ALL FOR ONE
| WORDS AND IMAGES: MAX TAYLOR
THE CRUSADER MUSKETEER ARAMIS IS AN ON-ROAD
CARAVAN WITH LONG-TERM TOURING APPEAL.
I admit it. It had been some
time – perhaps three years
– since I’d towed a Crusader
caravan. I’m not sure what
was behind the separation
but, hitching up the Aramis
one bitterly cold winter day,
it felt… darn good.
The Aramis sits in Crusader
Caravans’ Musketeer range.
Its compatriots include, of
course, the 17ft 6in Porthos
and the 19ft 6in Athos. Named
for the French king’s finest
guards in the famous novel by
Alexandre Dumas, these vans
24
gorv.com.au
are – together with the rest of
the Musketeer line-up – built
with the sub-2500kg towing
market in mind.
Actually, there’s a bit more
to it than that. The standard
Aggregate Trailer Mass of the
Aramis is 2900kg – Crusader
happily lowers it to 2500kg
to suit owners of Prados and
similarly rated tow vehicles.
MUSKETEER TRADITION
The Aramis has a timber
frame clad with aluminium,
and a couple of modern
twists: the roof is a hail-
resistant 30mm one-piece
fibreglass composite
construction extending from
the front checkerplate to the
checkerplate at the rear. The
floor is a 42mm composite
one-piece unit comprised of a
top layer of vinyl (the interior
floor) on a one-piece plywood
board, 30mm of high-density
foam insulation, and a skin of
fibreglass underneath which,
according to Crusader, will
act as a hard-waring shield
against road debris. It should