Despite the photo on the left, I really have a 7yo Avan Rhys hard top which is very comfortable, tows well and - except for the fact that we would love a shower & toilet - is great for our current needs. But I have recently seen an Elddis (English van totally redesigned for Australian conditions) that uses a more advanced laminated panel construction which has a 10 year warranty on the shell against any ingress of water or dust. The walls, roof and floor joints are all bonded by a special process similar to aircraft which (they claim) means every mm of every joint is fully bonded. I have even seen a photo of one with about 8 men dancing on the roof. This process is claimed to make their vans much stronger and lighter. I have also been told that there are NO Aussie manufacturers capable of using this process but apparently Swift has matched the shell warranty.
I don't know, but if what they claim is true and this is the future of RV construction, how long is it going to take for our major manufacturers (and at what cost?) to stop building aluminium cladded, timber framed vans as they have for the last 60 or 70 years? We are probably at least 2 years away from upgrading but am interested to keep on top of what sort of vans are going to be available then. Just on that subject, there is another company called Zone RV (Sunshine coast) who look like they use a similar process making a range of Ikea style flat pack custom vans that you can build (I think you need more than an allen key) or they will supply built to any stage up to drive away. I would be very interested hearing from anyone with information on this topic.
-- Edited by Stratman77 on Sunday 9th of November 2014 09:16:26 PM
There are several Australian manufacturers of motorhomes and caravans who use fibre glass sandwich panel on closed cell rigid polyurethane foam. I built our OKA using this material 10 years ago. There are NO leaks.
This company makes sandwich panel for this purpose and supplies it to van an MH makers. http://vanglass.homestead.com/
My 2 1/2 year old Truelux is built like that, all fully insulated 44mm O/A panels, glued at all joints, I can easily walk around on the roof and wash it.
The future has been here a while, it's just the old time manufacturers that have not moved forward.
Cloak said
06:04 PM Nov 10, 2014
To be honest that type of construction is what I'm holding of for an Australian builder to adopt.
That's why I'm looking at importing a decent American 5th wheeler or maybe even a MH...
I've seen too many ameture build Aussie vans, way too many.
Peter_n_Margaret said
06:54 PM Nov 10, 2014
Cloak wrote:
To be honest that type of construction is what I'm holding of for an Australian builder to adopt.
That's why I'm looking at importing a decent American 5th wheeler or maybe even a MH...
I've seen too many ameture build Aussie vans, way too many.
Tanks Pete I hadn't heard of them and thats sort of what we have in mind.
Stratman77 said
09:09 PM Nov 10, 2014
Well, I have to say that I have learned a lot about what construction techniques are currently available in Oz. I guess it is academic whether or not the Elddis key jointing process (I'm now paraphrasing from the info from the Elddis site videos) with the Henkel specialised bonding chemistry has significant advantages over the processes used to make the RVs above. Thanks all for your posts.
Grandad5 said
10:05 AM Nov 13, 2014
For the sake of historical accuracy, may I point out that this "High-tech" method of construction was first pioneered by Franklin Caravans back in 1967 here in Oz.
The method was jointly developed by Franklin and 3M adhesives.
Franklin constructed a new factory in Wendouree, just outside of Ballarat for the process.
Here's a pic of my 1969 van wall with inner skin removed. as you can see, there is a small amount of timber framing around the windows and where the front and rear windows attach.
This van is now 45 years old. The inner skin came away relatively easy due to water ingress over many years. The outer aluminium skin however would be well nigh impossible to remove without severe damage to the insulation.
Moral of the story.
Their ain't nuthin new under the sun.
and, Aussie manufacturers have led the world many times over.
Despite the photo on the left, I really have a 7yo Avan Rhys hard top which is very comfortable, tows well and - except for the fact that we would love a shower & toilet - is great for our current needs. But I have recently seen an Elddis (English van totally redesigned for Australian conditions) that uses a more advanced laminated panel construction which has a 10 year warranty on the shell against any ingress of water or dust. The walls, roof and floor joints are all bonded by a special process similar to aircraft which (they claim) means every mm of every joint is fully bonded. I have even seen a photo of one with about 8 men dancing on the roof. This process is claimed to make their vans much stronger and lighter. I have also been told that there are NO Aussie manufacturers capable of using this process but apparently Swift has matched the shell warranty.
I don't know, but if what they claim is true and this is the future of RV construction, how long is it going to take for our major manufacturers (and at what cost?) to stop building aluminium cladded, timber framed vans as they have for the last 60 or 70 years? We are probably at least 2 years away from upgrading but am interested to keep on top of what sort of vans are going to be available then. Just on that subject, there is another company called Zone RV (Sunshine coast) who look like they use a similar process making a range of Ikea style flat pack custom vans that you can build (I think you need more than an allen key) or they will supply built to any stage up to drive away. I would be very interested hearing from anyone with information on this topic.
-- Edited by Stratman77 on Sunday 9th of November 2014 09:16:26 PM
Regards
Dave
Swift are another British manufacturer. Compare the vans in the Oz & Pommie links
http://swiftrv.com.au/caravans/ - http://www.swiftgroup.co.uk/caravans/swift
There are several Australian manufacturers of motorhomes and caravans who use fibre glass sandwich panel on closed cell rigid polyurethane foam.
I built our OKA using this material 10 years ago.
There are NO leaks.
This company makes sandwich panel for this purpose and supplies it to van an MH makers.
http://vanglass.homestead.com/
Cheers,
Peter
The future has been here a while, it's just the old time manufacturers that have not moved forward.
That's why I'm looking at importing a decent American 5th wheeler or maybe even a MH...
I've seen too many ameture build Aussie vans, way too many.
Almost all off road MHs are sandwich panel.
There are locally made caravans too. http://www.gemhunter.com.au/ plus others.
Cheers,
Peter
For the sake of historical accuracy, may I point out that this "High-tech" method of construction was first pioneered by Franklin Caravans back in 1967 here in Oz.
The method was jointly developed by Franklin and 3M adhesives.
Franklin constructed a new factory in Wendouree, just outside of Ballarat for the process.
Here's a pic of my 1969 van wall with inner skin removed. as you can see, there is a small amount of timber framing around the windows and where the front and rear windows attach.
This van is now 45 years old. The inner skin came away relatively easy due to water ingress over many years. The outer aluminium skin however would be well nigh impossible to remove without severe damage to the insulation.
Moral of the story.
Their ain't nuthin new under the sun.
and, Aussie manufacturers have led the world many times over.
Cheers
Jim