creating a classic

With each Carlight Caravan we produce we create a caravan with an individual character that matures into a timeless Classic, our older models such as the Continentals, Caribbeans, Cosmopolitans etc. still turn heads today, just as our new caravans do now and will continue to do in the years to come.

Many companies today retain few of the quality attributes that existed 20, 30 or 40 years ago, here at Carlight all of our traditional trade marks of quality have been retained and blended with modern materials and techniques. Change has never been made for the sake of change and if new methods are not an improvement the old are retained.

For instance we continue to use a traditionally built floor, with timber joists running the length of the caravan and a 12mm plywood floor above, we then insulate the main floor areas with a massive 50mm of Styrofoam (a better insulator than polystyrene but understandably more expensive). This gives one of the thickest and longest lasting floors available. The entire underneath of the floor is then undersealed and this is fixed to our own fully galvanised chassis.

craftmanship Every piece of our furniture is made on the premises and built as good furniture should be with a frame (mostly morticed and tenoned) which is then finished with a real oak veneer. All of our beadings and edgings are machined in the factory and all are cut from solid oak, we do not use any heat applied or similar edgings. Our glazed doors are made of solid oak with a morticed and tenoned frame and carefully mitred inner glazing beads (signs of machine made doors are rounded inner corners or radiused mouldings on the door panels).

locks and joins Our locker doors and surrounds are cut from a single sheet of oak veneer so that the grain of the wood runs through the furniture, this is more time consuming to build as it calls for great accuracy, a slip of even 1/4" would ruin a piece of furniture, but this method of construction greatly enhances the appearance of the furniture.	Lap Dovetail Joint
The solid brass hinges on our smaller doors (our larger doors are fitted with full length solid brass piano hinges) are fitted so that they line up with the beading around the doors, a small but important detail. We also maintain tradition with our “Gordons” cut out in one of the lockers for safe storage of a Gordons Gin bottle a favourite tipple of the founders (Bob Earls) wife Anne.

Morticed and tenon joint	All of our timber drawers are dovetailed and the beadings on our drawer fronts are rebated into the drawers (rather than planted on top). This makes them resilient to knocks and gives a neater, cleaner appearance. The underside of the draws also have additional reinforcing (draw slips) to ensure the base remains firmly in position. We use a lot of oak building our caravans, as it is both strong and attractive, hence its use for the furniture where where it's aesthetic qualities can be enjoyed to the full, we also hide it away where it's strength is needed, for instance oak is used behind the rear grap handles and between the floor and the chassis to spread the weight of the caravan on to the chassis.
LEFT: Half Lap Joint - RIGHT: Cross Halving

"We also rely on the other timbers; Deal is strong and not too heavy (we use very good quality timber with very few knots) and this is used for the floors and the sides. Obeche and Jelutong, strong and very light are used for the furniture frame work, (we don't use MDF, chipboard, hardboard etc. anywhere in our caravans).

When we make the sides the joints are halved then glued and then the internal ply lining is fixed on. To clad the sides we use the thickest aluminium used for caravan panelling (no other caravan manufacturer uses aluminium as. thick as ours). This traditional method of construction provides a strong, long lasting caravan, which in the unfortunate event of an accident can easily be repaired.

As you can see we pride ourselves on our attention to detail. For instance, all of the exterior beadings are secured by stainless steel screws."

Lantern Roof
This attention to detail continues inside where we use a cloth based ceiling vinyl (most manufacturers use paper based materials) this is glued on after the roof is built, so that no nails holes or ply joints are visible, this material also provides an extremely hard wearing and washable covering.

As well as attention to detail Carlight has earned itself a reputation for sensible innovation when it patented the current flared lantern roof shape and other companies such as Safari licensed the use of it. The original lantern roof, then covered with canvas, has evolved into the current one piece fibreglass moulding, whilst being an expensive shape to manufacture, gives tremendous advantages in terms of ventilation, streamlining and weatherproofing.

This same spirit of innovation continues today. With our unique waste and fresh water container storage area in the "boot", the neat and convenient fresh water management system which is. cleverly hidden away behind a drop down access panel and our simple but extremely effective folding shower screen arrangement, which gives the convenience of a separate shower, but with no wasted space, (as shown below) this provides a large amount of storage space compared to other caravans separate shower facilities.

However, should you require a completely separate shower compartment this layout is available in most models as an option and as we hand-build to order we are always pleased to provide whatever other alterations you may require.

After Sales & Parts
We provide a friendly and convenient aftersales service. We recommend that all new caravans are returned to the factory for a 500mile service, where we check the brake adjustment, the torque settings on the axle and coupling bolts etc and make any minor adjustments as required to the interior catches, handles etc.

We also recommend our caravans are serviced every 3,000 miles or annually, (which ever comes first) to ensure that the caravans provides pride and pleasure of ownership and remains a valuable asset. Such regular servicing will ensure the longevity of your new caravan 'and to compliment this, we have a spares policy that provides a 90% parts coverage for all of our caravans up to 10 years old and ensures consumables, X brake shoes, wheel bearings, oil seals etc. and accident repair panels are available for caravans up to 20 years old.