Michael Browning•1 Dec 2017

REVIEW

Sunland Longreach Adventure

This custom-built off-roader is laid out more like an apartment than a conventional caravan

As a caravan show-weary writer, you can double-guess the layout of most caravans by the brand and length. But in this very personal industry, one size doesn’t always fit all.

Not everyone wants an open-plan layout, in which every travelling moment is shared, nor a bedroom that can’t go dark or quiet until a favourite TV show or sports event has finished and everyone has gone to bed.

And many people don’t want to cook inside at all.

That’s why it was refreshing to take out Sunland’s latest 18ft 6in Longreach Adventure that despite its relatively short length, incorporated three separate zones based on the wishes of a customer.

Built to order

As a specialist off-road builder, Caboolture, Qld-based Sunland has been a leader rather than a follower when it comes to designing and engineering caravans for unique requirements.

So, when a customer wanted to work and watch TV late at night while his wife slept and both wanted to cook outside, they knew just what to do.

The solution, despite the seemingly incompatible 18ft 6in length of the caravan and its space-limiting, upswept rear bodywork, was to compartmentalise its interior.

As the emphasis in this compact off-roader is on outside cooking and living, with its gas cooktop and paired sink with a hot/cold mixer tap sliding out of the left-hand front locker, there was no need to allocate much space inside for a full galley.

As a result, you press a foot-well switch to lower the double aluminium step electronically and enter straight into what little there is of the internal kitchen, with a large mirror-fronted compressor fridge/freezer on the left and a wide, but shallow, L-shaped preparation bench straight ahead.

Gas-free, dust-free

There are no cooking appliances in this Adventure model, other than a microwave mounted above the review van’s eye-catching, aqua-coloured splashback, with a stainless-steel basin and mixer tap in the bench’s right-hand return.

If you’re cooking outdoors, it all makes sense, as you can prep and serve the food, stack dishes inside afterwards and keep the cooking smells and smoke outdoors.

But if it’s windy or raining outside, you could always boil a kettle for a cuppa, drop a pod in a coffee machine, or heat up a frozen or pre-prepared meal in the microwave anyway

The fridge is handily-placed so that it can be accessed just as easily from outside as inside.

With no gas cooking appliances, inside and a diesel hot water system and heater fitted, this van is completely sealed from dust intrusion – something that will be appreciated by those who enjoy red dirt travel as long as it remains on the outside!

Where’s the ensuite?

To the right of the galley in the rear of this Longreach is the master bedroom, with its island queen bed flanked by two three-quarter robes and two overhead storage cupboards, while a TV is mounted on the wall straight ahead.

While the room is relatively small, lacks a rear window and has mahogany-coloured furniture, it’s impressively light, thanks to the large windows on each wall.

So, where’s the ensuite? Behind a door to the right of the TV, with its toilet and drop-down hand basin at the end of a long, narrow and windowless corridor. It works, but passing through the shower means wet feet first for someone who just wants to use the loo. And without a window, it’s a bit claustrophobic.

Leather lounging

Turning left after you enter takes you to the combined front lounge, dining room and study.

The leather lounge is the hero here, with comfortable seating for five adults, but the van’s tri-fold table will be a bit small if they all sit down for dinner.

Around to the left, behind the fridge, there’s a small study nook, with a shelf for a lap-top computer. It will work for topping up a Facebook page on the fly, but is a bit too tight for much more, as the curve of the van’s front panel limits head and elbow-room for workaholics.

However, it’s a good idea that could be developed for different customer needs.

On the positive side, the whole lounge area is bathed in light, thanks to the large front and offside windows and there’s a bracket designed to hold a small TV on the study wall.

Custom tweaks

Of course, this layout will not be for everyone and Sunland has this well covered with its ability to offer custom builds for the Adventure, which is available in lengths from 17ft to 25ft.

All Sunland caravans are designed for constant off-road travel and employ a similar, hybrid steel and punched aluminium chassis that combines aircraft and marine technology to reduce weight without sacrificing strength.

A testament to the strength and longevity of its chassis is that Sunland offers it with a 20-year warranty that to our knowledge is not matched in the industry.

This allows Sunland to offer a larger payload than most caravans of comparable size and the review Adventure could carry 890kg – impressive for a van with an empty (Tare) weight of 2610kg.

Vehicle Components’ Cruisemaster independent trailing arm suspension with twin shock absorbers per wheel is fitted exclusively to all Sunland models, with airbags replacing coil springs when optioned.

Indicative of the attention to detail in this area, a rubber flap protects the suspension arms and pivots from stone damage.

The neat underfloor layout is aided by the central positioning of Sunland’s bespoke 10mm thick,190-litre poly plastic tank above the suspension, where it doesn’t require additional stone shielding.

Built to last

Aluminium body frames, fibreglass exterior cladding (ply inner walls are standard, but fibreglass is available optionally inside as well) with 25mm thick urethane foam insulation in the cavities are used at Sunland, which regards this as superior long-term than the full composite wall panels being adopted by many Australian caravaners, while a composite fibreglass floor is used for insulation and additional strength.

Black Raptor coating is used instead of checker plate on the front, rear and lower body sides of the Longreach Adventure, instead of Sunland’s traditional blue hue, while Adventure models also get light grey coloured body panels instead of white, breaking Sunland’s patriotic white, blue and red colour scheme.

Because of its size, layout and slide-out kitchen, exterior body storage is limited to a small, but unobstructed locker on the right-hand side, but the A-frame checker-plate tool box with its twin gull-wing doors, houses the van’s gas bottles and could accommodate a portable fridge or generator, if desired.

Where’s the spare wheel? In a separate compartment in the van’s rear panel, where it sits low and will be easier to access than most bumper-mounted spares.

Solar city

While all Sunland caravans are clearly designed for off-the-grid living, this customer’s van went the extra mile bush, with no fewer than eight individual 180W solar panels (a total of 1440W!) on the roof, feeding two 300AH lithium batteries, with a 3000W inverter fitted to empower any 240-volt domestic appliances you might want to plug in.

A total of 250 litres of water capacity and a separate 60 litre grey water tank completed its impressive remote area spec.

Interestingly, the solar panels are angled on the roof, not just to allow them to fit the limited real estate available, but also to provide further protection from the elements for the Adventure’s roof-top hatches, that tend to degrade with constant sun exposure.

Despite its tare weight of 2610kg for this heavily optioned, 18ft 6in off-roader, it was child’s play behind our Dodge RAM 2500 ute that’s capable of hauling 6942kg – nearly twice the Sunland’s weight.

Plenty of grunt

With 276kW and a staggering 1084Nm of torque developed by its 6.7 litre, straight six Cummins diesel engine, mated to a six-speed automatic transmission with gear pre-selector and its twin mode exhaust brakes, the RAM would normally be seen ahead of much bigger vans that exceed the 3500kg towing limit of most large 4WDs sold in Australia.

However, the advantage of towing a heavy-ish off-roader with something so powerful is that not only can it haul you out of trouble, if rain suddenly falls in black soil country, but its vast load bed can take all the bulky things you might like to take with you on a long trip, from chairs and tables, through to a large top-loader fridge-freezer, recovery equipment, a ladder to access the roof in order to keep all those solar panels clean, and so on.

And of course, you could carry a tinny and its outboard motor on a special rack.

This is made easier on the RAM, thanks to its novel RamBox adjustable and lockable bed divider which creates individual compartments in the pickup bed to stop heavy items from sliding about.

The catch? Well, like the Sunland, it’s not cheap at its RRP of $142,900. This almost matched the review caravan which. if you ticked all the option boxes with an 18ft 6in.model – as this customer did – will cost you $139,990.

We liked:

>> Engineering and build quality

>> Self-sufficiency

>> High equipment level

Not so much:

>> Some detail finish

>> Quirky bathroom layout

>> Pokey ‘media’ nook

Verdict

Sunland’s Longreach Adventure is a top-end caravan in every respect, built tough and very comprehensively-equipped for serious remote area living.

While the layout of the review vehicle might not be to everyone’s taste, it shows the versatility of this respected Sunshine Coast off-road specialist when it comes to addressing specific customer requirements.

Sunland Longreach Adventure 18ft 6in

Overall length: 8300mm
External body length: 5669mm
External body width:2430mm
Travel height: 3050mm
Interior height: 1950mm
Nameplate Tare: 2610kg
Nameplate ATM: 3500kg
Payload: 890kg
Ball weight: 350kg

Body: Aluminium body frame with fibreglass exterior cladding and urethane insulation

Chassis: Hybrid punched allow and HDG steel
Suspension: Cruisemaster XT tandem, independent coil and dual shock absorbers per wheel
Brakes: 12-inch power-boosted discs
Stability Control: Dexter DSC
Wheels: Alloy with 245/65-17 tyres
Fresh water: 190L and 60L

Grey water: 1 x 60L
Battery: 2 x 300Ah lithium
Solar: 8 x 180W roof-mounted panels
Air-conditioner: Truma Saphir ducted reverse cycle
Gas: 2 x 9kg
Cooking: External slide-out stainless steel with 3 burner gas cooktop
Fridge: 188 litre Nova Kool RFU9200 dual compressor
Microwave: Camec
Bathroom: Combined shower and cassette toilet
Lighting: LED
Price: $139,990
Supplied by: Sunland Caravans, Caboolture, Qld

Sunland Longreach Adventure

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