Hodge RV - Superior Construction

• Super strong, yet still light weight.  We use a full aluminium chassis. It is stronger than equivalent 5th wheeler steel chassis's, it will never rust and its half the weight.
• The strongest walls in the industry.  The Coastal Panache has approx 85m of welded 38mm box section per wall. The industry standard is 23m for a wall that size. All up there is 365m of welded box section in the walls, floor, roof & slide-out.
• The 5th wheeler is only as strong as the fixings that hold it together.  Your Coastal or Free Spirit 5th wheeler is held together with aircraft rivets that have a 6.5mm thick stem. They are spaced at 300mm intervals between every wall, floor and roof side. These rivets have 5x the shear and pull strength of the industry standard rivets.
• Why do some others glue their 5th wheelers together?  Some manufacturers use little or no aluminium framing in their walls so they have to glue the walls to the roof and floor. The glue is strong, but if the fibre glass separates due to movement the glue is redundant.
• Don't ever be told that insulation is not important in Australia!   We use 38mm polyurethane foam in our walls rather than polystryrene. Polyurethane differs greatly from polystyrene in that it is double the insulation (R12 instead of R5), it is fire retardant, won't disintegrate, won't swell if it gets wet and it is 5x the price. Good insulation keeps you warm or cool when it is cold or hot, it keeps outside sound out, it prevents condensation and it considerably cuts your running costs for heating and cooling.
• The inside of a 5th wheel can be constructed to help or hinder the overall strength.   We use aluminium frames and framing within all internal walls, kitchens, pantries, floors etc. These parts all line up with the box section within the external walls, floor and roof, so when riveted together you get a lot of added strength. Some manufacturers use wood instead as it is a cheaper option but unfortunately it bends, rots, breaks, twists and ultimately fails. Aluminium is much, much stronger, won't rust or rot and is light.
• Vacuum bonded walls versus pinch rolled and hung walls.  We use our own vacuum bonding table to ensure we make the best walls. We vacuum bond each wall, floor & roof for 8 hours under 50 ton of pressure ensuring excellent lamination. The longer the vacuum bonding the better the wall, short term vacuum bonding (less than 2 hours) is not much better than pinch rolling. Pinch rolling lasts for little more than 20 minutes, and hanging glass relies on the trims to keep it in place.
• High quality parts and accessories.   We use only top end furnishings and appliances within our units. Everything is ADR and AGA compliant. Brands we use include La-Z-Boy, Dometic, Care-free, Truma, Atwood, John Guest, PDL etc
• Baskets versus shelves.   A typical shelf will hold 1/3 the amount of contents that a roll out basket will. Baskets not only hold more, they keep it contained while travelling, can be taken inside to fill and are rated to 30kg capacity. This is why we use locally manufactured baskets with ball-bearing runners in all our 5th wheelers.

As we manufacture your fifth wheeler to order we can personalize one of our floorplans to suit your individual needs and personal style. We often have built in desks, washing machines, bike racks, cat doors etc.

As you fifth wheeler is being built in NZ we offer two weeks free ute use to tour the South & North islands with your new fifth wheeler before it is shipped over to Australia.

We utilize an extensive network of individual caravan repair centres throughout Australia in the rare event of a problem.

For a full list of warranty terms and conditions please contact us.