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The long and short of 'van measuring

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THE Caravan Council of Australia is pondering the long and short of it when it comes to measuring caravans.

It has raised questions of how dimensions should be correctly expressed.

"There has long been much controversy and confusion ... especially when talking about the length of a caravan," general manager Colin Young explained.

The council has drawn up diagrams which, it says, could be a starting-point for everyone to consider what the standard way to express dimensions should be.

Overall length is pretty straight-forward, meaning the length of the caravan from the front of the coupling to the extreme rear-most point.

Overall length for caravans with fold-out rear-end sections should (for camping site requirements) also include this additional extension.

Body length has been advertised and interpreted in various ways:

Should it be the maximum outside length of the body?
Should it be the maximum inside length of the body?
Should it be the maximum inside length of the body, at a certain height … say, at the the top of the mattresses?

Inside height:

Should it be the height from the floor to the ceiling?
Should it be the height from the floor to the lowest contact point … eg the bottom of an air-conditioner?

Width:

Should it be the outside width?
Should it be the inside width?

Imperial and/or Metric Dimensions:

Should all dimensions be expressed in feet and Inches and/or metres and centimetres?

"Hopefully everyone in the caravan industry can agree on a standard way of stating dimensions," Mr Young said.

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