An Australian Dream Comes Stateside

From “My Country” by Dorothea Mackellar
I love a sunburnt country
A land of sweeping plains
Of ragged mountain ranges
Of droughts and flooding rains
I love her far horizons
I love her jewel-sea
Her beauty and her terror —
The wide brown land for me!

Born in the land of rugged roads that turn into no roads at all and temperatures that can range from highs of 120 F to lows of 45 F, Dreamhaven RV’s Gladiator Force is built for survival.

Dreamhaven RV is a pro at building RVs that can handle tough terrain and conditions. The brand was created by Australia’s Crusader Caravans, which has been in business since 2002 when it was started by Serge Valentino, who has had decades of caravan-building experience. The company’s manufacturing plant in Melbourne is where all its units are built. It was just a few years ago when the Dreamhaven offshoot set its sights on the U.S. market. The first two models offered — the Gladiator Force and the Chameleon — are compact, lightweight and built to handle the rough roads of Australia’s midcontinent where, really, there aren’t many roads at all.

“The difference in Australia is the roads go around the perimeter,” says Roy Carter, one of Dreamhaven’s U.S. distributors. “So you have to drive around the coast if you want to drive on a road. Now you can drive across the interior, but it may not be paved for a lot of the road. So there are travel trailers — they don’t call ’em travel trailers in Australia, they call ’em caravans — but their travel trailers are made to be able to put up with the punishment of being on an unpaved road.”

Built in Australia and distributed by Carter and his business partner Lindsey Stults stateside, units are available at a handful of East Coast and West Coast dealerships — and Dreamhaven is looking to expand its reach in the land of the Stars and Stripes.

The growing popularity of overlanding in the U.S. is appealing to Dreamhaven.

“Obviously traveling across paved roads here in the U.S., and then a little bit of overlanding, going off-road, means that they are built to take that type of punishment — the suspension, the hitch, the construction method,” Carter says.

Dreamhaven RVs are built end to end with an insulated fiberglass, which is strong and lightweight, the company says. The one-piece construction of the walls, floor and roof help with water resistance and structural integrity and is similar to how trucks, trains and planes have been built for years, Dreamhaven’s website explains.

“I would say [the building process is] newish, yes. It’s the way that some European brands have been manufacturing for a while,” Carter says. “[We use] two sheets of fiberglass with a closed-cell foam core in the middle; it’s just over 1 inch thick. It has a very high insulating value, so it’s great in that it keeps the cold out in winter and keeps the heat out in summer. The construction process means that [it] has a very high level of rigidity.”

The Gladiator Force is a compact model with independent suspension and built on a 6-inch chassis. It includes a toilet, wet bath, refrigerator, microwave, dual solar panels and a gray water tank. Its mattress can be formed into one queen-size bed or two twin beds. The overall length is 20 feet, 8 inches; overall height is 9 feet, 9 inches; the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) is 5,952 pounds.

Carter describes the interior as an “interlocking structure — like a jigsaw.” This also helps the unit stay intact while traveling over rough terrain.

Ana Jardim, marketing coordinator for Crusader Caravans, said the interlocking system is built so that it can hold itself up even without the walls.

“When you are going through the building process here in the factory … we have the walls and then we marry the roof. And the roof is one piece that goes from the front to the end of the caravan,” she says. “The way that we construct is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Dreamhaven went for a serene atmosphere with its interior decor, looking to create a “home away from home” with dusky grays and muted tones that make the unit feel tranquil, the company says.

Coming to America

When Crusader Caravans first considered entering the U.S. market, they knew they needed to do so under a different name as another brand already existed here under that name. Dreamhaven was an easy choice, since it had been under consideration as the company’s name during its inception.

Next on the agenda was connecting with someone who could serve as a liaison in the states. Enter Tony Munro, who recommended Carter and Stults. Their first task? Helping the company gain certification from the RV Industry Association (RVIA) — which thankfully, they did.

While the vehicles are made in Australia, they’re constructed with all the necessary specifications for an RVIA-approved RV in the U.S. At first, this was a bit tricky for the engineering and manufacturing team — switching the entry door from one side to the other, among other items.

Dreamhaven partners with some of the same component providers as it does for Crusader’s models, and others are specific to the U.S. models. Those companies include Dometic, Furrion, Grip Sport, Houghton, Majestic, BMPRO and Creative Composites, among others.

Typically if a customer is looking for a Gladiator Force or a Chameleon, one can be made available from the company’s dealership partners in the U.S. If a unit is needed from the plant in Melbourne, it can take 90 days from order to delivery, Carter says. While all units used to ship across the Pacific Ocean to Long Beach, California, they now have access to ship them into Florida as well, he added.

One region they’re focusing on expanding in is the West — Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and more.

“These off-roading elements of the vehicles make them particularly conducive to that Western, more rugged environment,” Carter says.

A Chassis of Their Own

One thing that sets Crusader Caravans and Dreamhaven RVs apart is manufacturing its own chassis. Carter explains that it is a box section chassis that is roughly 6 inches high.

“At the points that get stressed, like under the vehicle, that’s doubled up. So there’s actually 12 inches of chassis height there,” he says.

The Gladiator Force, and all Dreamhaven models, come fully loaded as standard with two 100-watt solar panels, and the Gladiator Force has a 200-amp-hour lithium ion battery.

Both the Gladiator Force and the Chameleon come standard with a twin bike carrier with a garage near the hitch point on the front that holds propane bottles. The Gladiator Force just allows for more internal space and storage.

Climate control is also key, with the Dometic air conditioner on the roof and two 12-volt fans that work in multiple directions, full fly screens and also blackout blinds.

“So you have the option to have it as dark, have it as light, and have it as cool, or have it as warm as you wish,” Carter says. “Climate control is a key feature inside the vehicles.”

Pride of Australia

The manufacturing plant in Melbourne is only a couple years old and houses about 250 employees. Jardim says it was exciting to get to launch a product for the U.S.

“Even though we are a large company, it feels like family. Everyone is so proud to be working at Crusader,” she says. “I think at first, everyone got so confused when we started introducing the Dreamhaven brand because the caravans started coming up on the other side, you know, the doors had to be switched, everything’s kind of mirrored around. [Now] I think everyone is very proud of where the company’s taking [it]. We have grown so much, and everyone is very excited.

“We know the product that we produce here is high quality. We put a lot of love into building that caravan. I think everyone’s very proud to know that we are there.”