Rick Huckstepp•20 Oct 2016

REVIEW

Sunseeker Wild Child

This is one Wild Child you wouldn’t mind taking on your next family holiday

Many off-road caravans are built with such heavy-duty construction that you have to upgrade to a large and expensive 4WD vehicle just to tow them over the Telegraph Track or Gibb River Road.

However, there are a few brands like Sunseeker Caravans that put together packages that cater to owners of more modest, off-road tow vehicles, while still delivering robust construction with the manoeuvrability of a dual wheel suspension and plenty of room for the youngsters.

But how did they do that in an 18ft van? Read on.

CLEVER PACKAGING

Available space inside this Sunseeker Wild Child model is enhanced by the use of a dining table with goose neck support that attaches to the nearside seat box. It doesn’t get in the way of the legs when using the table, so bodies can slide in from either end, and it also opens up the passage down the middle of the van.

If you have a toddler or two, high chairs will fit easily around one side of the table which can be lowered to form an extra bed when required. There’s also a mirrored robe at the back of the van to further enhance the visual spaciousness.

Located in the offside corner is the built-in children’s double bunk, which has its head toward the back wall past the protruding mirrored robe to offer a safeguard against the youngsters rolling off the bed in their sleep.

The profile-cut ladder for the top bunk also forms part of the support furniture for the fridge, and serves the same purpose security-wise at the foot of the bed.

The double bunk can be upgraded to a triple but you’ll sacrifice the large clothes and toy drawers underneath the lower mattress. There are also three huge storage drawers below the mirrored, double door robe.

The bathroom occupying the nearside corner features a combined shower/toilet, behind an opaque glass door with a good-sized ceiling vent and exhaust fan. A vanity basin sits in the top of the rear of the ceramic bowled Thetford cassette toilet.

Next to the bathroom door is a cabinet with lid and front door hosting a 2.5kg top loading washing machine. If front loaders are your bag, you don’t have to miss out here. But you will lose the three large drawers below the mirrored robe, as this where the optional front loader goes. The slightly narrower, top loader cabinet can be then used for the drawer set.

COOK UP A STORM

The kitchen area has an open and airy feel with large Euro-style, double glazed windows including insect and block-out screens located here as well as throughout the van.

To complement the 900W microwave there’s a Swift three gas/one electric burner cooktop with griller and full oven, so all-in-all plenty of options to burn things. The Swift appliances sit under a bench lid that helps to expand the food preparation area.

The single bowl sink has a flick mixer tap and four large drawers with metal boxes and acrylic fascias run down the left hand side. A large single door under the sink opens to reveal a good spot for short handled mops, buckets and other gear you can’t find space for elsewhere.

The large, east-west double bed sits on a box with access hatches to drawers that pull out from the front, making it easier to get to your stuff. There’s also a cut-away at the foot of the bed with a small robe and drawer at the back of it that serves as the exit point for the person sleeping against the front wall; much easier than climbing over each other.

There’s wall-to-wall cupboard space above the bed that extend all the way to the kitchen. One of kitchen lockers has the switch gear for the entertainment system as well as the gas/240V hot water system, water pump and monitor for the two underslung 95 litre tanks; not to mention solar controller for the single 150W mono-crystalline panel on the roof.

The extensive use of easy-cleaning, high-gloss acrylic should keep the inside of this van looking fresh for years, and is part of the make-up of the composite panels on the walls that clad an aluminium frame under a one piece fibreglass roof.

The main body is attached to a full marine ply floor that has a tough, waterproof membrane more commonly used for concrete formwork in the building industry.

Underneath the 6in draw bar attaches to the 4in chassis rail system which incorporates a 2in riser. Fitted to this Wild Child is Al-Ko’s Outback trailing arm coil suspension with twin shock absorbers per wheel and the popular DO-35 hitch, which fully articulates behind a pair of 9kg gas bottles.

The steel mesh base stretching between the A-frame is a good spot for all the grubby stuff like sullage hoses, firewood and the like.

A generator box comes standard with this van, and it’s attached to a rear bar on a robust, four-bar brace set back onto the chassis.

VERDICT

The Sunseeker Wild Child might not be a viable proposition to take on regular extreme off-road conditions like the Gibb River Road but it should handle most of the average, off the tar environments we often find ourselves in.

Its two wheel suspension is a weight and dollar saver and you won’t have to stretch your budget as much to get an economical tow vehicle. And that’s the Wild Child in a nutshell; a relatively low-cost, off road family adventurer.

SUNSEEKER WILD CHILD 18FT

Overall length: 25ft (7.62m)

Internal body length: 18ft (5.48m)

External body width: 8ft 2in (2.48m)

Internal height: 6ft 7in (2.0m)

Travel height: 3.09m

Tare: 2000kg

ATM: 2500kg

Ball weight: 200kg

Body/frame: Composite wall, one-piece fibreglass roof with styrene foam insulation.

Chassis: Supa-Gal 6in drawbar, 4in rails on 2in risers; all 3mm RHS

Wheels/tyres: Alloy/285-75/R16 MT tyres

Brakes: 12in electric drum

Stability control: Optional

Cooking: Swift three gas/one electric cooktop, griller and oven under rangehood

Microwave: 900W

Fridge/freezer: Thetford 186 litre three-way

Toilet: Thetford ceramic cassette

Shower: Yes

Air-con: Air Command Ibis 3 reverse cycle

Central heating: No

Gas: 2 x 9kg

Lighting: LED

Batteries: 1 x 120Ah

Solar:1 x 150W mono-crystalline panel

Price (as tested): $67,990

Supplied by: Sunseeker Caravans, Caloundra, Qld

Sunseeker Wild Child

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