Majestic Knight Pop-top

By Jessica Gooding

What type of caravan would an architect/real estate agent/seasoned caravanner buy? Peter Brown from Adelaide faced this dilemma in December last year.

A qualified architect and real estate agent, Peter has being caravanning since childhood, an addiction he says he inherited from his parents. Peter and his wife Judy initially enjoyed the outdoors from the comfort of a tent before they progressed to hiring camper trailers and caravans. After the arrival of son Nathan they bought a 12-month-old Viscount Seabreeze, a van with rear triple bunks and a day/night double bed to the front. In hindsight this was a wise decision, because three years later twin girls, Jacqui and Cherie, arrived.

In the ensuing 15 years the family has travelled some 58,000km towing the van, and spent around 580 nights away, in a total of 52 holidays, including trips from Adelaide to Darwin and Perth and also a trip to the top of Cape York.

“My colleagues were amazed, saying, ‘How could you live in a 16ft 6in x 7ft 6in room for nine weeks with three kids under the age of six?’ What I told them is that, without having done it, they can’t know what a huge and wonderful country we live in,” Peter explained.

“So many conventional holidays can be about the destination, but with caravanning, the trip starts from the moment you leave the driveway.”

Now, with 16-year-old Nathan and 13-year-old Jacqui and Cherie, the time has come to move the kids into their own space, namely tents, and for Peter and Judy to indulge in The Moment – that is, the realisation of 25 years of dreaming and 15 years of walking through caravan parks discussing designs and layouts – the time has come to get a new van.

Their first choice
While at Adelaide’s West Beach Caravan Park mini-caravan show in November, Peter and Judy were so impressed with the outside lines and styling of the Majestic caravan, they wanted to make the inside work for them, too. Peter was delighted that Majestic was prepared to be very accommodating and the architect side of him really wanted to help out.

He adds, “With all our years’ travelling and my love for design, I was sure we wanted to have some input!”

The final interior plan, after many hours of thought, has ended up 16ft long: Peter and Judy believe that if you’ve got it then you should flaunt it, but if you have it you have to tow it – the more you have to tow, the slower you travel and the more petrol you end up using! In the end the Browns decided to keep things as light and simple as possible.

With the family hailing from Adelaide and the Majestic factory in Campbellfield, Vic, Peter and Judy met Laz Naumoski at Majestic only once, with the couple making the long trek to pick up the van and tow it back to Adelaide only after it was completed.

“Our prime concern, after viewing the van for the first time, was to see how it towed and we were incredibly relieved and satisfied that it towed like a dream. Having towed a number of vans over the years, this caravan was more stable than any we had had before,” Peter said. “In part, we think it was due to the design strategy of having a lot of the weight over the axle, so that we could achieve a ball weight of 140kg. The Hayman Reese levelling bars also made sure that the whole rig was even. The combination of Supergal and G&S chassis was fantastic on the lightweight truck tyres.

“The levelling system was set up by Cameron Caravans before we left for Melbourne and when we returned to SA, Cameron again took the caravan to complete all necessary pre-delivery checks. They were fabulous and we would recommend Cameron Caravans to anyone.”

Keeping it simple
The 17ft 6in (5.33m) Knight pop-top is made from standard aluminium with a checkerplate step. In the name of keeping everything simple and light, there’s nothing too fancy on the outside of the van, only the Bargman light, front boot and external locker door on the offside, which stows fishing rods and the kids’ surfboards. A spare tyre is mounted on the heavy-duty loop bumperbar, which gave reinforced strength and added protection.

The front boot was left completely clear for hoses, chairs, etc, and leaves plenty of room for extra storage. Two 4.5kg gas bottles are on the A-frame with a regulator and switch to ensure easy swapping of gas bottles during rough weather or in the evening.

Peter and Judy were delighted with the Dometic awning, which comes as a standard feature – compared with the annexe that took an hour or more to erect on their previous van, the awning goes up in a second and is ideal for lunch stops.

A case of space
Upon entering through the Camec tri-lock door, the layout is conventional, but Peter insists that, as with houses, so often it is old and conventional that stands the test of time. The van has an island bed to the rear, and a table and seating to the front where more often than not the views are; the door to the centre maximises circulation space.

The split kitchen is to the centre, with a larger-than-normal sink, NEC microwave and Mini Grill oven on the offside and a large Dometic three-way fridge (100 cubic metres rather than the usual 90) plus a pantry adjacent to the nearside entrance.

Judy was keen to be able to cook without people having to push past her, and also for there to be enough space in the cooking area for others to congregate, and perhaps help with the dishes.

With the sink taking up most of the kitchen space, bench room is minimal, but the fridge surface, located at bench height, serves as a handy substitute. The plethora of overhead cupboard storage, undersink drawers and an extra-wide cutlery drawer aids in a clean, uncluttered interior.

By having the boot, seating and table to the front Peter and Judy can fit as many as six people at the dinette, a comfortable scenario for when all the family are in the van, and also for entertaining.

The dinette table, which swivels and is removable, is ideal for spreading out the newspaper, using a laptop and accommodating a number of people for a meal. At night Peter says the kids like to sleep in the tents, but in the case of bad weather or some good ol’ family togetherness, the table drops down to form a double bed.

As the Knight measures 7ft 9in wide, Peter and Judy opted to stick with the double bed and the extra space on either side of it.

The bed takes up most of the rear, but there’s plenty of places to store essential items – the above bed cupboards, enlarged mirror wardrobes, side cabinets – and those not so essential, including a door in the bed base, which is handy if you do not want to lift the bed up completely. With no bathroom onboard, Peter and Judy opted to store a porta-potti in this space, in case of any onroad emergencies.

The Knight colour scheme incorporates neutral laminates, with vinyl floor and poly ply for the furniture and walls to give a polished timber look.

The deep blue upholstery and very light cream curtains, together with new modern silver fittings, is a colour combination that Peter and Judy are confident will remain in style for a long time.

The Browns' custom-designed van was optioned up to be part of the new Knight range with heavy-duty axle, innerspring mattress, puff pillow upholstery, gas bottles and silver fittings. Peter and Judy requested small extras such as outside power points, drop legs and an access door providing easy accessibility to the underseat storage area.

Utilities
Lighting is 12V/240V, with two single outside powerpoints located on the door side of the van, under the awning.

Inside, powerpoints are to found at either side of the sink, with a double under the microwave, double under the rangehood and a double above the fridge – all convenient places to plug in a kettle or laptop computer.

There is also a single powerpoint either side of bed. Halogen reading lights are located above bed, with a pair in the dinette area.

Hitting the road
Construction and purchase of the unit went smoothly, much to Peter and Judy’s relief.

“The staff at Cameron Caravans in Adelaide went out of their way to help us. Once we signed, their service didn’t end, and although Majestic is relatively new as a company, we have had every confidence in them – the Majestic factory was only months old then, but it was still very impressive in its organisation, the people were a delight to deal with and the caravan was exactly as we had ordered it,” said Peter.

The Browns have recently returned from a one-week trip through the Riverland to Renmark, SA, and Gol Gol, NSW, staying in a choice riverside spot in their new Knight caravan – Peter reported that even though it was a hot 35°C for April, with all the windows and vents open, it was cool in the caravan and they were satisfied with the decision not to have air-conditioning.

Next up for the intrepid family is a five-week sojourn to Darwin in July. Not bad for a young family, but when you really have the passion to do it, it’s amazing how much of Australia can be seen!

Cameron Caravans is at 1096 South Road, Edwardstown, SA. Phone (08) 8276 5444 or fax (08) 8276 9333. For your nearest Majestic dealer visit www.majesticcaravans.com.au or call (03) 9357 7276.