Design & Engineering

Best practices

We have over a decade of caravan industry experience sharing our engineering expertise with some of the largest caravan manufacturers including consultancy work. We are setting a new benchmark by taking the traditional caravan-building experience and incorporate latest technology from the caravan, heavy vehicle and critical infrastructure industries to create a product second to none.

 

Unique in-house chassis design and a novel way of building caravans incorporating latest technology allow us to stay ahead of the competition. Everything from the initial concept design to manufacturing chassis, wall frames, CNC furniture and doors to the final product is done in-house. This means that we have greater control over the manufacturing process. Also, no other manufacturer of the same size does everything in-house like we do. Our in-house production and engineering capabilities means we can easily customise our caravans to meet customer needs. Our new Campbellfield factory is five times the size of their former Somerton home and  allow us to run two production lines (‘standard’ line and ‘custom’ line). 

 

A Wonder Roo caravan begins its journey when you choose a layout and specifications. The chassis is the backbone of the caravan, and it is design to accommodate the weight distribution of your layout of choice and also to match the type of suspension. So, each chassis is custom made for the layout and the specs. With a decade of experience in the heavy vehicle manufacturing, working for industry leaders like MaxiTrans, Vawdrey, CIMC and Hercules Engineering, Pil is well experienced with metal fabrication and welding. We’re particular about welding and know which area to weld and where not to weld. So, all weldable parts are design to minimise welding stress. For example, we use plug welding to reduce the welding stress on critical areas of the chassis.  

 

When designing durable chassis, we use modern technologies like advanced Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) software to simulate performance to optimise the design. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) analyse how a chassis reacts under simulated real-world conditions. The idea is to remove high-stress areas, make the stress flow smoothly through the chassis, and avoid sudden changes in stiffness. For example, our chassis cross-members are laser cut and folded, tailored designed to be lightweight and strong to suit our unique caravan building process.

 

Caravans walls, roof and the furniture are also designed using 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. All our furniture is CNC-cut and fits together with interlock joins that are glued and screwed. The furniture is screwed to the chassis from underneath through the floor, walls and the roof. Also, full height partitions runs from floor to the roof which gives additional strength to the caravan shell.

Early adaptor of new technology

Working globally leading engineering consultancies like CHM2Hill and Jacobs, Sam has worked on large Government critical infrastructure projects across Australia and has well developed understanding of Australian Standards as well as research and development. Staying a step ahead is a big driver for Wonder Roo Caravans. That’s why we constantly think about what could be improved, simplified or refined and ways to promptly adopt new technology.

 

We are one of the few specialised in manufacturing TIG (Tungsten inert gas) welded aluminium framed caravans. Aluminium frames are durable and less likely to develop structural issues and also rot free. As Aluminium has a lower melting temperature than most metals, TIG welding allows for control over the level of heat applied to the metal to create high quality, clean welds with stable connections. So, TIG weld is the most effective and durable method to join aluminium. Also, TIG welded aluminium frames offer the rigidity required for challenging off road conditions. We are the only manufacturer to offer 20mm standard and 25mm heavy duty TIG welded aluminium frames. We only use RHS (rectangular hollow sections) and SHS (square hollow sections) on our frames. This means that our aluminium frames do not have light duty C-channels.

 

We are also one of the first manufacturers to offer XPS insulation for aluminium framed caravans. XPS insulation has a high performance water and fire-resistant insulation with superior compressive strength. The XPS insulation Wonder Roo Caravans use is environmentally friendly (CFC & HCFC free) and 100% recyclable.

 

We are also one of the first manufacturers to exclusively offer rot free one piece honeycomb composite floors across our range.

Hot Dip Galvanised Chassis

The backbone of a caravan is the chassis. We are one of the few caravan manufacturers who design and built our own chases.  Our chassis are designed and built for the tough Aussie outback. ALL Wonder Roo Caravan chassis  

  • are 3D designed by our team of Australian degree qualified engineers

  • are built with Australian steel in our Somerton factory

  • meet Australian standards and Australian Design Rules (ADRs)
  • are hot-dip galvanised for:

    • long life

    • all over (internal and external), complete protection

    • tougher coating

    • reliability  

    • less maintenance required

    • automatic protection for any damaged areas.

Benefits for our customers:

  • Hot dip galvanising provides both barrier and cathodic protection over the entire steel surface (inside & out) with a tough, durable, abrasion-resistant finish.

  • Galvanised coatings on steel last longer than other options, continually protecting steel against corrosion even if scratched or gouged.

  • Because galvanised coatings provide sacrificial protection to the steel, small, damaged areas do not need touching up (unlike with other coatings).

Caravan Sway Control

Sway control is a standard feature on ALL our caravans; because your safety is important to us.

Benefits for our customers:

  • Automatically corrects caravan sway, keeping drivers safe on the road

Tig Welding

We are setting a new benchmark in quality. Our Aluminium walls are TIG (Tungsten inert gas) welded. TIG welding is a gas shielded welding process and is one of the fusion welding processes. As Aluminium has a lower melting temperature than most metals, TIG welding allows for control over the level of heat applied to the metal to create high quality, clean welds with stable connections.

TIG welding

Benefits for our customers:

  • Aluminium frames are durable and less likely to develop structural issues give the TIG weld is the most effective and durable method to join aluminium.

  • TIG Welded aluminium frames offer the rigidity and tolerance levels for challenging off road conditions.

Honeycomb Composite Floors

Honeycomb plastic floors are an advanced one-piece seamless caravan floors that is up to 40% lighter than standard 12mm plywood yet much tougher, allowing us to build lighter and stronger caravans.

Benefits for our customers:

  • Super lightweight: lighter to tow; reduced fuel consumption.

  • Impervious to water: unaffected by salt, water and other elements (rot free).

  • Improved quality and durability: delivering a longer lasting van, with better resale value.

  • Impact resistant: reduced risk of damage.

  • New look and feel: new generation composite for better performance and long-term value.

  • Seamless construction: no joins means no squeaking, creaking, sagging, lifting, bubbling or tearing.

  • Easy to maintain: smooth surface can be easily cleaned with conventional methods.

  • Environmentally friendly: kind to the environment, the floor can be either re-used or recycled.

honeycomb COMPOSITE floors

Wall Framing

TIG Welded Aluminium Walls

Aluminium is light and durable. However, takes more time, money and equipment to properly engineer and construct Aluminium walls, so that the caravan can tolerate big loads and on extreme terrain. For the same weight, Aluminium walls offer considerably increased strength and durability as it is not susceptible to rot.

Benefits for our customers:

  • Super lightweight: lighter to tow; reduced fuel consumption.

  • Aluminium is not susceptible to rot, therefore more durable.

CNC-Cut Walls 
CNC-cut plywood with waterproof A bond wall panels are constructed with jigsaw-cut-out sections. These sections bonded with a special adhesive to create a 1-piece wall. The front and rear panels are also dovetailed into the sidewalls, therefore the caravan is structurally stronger and more rigid. This construction method is superior to traditional timber and staples walls and structurally fully insulated.

The CNC walls also allow the creation of a channel running longitudinally across the inner side of the panels for wiring to be safely and neatly contained in its own channel.

Benefits for our customers:

  • Better insulation. 

  • Increased strength and durability. 

Standard Meranti Walls

Meranti – the hardwood of choice is relatively light, strong and flexible – therefore cheaper and easier to work with. Also, not being metal, is not susceptible to electrolysis/corrosion problems. However, meranti is vulnerable to rot when wet, so a small leak can be a major problem. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the caravan remains properly sealed to increase the durability of meranti walls.

Benefits for our customers:

  • Low cost

Insulation

Australian made XPS is the material of choice to insulate Wonder Roo Silver+ and Gold manufacturing grade caravans.
XPS preserves its thermal and physical properties under all conditions due to its high-density closed cell structure.

Benefits for our customers:

  • Superior compressive strength.

  • Long term retained R-values.

  • Extremely durable for long lasting applications.

  • Practically impervious to water.

  • Environmentally friendly (CFC & HCFC free).

  • Manufactured from fire-retardant raw managerial.

  • 100% recyclable.

  • Keeping the heat in during the winter and out during summer.

  • Reduced heater/air conditioner use saves money and decreased environmental impact.

3D designed and CNC cut furniture

All our furniture are 3d designed and CNC-cut. Essentially, the term ‘CNC’ stands for ‘computer numerical control’ – a sophisticated milling system that can do what most experienced craftsmen days to do by hand in minutes with absolute precision, time and time again. So, it ensures our furniture is consistently high quality and finish.    

The furniture is constructed using the tongue and groove interlocking joint system, a method to joint flat panels without gaps. The tongues and grooves of the joints are connected using adhesive, screws to give extra strength to the furniture. Interlocking wood joints consisting of tongues and grooves allow for shrinkage and maintain the integrity of the furniture. Raw, exposed edges of wood panels are also sealed with an edge band for durability. Additionally, full height furniture partitions to increase the strength and endurance of our interiors to handle tough Aussie conditions.

 

Benefits for our customers:

  • Lightweight solid panel CNC-cut furniture is strong compared to traditional meranti stick furniture with 3mm plywood.

  • CNC furniture gives caravans a modern, streamlined look, compared to meranti stick furniture.

  • CNC furniture’s thicker plywood will hold screws better and longer, particularly under continual flex over the life of the van.

  •  CNC furniture works better than traditional meranti stick furniture in areas where the solid panel act as an additional body bracing.

Edge Banding

Wood panels have a raw, exposed edge when cut to size to make furniture. Edge banding is the process of sealing the raw, exposed edges of wood panels. An edge band is a thin tape of impermeable PVC, acrylic or ABS material cut to fit the size of wood panel and applied on the exposed edge using a strong hot melt adhesive.

The edge band:

  • serve as a de facto seal on the exposed edge thus holds moisture out

  • increase strength and resilience by providing shock protection

  • covers rough edges for a high-quality finish.

Benefits for our customers:

  • Increased durability of the furniture. 

  • Clean modern look with a high-quality finish.