Xtreme Diamante Fifth Wheeler

By Malcolm Street

There are a number of considerations when planning your retirement travels and the RV lifestyle. One of the main ones is that if you have never camped or caravanned before, it’s not a bad idea to ‘try before you buy’, and rent a caravan or motorhome.

Another method, and one which Ann and Bruce Hillas used, is to buy a cheap pop-top caravan and spend some time travelling around. They not only discovered they enjoyed the lifestyle, but were able to observe the increasing variety of recreational vehicles, and decided to purchase a fifth wheeler.

The extra wheel

Still very much the baby of the recreational vehicle world, a fifth wheeler has a number of appealing features, one being the ease of towing and manoeuvring.

After looking at a number of fifth wheeler manufacturers, Ann and Bruce chose Xtreme Caravans to build their Diamante fifth wheeler retirement machine. They wanted a unit that could go most places and allow them to be totally self-sufficient for a few days at a time.

Their tow vehicle of choice was a Nissan Patrol cab chassis, powered by a 4.2 litre turbodiesel with a gross combination mass (GCM) of 5650kg, thus giving it a reasonably high towing capacity. Incidentally, Nissan doesn’t give a GCM rating in its specs – not very helpful for fifth wheeler owners. However, according to Nissan, it’s calculated by adding the GVM of the vehicle (3150kg) to the maximum towing mass (2500kg).

Sparkle and shine

The Diamante is built on a Duragal chassis and rides on a suspension setup that consists of air bags, trailing arms and shock absorbers. The wheel size matches that of the Nissan and all the spares are carried on the tow vehicle. Two 80 litre water tanks sit between the chassis rails.

Timber is used for the frame but the wall, roof and floor construction are a bit different. Fibreglass panels are used but instead of screws and J-moulds, the panels are ‘welded’ together, thus creating a strong and water-sealed structure. For extra protection, alloy checkerplate is used across the front of the Diamante, under the overhang.

Although you might expect the end design result to look ‘boxy’, it doesn’t. The front overhang has been designed as a streamlined wedge shape and the rear has large chamfered edges, both top and bottom. More conventional are the Camec Trimatic security door and Galaxy hopper windows.

External storage consists mainly of a large locker underneath the overhang. This is supplemented by small storage lockers along the offside, the front two of which are taken by two 4kg gas cylinders and a Dometic VacuFlush tank. Further back is the hatch for three large 260 amp hour gel batteries. Out of sight on the roof are three 120W solar panels for charging the batteries and one increasingly common option – a satellite dish.

Ten carat design

Inside, the Diamante layout has what has almost become a fifth wheeler standard set up: bedroom in the front overhang with bathroom adjacent, rear dinette/lounge and kitchen amidships. All the internal cabinetwork – and there’s quite a bit – has a very tasteful timber finish supplemented by blue upholstery.

Wooden pelmets and slimline venetian blinds are fitted to all the tinted hopper windows. Ventilation is supplied by these windows, two four-seasons hatches – one above the dinette and one above the bed – and a small hatch outside the bathroom. When things get warm, the roof-mounted Carrier air-conditioner takes over. Storage is extensive in the Diamante, with overhead lockers just about all around.

Up front, the double bed sits on the floor of the overhang and is low enough to access without a step. On either side are halogen reading lights, good sized windows and bedside shelves with hinged lids for access to the storage area underneath.

At the foot of the bed on both sides are cupboards that supplement the open hanging area between the bed and doorway. The lower half of the cupboard has two interesting items – one practical and the other a sheer luxury – Dometic washing machine and a wine rack.

On the opposite side is the bathroom with a separate shower cubicle, Dometic VacuFlush toilet (yes, it works the same way as those on aeroplanes) and a very classy-looking vanity sink unit with mirror and assorted cupboards – not quite room to swing a cat but it is still reasonably spacious. Instead of the usual shower curtain or glass door, the shower cubicle has a tricky roller shutter arrangement. Both the bathroom and bedroom can be closed off from the rest of the fifth wheeler by a sliding door, which leaves a small changing area.

Jewel of the aisle

Situated on both sides of the Diamante, the catering department is an interesting setup. On the nearside between the door and dinette is bench area containing a Swift four-burner hob and grill, Panasonic convection microwave oven and, drum roll please … a Gaggia coffee maker! Under the benchtop are several drawers and cupboards.

The rest of this comprehensive kitchen sits on the opposite side and includes a two-door Waeco fridge/freezer, stainless steel sink/drainer, plentiful benchtop area, Cramer scraps bin and a good amount of cupboard and drawer space. In addition, a very tricky piece of design work has a slide-out pantry fitted sideways on the outside of the bathroom wall, such that it slides into the kitchen area. Just don’t try and open the fridge door at the same time!

In the rear of the Diamante, the dinette lounge isn’t quite the usual club lounge arrangement but there is a lounge that sits two thirds across the rear in conjunction with a table and seat on the nearside. It’s an interesting design; all the seat cushions are designed to be interchangeable and the table can be moved across and used as a desk for the PC stored in one of the offside cupboards. It’s very European in thinking – a dual purpose for everything.

Technology is quite a feature of the Diamante: its electrical setup enables self-sufficiency for several days, and just in case everything else runs out, there’s also an onboard generator. Entertainment is not only supplied by the satellite TV but also an AM/FM radio/CD player and video/DVD unit. The flat screen TV is stored in a cupboard above the slide-out pantry and thus can be angled to be seen from both the bed and the rear lounge.

Summing up

Fifth wheeler manufacture in Australia is still a relatively small part of the RV industry. That doesn’t mean a lack of quality in the end product, but rather that many of the units being built are made to a custom order. In the case of the Diamante from Xtreme Caravans, that means it is packed with features as requested by the owner. It also means that in the construction process the fibreglass walls are welded rather than making a fully moulded fibreglass unit, which could only really be practical for a standard layout.

Xtreme Caravans: 6/3485 Pacific Highway, Slacks Creek, Qld 4127; (07) 3804 3035, email: xtremecaravans@bigpond.com