Australian compliance

All vans and motor homes in Australia MUST have a door or doors on the gutter side. If you look as the imports they often have both.

Cheers
Racey

It is not illegal to have a door on the right side but it must not be the only door in that case.

If there is only one door then it must be on the left side.

A left side door is often fitted in the bedroom of some of these motorhomes etc but then there is an ADR requirement which concerns the "circles of access".

This is concerning the amount of space that is available starting at floor level and working its way up toward the top of the doorway getting larger diameters as it goes up. It starts smaller at foot level and larger at knee level and much larger again at hip level and so on.

This is to ensure there is enough space in the event of an emergency for passengers to evacuate out through the said left hand doorway without becoming wedged in the process.

I have seen cases where the left door is a "Paper" door and when you open it up it is in the back of a cupboard or the inside of the wall. Highly illegal. Someone id leaving themselves wide open for prosecution in the event of an accident.

I have even seen one door which was riveted shut. How they get away with it baffles me.

Cheers, Bruce.

SDG,
The brother bought an American Motorhome and imported it into Australia.

We have been carrying out the conversion from left hand drive to right hand drive and have very nearly completed it. First trip to the engineer is only weeks away.

This is a very complex and time consuming thing to do. It requires all sorts of skills from carpentry to welding skills not to mention many other engineering skills. All of which the brother and I are more than capable of as we have a full engineering workshop with lathe and hoists and welders etc. etc..

The brother said, and I agree with him, that he would not do it again.
Mainly because this was a first off or one off and encompassed many blind alleys.

He originally wanted to get a Japanese import Hino bus with low Ks on it which had a problem with rear overhang. Easily fixed by giving it to an engineering firm in Brisbane who cut the thing in two and lengthen it by four feet to make it comply with NSW regs.

This would have been the best option and the least time consuming as all it would have needed then was a fitout.

I would recommend you steer clear of any import that needs compliance work as you may be biting off far more than you can chew.

Get one that has already been done if that is what you want but ensure that it has all its compliance work done and ensure that the access door is also compliant. Have it inspected by a suitably qualified engineer before parting with any money. It may save you many thousands of dollars.

Cheers, bruce.

In no way am I criticizing anyone, I'm genuinely curious: why go to all the trouble of importing a motorhome or caravan from the US??

Recently there was another thread here, started by someone who was importing a caravan from the US. Numerous replies detailed the extensive modifications it would require. A lot of work, and a lot of expense! And this thread indicates the same thing. So why import rather than buy something made in Oz (or made to Oz specs)?