RV FEATURE
The layout of the 18ft 5in Mawson featured a rear club lounge with inbuilt cupholders, nearby USB points and reading lights. The switch for the Gusto dust reduction system was mounted inside one of the overhead lockers.
The kitchen, however, was split across both sides of the van, with the induction cooktop sitting atop a three-in-one microwave on the nearside and the sink on the offside, between the Dometic compressor fridge-freezer and the lounge. Splitting the sink off from the main kitchen bench is a different approach, but in the context of this van, I thought it worked well.
Now, the Mawson’ s bathroom is split between a shower on the nearside and the toilet and vanity on the offside. There’ s a door separating the bathroom from the main living quarters, but there’ s no door between the bathroom and bedroom, probably due to space constraints but is a door here really needed anyway?
Unsurprisingly, Hilltop Caravans has given this van an east-west bed. Frankly, that’ s the only way the manufacturer would have fit so much stuff into a smaller van while retaining a sense of liveability and space.
Frankly, I really liked this van, and I don’ t say that lightly. At 2550kg Tare, it wasn’ t overly heavy, though with its ATM of 3000kg, payload was limited to 450kg, 180kg of which would be taken up by water( two 95L water tanks are standard).
As I said, Hilltop is on my list of caravan builders I might one day entrust with my money., and this Mawson closely resembles the van I will, one day soon, hitch up for my own personal Big Lap.
QUICK SPECS Tare: 2550kg ATM: 3000kg Unladen ball weight: 240kg Overall length: 7.8m External body length: 5.6m External width: 2.4m Travel height: 3.1m
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