Titan 490 Bunk Review

BIG IDEAS, SMALL PACKAGE

Family caravans have become increasingly popular of late but in many cases, the size of the vans has been increasing too. Malcolm Street looks at a practical, innovative downsized alternative.

Generally speaking, family caravans are quite easy to identify from the outside. First up, a full van is usually over 6000mm in length and there are normally two or three small windows in the same vertical plane, mostly towards the rear of the van.

Available through Nationwide RV in New Zealand, your first look at Titan Caravan’s Blackhawk 490 Bunk doesn’t really give much of a hint of being a family caravan. Although there are a couple of in-line windows on the offside, it’s not obvious, given its external length of 4900mm.

INNOVATIVE DESIGN

Step aboard and we’ll take a look at what I reckon is quite a different sort of layout. First up, the 490 Bunk has a rear door entry. To the right of the door, as you enter is a kitchen bench, including the fridge across the rear wall. It’s not a particularly long kitchen bench because the offside corner shower cubicle has to fit in. Across the front of the van is a transverse double bed. That leaves the space in the middle for double bunks on the offside, and a parallel lounge seat with a table on the opposite side. Oh, yes, and there’s also a full-height wardrobe between the lounge and the front bed. If it sounds a bit crowded, you’re right, it is – but with this layout, a little bit of compromise on several fronts goes a long way.

Colour, lighting and ventilation play a big part in the perception of space in a van interior like this one, and that’s done quite well. A generally light (mostly white) colour scheme helps, as do the large windows and a well-sized, centrally located roof hatch.

BEDTIME

Undoubtedly one of the neater design tricks in this van is the bed arrangements. Across the front is a 2100mmx 1530mm double bed. It does sit fairly high off the floor because of the storage arrangements underneath, but that’s not really any problem. There are windows on either side and a set of overhead lockers across the front wall. Sirocco fans are located at either end of the bed, so ventilation and fresh air is a given. The downside of this arrangement is that because of the wardrobe on one side and a partition on the other, accessibility for the wall sleeper is going to require a little bit of negotiation during the night.

The reason for the offside partition is that it’s part of the bunk bed structure. With a length of 1900mm, the bunk beds certainly have plenty of stretch-out room. Both beds have relatively large windows and both have a vent hole in the dividing partition. A useful feature of the top bunk is that when it’s not being used during the day, it can be used as a lounge seat. The only thing to be a little careful of is where your head goes when leaning back. Neither bed gets a reading light, although there is a ceiling light for the top bed and the lower bunk has a powerpoint and USB point, as well as radio speakers fitted into the floor panel below.

DINING IN

Having the lower bunk double as a seat means it meshes in well with the opposite side seat and table in between. Mounted on a Lagun arm, the table can be pushed out of the way (or lifted out entirely) when not needed for dining. A slight problem with the table is that it’s not wide enough for use by four people, but a possible solution is to not use the table at all and get a freestanding table that will fit in without too much trouble.

Like the bed opposite, below the seat of the diner are both USB and 240V outlets; good for charging a laptop, phone or tablet while sitting at the dinette. Adjacent to the seat on the side of the wardrobe is a mounting arm for the TV and above the seat is a CD/AM/FM radio for audio entertainment. Above the seat
are three overhead lockers, as well as the Victron control pad for the electricals.

MINI KITCHEN

Given what else is fitted into the interior, it’s no surprise that the kitchen looks a bit squeezed in. It does, however, have a four-burner hob/grill alongside a square stainless steel sink. A Thetford 150 litre 12V compressor fridge certainly provides enough food capacity and there’s also a microwave oven fitted underneath the grill – a little different to the usual overhead locker position. The general storage space isn’t too bad, with three cupboards overhead and a couple of drawers below. Not surprisingly, the benchtop space is minimal.

An option on the 490 Bunk van is to have a Dometic slide-out kitchen fitted into the front tunnel storage. It’s made of aluminium and stainless steel and is almost as well equipped as the inside kitchen bench, with a three-burner hob and stainless steel sink. There’s even a drawer and a bit of benchtop space. It’s a great option for those who like to do their cooking outside.

COMBO BATHROOM

For a van with a length of just 4900mm, the bathroom is a little bigger than expected. It’s large enough to contain a Thetford bench-style cassette toilet, a fitting that includes a moulding in wash basin, a vanity cabinet and of course a shower. There’s a shower curtain to keep the water off the other facilities but it’s a wet bathroom. A nice addition is the stainless-steel towel rack and shelf.

BODYWORK

Although much of the bodywork is built in China, the general fit and finish, particularly electrical and gas components, is done in Titan’s Burpengary (Brisbane, Qld) factory. That said, the dual nationality production isn’t that obvious. Underpinning the van is a HDG chassis with 150mm x 50mm (6in x 2in) main rails and drawbar. 12in electric brakes are fitted to the 16in alloy wheels. A battery box is fitted to the front offside rail. The Bunk 490 is very much built for rough road conditions, having a Cruisemaster DO35 hitch and 2800kg rated independent suspension that is fitted with coil springs, trailing arms and twin shock absorbers.

Heat laminated 35mm fibreglass insulated wall panel (with marine grade gel coat and XPS foam core) and 50mm
composite floor panels are used for the bodywork; these are all one-piece items to minimise water ingress. Double glazed acrylic windows are fitted on all walls, the habitation door has a security screen, a standard item and external LED lights are fitted all around. There is also an external shower with hot and cold water. Out of sight on the roof are a couple of important items: the Dometic Ibis 4 air conditioner, and the Dometic Dust Reduction System (DRS). Designed for outback Australian roads, the DRS will work just as well on NZ gravel roads, as it’s designed to minimise dust entry into the van while it’s in motion.

External storage is excellent for a van this size. In addition to the tunnel boot, there’s a nearside compartment and a matching offside one, plus a two-section alloy chequer plate box on the drawbar, with the nearside section for the two 9.0kg gas cylinders and the offside having a slide-out that could be used for a generator.

OFF THE GRID

Fitted to the Bunk 490 are two 95-litre freshwater tanks and one 75-litre grey water tank. Even in standard form, the electrics consisting of two 120AH AGM batteries and two 160W solar panels are quite impressive. However, for those who want to get away from it all and maybe run their air conditioner, then the stage 2 electrical option is available, with 2 x 200AH lithium batteries, 3 x 180Wsolar panel, a Victron 2000W/80A charger and a Victron 500Amp SmartShunt (for smartphone monitoring).

WARRANTY MATTERS

Warranties for all RVs should always be checked carefully. Titan’s is quite comprehensive; 24 months for the habitation warranty; five years for structural water ingress (from first registration date); and five years for mechanical, chassis and suspension.

SUMMARY

A good bonus with Titan’s 490 Bunk van,is that with a GVM of 2800kg, the Titan does not require a heavy-duty tow vehicle. Something like a dual cab ute, which might already be parked in the family driveway, will suit quite well. A family van of this length really isn’t going to be practical for extended long-term trips but it doesn’t pretend to be either. It’s more like a mobile accommodation base for a family that wants to be out and about enjoying the countryside, especially those areas that are off the beaten track.

FLOORPLAN Titan Blackhawk 490 Bunk

– Enquire about the Titan 490 Bunk at nationwiderv.co.nz