Sunseeker boss on heat-seeking mission

What's the most important thing you should have on hand when shopping around for a new off-grid caravan at a show?

A comprehensive checklist or buyer's guide? An experienced caravanner alongside to help sort the wheat from the chaff?

A big bank balance wouldn't hurt these days... Nor would a bulls__t detector!

Well, long-time caravan retailer and outdoor adrenaline junkie Chris Michel reckons all caravan shoppers should have a trick gadget in their pocket that can instantly tell them how much a particular van in full sun is heating up, depending on its construction and external colour and texture.

"If you are in the market for a new van you must add a very simple tool to your research methods, a thermal imaging camera or at the very least an infrared thermal gun," the outspoken owner of Queensland-based Sunseeker Caravans and Vision RV reckons.

At the recent Victorian Caravan Supershow, Michel was spruiking the insulation and thermal properties of the all-new and reflective gloss white, fibreglass sandwich panelled MY25 Sunseeker off-road caravans, using stunning imagery captured with a $600 Fluke iSee mobile thermal camera.

"It's not cheap but I wouldn't travel in a van without one," he said.

Designed mainly for use by tradies including electricians, the small dongle plugs in to a mobile phone and provides visual as well as numerical 'real-time' temperature read-outs of various external surfaces.

In a cheeky crack at the increasing number of Melbourne-based manufacturers producing tough-nut, dark-coloured off-road vans, Michel posted on social media a comparison of the surface temperatures of one of his white fibreglass Sunseekers, compared to a rival's dark, aluminium framed model.

On a 33 degree day at the Melbourne show, he recorded around 50 degrees' surface temperature of a black toolbox on the new top-spec 20ft 6in Sunseeker Desert Storm, while a white side panel recorded around 35 degrees.

The same van also recorded internal ceiling temperatures of up to 35 degrees, and an internal wall reading of around 33 degrees.

He then pointed his thermal 'gun' at a rival's dark skinned van on another stand, showing an external wall surface temperature of around 55 degrees Celsius.

"Who's doing white vans anymore? Not even Jayco, and apart from a few like Zone RV, hardly anyone is doing a white van. But they can look good, and be cool if they're done properly," he argued.

"The trend towards dark exterior skinned vans leads to heat absorption and thermal bridging into the van plus many other issues such as expansion."

"As the industry shifts to off-grid living where everyone wants to run their air-conditioning off batteries this thermal loss means the consumption of batteries is immense (with traditional framed vans) in comparison to fibreglass sandwich panel (vans).

Michel said that being able to compare the insulation properties of off-road vans at shows is "a small investment to gain so much insight".

The Sunseeker range was previously manufactured by Melbourne's Titanium Caravans, but Chris Michel says he's used knowledge gained from production of the lightweight Vision RV hybrids in recent years to develop the new three-model full composite Sunseeker range.

The new vans are built in Brisbane using a 28mm thick fibreglass sandwich panel with an XPS foam core, for the floors, walls and roof, joined with a "high end sealant" to keep the dust and water out.

They run the latest Projecta Intelli-Grid programmable battery systems, with a minimum 880W rooftop solar, 600Ah lithium batteries and 3000W inverter in the top-spec Desert Storm. The show van was also running the latest Cruisemaster ATX Stage 3 BSC (Body Control System) airbag suspension.

Not surprisingly, Michel also isn't a big fan of the large vertical lockers filled with battery electrical components, often found on the offside wall of many off-grid caravans recently hitting the market.

Instead, most of the battery electricals in the Sunseeker vans are installed inside the van under the seats, employing a substantial 'air gap' and a temperature-controlled thermo fan, to avoid over-heating and other related issues.

"We're resistant to this obsession and current trend of putting all the battery management system on the side of the van. Some don't even come with any protection... The heat issues are epic to mitigate, but also dust ingress is another potential problem," he said.

The Sunseeker boss is also a harsh critic of the excessive 'bling' found on some high-end off-road caravans, and reckons every item on the MY25 Sunseeker range has a practical purpose, from the Line-X coated chassis and Raptor body protection, to minimal amber LED lighting located on all sides of the van.

"That's why we don't do all the crazy stuff others are doing. We're not different for the sake of being different," he said.

"I don't understand these big massive light bars on vans; they absolutely burn through power and turn your campsite into a football stadium. It's illogical and the people who use these vans really know that," he continued.

"Trying to minimise your lights to achieve a task is the way to go, and also from a battery preservation perspective."

"Everything has to have some common sense for off-grid living, you know, plenty of space, very sturdy, heaps of batteries and solar, good off-road suspension, big wheels, to get where you need to get to," he said.

"We're seeing the traditional off-road market with the propensity for giant toolboxes and everything, it's just adding weight, and requiring a new tow vehicle."

The sleek, minimalist look precludes bold artwork like you see on the Vision hybrids, but the new Sunseekers do get a subtle Outback touch in the form of skin-crawling 'crocodile skin' decals running along the sides.

The interiors are also a bit special, with some unique touches including 'industry first' angled mirror overhead cabinets and a 'butlers pantry' in the bathrooms, to go with king bed/triple bunk layouts, trick ambient lighting and the latest white sinks and gold taps.

Pricing for the MY25 Sunseeker range starts at $119,990 for the entry-level Merlin, with the mid-spec Wild Child priced from $134,999 and the range-topping Desert Storm couple and family models kicking off at $159,990. Full specs on the Sunseeker Caravans website.