Swift Basecamp 3 2024

The Swift Basecamp 3 Auto Motor Mover Fitted Created to be your base for adventure-oriented holidays, Basecamp entered the caravan market in 2016 and instantly turned heads. This is a caravan range that’s totally unlike any other, not just in shape and styling, but in its cleverly designed interior storage capability. Basecamps are specifically designed to accommodate bikes. They have a wide rear door through which it’s easy to roll in cycles. They have securing points – and the bed and seats fold away to create space for cycles. Swift calls the Basecamp a ‘crossover camping vehicle created for life’s adventures’. And it has been steadily proving its popularity ever since the first, two-berth, Basecamp appeared. When the four-berth was launched, Basecamp entered the family holiday arena. Now, with the arrival of the Basecamp 3, there’s more choice for families – and also for couples, because this new layout gives you a generous side dining area for two. We travelled to Leisure Sales, near to Sandbach, in Cheshire, for our exploration of the Basecamp 3; this retailer has established a track record of steady sales for the Basecamp 2 and 4, so we were keen to discover if the new Basecamp 3 is likely to follow the popularity of its siblings. As we arrived, the Whale blown-air heating system (mounted under the wardrobe) was nicely proving its efficiency and had the caravan warm within minutes. The layout The Basecamp 3 is incomparable with all other caravans in terms of layout. Where you’d expect to find a dining area, there is a (1.98m by 1.3m) bed, with a gorgeously deep and comfortable Duvalay mattress. You’d assume that this area would convert to a dining area. But it doesn’t. It does, though, in keeping with the Basecamp’s activity raison d’être, fold upwards, revealing securing points for bikes. The mattress folds in half, against the front wall. It’s innovative and, at the same time, simple in concept. And folding and pushing back the bed base is an easy and quick task. So, in essence, this is a fixed bed caravan. And the offside dining area converts into a single bed (1.78m by 62cm). The kitchen The more time we spent in this compact, lightweight, adventure tourer, the more we came to praise its functionality, especially its kitchen. The surface is 1.04m long and has a 37cm extension. Three burners sit on a glass base. Beneath is the Thetford Duplex combined oven/grill. Beside is a cabinet 50cm wide, containing two drawers, one with a cutlery tray and four shelf spaces beneath. Under the oven/grill is a drawer and a drop-down-door cabinet. Overall, and including two lockers above the kitchen, storage space is impressive for a compact caravan. The fridge is opposite, with a 68cm by 55cm surface on top; that makes the total kitchen surface amazing for such a compact caravan. The washroom And the washing facilities? Unsurprisingly, given the caravan’s short length, the shower shares space with the toilet and washbasin. There’s even a touch of opulent styling in the form of marble-effect wallcovering. The spec The Basecamp 3 has lots of well-designed facilities. Close to the door is the Swift Command control panel for the heating and lighting – plus two USB ports. And the perfect place to put phones while on charge is provided by one of the Basecamp’s signature features. Instead of traditional top cabinets, Basecamps have fabric zipped bags, hanging on chrome rails. The contribution this makes to the light weight of the caravan is obvious. There’s a less obvious advantage to this design, though. You can remove the bags and take them to your house for packing and unpacking. Each has space around it, and in the case of the one nearest to the USB ports, this is ideal for phones. Alternatively, there is a plastic pocket to the right of the entrance. Two more USB ports are set into a shelf beside the bed and also in the bases of the spotlights. The Basecamp 3 is slightly longer than the Basecamp 2, at 5.59m, compared to 5.1m, and 113kg heavier as a result. But still, at 1,156kg MTPLM, the Basecamp 3 is most definitely in the super-lightweight category.