Noosa ORV 2018 Review

No matter how crowded the market, there’s always room for a better mousetrap.

Sometimes it’s a different way of doing things; sometimes it’s attention to detail; sometimes it’s just being the maker that your customers can deal with directly as your competitors grow larger and more impersonal.

That pretty well describes Noosa ORV’s place as an upstart in the Australian hybrid caravan market. Being Australia’s most northerly RV manufacturer doesn’t hurt either, as you share geography and priorities with many potential customers around and north of Capricorn.

Good in tight spaces

Darren Wilson didn’t consider any of these things in his previous life, when he worked as a shopfitter, kitting out high-end Gucci stores throughout Asia. But the skills he learned from working with a range of materials in a confined space stood him in good stead for the next phase of his life.

So, he started making his tiny composite construction Campbox camper trailers in Noosaville. The idea was a compact, lightweight box-on-wheels that customers could fit out for their specific purpose, but he discovered there was a lot of work and little profit in a product that competed head on with more elaborate Chinese imports, so he has lifted his sights to the growing hybrid market.

The turning point came when a fellow Noosa resident, Murray McMillan, asked him whether he could build him a larger hybrid pop-top for the off-road adventures he and his wife Pru and their children had in mind. The result was the 16ft NoosaORV (Off-Road) family hybrid reviewed here.

Since then, others have discovered what appealed to Murray and the order book now stretches out to March next year.

Personalised service

It’s quite a feat considering that Darren works alone with suppliers in the business, operating from a small factory in a Noosaville business estate that has room for just three vans at a time. The attraction to customers is that each one gets the undivided attention of its creator.

One of the things that separates NoosaORVs from their market rivals is that they're true all-composite hybrids, rather than cut-down caravans, with no plywood or MDF anywhere in their construction, making them light and perfectly suited to Australian climatic extremes. Rather, Darren approaches the task from the other end, offering the versality and feel of a camper, but in a larger size.

Starting with a galvanised steel 150mm x 50mm chassis fabricated in Toowoomba and riding on quality Cruisemaster independent trailing arm coil spring suspension, the NoosaORV employs only insulated fibreglass sandwich panels in its construction. So, if you remove the mattress and the electrics, you could literally hose them out.

The walls are 30mm thick core XPS urethane panels, skinned on both sides with 2mm fibreglass sheets that come from either German or Italian suppliers, while the floor is also 30mm thick and made from honeycomb polypropylene. The pop-tops and fixed roofs on full-height vans are also full composite for better insulation.

What gives this structure immense strength is that all the interior furniture is bonded directly to the floor and walls, unlike most other hybrids that employ separate framed furniture.

Darren also uses fibreglass on both sides of each composite panel to ensure that each has the same expansion rate to resist potential warping – important in inland Australia where the mercury can drop below zero overnight and top 30 degrees during the day.

Different sizes

Although the 16ft family van seen here was Darren’s first NoosaORV branded, hybrid, his vans are also available in 14ft and 12ft sizes, with a full-height 16ft version currently in the pipeline.

An 18ft version has also been designed, but has yet to find an order. At the other extreme, a 12ft pop-top is currently being built with two entry doors – one giving direct access to its outside bathroom.

Being a small manufacturer allows NoosaORV buyers enormous flexibility to get exactly what they want and that can include the choice of pop-top or full height bodies in some sizes, combo internal or external showers and toilets, indoor, or outdoor kitchens and exterior or interior fridges – or both.

While its market rivals offer all these features, they generally package them as separate models, or option packs, whereas NoosaORV effectively asks customers what they want and builds them a bespoke van.

Built for outdoor living

The other difference is that being too small to offer a product range for all climates, NoosaORV is really catering for the northern Australian market and thus is more focussed on outdoor living.

The review hybrid epitomised this and was already a veteran of several extreme off-road trips to Queensland’s Capricorn Coast and Australia’s High Country.

Externally, the NoosaORV was pretty similar to other hybrids we have reviewed, with a windowless front and rear to minimise dust ingress and a rear entry door.

Rather than a front boot, it had a large storage box on the A-frame with slides to hold a portable fridge on one side and a generator on the other and topped by a wood rack.

The twin gas bottles and fuel tank for the van’s diesel space heater were a bit exposed to stone strike out front, but a mesh stone shield is now standard on all NoosaORVs.

On the positive side, all NoosaORVs are fitted as standard with premium fold-up and height adjustable ARM dual-tyred jockey wheels that are strong enough to allow the van to be towed from the front in sticky situations.

Double-sealed side hatches that extend under the sideways-mounted front queen bed ensure a dust-free storage space and provide easy access to the slide-out external kitchen, with its three-burner gas cooker, large sink and generous work area, as well as a pull-out pantry.

The review hybrid also had a slide-out BBQ in its front storage box, but what goes in all these spaces is, within reason, up to you.

Separate hatches on the right hand side accommodated the Camec instant gas hot water service and provided extra storage.

Out back, the 16ft NoosaORV had a single spare wheel on the back wall with provision for a second alongside. From experience, the only issue with this sort of set-up is that you’ll need help to remove or refit the wheel and tyre combination weighing in at more than 40kg.

If you specify a rear shower and toilet ‘pod’,  the spare wheel will swing out of the way on a lockable arm.

Step inside...

Inside, the décor is function and no-frills gloss white fibreglass – more like what you’ll find on a Northcoast or Rhinomax hybrid than on an Australian Off-Road or Mountain Trail – and with a lot of attention to detail.

Spreading the bed across the nose of the van has allowed two double-stacked single beds to extend along the right hand wall, with the lower bed doubling as a sofa at other times.

A relatively small rectangular table on an eccentric swivel can be centralised to seat up to four for in-house dining, although most of the time this is expected to take place outdoors, probably around a campfire.

The back wall houses the combination shower and toilet on the left, with the a 130-litre Vitrifrigo fridge in the centre of a nest of drawers, with a small wash basin and mixer tap on the shelf above.

This is not intended as a cooking area and if you wanted to use a small gas cassette cooker here you’d have to be mindful of the three low-hanging cupboards above it.

Unusually, the hybrid's two standard batteries and their main cut-off control are accessed behind a low drop-down door in this cabinet. Twin 150W rooftop solar panels provide all the renewable power that a family should require for extended off-grid camping.

In keeping with its minimalist design, there’s no air conditioner, but a 12v fan is fitted to supplement the cooling afforded by the pop-top skirt and four large opening windows.

Priced to sell

The other attractive feature for buyers of NoosaORV vans is that they're relatively inexpensive compared with their higher-volume Sunshine Coast rivals.

The 16ft pop-top as reviewed, had a starting price of $88,650, while a 14ft version would cost from $74,600 and a 12ft version around $68,000. These are guiding prices only, as there’s little chance that any two of these Noosaville-made hybrids will ever be built the same.

Summing up

Bespoke is an old word that perfectly describes the NoosaORV, built by a company small and versatile enough to give buyers exactly what they want, in a high-quality van employing using leading edge construction.

Specs: Noosa ORV 16ft Hybrid

External body length: 5050mm
External body width: 2060mm
Tare: 1740kg
ATM: 2600kg
Payload: 860kg
Ball weight: 150kg
Body: Full fibreglass composite walls, roof and floor
Chassis: Galvanised steel 150mm x 50mm with DO35 coupling
Suspension: Cruisemaster ATX independent trailing arm with coil springs and twin shocks
Brakes: 12-inch AL-KO electric drums
Wheels: 16-inch steel or alloy 6-stud wheels with 265/75-16 tyres
Water: 2 x 140L fresh water tanks
Battery: 2 x 120Ah AGM
Solar: 2 x 150W roof-mounted
Gas: 2 x 4kg
Cooking: 3-burner slide-out external cooktop and stainless-steel sink
Fridge: 130l Vitrifrigo compressor
Bathroom: Combined shower and toilet, plus separate wash basin
Lighting: LED throughout
Base price: From $78,650
Supplied by: NoosaORV, Noosaville, Qld