SETTING UP THE DECK
Okay. The van isn’ t cheap, costing nearly $ 150,000. The subject of our review is the 16ft model, and I realise the price tag sounds high for a van with an otherwise compact on-road footprint. But this is a case of getting what you pay for. There is engineering here. There’ s precision. And there’ s that unique fold-out deck system. Let’ s start there.
The deck forms the front end of the Piazza. It contains a fibreglass lid or nose cone that folds flat against the front for travel, held in place by some over-centre catches. When released, the lid will rise on hydraulic struts to reveal the deck folded flat behind the lid. Simply lower the deck – an easy job – over the A-frame.
Then, it’ s a matter of securing the front‘ fence’ by screwing in a couple of knobs and swinging out the side pieces of the fence. You’ ll literally have the deck set-up in three minutes. The system requires no special knowledge or mucking around with canvas. If it looks intimidating to set-up, rest assured that it is not. Further, as I was doing it, I couldn’ t help but think that each component, from the lid to the fence pieces were light to manoeuvre – it’ s suitable for all levels of strength.
There are some things to note, however. First, the A-frame must be clear of all encumbrances, especially the jockey wheel. A jockey wheel is required to lift the van off the towball, but once that’ s done, it’ s a simple matter of lowering a support stand at the pointy end of the drawbar and removing the jockey wheel.
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