Full review

The first task before we begin a caravan review is usually the most mundane. It’s winding down the corner steadies. Buccaneer reviews, though, begin with the touch of a button, on a panel in the doorway or on a remote control handset.

A series of rhythmic beeps and a whirring sound emits from somewhere under the caravan and we wait and watch, while axle stands, and then enormous corner steadies, slowly descend. In just two minutes one of the mightiest caravans on the British market is level and we are stepping inside.

This is the only range of tourer that you can level at the touch of a button. The system, from E&P Hydraulics, was introduced to Buccaneers for the 2015 model year. It’s impressive, and really rather cool!

At 2.45m, Buccaneers are the widest caravans made in Britain. That’s 15cm wider than an Elddis Crusader, for example.
The wide girth has enabled Buccaneer’s makers, the Explorer Group, to invent a new layout, one that is only made possible by that extra width. The Clipper is the only caravan to have transverse twin beds. And there’s more. These beds retract, by about 40cm, to transform into day loungers. In this mode, the bed area, has as much floor space as you’d find in a small domestic bedroom.

The Clipper’s floor is important in another way. Buccaneers have under floor heating; part of the Alde heating system. They have internal water tanks, deep pile carpets, curtains hanging on chrome café rods, big mirrors, big fridges, sinks that are indistinguishable from polished granite… They even have a device which monitors mains power load, and switches off the Alde heating while you are using a high-power consumption appliance such as a hairdryer, to prevent you from tripping out your pitch’s supply.

We take a walk along the widest bedroom corridor anywhere in caravans, to the shower room…
 

Showering

The shower is lined on three sides with shiny grey “tiles”; the door is robustly constructed and runs in tracks. There’s a retractable four-towel rail on the wall. The rectangular washbasin is grey, to match the tiles, and looks like real granite. There’s a big and stylish heated towel rail on the rear wall. Everywhere you look, the Clipper is different in so many ways. Especially the sleeping department…
 

Sleeping

When the beds are in their retracted day-lounger positions, they are different lengths, so the corridor leading to the shower room is 90cm at its widest point, along the end of the forward bed, and 70cm at the foot of the other bed. In this mode, the beds are feet-up relaxing units, 1.37m and 1.52m long. A section of the mattress rises when you push the beds back, creating shoulder support.

Moving the beds from retracted to fully extended is just a matter of pulling a handle to draw out the base. Even when they are at their full length, there’s a good-sized corridor; 30cm at its narrowest point. The rear bed is 1.84m; the forward bed is 1.78m long.

There are TV points on the offside wall, above a cabinet. There’s bright lighting behind the headboards, and also streaming out from under a pelmet that runs the entire length of the offside bedroom wall.

This bedroom looks and feels much more like something you’d find in a hotel or luxury apartment than a caravan.

Of huge importance, compared with most transverse double-bed layouts, is the wardrobe arrangement. Instead of two wardrobes, one half the width of the other, the Clipper has one wardrobe, on the forward side of the bed. That means the bed area is as far to the rear of the caravan as it can be, so it doesn’t dominate the layout. A light comes on automatically when you open the wardrobe.

 
Storage

This transverse twin-bed design is a departure from all we’ve come to expect from caravan beds, and that includes the storage arrangements. Although there is usable space under the beds (apart from the area occupied by the water tank), you’d only store small items here. But don’t leap to the conclusion that the Clipper might have restricted overall lower storage space. It’s just very different. You can of course use the ample space under the settees; an area largely ignored in the more usual fixed-bed scenarios. And there’s a storage area that sets the Clipper apart from all other caravans. It’s outside, behind the kitchen cabinets. It’s enormous, at a metre tall, 64cm deep and 47cm wide.

Six big top lockers, a floor-level bedroom cabinet, plus two drawers and a drop-down hatch under the wardrobe provides ample space for folded garments.
 

Dining

The dining table has its own cabinet in the kitchen. For lesser mealtimes, the pull-out top in the lounge gives you a more-than-adequate 81cm x 65cm of space.
 

Lounging

Standard upholstery in Buccaneers is Aquaclean fabric, formulated to resist marks. Spillages can be wiped off with water on a cloth. The Explorer Group tells us that even applies to red wine, although this was most definitely not a part of our review!

There’s something else interesting about Buccaneer seating. Something you can’t see but you can feel. The settees and mattresses are a construction called Ozio. It’s a sandwich structure, with the top and base layers made of vertically-aligned polyester fibres. The fibre at the top and the base provides breathability and comfort, and the centre section, called the core, is a dense foam, which also contributes to the comfort that we noticed during our review day.

The Clipper’s settees are long, at 1.85m. We found ourselves noticing the extra width of the Clipper here in the lounge.
It’s a beautifully appointed environment, all in cream and palest fawn shades with a mix of three textures, one with a sheen to reflect the light, one that feels and looks like fine suede, and a third to introduce a subtle weave pattern.
 

Kitchen

We love the bed configuration, we love the lounge, so how would the hub of Clipper life measure up? For a start, there’s a 155-litre fridge freezer. It’s opposite the kitchen, with the microwave above it, at a height convenient for shorter statures.

The Clipper’s kitchen is L-shaped, with a surface that’s just over a metre long and extends to almost a metre deep on the forward section. Importantly, there’s enough space for two people to work in this kitchen without obstructing the walkway along the caravan; again, we find ourselves commenting on the advantage of the Clipper’s wide body.

A rim of light runs around the forward section of the kitchen and across the top of the central three drawers. Three large shelves and four top lockers, plus a narrow cabinet alongside the fridge, complete the storage arrangements.

The Clipper has a dual-fuel hob. Interestingly, the pan trivet is set at a lower level than in most caravans, allowing you to use a pan of any size on the mains hotplate, unrestricted by the trivet.
 

Towing

Our review Clipper was only the second off the production line and hadn’t had its final dispatch checks at the time of our review, so wasn’t allowed out for a test tow. But we did give it a quick spin around Explorer’s vast factory grounds and, even at sub-30mph speeds, the chunky Clipper felt beautifully stable behind our equally chunky SsangYong Rexton. We gave it a bit of manoeuvring to do, too, proving that big doesn’t mean difficult when it comes to reversing and negotiating tight corners. If we were thinking of buying this model, we could be certain that towing it would be a pleasurable part of the whole Clipper lifestyle.