The cold, hard facts about Aussie caravans and snow

With the cold snap this winter and unusually high snowfall, some Aussie RV owners venturing to higher altitudes may be wondering: Can my 'sun-kissed' caravan also withstand the coldest conditions?

Even at the highest altitudes of the Snowy Mountains, Australia’s climate is not exactly arctic. However, -10 degrees isn’t out of the question -- and not the ideal conditions to pitch your basic canvas camper, or your run-of-the-mill touring 'van.

However, there are a few locally-built caravans that are built for the coldest conditions, in case their owners want to brave the snow and ice for longer than a quick coffee stop on the way through...

Boronia, Victoria based Tekton Expedition is one innovative Aussie RV company that designs and builds its hybrid campers and caravans with Alpine camping in mind. Although according to Tekton co-founder Jonathan, the Australian Alpine conditions do not require as much 'winterising' as in North America or Europe.

“It’s less common for example for tanks to freeze up in Australia, even in the snow with temperatures down to -10 degrees,” he explained.

That said, the company does spend some effort ensuring that the water lines from the tanks don't freeze, for customers who want to head deep into snow country.

“With campers more focussed for use on hard core tracks, for example the (Tekton) XT-3, we do run internal tanks and all lines are also internal. This prevents water lines from freezing,” he said.

The Tekton hybrids are also designed to not buckle under a heavy snow fall.

“The roof is rated to 500kg, which is more than sufficient from a snow point of view,” he said.

A bigger issue with camping in colder Aussie climates such as the Alpine regions in winter, is thermal pass-though.

“Sealing the 'van, for example an aluminium skin 'van with the doors with windows is hard (to do)," he explained. "We stop thermal bridging, by having no aluminium in the walls -- and where aluminium is used on the outside, it’s insulated from inside.

“So for example with windows, we used adhesive around the windows during construction to minimise thermal bridging. Basically wherever we can to minimise it, we do. Anywhere thermal pass through can occur is a massive no-no.”

Condensation with pop-top roofs can also be a problem, but Tekton reckons they address that as well.

“With the pop-top models, there’s no condensation; again with the work to avoid thermal bridging. Aluminium is the worst for transfer of cold and adds to condensation,” he said.

However, for the winter campers, he said the efforts on thermal leakage appear to have worked. “A few of our customers do go into Alpine regions, but we have never had customers say heaters can’t keep up at around minus 7 degrees. If the heater can’t cope, that’s a sign of thermal leakage,” he claimed.

Tekton said that fitting water pipework internally and reducing thermal pass though is also helpful in hotter climates.

Queensland’s Bruder X is another high-end caravan manufacturer that knows its way around building caravans for extreme icy conditions - a necessity when the Brisbane manufacturer exports many of its big-ticket expedition trailers to northern hemisphere markets, including Europe and the USA.

“If there’s genuinely going to be camping below minus 20 (degrees Celcius), you even build the chassis differently. It’s everything from how to weld the chassis to the rest of the way though the build," Bruder X co-founder, Dan Bosschieter explained.

“On the (Bruder) EXP range, we keep the water tanks inside, which is one of the first things to cause problems. If stored in sub-zero temps, a blow-out line hook-up is installed so that a compressor can be used to blow out the lines so they don’t freeze," he said.

"Battery packs need attention too - lithium batteries don’t love being frozen: we put heat blankets in there so the blankets can be switched on to keep batteries from freezing. From a comfort perspective, we also fit underfloor heating.

"Normally the water lines, in particular the grey water if it freezes you can’t empty the sink. Having an alley or steel section also creates cold points through the 'van... You have to think about airflow so you don’t get condensation."

While demand for such features is mostly from North American buyers, Bosschieter said that the occasional Aussie customer wants some of the anti-freeze improvements for colder climate camping.

“We've done it for some guys down in Tasmania," he said.