RV FEATURE
Royal Flair was one of the earlyadopters of a slide-out system in which four solar panels were ‘ stacked ’, with two either side of the van . The upper panels were on rails that electrically slid out at the push of a button . The effect was to provide 840W worth of solar – four panels at 210W each – without taking up all of the roof space . These panels were backed by two MPPT solar regulators . Down the track , Rob and Prue could add more panels as required .
This van rode on Al-Ko airbag suspension , while the 6in SupaGal chassis was coated in X-Gard , a rubberised compound providing additional protection .
This was a highly functional offgrid caravan . However , it all came at a cost in terms of weight . In fact , the Tare was 3474kg , while the unladen ball weight was 326kg . The ATM of 4074kg gave the EcoMate 23 a payload capacity of 600kg .
SUMMING UP
Big , beautiful and a true off-grid warrior , this EcoMate 23 brooked no compromise . Sure , it was a heavy beast but when you ’ re talking a 23-footer with this level of specification , that ’ s to be expected . Besides , Rob and Prue ’ s Chev was more than up to the task .
Well done , Royal Flair . I ’ m sure it ’ ll bring its happy owners , and their kids , many years of awesome memories .
QUICK SPECS Tare : 3474kg ATM : 4074kg Unladen ball weight : 326kg Overall length : 9.8m External width : 2.5m Travel height : 2.9m
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