EXTERNAL STRENGTHS
The Expedition series is built on a galvanised 6in chassis with a gooseneck drawbar – this keeps the coupling within legal height tolerances, since the van sits quite high. The chassis has been painted with a chip-resistant protection material similar to Raptor coating, while OPUS has fitted independent trailing arm coil suspension with Pedders shock absorbers that are mounted perpendicular to the ground for optimum dampening.
It’ s framed with aluminium and clad with composite aluminium sheeting – the laser-etched trim in lieu of J-moulds looks great too.
As mentioned, there’ s no fixed internal kitchen. That’ s because OPUS has given this van a slideout with two gas burners and sink with hot and cold water. The water lines remain permanently fixed to the kitchen; however, the gas still needs to be connected to the gas bayonet. The bayonet, by the way, is mounted in such a way that it would be unlikely to be damaged, rather than being fixed to a flap of checkerplate hanging off the chassis – vastly better.
The nearside contains a full awning, a locker with a slide-out tray, a storage module with picnic table, and my personal favourite: a built-in clothesline that takes less than a moment to set-up. It isn’ t a new feature – I’ ve seen them on vans before, but very infrequently. Apparently, there was internal debate at OPUS about the best position for the clothesline, with some advocating for the offside. The nearside won, though, based on the fact it allows you to still hang out your clothes in inclement weather by simply deploying the awning.
22 \