CARAVANS JUST GOT LIGHTER!

[00:00:00]Kristen ADU here and over here we have Mark from Off-Road Grit RV. Two good-looking BS because we got shaved heads. Hey, Mark. Good looking roosters.

[00:00:08]We've got something super exciting. We all know, Mark, the biggest killer in caravans these days is weights. Like, we're all chasing our tail when it comes to weights, man. You've got a solution for this, haven't you?

[00:00:18]>> Yes. Yes. So, this is our new lightweight joinery. It's made up of a laminate and a PVC core. Yep. So, same construction as the floor, but it's bonded together the same way the walls are bonded.

[00:00:31]>> So, it is super light, super strong.

[00:00:33]>> With our caravan, we have a 23'6 caravan. We are saving 240 kilos.

[00:00:38]>> 240 kilos.

[00:00:39]>> 240 kegs in a caravan is a lot. I mean, anywhere you can save weight is insane.

[00:00:45]Obviously, you're you're interlocking it all. So, so a lot of the strength comes from the interlocking.

[00:00:50]>> All the strength comes from the interlocking. This has no screw retention.

[00:00:53]>> Yeah. You cannot screw anything into it.

[00:00:56]So everything's bonded. A lot of faith in the glue. We've done our testing though.

[00:01:00]>> This is a test. So this is one piece glued >> just to that rail here of 40 mm.

[00:01:06]>> Yeah. 40 mm fat and this length here which is about 400 mm >> glue joint only.

[00:01:11]>> Just glue. No mechanical fixings at all.

[00:01:13]And and how many how many kilos before it actually snapped this piece and not the actual glue itself?

[00:01:18]>> We saw on the scale we saw 250 kilos.

[00:01:20]>> 250 kilos. That's just that's insane, mate.

[00:01:25]>> Like the rest of our vans, they're all built [music] with glue.

[00:01:27]>> Everything holds it together. The best part about the glues are they move as the band moves.

[00:01:30]>> So, we're going to be testing this this out. We're going to be doing a little bit of R&D, but I have a lot of faith in it. I mean, I have nearly 100% faith in it. You're good with it as well.

[00:01:38]>> Yeah, we've done enough testing to know that it's going to stand up.

[00:01:41]>> One of the key players in the industry, especially when it comes to composites, is Link International up in cool.

[00:01:45]>> Yep. Boys link.

[00:01:46]>> You've been working with these guys >> quite some time now. They've done all their panel sets from the very beginning. Awesome team. Oh, we've been up there. We've had a look at their process and and their [music] factory.

[00:01:55]It's it's pretty insane what they're doing up there.

[00:01:57]>> We've had the chance to visit Link Composites and see the factory for ourselves. Until then, we [music] knew their products were used throughout the caravan industry, but we hadn't really understood what went into making them.

[00:02:08]Seeing the machinery in action and the scale of the operation gave us a much clearer picture of what Link actually [music] does and how much work sits behind the finished product before it ever reaches a caravan factory. So, hearing Mark [music] explain that Off-Road Grit has been pushing Link to create a lighter joinery system suddenly had a lot more context. This isn't simply a [music] new product they've decided to try. It's something Off-Road Grit has been wanting for a long time.

[00:02:34]And now, it's finally becoming part of our caravan [music] and the vans they build moving forward.

[00:02:38]>> So, this is a product we've been pushing them for for a few years now.

[00:02:41]>> Um, finally we got it online. They've done their testing. They're satisfied.

[00:02:45]It's uh >> game on. And it's and it's and it's manufactured the same process as you all your walls, your composite walls, the whole lot.

[00:02:51]>> Fundamentally the same the gluing techniques which they [music] know work.

[00:02:54]It's been running beans around for a lot of years now.

[00:02:57]>> Um is is used through this same product.

[00:03:00]>> Yeah. So when you're on something good, you literally stick with it. [music] >> Yeah.

[00:03:02]>> So So just a different top bottom surface and your different foam and core.

[00:03:07]>> So it's an 80 kg PVC core.

[00:03:09]>> Yep.

[00:03:09]>> Uh it works out to be >> less than half of what the weight of [music] the current substrates are that we use. It's madness trying to even think of that home. It's insane. So look, you can pick this up. Literally like I can pick this up on my own. How big is this? This is [music] >> 1400.

[00:03:24]>> Yeah, 1400 long bench. If we just move this out here, I'll pick this up for you guys so you can actually see how light it is. Watch your head, mate. We've done this. Look at that.

[00:03:33]>> And I'm a little bloke and I'm pretty weak, Mark. So you go I go. All right.

[00:03:39]The other thing with with with checking in, obviously you got your strength there, but it is consistency in the joinery as well. It is. It is. So we because there's no screw retention, we have to be a bit creative when it comes to mounting hardware >> uh in door fronts.

[00:03:52]>> So we use aluminium bonding. Like the bonding is the strength in this. So we use the aluminium to hold the threads for the hardware for the door catches.

[00:03:59]>> Okay. We don't want to give too much information away though.

[00:04:01]>> You're telling everyone your secrets may be hard work.

[00:04:03]>> Well, if it's good for the industry, then >> Well, that's a good thing as well. And I can see obviously you've cut out a lot of sections.

[00:04:08]>> Yes. But it's sort of not really needed.

[00:04:11]This is this is what we'd normally do in a cabin.

[00:04:13]>> Yeah. You would probably save a kilo.

[00:04:14]Not not even >> not even this material we're saving it's it's yeah not really worth it.

[00:04:19]>> So we have two samples here. So we have the joinery that we're using in the past and then we have the new one here. So the density and stuff of this the specs >> this is the versa. This is what we've used to date in our carcasses. Uh this is around between a 450 and a 500 density. So 450 to 500 kilos for a cubic meter. Our new joinery the core itself's 80 kg density.

[00:04:41]>> That is crazy numbers savings. So, plus the laminate on top of that, >> we're well and truly below half.

[00:04:48]>> This is amazing, man. We're super excited to actually test this as soon as we got the van. We're jumping on the Central Arnum Road, which I don't know if you've been on there. It's a great road. So, we will be testing this and we'll be giving our feedback on it. But, like I said, I'm super confident it's going to do its job >> well. It will.

[00:05:04]>> So, happy days. Watch this space, guys.

[00:05:05]We got a lot happening with this van. A lot of new things. Let's do this, mate.

[00:05:09]Let's get this van.

[00:05:10]>> Can't wait to see it all come together.

[00:05:12]>> Let's get this van built, mate. Let's get the cabinetry over there and get this stuff done, eh? Check itself.

[00:05:16]>> Yeah, that's right.

[00:05:18]>> This lightweight joinery is only [music] one part of a much bigger story. We're documenting the entire build of our new caravan with Off-Road Grid RV, a family-owned [music] Queensland manufacturer, while introducing you to the people behind the business and showing you how their vans come [music] together. Make sure you subscribe so you can follow the full series with us.

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