About Us
We're into building recreational vehicles because we're adventurers - we love nothing more than getting lost in the backblocks, exploring mountain tracks, kayaking on forgotten rivers, and bagging the biggest crays off the rocks near one of New Zealand's deserted coasts. We needed a vehicle to take us, our kin, our mates and our toys wherever we want to go. Don't be mistaken, we're not hard core - we're into comfort. We want to wake up feeling refreshed - we don't want to tackle the big surf when the body's aching from sleeping on a hard bed.
A few years ago, I (John Managh) imported a handful of low mileage Toyota Hiace vans from Japan. Using my engineering skills and years of experience boating and overland touring, I turned the basic vans into sweet little campers. Boy those vans were fun. After I started using the vans and renting them out to a few tourists, I figured out what worked and what didn't - the vans were refined.
Then I teamed up with my sister Mary. People started asking if we had anything bigger and Mary's kids were egging us to go on the adventures as well. So, we picked up some larger ex-rental motorhomes and gave them a new lease of life. We were in the family camping game. The kids loved it - a new place to visit every day but the same bed to sleep in at night and the same drawer to keep their gear in. And when the kids are happy, mum and dad are happy. Business was good. But sadly, after a while we realised that the vehicles didn't really like the adventures we were into - the bumpy roads, the mountain cold, and carrying lots of toys. It was time to move on.
We were sure that people wanted motorhomes they could take anywhere, anytime, and have a great time doing it. But we needed some help. So, we bought a motorhome manufacturing and refit business and renamed it RoadCraft. With a well set up workshop and a team of experienced motorhome builders, we were ready to put together the ultimate explorer. We sourced the newest and most ideal chassis to build a motorhome on (click here to read more) - no more 'hand-me-downs'. We talked to some mates in the boating world about the best fittings available, an old cricket club mate about the best IT gear we could handle and a friend from uni who had made it big in interior design. Over a couple of months, our first Base Jumper was handcrafted, refined, road-tested, and finally put into production.
Before long, the locals started asking where they could get one. So we moved out of the workshop in Otahuhu, and set up a scarily big factory near the airport so we could get serious about manufacturing. Since then, we've upped the scale of production without losing the quality and passion that I lovingly built into my first adventure ride. But, don't think for a moment we've got it all sorted; there's so much left to do - especially when you're going places no one has ever been before. And that's what RoadCraft is about - Lead all. Follow none.
John Managh
John got his adventurousness from his dad Keith - without a doubt. When John was only six months old, his parents bought a 12m boat and took him and his four sisters to sea - that's five kids under the age of 8. As John was too little to walk or even sit safely on a bunk, his dad fixed a baby swing seat to the bridge cabin ceiling so John could ride safely in rough weather. It was the best view and the best ride onboard. Since those first few years on the boat, he's had a real thing with the outdoors - a passion for exploring. Living on the doorstep of one of New Zealand's best outdoor playgrounds, there were more than enough opportunities for adventure - diving, fishing, cruising, sailing - and the boat was perfect.
When the kids got older, the boat wasn't quite meeting the family's needs. Keith took it to one of the country's best boatbuilders and asked them to make it more comfortable and spacious. He wanted it better setup for longer cruises so it had to have more storage space and better navigation gear. At first they insisted it wasn't possible without lengthening the boat by at least 6ft but, with some encouragement they rebuilt it to Keith's spec without increasing the length. That was John's first experience of what you can do if you have a well designed and well built means of transportation.
As he grew up, the adventures got bigger and a bit more daring. After completing his engineering qualification, John went overseas to make his fortune - first in the mines of Western Australia and later, on the crab boats in Alaska. He didn't get rich but, the letters home contained more gripping stories of escapades than you'd find in the Reader's Digest - John is the one in the family blessed with the 'daring gene'. It was in California that John built his first campervan, affectionately known as Gloria, to travel the Alaskan Highway with a few kiwi mates. They turned the cargo van into the ideal touring vehicle - with sleeping, cooking, and storage set up for four people. Sadly, Gloria had an early demise. She was lost over a picturesque embankment with an Australian behind the wheel - thankfully Gloria was only one to sustain serious injuries.
During his journey from Africa to the UK a couple of years later, John flew over the Sahara Desert. Looking down on the amazing expanse, he decided the next big adventure would be an overland trip from London to Cape Town. Once back in London, he bought two Scania trucks - one became the overlander and the other, spare parts. Over several months he built the ideal touring vehicle for Africa. It was designed to be more like motorhome than the traditional overland truck (a glorified bus). It was fully self-sufficient, slept 8 people, and had a full kitchen, home entertainment system, and storage for six-month's supply of food alongside sufficient gear and spare parts to get to Cape Town (15 spare wheels, an extra engine, diff, gear box, 1500L fuel, and 5 mountain bikes). Crossing the Sahara in a 2WD truck without a diff-lock was a pretty amazing feat - you learn to be pretty resourceful thousands of miles from civilization.
A couple of years later, when the world tour finally brought him home, designing and building recreational vehicles for exploring New Zealand in, just seemed like the logical thing to do.
Mary Hamilton
Growing up on boats like her brother John, she too gained a love for the outdoors. Being one of the older kids, her dad relied on her to help out. Never one to sit back, she learned how to handle the big launch even in seas that would turn hardened sea dogs green. By age 14, she was a competent scuba diver (though had to wait to her 15th birthday to be certified) and at 19, a recreational parachutist.
Her career in occupational therapy took her to Canada where she worked and studied for five years. The hiking adventures in the Rockies were a different kind of thrill as she had to constantly watch her back for cougars and grizzly bears (a bit more aggressive than the wild pigs in the Coromandel bush!). Though, at least when cross-country skiing in sub-zero temperatures, Mary could relax knowing the bears were in hibernation. Canada was also a great place to take up cycle touring, whitewater canoeing, and even portaging (you might need to Google that).
Since returning home to New Zealand, getting married and starting a family, the adventures became more family oriented. Eric and the kids are learning to ski and the older kids are getting into mountain biking. The summer is boating time - swimming, sea-biscuiting, fishing, and a bit of snorkeling; just like Mary did as a kid (except sea-biscuits hadn't been invented then).
Just like adventuring, being in a family business is 'in the blood'. Mary was in business with their dad Keith, for a number of years while John was globetrotting. Likewise, Keith had been in business with his dad Selby and his brother Arthur too. Under Keith's leadership, the small sawmill that Selby bought in 1945 grew to be a major exporter and employer for many of the regional town's people. He was not only a successful businessman but an inspirational leader who implanted a strong set of values and ideals in John and Mary. Sadly, Keith passed away before RoadCraft was born but, we have no doubt that his wisdom is the inspiration guiding its success.
Many American campgrounds banned or limited the used of radios in the 1960s to encourage campers to interact with each other.
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