The van heater and the water heater were excellent, and being able to direct the heater into the shower room to act as a 'Drying room' was a brilliant idea. The storage space is excellent; we even had spare cupboard space! The van drove just like a car; plenty of power and very manoeuvrable for those tight mountain turns on the south Island. We had one incident of a smashed window from a stone chip flung up by another car, and this was handled swiftly and efficiently by the Wilderness team.
What's Special?
Like everything we do around here - our Base Jumper campervans are extraordinary. While being the odd one out is sometimes frowned upon, having unique features is something to be proud of in the motorhome industry!
It's not often you see a campervan parked up for days on end without being plugged in and it's not often you have to turn the temperature down while you are in the middle of the Southern Alps...
Here's why our campervan fleet stands well and above anything in its class:
Energy system
Our campervans were built to tackle the roads to ‘nowhere' instead of the SH1 camping ground crawl.
The Base Jumper is a motorhome which gives you the freedom to camp anywhere, anytime - without having to rely on a 240V hook up. To save you spending the night in a camping ground just so you can use all your campervan's features, RoadCraft installed a 600w 12V inverter and two 220A/H 6V batteries to keep you going for days on end.
The batteries supply the power and the inverter transforms it into the current you need to run the appliances and equipment. The inverter converts power from the 12 volt batteries to 240 volts needed to operate many appliances and accessories such as a laptop, iPod, or battery charger. Motorhome's with an inverter can operate these without being plugged in to mains power. They're a must have for freedom camping.
The greenies around here are also helping to make our rental campervans incredibly energy efficient. Using less energy helps to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the air and when burning less fossil fuels means protecting the luscious green views out the back doors of a Base Jumper, we're behind it 100%. Because all the appliances are light on energy and as the batteries are extended life, you won't need to plug into mains power if you don't want to.
Galley
Our campervan's galley is designed with the home gourmet (and Jamie Oliver) in mind. The Base Jumper chef-zone is fully equipped with everything you need to whip up a storm wherever you are. All the utensils and appliances are great to use and we're proud to say, the knives cut tomatoes not crush them! To maximise space and minimise rattles, the motorhome appliances fit snugly into the ‘tetris draw' and clever design has made way for the large bench top. With a four burner gas stove and grill, there's no excuse not to cook a feast - all you need to do is catch a whopping big snapper and stop by a local honesty box!
Heating
There's nothing quite like a winter road trip in a Base Jumper. Unlike most rental motorhomes, our campervans are designed to be warm from the outside in. With an Eberspächer diesel heater you can be sure that the whole vehicle stays toasty warm, day and night. It draws diesel from the vehicle's fuel tank so you don't have to be hooked up to use it and it won't cost you an arm and a leg. Our motorhome's stay toasty day and night and the great thing is - you don't need to towel off the moisture build up on the windows as you do with gas heating. Bliss!
Drying room
In a country as wet as New Zealand, you are bound to drip at some point on your holiday and chances are, it will be the day you didn't plan to! Don't worry though - the RoadCraft team has designed the bathroom to double as a drying room in both summer and winter. Within 30 minutes you can have all your gear nice and dry regardless of whether the engine is running or not. The vents supply warm air and the heated towel rail means you don't need to hang your wet underwear from the wing mirrors!
Wraparound couch
After a hard day slugging it around New Zealand we can guess your plans for the night - kicking back and relaxing. The wraparound couch is vital to the Base Jumper experience and a fundamental part of chilling out and enjoying the scenery - be it day or night. It has specifically been designed for dual purpose sitting and sleeping so you can get the most out of the day and night in our rental campervan.
