What about the Adventure 5.5? How did it stack up as I hauled it around Victoria’ s Dandenong Ranges in search of a place to park up?
BENEATH THE SURFACE
To understand On the Move’ s caravans, it’ s important to dig a little – much of the benefit of these vans lies beneath the skin.
First, the Desert Master chassis. This is made from high-tensile steel that’ s laser-cut and CNC punched and folded. Look closely and you’ ll notice the perforations in each steel member. These‘ lightening holes’ are an engineering principle in which weight is reduced and strength is added. The holes also facilitate service lines. The various chassis components are hot-dippedgalvanised, powder-coated, and fastened together with automotive-grade rivets. Ultimately, On the Move reckons the design saves about 200kg when compared to an RHS chassis of the same size.
The wishbone suspension features dual airbags and here’ s something you don’ t see on your typical Australian caravan: the poly water tanks are mounted up within the suspension subframe, out of harm’ s way. The Adventure 5.5 gets a decent 240L worth of fresh water and a 100L grey tank. I dare say that raising all that weight to floor level aids in the van’ s handling, too.
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