Queensland dealer scales new heights

It’s not something we recommend… getting a bunch of burly blokes to pose while standing on top of a caravan.

But then British and European vans are generally built to withstand some pretty tough treatment, like a tonne or more of snow dumped on the roof during a typically icy northern European winter.

Exclusive RV on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, the newest Australian outlet for UK-built Elddis Caravans, is the latest to do the ‘tough top’ test, as can be seen in the accompanying photo.

Seven staff, weighing an estimated 500-plus kilograms, climbed on top of a latest, Australian Edition Elddis Avenger caravan, leaving as far as we know just footprints…

Darren Nye from

Australian Elddis importer Elite RV said all Elddis caravans are built using the manufacturer’s

Solid Construction method, which eschews traditional screws and bolts for a heavy-duty bonding process to deliver a monocoque-like structure.

“These caravans are capable of carrying a metre of snow on the roof which equates to an amazing 1400kg of weight over the entire roof area for the caravan in the picture,” he said.

“The structural integrity is so strong that Elddis offers a 10 year structural and water ingress warranty on all Oz Edition Elddis models. This even extends to graded, unsealed road use.”

Like UK-built Bailey and Swift caravans, the Elddis vans are subjected to some gruelling tests before hitting the showroom floor, including thousands of bone-rattling kilometres at automotive proving grounds, such as the Millbrook test centre in the UK.

Their Grade 3 thermal insulated bodies are also regularly put to the test, to ensure they can withstand extreme heat as well as the cold.

However, it’s not just Euro caravans that can claim impressive ‘real world’ structural strength, with NSW-based Avida RV resting a new Sapphire model on top of another when launching its new range of fibreglass caravans about a year ago…