Into the future zone

Back in the early days of Australian motoring, people bought a chassis and then took it to their favourite coachbuilder for them to construct a body.

In a strange turn of the wheels, a futuristic Queensland company, Zone RV, is doing something similar as part of an inventive portfolio that includes do-it-yourself flat pack caravans and toy haulers, bodies for off-road trucks and complete turn-key on- and off-road caravans, by employing lightweight composite technology and innovative construction and marketing.

But then Zone RV managing director Matt Johns is not your usual caravan industry CEO, nor is his business partner in the greenfield Coolum Beach business, Dave Biggar.

Importantly, both are in their thirties and unencumbered by caravan industry traditions.

Johns’ background is CAD/CAM computer design, while Biggar heads up Cure Composites that specialises in composite structures for transport and the top-end ocean yacht racing industries.

The caravan industry know-how is the province of former Australian Off Road General Manager Marty Bell, who is the interface between this new age technology and the much more traditional industry he has come from.

The best way to describe Zone RV’s product portfolio is to describe what was on the floor when we visited their HQ in anew Coolum Beach industrial estate recently.

Under construction when we visited were four distinctly different caravans.

The first was a complete 20ft on-road caravan built on a new lightweight Melbourne-built, AusTrail steel chassis fitted with very 20th century roller rocker tandem leaf spring suspension.

However its sleek, tapered full composite body was very 21st century, and fully kitted out with air conditioning and a full across-the-rear ensuite was expected to tip the scales at around 1650 dry weight and have a massive one tonne payload, Bell told us, with the expectation of having a final $60,000-$65,000 retail price, depending on the equipment level.

Next to it sat two bare chassis, sent to Zone RV by their owners to have specific bodies fitted.

The first was a unique, all-aluminium 19ft 6in off-road chassis designed and built to order by a Brisbane specialist fabricator.

Its unique tapered I-beam (or ‘H’-shaped) A-frame evolving into a large diameter main chassis, it wore alloy trailing arm tandem axle independent suspension, self-levelling airbag springing and wads fitted with hydraulic disc brakes.

Also destined for a lightweight Zone RV composite body, the chassis weighed 700kg, Bell told us – around 300kg less than a steel chassis of equivalent strength – while its finished weight (including the 1000kg body) was expected to be under 2000kg for the finished van, or around 500kg less than most off-road vans of its size.

As if to make this point, the third project on the floor, was another more conventional steel Top Gun off-road chassis destined to wear a full composite Zone RV 20ft caravan body and expected to have a finished tare weight of 2300-2400kg and an ATM of 3500kg.

Finally in the factory, there was a built-to-order, 9.0-metre long ‘toy hauler’ sitting on a conventionally-sprung steel chassis with solid beam axle suspension, but capable of holding a full-size classic sports car, with room up front for a slide-out double bed, kitchen and lounge.

Out front on the Zone RV forecourt were two other examples of what this innovative Queensland RV maker can do.

The first was a custom-built gourmet kitchen designed to bring high level catering to outdoor functions like weddings or film sets.

The other was a finished, but internally bare 18ft ‘DIY’ kit caravan that Zone RV offers on its website to handy types, priced from as little as $16,927 as a 14ft (4.27m) flat packaged kit, up to $21,074 (as pictured), as a rolling shell, including lights.

The largest flat-pack Zone RV vans currently cost $33,916 as a pack, or $38,063 as a rolling shell and all configurations can uniquely be ordered online.

Most of the ZoneRV’s advertising and promotion is, not surprisingly, done via YouTube, rather than by conventional caravan mediums.

Appealing as ‘flat pack’ sounds, Marty Bell expects the bulk of their DIY vans to be purchased in roll-away form, as unless you’re in a related business, like cabinet making or are very well organised with the necessary lifting equipment and clamps, it’s really out of the question.

Another major reason is because of ZoneRV’s unique ‘Panelock’ technology, where the roof and double-skinned fibreglass wall panels drop into and then are urethane-glued into patented U-shaped aluminium extrusions.

“As the glue goes off in 20 minutes, you need to be pretty well organised,” he said.

The furniture is also bonded to the inner fibreglass walls with the same glue, but this is more within the scope of an experienced cabinetmaker or DIY enthusiast.

The secret of the finished structure is its high strength, combined with very light weight, with the 28mm thick vacuum-pressed ‘Tufflite’ walls weighing just 6kg/sq.m and the 30mm floor weighing 8kg/sq.m.

When bonded, the completed structure is claimed to be fully waterproof and dustproof.

But Zone RV’s expertise isn’t expected to remain on the Sunshine Coast for long.

Already one long-standing Victorian caravan manufacturer is collaborating with them to produce a new range of high strength touring caravans, taking full advantage of their high-tech lightweight construction to create a significant point of difference in the crowded faux ‘off-road’ caravan market.

For more details, check out the ZoneRV website.