One key caravan dream a reality

One of the most frustrating -- and mystifying -- aspects of owning an Australian caravan is having to carry around up to a dozen or more different keys to unlock and lock all the various compartments, doors and hatches located on the van's exterior.

Own a big, modern caravan with all its additional lockers, shower outlets, battery and tool boxes, etc, and you might find yourself lugging around more keys than a prison warden, and spending frustrating minutes doing 'lock up' every time you leave the van...

It's a far cry from the far more user-friendly, single fob key issued with your tow vehicle, and something that few caravan manufacturers have addressed over the years, apart from the odd European or premium Aussie brand.

Even Jayco which builds locally around 10,000 RVs a year but sources a variety of lockable components from overseas, provides its buyers with a confusing bunch of keys at handover.

But now a small Australian company is offering the 'one key' caravan dream to new and existing caravan buyers, although it's not quite yet a reality for most and it comes at a cost...

The key to a successful start-up

Established in late-2022, Port Stephens, NSW-based 1 Key Caravan is run by husband and wife team, Jamie and Dave Finn, who was a locksmith for 25 years before deciding to focus his skills on the caravan-convenience side of things.

Jamie told caravancampingsales that the RV-related start-up had sold a few hundred 1 Key Caravan kits so far, mostly to DIY enthusiasts retro-fitting on late-model caravans, although some caravan manufacturers including JB and Crusader are starting to offer the kits to new buyers, usually as a dealer-fit option.

"We've started with the most common caravan locks and we're building on it from there because basically every time we take on a new lock we have to engineer it so it will house our Australian barrel, so they can be uniform across the range," she explained.

As far as competitors go, she said the 1 Key Caravan system covers more caravan locks than the Camec one-key product introduced a few years ago.

"We have a larger range (than Camec) including compression locks, and we're continuing to develop new products as well," Jamie said.

'We can also offer customers the opportunity to add other products like padlocks at a later date, which are keyed the same as the other (1 Key) locks on the van.

"It is almost endless (the type of caravan locks fitted to Australian vans over the years) but we're trying to cover the most popular caravan locks, and we've now got the Camec entry door operational and we're getting the tooling developed as we speak for the Aussie Traveller door.

"At the moment we have customers who might have keyed alike 10 compression locks, along with their shower box, padlocks, and other things, and they're just waiting on the front door to come."

Close to one key reality

1 Key Caravan currently has around two thirds of the caravan 'lockable' market covered, and the plan is to offer most owners of modern caravans a full 'one key' solution within 12 months.

Next to come off the production line are more water filler and front toolbox locks, with a '1 Key' solution also being looked at for Milenco and Dometic entry doors, along with the DO-35 coupling pin lock and some RV bike racks.

The NSW business is also talking to other caravan manufacturers including Lotus and Titanium about '1 Key' solutions for their particular model ranges.

As well as convenience the 1 Key Caravan solution offers greater security, with up to 2000 key-barrel combinations available compared to as little as six for some popular side hatches.

The 1 Key locks are engineered and manufactured locally at factories in Melbourne and Wollongong, and the business is looking to expand down the track into other areas including ute canopies. It's also shipping kits to New Zealand.

"We are trying to keep as much made in Australia as possible," she said.

Most customers so far are spending between $300 and $500 to '1 Key' their van, although some with larger caravans have spent as much as $1000. The 1 Key option generally works better on newer caravans built after 2015, she said.

"Although older vans didn't tend to have as many hatches on them, so people didn't have to carry around so many keys anyway," she said.

And in case you were wondering, each 1 Key customer gets six copies of the same key...

"On the key blade there's a code so if they took a photo of that, in case they did lose all the keys they can call us or go to any locksmith in Australia to get a key cut," she said.