RV REVIEW
And what would a luxury touring van such as this be without a bathroom? In this case, it’ s split across both sides of the van, towards the front, forming a walkway through to the deck. On the nearside is the shower cubicle, while a toilet cubicle complete with a small, attractive vanity and even a wall-mounted washing machine above the cassette toilet sits on the offside. If it sounds like a squeeze, it’ s really not. I’ m 6ft 2in and didn’ t find that the washing machine was in my way when I sat down on the toilet.
Clearly, I haven’ t mentioned every feature and comfort of the Piazza’ s interior – space won’ t allow it – but I think it’ s one of those vans you need to check out for yourself. I highly rate the fitout and attention to detail of caravans built by Royal Flair. The precision of the joinery, the quality of the ply, the engineering, the sense of rigidity – they’ re all there. I can see why the price tag is what it is which, frankly, isn’ t always the case.
CONSTRUCTION
The Piazza is built atop a 4in SupaGal chassis with Tuffride independent coil suspension. The chassis gets a 3in raiser, however, while the A-frame members are 6in. Now, Royal Flair has for a long time built its vans using 18mm sheets of marine ply for the framing. Rather than individual timber or aluminium studs, picture a sheet of ply routed to the shape of the wall, with cutouts to accommodate electrical cables. The strength of this system shouldn’ t be discounted. The ply is then clad with smooth aluminium.
While Royal Flair can build vans using fibreglass sandwich panels, that construction method isn’ t available on the Piazza due to the deck system.
Obviously, an A-frame-mounted storage box isn’ t possible, either. Therefore, a gal-lined boot towards the rear, beneath the club lounge, becomes the main external storage space.
/ 13