Top-10 caravan customisations

In case you hadn’t noticed, bling is the big thing in the Australian caravan market at the moment.

But despite the trend towards coloured caravans, not all buyers want to be as bold in their caravan styling. Luckily, help is at hand with numerous options available to make your next caravan a bit different from the others, but without standing out like a fire truck.

Printed annexe walls

Perth based business Aussie Outdoor can pep up your caravan’s outdoor living area with one of their Van Tastic Annexe Screens.

Choose from one of the standard prints or stock images, or send them a photo of your favourite travel scene and they’ll print it straight onto the  screen for you.

“Apart from making your Van look Van Tastic, our screen offers excellent protection from the elements, offering privacy, it also acts as a Wind Shield and an excellent shade screen,” the company says on its website.

Carbon fibre trimming

Lightweight and strong, carbon fibre is something you usually find on race cars and airplanes, but it’s increasingly being use in the RV industry. NSW’s Ultimate Campers offered it a few years back for interior surfaces, and now Queensland’s Zone is optioning it on its top-range caravans, either as external cladding or for interior cabinet fascias.

A cheaper option is to go fake’, like the stylish exterior cladding on the latest Everest Ice Glider.

Painted bush bars

As well as fancy cladding, we’re seeing more manufacturers offering variety in the manner of painted exterior items, like toolboxes, scrub bars and trailing arm suspension. Along with stick-on decals, it’s a simple way to spice up a 'boring' white or grey caravan. And like the stick-ons, in many cases items like scrub bars can be removed or replaced if you tire of the look.

Sporty suspension

The battleground for buyers has moved from interiors to exteriors, with much attention paid particularly by off-road caravan manufacturers to the look and features underneath the caravan.

With many vans now jacked up high off the ground on big chunky tyres so it’s easy to admire the underbody, businesses like Cruisemaster are making big bucks selling expensive coil and airbag suspension systems that look as well as they perform. We’re even regularly seeing cut-outs in the chassis – whoever thought a bit of welded steel could look sexy!

Stylish alloys

It seems no off-road caravan sold these days is complete without a set of stylish alloy wheels shod in the latest mud or all-terrain tyres. Once again, if you tire of the ‘kermit green’ alloys, you can easily replace them with a more fashion-resistant set.

Patterned splashbacks

Following the latest trends in home décor, it seems anything goes these days when it comes to colours, patterns and textures of caravan interior cabinetry, bench and table tops and splashbacks. As an example of what’s possible, we spotted this Bushtracker show van recently complete with matt blue cabinetry and matching ‘dot painting’ style glass splashback. Very tasteful!

Stylish canvas

Even those shopping at the lower end of the RV market don’t have to miss out on some personalization. Craig Gall, part of the family who build Kedron Caravans, offers a range of cheap and cheerful Walkabout Campers that stand out for only a few thousand dollars.

The locally built campers are little more than a tent and bed on wheels, but stand out for their quality construction including the use of Australian made Defab canvas that's available in multiple colours and patterns, to appeal to Walkabout’s mostly female clientele.

Special editions

Another way to make your next RV purchase a little special is to grab a ‘limited edition’ model. Often on display at shows, they often include a few extras to celebrate an anniversary, or might include a splash of colour or extra decals to support a charity or special event.

Classy cut-outs

Cut-outs are all the rage in the Australian RV industry, with Patriot Campers leading the way in the tent trailer side of things and Lotus excelling in caravans with their laser cut chassis and grab handles.

There are also cut-out options available inside, like the recent plywood example from Everest, or you can also go with some embroidered leather or leatherette upholstery.

Special fixtures

Van Cruiser’s internal spa bath probably takes the cake when it comes to unique features found on caravans, but new brand Everest comes close with its built in wine cooler and fold-out ironing board. Bailey also brought out a built-in vacuum system at one stage.