Elddis Crusader 646 Tempest

A new six-berth, triple-bunk layout but not as we know it.

THERE’S a genuine all-new layout on the scene from Elddis, the six-berth Crusader 646 Tempest.

Apart from a superbly practical screen to partition off the front double bed when made up in the lounge, life’s pretty much normal here. You’ll also find lovely large 1.82m long parallel settees shod with luxuriously rounded back corner bolsters. 

Normality dealt with, lets look back down the caravan. With all that space up front, do you imagine a heavily-compartmentalised space cramming in living areas for six but looking like one of those trucks carrying 800 separately-caged chickens? 

Or maybe we’ll see an open space but sporting a woefully small kitchen, washroom and dinette? Fact is, it’s neither of the above. 

Look towards the back of the caravan and you see just one wide walk space from front to rear. From lounge backwards you’ll meet a small offside unit separating lounge from dinette.

It’s here that things start to get interesting. This dinette is just shy of a metre wide, meaning it seats four adults. A wide dinette in the middle of a caravan must mean it’s like an egg timer’s squished bit here? Afraid not. Well, the kitchen must be laughably small and virtually unusable then. Err, nope. And, after the oversize lounge, oversize dinette, and now oversize kitchen we still haven’t yet got to the triple bunks. The size of three shoe boxes? No, a full bunk stack of full-sized bunks – on the nearside.

Storage? This may be a six-berth but there’s enough storage for eight. Microwave, 175-litre fridge with separate freezer, big sink and drainer – it’s all here and more.
Opening the chunky washroom door reveals an oversized washroom with separate shower. 

So what about the beating heart of the Tempest: sleeping and those triple bunks? Are they the big news? Excellent, yes, but no longer big news. The news is the way they’ve been integrated into the layout. They’re only used at night, so why make a feature of them? 

Here, they’re out of the way so as not to interfere in daytime living. Perfect. And, with three kids loaded in them, the loo is right opposite, meaning no trek through the caravan. 

Our Verdict:

Not only does the Tempest pass the test of each discipline in how to provide for the six people it’s supposed to accommodate, it then goes on to better it again - and by some margin.