Elddis Crusader Shamal

The Elddis Crusader Shamal offers luxury for two, with twin beds, a cosy lounge – and a wine rack!

The Elddis Crusader Shamal is one of an increasing number of caravans with twin beds to arrive on the market in the last 12 months. The Shamal is among those with high spec – and its weight is comfortably mid-range.
It’s heated by the Alde system that circulates hot water around the caravan. There are two TV bracket points, an extractor fan, four drawers in the central front unit – and this caravan is full of more delightful design features that give Crusaders a stamp of quality. Among them is the washbasin. It looks like black granite, with tiny flecks of silvery white. It’s rectangular, and sits up on top of the cabinet like a big, attractive fruit bowl.
 

Showering

In a shower room that stretches the full width of the caravan you expect a level of luxury – and in the Shamal you certainly get it. That lovely black rock-effect basin puts on the style as well as being large enough to be practical. The shower is square, with a neat circle of LED lights set into the ceiling. The soap dish is big and chunky and can be swivelled from side to side, to make sure it’s never in your way.
A wide towel bar is perfectly positioned directly above the outlet for the heating system, so that your towels will dry quickly. There’s also a double towel hook high up on the wall of the shower room.
 

Sleeping

Assuming twin beds are your choice, you’ll not find comfort greater than this anywhere in caravans. The mattresses are 18cm deep, and firmly comfortable. At 65cm high these beds are taller than most. Those of short stature will find their feet don’t touch the ground when they sit on the beds – but the plus-point here is that the higher the bed, the greater the storage possibilities beneath. Piping for the Alde central heating runs along both bed edges so warm air rises between bed and wall.
Six head-height lockers give good space, at 33cm deep and 43cm tall. Four of them have shelves to divide the space, so that you can pack in twice as much stuff. The other two, though, while large, would contain fewer garments because when you pile them up, they’d fall against the door every time you tow.  That said, though, the Shamal is by no means short of storage space…
 

Storage

The wardrobe is on the nearside, just forward of the bed area; it has two big drawers and a cupboard beneath. This is a superbly designed unit, with 60cm of hanging width and a cabinet ideal for footwear. Even though the wheel arch intrudes a little into the space, this is one fantastic cupboard. All the top cabinets have positive catches, with press-button releases on the left side of each handle.
 

Dining

Extend the top of the chest of drawers and you have a great space for two to dine. Or you can extract the table from its cabinet alongside the wardrobe. The choice is yours. As the Shamal’s principal appeal will be to couples, we think the four-seater table won’t get a lot of use for most buyers. But when you do get it out of its slot you will find it’s relatively light to handle, so you might find its ideal place is in your awning.
 

Lounging

The settees are shorter than many, at 1.46m. And their chunky armrests take up quite a lot seating width. Four scatter cushions and two small bolsters come with the package. This lounge is comfortable in a close, cosy sort of way. The seating width underlines the appeal of the Shamal for two people, rather than four, although you can make a double bed in the lounge.
When you watch television in the lounge, you can mount your TV on a bracket above the table-store cabinet; sockets are on hand here. Then if you want to continue watching TV from the bed area, you can slide the bracket off its mount in the lounge and slide it onto the one in the bedroom. It’s very neat and very practical.
 

Kitchen

Your first glance at the Shamal’s kitchen could leave you the impression it’s short of storage. Just one cupboard, containing two wire baskets, sits to the right of the oven. But further investigation reveals some options. On test we loved the Shamal so much we were determined to find a way to overcome the kitchen storage drawback – and, although it’s never going to be fantastic, we believe we found a way to make it work. Remember the enormous shoe cabinet and two drawers that we mentioned under the wardrobe? Put the footwear under one of the beds and vacate this cabinet for kitchen use. It’s amply tall enough for large items.
   There are two more items in this kitchen that are far from obvious at a first glance. One is a pull-out section of extra work surface, above the cupboard. The other hides away behind the drinks cabinet. Look beyond the clips for six glasses and you’ll find that there’s a wine rack here, with recesses for four bottles. It’s another delightful Shamal refinement.

 
Towing

Elddis caravans ride on BPW chassis and in the Crusader range they come with a stability control system called iDC. It works to stabilise a swaying motion before it has chance to become serious. Shamals, at 1650kg, are heavier than many but, on the basis of our test tow using our Kia Sorento, in gusty wind conditions, you’ll find the road characteristics good.

The Elddis Crusader Shamal is a caravan of high quality, with lots of attention to detail, especially in the kitchen