The Sealander is a small caravan that can also serve as a boat, powered by a small electric motor (all images copyright of Sealander)

The Sealander is 389cm (12′ 9″) long and is powered by a 5 horsepower electric motor when it’s afloat. When it is on land, it is small and light enough (550kg-750kg) to be towed by a fairly small car – a VW Golf or Ford Focus, for example.

The Sealander is made from a one-piece moulded GRFP (Glass Reinforced Fibre Polymer) body, a material better known as fibre composite. The example in the pictures is a prototype but the Sealander is expected to go into production in 2012 costing around €15,000.

For that, buyers will get a properly-specified small two-berth caravan, including heater, table, cooker, sink, fridge, optional Porta Potti and seating/beds for two people. The Sealander will also have a rather nifty cabriolet-style fabric roof and will of course include an electric motor with rechargeable battery for use in boat mode.

I think it sounds rather neat, although it could be one of those things that does not have many practical uses – I don’t imagine it could stand rough seas nor travel very far on its rechargeable battery. It could work very well for lake fishing, however – leave your campsite pitch in the morning, hit the lake, then return at night, when you can plug in to mains electricity to recharge the motor battery.

Here are a few more pictures:

The open hatch provides standing height in the cooking area at the front of the Sealander - plus a great open air experience

The press pictures suggest that the Sealander will be towable by quite small cars - I think the car in this picture is a VW Polo

Inside the Sealander

Sail off into the sunset in your Sealander caravan...

This vehicle is exactly what it looks like – a motorhome body hooked on to the back of an old Vauxhall Astra. The motorhome in question is a Heku Carcamp. Heku is a German company that makes trailers and motorhomes, including the Carcamp, this rather innovative alternative to both a caravan and a motorhome.

It seems to have all the facilities of a small-medium sized motorhome – including a luton bed over the car and bathroom, kitchen and dining facilities in the rear. It’s an interesting idea, enabling you to enjoy a combination of the benefits of a caravan and a motorhome, whilst only needing to own and operate one vehicle.

The Carcamp model has been updated substantially since this one was built and is still in production. A new one costs around €22,500 and you will need a more recent Vauxhall Astra to couple it too – the most powerful diesel model is recommended.

You can see lots of pictures and full details here, on Heku’s website (English translation provided).

Its licence plate made it about 20 years old, but Japanese imports are always in above average condition (low mileage and no corrosion, thanks to no salt on the roads in winter) and although it looked dated it also looked pretty tidy. Four wheel drive could come in handy on muddy campsites, especially as it had suitable tyres, too.

A quick Google reveals that more of these are imported to Australia and New Zealand than the UK – Isuzu is a much bigger name in the light truck sector down under than it is here (yet).

However, there’s always someone who has to go that one stage further – and it’s no surprise that they come from the land of unlimited autobahns, BMW, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz! In this case the culprit is a tuning company called Goldschmitt, which has taken a standard Hymer Car motorhome and turned it into a bona fide, Guinness World Record holding speedster.

The Goldschmitt-tuned Hymer Car

The Hymer smashed the previous 191km/h record with an official measured speed of 207km/h, placing it firmly into the Guinness Book of Records. Heinrich Bloemer, the Goldschmitt engineer responsible for the project, was keen to stress that the van was a standard 2.3-litre diesel Fiat Ducato model, not the more powerful 3-litre upgrade.

Bloemer said that “It would have been far simpler if we had taken the 3-litre version of the Fiat Ducato. But we wanted to show that the Ducato engine of lower cubic capacity has an enormous power reserve and is still very economical despite the present high output of about 200 hp”.

The magic ingredient, it seems, was gas, which is somehow mixed with standard diesel fuel to create a massive power boost – a Goldschmitt speciality. This van has ‘about’ 200hp – considerably more than the 130hp or so that the standard model puts out. There were a few other modifications, too – flush fitting windows and some underfloor aerodynamics were added to help airflow over the van.

Goldschmitt isn’t planning to rest on its laurels; the next challenge for this Hymer is to break 230km/h within 1000m from a standing start. The idea is to commemorate Goldschmitt’s 30th year in business (hence 230km/h) with the record attempt, which is planned for this spring.

In wonder if it’s road legal? I’d pay a lot of money to see the look on the Porsche drivers’ faces when you eased up behind them on the autobahn at 100mph…

Note: Record-breaking motorhomes aren’t new – over in the US, the GMC motorhome is a favourite with tuners and is in fact one of the previous holders of the title ‘World’s Fastest Motorhome’.

C-Liner owner Michael Newton recently contacted me to say that he was selling his C-Liner and to ask if it rated a mention in our ‘Unusual Motorhomes’ category. Although I wouldn’t normally include a standard production model, the C-Liner is so rare and special that I’ve been convinced – feast your eyes on this fine example of German engineering:

Michael's Knaus C-Liner Motorhome

If you’d like to learn more about the C-Liner or are interested in buying the one above (for sale as of August 2009), then visit Michael’s website at www.motorhome-by-knaus-for-sale.co.uk.

The Gray Warrior - a Japanese Street Cruiser-style campervan

The Gray Warrior is owned by Graham and Jean, two retired former caravanning enthusiasts who have recently been converted to motorhoming. It is a 2.8 litre Toyota Hiace which they imported from Japan and have since had converted to a well-specified campervan by Japanese import specialists Wellhouse Leisure.

Day setup with folding table

Night setup - comfy double bed

The Gray Warrior’s striking looks are down to its history as a Tokyo Street Cruiser – operated on a specific stretch of Tokyo highway by a “less than respectable Japanese gentleman”, according to Graham!

As with virtually all Japanese imports, it was very low mileage for its age – 19,000 miles and fifteen years – and in excellent condition. Size-wise, it is very similar to a short or medium wheelbase European panel van – 5.5m long and 1.86m high. It is quite high, however, at almost 2.8m, thanks to its distinctive styling.

Although it had a basic, ‘day van’ conversion already fitted, Graham and Jean decided to go the whole hog and have it professionally converted by Wellhouse Leisure, with all creature comforts. As luck would have it, Wellhouse was looking for a van to do a custom conversion on and as you can see from the photographs, the results are very impressive. I have seen a couple of Wellhouse conversions in the flesh and they are very high quality – Graham says they are “very impressed with the build quality”.

Kitchen area with fridge & lots of cupboards

The conversion includes:

• 3 batteries
• Webasto diesel heating
• 1000W inverter, providing ample ‘mains’ power to fitted sockets
• Fiamma Turbo Vent Polar Control rooflight – giving both light and forced ventilation
• LED lighting
• Cooker, sink & three-way fridge
• Fiamma 45i awning, colour coded
• Lots of cupboard space, seating and double bed

More cupboards! The low level cupboard at the back holds a Porta Potti, which is still accessible with the bed made up - ideal

As you can see from the pictures, it is a unique and charismatic conversion – my thanks to Graham and Jean for their photos.

The Gray Warrior at rest!

Update: If you would like to see more of these eye-opening Japanese custom vans, take a look at this article, entitled “Japanese Van Mentalism”!

A fully converted Reliant Robin motorhome has recently been auctioned on eBay – have a look at the listing here (if it hasn’t expired yet).

It looks a nice conversion for the size, with good quality work. I wonder if it’s still for sale – it didn’t meet its reserve.

First up with news  (& pictures) of some superb custom VW conversion comes The Telegraph. Granted, it’s not the most likely place to find these pictures but they really are the real deal – take a look here.

In fact, it turns out that the pictures are actually taken from a new book,
VW Campers: Inspirational Interiors by David Eccles. Feast your eyes and treat the VW lover in your life to the perfect coffee table gift…

The World’s Oldest Camper?

This 1920s Studebaker touring car must surely lay claim to be one of the oldest suriving motorhomes.  Although its conversion seems a little spartan by modern standards, the all-round windows and fitted curtains are still just the ticket, as is the large, 4×4-style rear door – just the ticket for backing up to the beach:

(Found via the Weird RVs blog). Photos from Flickr courtesy of Corvair Owner.

This is the Colim – a kind of cross between a fifth wheel caravan, a demountable motorhome and a normal caravan and car combination.

In reality, it is a caravan and tow car that have been designed together and carefully integrated. The concept is that you can drop the accomodation section where you like and scoot off in the city-sized runaround car to see the sites, do some shopping or whatever.

The Colim design is the work of German designer Christian Susana, who is currently looking for a manufacturing deal for the Colim.

Colim is an acronym – ‘Colours Of Life In Motion’ and the Colim is designed to bridge the gap between caravans, campers, lifestyle and business, according to Susana. The accomodation module can be customised to include different living modules such as a kitchen or bathroom and will sleep 2-4 people.

The tow vehicle only has two seats but does have a far safer and more stable hitch mechanism than conventional car-caravan setups – again, rather like a fifth wheel setup, with the pivot point just above and in front of the rear axle, rather than behind it.

The Two-Storey Camping Car (Copyright: http://www1.ttcn.ne.jp/~gyo/English/index.htm)

It’s not often that I come across a motorhome completely different to any I’ve seen before – but this one is.

Built by three Japanese schoolfriends for a one-year road trip around Japan, it took two years to create and really is unique.

The second floor is a Japanese-style room – it has a full length window down one side, tatami-matted floors and no furniture at all.

The lads used it mostly as a bedroom – downstairs was filled by the kitchen, bathroom (including a bath) and living/dining area. When not in use, the second floor retracts to give the vehicle an overall height of 3m and a standard box van profile.

One of the (many) things that impressed me about this build are its dimensions. The motorhome is based on a Toyota Toyoace, a fairly small van model. The maximum gross weight is only 3000kg and it is only 5.2m long and 1.8m wide when setup for driving.

That’s really impressive – as a comparison, a short wheelbase European van like a Ford Transit is around 4.9m long and 1.9m wide. That means that this Japanese motorhome has a footprint that isn’t all that much larger than a large car or a small van – yet provides every creature comfort, accomodation for three adults and has two storeys. It really is impressive (compare this to the last two-storey motorhome I featured).

The lads’ website is well worth a visit – whether you are interested in the build of the motorhome or the photographs from their year-long road trip around Japan. Both Japan’s beautiful countryside and all aspects of the build are illustrated with dozens of photographs.

Hat tip to Japanese Nostalgic Car.