Jayco plays rough

Rugged new off-road caravan in search of a name makes surprise Leisurefest debut

Jayco put a hot northwest wind up its rivals at this year’s Melbourne Leisurefest by unveiling a new full-height off-road caravan targeting the rapidly growing premium mid-range adventure market.

With a projected price of $83,990, the comprehensively-equipped 19-footer tandem-axle pre-production model displayed by Australia’s largest RV manufacturer strikes at the heart of the market sector currently inhabited by dedicated rough-road brands such as Lotus, Elite, Goldstream and also contested by virtually every other mainstream Australian caravan manufacturer.

“We certainly have our rivals worried,” said Jayco’s Regional Sales Manager Scott Jones, commenting on the first day of this year’s Sandown racecourse show. “They have been all over it since it arrived!”

Jayco’s off-roader – which will be named through a public competition – brings no surprises to this profitable sector and is the result of a 12-month R&D development driven personally by Jayco’s new CEO Carl Bizon, who is a keen caravanner.

His ‘baby’ ticks all the boxes that cashed up travellers want from their off-road caravan, such as a cut-away bodywork with skid plates, an extended 150mm x 50mm A-frame equipped with a generator compartment and portable fridge-slide, plenty of tough propeller-plate stone shielding, tandem trailing arm coil spring suspension and side protecting ‘bush bars’.

“Plus it’s a Jayco,” said Jones. “That gives customers the reassurance that it’s value for money, will be well-supported wherever they travel throughout Australia and will have good resale and that’s an edge our rivals in this market can’t match.”

The 2750kg tare, 3400kg ATM and 3.055m tall 19ft off-roader displayed at Leisurefest was based on the front queen bed, centre dinette, rear door and rear ensuite layout of a Starcraft 19.60-2, but with its light-toned timber furniture secured more firmly by purpose-made aluminium extrusions, while its Harn drawers featured extra strengthening and new drawer slides.

Underneath was a strengthened Silverline chassis fitted with a revised version of Jayco’s J-Tech independent trailing arm coil spring suspension with twin telescopic shocks per wheel.

Its smooth fibreglass composite-clad upper exterior in the off-road model’s unique silver grey was fitted over a similar aluminium frame to that employed in both the Silverline and Starcraft TL models. However the propeller-plate cladding below was fitted on top of the fibreglass walls to add extra strength.

Standard spec on the display off-roader included a McHitch off-road coupling, two jerry can holders on the A-frame, twin spare wheels on a four-arm galvanised rear bumper, a slide-out stainless steel welded kitchen, LED set-up work lights, two 100AH deep cycle batteries and two 150W roof-mounted solar panels with a new J35 model BM Pro management system, two 92 litre fresh water tanks and a 62 litre grey water tank.

Inside the van boasted a full rear ensuite that also accommodated a top-loading Sphere 3kg washing machine, a Waeco 190-litre compressor fridge-freezer, a full Thetford Triplex Plus gas/electric cooktop and leather upholstery.

Adding further to its off-road appeal, the new Jayco model will also be available with gas central heating and possibly lithium batteries later in 2017.

More bad news for Jayco’s rivals is that the 19ft caravan displayed at Leisurefest is expected to be joined by at least two other off-road Jayco models during 2017, with a good chance Jayco will also introduce a lighter, more compact version for those that really like to go bush.

“There’s a good business case internally for us to make a single axle 16ft and perhaps a 17ft model as well,” said Jones. “These vans with a lighter tare weight will also give us access to the ‘Prado’ market, which the tandem sits above.”

Jayco certainly has ambitious plans for its new off-road range, with Jones estimating that when production gets rolling on a new line at the company’s South Dandenong, Victoria plant in the first quarter of 2017 it could produce 300-500 off-roaders a year – or up to 15 per cent of the market that Jayco is targeting.

Jayco plays rough

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