associated noises as far away from the bedroom as possible, with the lounge and kitchen in the middle.

However, a two-piece centre bathroom, with the toilet/vanity on one side of a centre aisle and the shower on the other, with a rear bedroom or lounge, is gaining favour on larger caravans.

Bed orientation

The vast majority of caravan buyers want what the industry calls an ‘island’ queen bed’, which means that the bed is orientated north-south, with space on either side to enter or exit.

Transverse, or ‘east-west’ beds, are sometimes used on smaller, particularly off-road caravans, to free up more interior space, but these involve a certain level of athleticism from the person sleeping nearer the wall.

Caravans with a north-south queen or double bed pushed up against a side wall are usually seen only on narrower European caravans and suffer the same stigma as transverse beds.

With an increasing percentage of Australian adults now travelling ‘single’ with friends, twin single beds are becoming a popular option on most caravans, but will polarise buyers on re-sale.

Café dinette or L-shaped lounge?

A cafe-dinette lounge, with two upright small banquettes on each side of a centre tri-fold table, is one of the most popular layouts on Australian caravans.

The theory goes that this is the best format for dining, but the disadvantage on most caravans is that, being centrally-mounted, the tandem wheel box eats heavily into leg room. So while the dinette seats will accommodate four at the table, there’s only leg space for two.

The solution, which is used frequently to free space on smaller caravans, is an L-shaped lounge, where the long seat cushion runs along the wall, across the wheel box and there’s a short return, allowing four people to eat at a rectangular table.

Sometimes this table drops down and with the cushions re-arranged, forms a spare three-quarter or super-single bed.

Baking oven

Typically, this depends on your age and how long you intend to camp in the same place. Demand for this feature is diminishing, and unlike perhaps a microwave and small grille, is not a re-sale pre-requisite.

Microwave height

Almost every caravan these days comes with a microwave as standard. They’re cheap and small, but are often mounted high on the wall above the kitchen or fridge and hence quite dangerous for short people to use when they contain hot fluids.

There should be a safety standard controlling this, and in the absence of one, ensure the microwave in the caravan you buy is mounted at a sensible height.

Solid or concertina bathroom door

Overwhelmingly, most people prefer a sliding solid bathroom door. Concertina doors look cheap and save space and weight, but they lower the perceived value of a caravan.

A solid door separating the kids’ bunks from adult sleeping and living areas on family caravans, is also recommended on longer trips.

Separate shower and toilet

A must-have, even if you never use them, as they ‘future proof’ your caravan when it comes time to sell or trade in. A separate shower in the same bathroom as the toilet is acceptable where space in an off-road caravan is an issue, but every touring caravan should have both inside in separate areas these days.

Bathroom mirror and vanity

Insist on a big mirror and a good-sized vanity basin, with room alongside it to lay out your toiletries. Small vanities are a turn-off to most experienced caravan buyers.

Washing machine

Unless your caravan is too small to have one, it should have a washing machine these days, at least one of 2kg capacity. Top loaders are more convenient, as the cycle can be interrupted to add items, and wall-mounted units have smaller capacity but don’t take up valuable floorspace.

What about slide-outs?

Most major Australian caravan manufacturers with the notable exception of Concept, offer slide-out wall models within their range.

The advantage of a slide-out bedroom on a touring caravan is that it allows the bed to sit transversely, yet glide out of the way (usually) to give access to a rear bathroom, adding extra usable space without increasing its length.

If caravan length for travelling or storage is an issue it’s a good solution, albeit at a price and weight premium over a fixed-wall caravan, but will add extra value on re-sale.

A slide-out lounge is of less advantage and is unlikely to add much to your van’s sale price.

Slide-out walls on off-road caravans are rare because of the issues of dust-sealing and wall rigidity and hence they're as not as sought-after, or valued as highly by buyers. However, if you only want to venture off the bitumen onto major unsealed highways, an off-road slider is a good space-saving solution.

Resale must-haves

Times are changing, and you need to move with them if you want to find a buyer quickly for your caravan in the years ahead.

The following are our ‘must haves’ to future-proof a touring caravan:

1. Around 20ft interior length

2. Smooth outer walls, ideally full composite fibreglass or aluminium

3. Trailing arm independent suspension – ideally ‘off-road’

4. At least 100 litres of fresh wash water capacity… and a grey water tank

5. At least one battery of 100Ah or more, and roof-top mounted solar panel

6. Rear entry door

7. Separate shower and toilet

8. Washing machine

9. Large kitchen bench (and big fridge)

10. An outdoor cooking option (if selling in Queensland, WA or NT)