SMART HT Intelligent Construction System - Swift Conqueror & Elegance Ranges

06/11/2015 IN Swift Group Buyer Guides

The Swift Group design team accepted the challenge and set about to create what has become a revolutionary new process in caravan construction, using only the very best and most contemporary materials available.

The result is a strong construction system that is completely timberless, including the floor, and precision engineered to produce consistent, reliable and repeatable results time after time, delivering exceptionally high standards of quality to Swift Group customers.

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The SMART HT(High Tech) system uses GRP for the exterior and interior side walls and roof to produce a balanced panel with excellent durability and impact resistance.

GRP, or Glass fibre Reinforced Plastic offers many beneficial properties including; high mechanical strength, light weight, corrosion and temperature resistant properties. In addition GRP offers thermal insulation, has a smooth internal surface, is easy to form complex shapes and is relatively easy to repair.

Like SMART, ‘PURe’ blocks are sealed within the insulated core of the panels in strategic positions where fixing strength is required, and all components are CNC machined (computer numerically controlled) to provide accuracy and consistency time after time to give a high quality engineered product.

On the inside of the caravan, Swift is one of the first UK manufacturers to bond a decorative paper to GRP as part of the interior panel production to provide an appealing interior finish.

The front and rear panels have been designed using the aid of Computational Fluid Dynamics to help shape the body-shell for improved fuel consumption and safer towing, resulting in the most stylish and aerodynamic exterior yet. A massive drag saving of nearly 20% has been achieved over the Conqueror/Elite body shell, which was already far ahead of the competition.

SMART represents the most progressive advance in caravan construction, since they were first made in the 1960’s, thanks to a completely timberless floor construction. SMART combines unique materials and specially developed processes and laminating solutions, which has lead to the filing of a number of new patents.

The floor is a 5 layer sandwich with insulating Styrofoam at the core, clad with a rigid honey comb matrix that is incredibly strong and yet lightweight. This is then all covered in GRP with a special woven glass structure that gives the whole floor a tough, impervious finish.

The result is a composite floor that is so strong it has been tested to carry over 8 tons or the equivalent of 100 people.

All the exterior panels including the floor, front and rear panels are locked into a patent pending aluminium and SRIM corner jointing system, which gives an enormous amount of strength and rigidity to the structure. The panels are secured firmly in place using a bonded system that uses such a strong adhesive, the number of mechanical fixings required are significantly reduced which all contributes to important weight savings.

The bonding system was chosen after extensive testing and the adhesive and sealants used were chosen to meet The Swift Group’s exact requirements.

The SRIM corner structure technology has been used in cars such as Lotus and Aston Martin and has enabled the Swift designers to add form in to the front and rear body panels and increase the internal packing space by 106mm.

A breakthrough patent pending cold bridge, located within the aluminium side framing, prevents the internal surface from cooling preventing the formation of condensation. Swift believes the cold bridge, combined with a fully timberless body shell which will not degrade, delivers the best caravan construction in the UK to combat water ingress.

Inside the caravan, even the furniture construction has not gone untouched and has been re-engineered and is made from thicker composite panels some with a foam core that is light yet incredibly strong. Once again the engineering allows for bespoke fitting and accuracy giving consistency time after time to give a high quality product.

New furniture fixings have also been developed to suit the new construction, which are the strongest fixings The Swift Group has ever made.

With over five years in development, numerous prototypes have been made and tested around the Millbrook test track to test all aspects of durability.

The new technology has also allowed more specification to be added whilst keeping weights very similar to current Conqueror and Elite models.

The rounded corner panels, completely new full GRP front with windows that are flush to the body and curved one piece rear panel give the new Swift Elegance range a sleek silhouette that exudes quality.

SMART HT means everything is flush fitting, from the exterior and service doors, to all the body connections including the streamlined awning channel which helps air flow slip over the body and reduce turbulence that causes drag.

LED front marker lights and exclusive LED rear light clusters, sealed against water ingress, follow the trends of today’s modern cars. The key fob operated LED awning light incorporates a red flashing LED to indicate when the alarm is activated.

High specification features like 80W solar panel, BBQ point, shower point, heavy duty corner steadies, alarm, Thatcham approved TRACKER Retrieve, carrier mounted spare wheel and Status 550 TV aerial all come as standard.

Thanks to the new construction system the usable interior space is increased without adding to the external dimensions, which is especially notable in the front bed area.

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