Kedron XC3 Compact

WE LIKED:
>> Creative design for a small van
>> Nice timber finish inside
>> Dinette with different sized seats
>> Good external storage

NOT SO MUCH:
>> No 12V/5V USB built-in charger
>> No shelf around the bed
>> Solar panel regulator only accessible outside

This might sound a bit funny to those of you who know them but, in some ways, the team at Kedron Caravans – aka The Gall Boys – are quite a conservative bunch. Sure, there’s nothing conservative about their outback travels but, like a number of other manufacturers, the range of Kedron caravans is relatively small.

Not that there's anything wrong with that – in fact, I suspect the main reason is to ensure quality not quantity.

So, when Glen Gall told me about their new single axle caravan (I didn't know you made them, I said!), I was all ears. The new van is based on an existing van, the XC3 Cross Country, and is aptly named the Compact.

NOT TOO BIG, NO TOO SMALL

For a start, the Compact weighs in at 1975kg, a very good weight for an offroad caravan. It’s going to be ideal for smaller tow vehicles or much less work for larger ones.

Secondly, it’s only 5m (16ft 4in) long, which is good for some of those undulating bush tracks the Kedron team likes to travel along.

So how is the Compact built? Well, it’s much like any other Kedron in many respects. It's based on a hot-dipped galvanised box section chassis with 150mm (6in) main rails.

For the rough stuff, the Compact rides on trailing arm coil spring suspension fitted with dual shock absorbers. Up front, a 3500kg McHitch coupling keeps the van well and truly on the tow ball. Fitted between the chassis rails are two water tanks – 100L for everyday use and 60L for drinking.

An aluminium interlocked frame with high tensile steel rivets is used to keep the body rigid, except in the roof where the frame is welded.

It has all the usual features such as the Camec security doors and tinted acrylic hopper windows, as well as two 9kg gas cylinders and a mesh stone protector on the drawbar.

What's very new on this van is the roto-moulded poly front boot, which uses exactly the same material as the water tanks, so you know it's tried and tested. It's designed to be both dust and waterproof, as well as resistant to stone damage.

That creates enough external storage space, even without the second bin on the nearside – which is lucky, because that’s really just for the Weber barbecue.

On the nearside are some common al-fresco items – the awning and entertainment unit, complete with flatscreen TV mounting bracket.

Doing away with common convention, the battery, charger, 12V fuse panel and solar panel regulator are located in a small offside compartment rather than in the front boot.

Maybe it's a bit geeky, but I think I'd prefer to have the solar panel regulator inside the van where I can easily see what is going on with the batteries.

WITHOUT COMPROMISE

Given the 5m (16ft 4in) body length of the Compact, it’s no surprise that it doesn’t have a front bedroom/rear bathroom layout. But what Kedron has managed to fit in, without too much compromise, is an achievement.

Up front, there's an east-west bed, set high enough to leave storage space underneath for items such as the hot water heater and your larger travelling essentials.

There are cupboards on both sides of the bed, leaving space along the nearside for a small dinette.

The shower and toilet are in the offside corner and there’s a split kitchen with the bench across the rear wall.

Given the more confined interior space, the timber finish tends to dominate. It’s very nicely done, and is finished in a light American Oak, which I have only ever seen in a dark stain. All the door catches are marine style and reasonably easy to operate with stiff fingers.

Round LED lights supply the necessary illumination but there are reading lights above the bed and a strip light in the kitchen.

Across the front, the bed measures 1.8 x 1.4m (6ft 2in x 4ft 6in), has windows on three sides and a row of overhead lockers across the front. There are no bedside shelves as such, although there is a cabinet adjoining the bed.

I did wonder about a modification to the overhead locker in the front nearside corner, or maybe even an extra wide pelmet above the nearside window. Below the bed base, the floor level door gives access to the under-bed storage area.

It's a bit hard to fit a large wardrobe into a van this size but, between the bed and the dinette, the cabinet has hanging space above and three drawers below, offering a relatively generous amount of storage space.

There's a bit of a surprise on the opposite side, because the waist-high cabinet conceals a top-loading washing machine. I can recall a time when washing machines were something of a novelty – especially in a small van!

Another surprise is that the microwave oven has been squeezed into the overhead lockers instead of putting it above the fridge where they are usually found. Kedron has opted for a larger two-door 184L fridge which cannot sit any lower because of the wheel arch, so they’ve put the microwave oven alongside it.

Fitting in between the washing machine and the microwave, the flatscreen TV on a swiveling arm can be seen from both the bed and the dinette seats.

TEA FOR TWO

Clad in nautical blue upholstery, the cafe dinette has been neatly designed to seat just two people. The rear seat is 150mm narrower that the front seat, in order to create a bit more aisle space, given the proximity of the kitchen. Both seats have drawers underneath and there are overhead lockers as well.

Above the tri-fold table, there's a 240V outlet, but I reckon that, given this is a van designed for remote camping, a 12V outlet or even a 5V USB socket would not go astray.

Generally speaking, RV kitchen benches have to be long enough to fit a four-burner cooktop/grill/oven alongside a stainless steel sink and drainer. There are other variations, but that is the most practical, and Kedron has managed to craft just that along the rear wall.

Both tank water and filtered drinking water are supplied to the sink and the brushed stainless steel splashback is a mounting point for powerpoints, light switches and the Suburban hot water control. Naturally, there's a full complement of cupboards, drawers and overhead lockers.

In a van of this length, you'd generally expect to find a compact bathroom, with a combined shower and toilet in the same cubicle. However, a little bit of deft planning has resulted in a bathroom that’s long enough to have a separate shower cubicle which also contains a small corner wash basin.

Outside the shower cubicle, the cassette toilet sits by itself with a large wall mirror above. About the only problem with this arrangement is that it’s not very easy to use the wash basin and mirror, say for shaving, at the same time. But alloy checkerplate on the floor creates a non-slip surface that is easy to clean.

VERDICT

On the road the Compact is a snack to tow and very well-behaved. Given it's relatively short length and light weight (tare less than 2000kg), it's perfect for exploring many a bush track. Hitched up behind something like a Toyota Prado, offroad touring is going to be a breeze.

Although the van’s layout is a bit compressed due to its size, what Kedron has managed to fit in, with very few compromises, is really impressive. I reckon it's a very livable proposition and is ideal for someone who doesn't want a large van dragging along behind them.

HITCHING UP WITH MCHITCH

Readers familiar with Kedron will know that it likes to use the McHitch Uniglide Trailer Coupling, which does not use a conventional ball coupling.

Well, McHitch has recently developed a variant of that hitch, the Automatic Trailer Coupler, which is primarily designed to take the hit and miss out of hitching up and make things much easier if you happen to travel on your own.

It looks a bit like the ring feeder system used on large trucks but just uses a pin on the coupling which is inserted into the tow vehicle receptor. All that's needed is to get the hitch pin at roughly the right height and back up, the pin hitch will lock in automatically.

Of course, there's a back-up lock pin to ensure that everything stays hitched up.

It's available in both a 3.5t and 6t rating and there's also a 2t variant for camper trailers. Additionally, it has a low clearance height of 120mm (4.75in) which should suit most tow vehicle rear doors. Looks like a winner to me!

KEDRON XC3 COMPACT

Overall length: 7m (23ft)
External body length: 5m (16ft 4in)
External body width: 2.3m (7ft 6in)
Travel height: 3.1m (10ft 1in)
Internal height: 1.98m (6ft 6in)
Tare: 1975kg
ATM: 2500kg-3000kg
Ball weight: 190kg
Frame: Aluminium with solid high tensile punch pins
Cladding: Aluminium
Chassis: Hot-dipped galvanised 6in beam
Suspension: Trailing arm independent coil with dual shock absorbers
Brakes: 12in commercial style drum with flush plugs
Wheels: 100 Series 16in
Fresh water: 1x100L, 1x60L filtered
Battery: 1x120Ah
Solar: 1x140W Kyocera
Air-conditioner: AirCommand Sparrow
Gas: 2x9kg
ESC: No
Cooking: Dometic combo four-burner/grill/oven
Fridge: Thetford 184L three-way
Microwave: Sharp Carousel
Toilet: Thetford C400
Shower: Flick Master hose in separate cubicle
Lighting: 12V LED
Hot water: Suburban 22.6L gas/elec
Options fitted: External barbecue box, external TV box, external gas bayonet, external hot/hold shower, external 50A Anderson plug, stone guard, stone bra
Price: $59,900 (on road, Qld)
Supplied by: Kedron Caravans, Kedron, Qld