Snowy River unveils tough All Terrain model

Snowy River Caravans may originate in China, but its antipodean history dates back to 2015 when a subsidiary of its parent company purchased long-established brand Regent Caravans to understand local conditions and appreciate what savvy Australian customers wanted.

Now it claims to have won around five per cent of the Australian caravan market, although this has not been verified.

This compendium of knowledge and volume come together in a new 20ft Snowy River Multi Terrain caravan that broke cover at the 2022 Queensland Caravan Supershow in Brisbane.

Standing tall on its galvanised steel chassis and semi-independent coil suspension, the new 20ft Multi Terrain – like other Snowy River 'vans – used fibreglass reinforced composite wall panels on an aluminium frame with XPS insulation foam. These walls are bonded and fixed to a single piece composite floor and composite roof to form a stable monocoque body.

While conventional with a north-south queen bed, L-shaped lounge and rear bathroom, the in-your-face feature of the new 20ft (body length) model to ensure you can go further into the bush was its lofty ride height, with every millimetre of its triple-deck step needed to enter.

Like other Snowy River models, the Multi Terrain’s body was constructed in China and shipped on its chassis to Snowy River’s facility in Somerton, Melbourne, where alongside the Regent production line, appliances are installed and the suspension is fitted.

With a plated Tare of 2757kg, ball weight of 175kg and 3500kg ATM, the Multi Terrain SRT20 had been locally developed to be a realistic alternative to established off-road centric brands like Queensland’s Kedron, with the cost advantage of its Chinese body construction.

The display van also featured a huge A-frame mounted checkerplate toolbox on its window-less front that was clearly proportioned to allow extended off-grid living and hide two gas bottles on a slide-out tray. Opening the toolbox’s lid revealed a tray above a fridge or BBQ slide that can house hoses and cables.

Understanding that many people will not have high-riding all-wheel-drive trucks or American pick-ups to haul the 20ft Multi Terrain, its gusseted chassis A-frame incorporated a drop nose to bring its coupling down to within normal ball or pin height range. Following a recent trend the chassis was also protected by a dark Raptor-style coating.

Also shown on the Snowy River stand was a new 18ft pop-top model – the SRP18 – which featured a couple's layout with an electric top lifted via four corner actuators, a combined shower-toilet inside bathroom, and a range of appliances including a rooftop air conditioner.

Snowy River CEO Andrew Crank told caravancampingsales that specs and prices were still to be finalised on the two new Snowy River vans. He said they were put on display at the Brisbane Supershow to get customer feedback about specs and features, and were yet to be tested in their final form.

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