RVBusiness, March/April 2019

Interior upgrades include custom furniture designed by Seat Tech and a butcher block style dinette table The Sonic is equipped with a Murphy Bed tucked into the forward wall increasing interior space when its not in use ultimate coach What the team at KZ and its subsidiary Venture RV settled on was a Venture Sonic 220VRB We thought that would be pretty small and nimble reflected Koltookian but while it retains the floorplan of the popular ultralight travel trailer it has little in common with the production unit The entire coach was reimagined literally from the ground up We had been working with Lamilux one of our partners and I had a fiberglass sample book and there also was a 3 inch by 4 inch section of carbon fiber I said I want that noted Koltookian Marlene Snyder KZ vice president of sales and marketing was in here and said Thats real carbon fiber I said Thats what it needs to be So we called Greg Mattson at Lamilux and they partnered with the project They ended up flying the carbon fiber in from Japan The lightweight fiber by the way was ultimately finished in matte black on black graphics with blue accents all designed by Sharpline and the exterior also features a legless awning from Carefree of Colorado Not long afterward Koltookian and Snyder were calling on dealers in Utah a favorite location of dry campers and that led to another conversation with several of them who had experience outfitting standard units with solar equipment used for off grid camping They said 300 watts could get us through said Koltookian but we wanted more We wanted to make an impact So the next thing you know we have nine flexible solar roof panels that put out 1000 watts of solar power all tied to nine lithium ion batteries and a 2000 watt inverter I mean the coach will practically go forever So you can play hard all day and come back in and catch up on the news or maybe play your PlayStation 4 or watch movies Just because youre dry camping doesnt mean you want to disconnect completely from the outside world The system also is powerful enough to handle four 40 inch LED light bars that put out over 64000 lumens shining off the front and back of the trailer Power however isnt the only thing missing when dry camping Five of our plant managers went camping recently so we asked them What would you have wanted said Koltookian They said power was one thing but they ran out of water So the Sonic X was outfitted with freshwater tanks capable of carrying nearly 100 gallons of water Then SHURflo designed a unique onboard water refilling station capable of refilling the tank via a hose from whatever water source is available passing it through a filtration system in the process Theres a lot more to be sure The Sonic X rides on 31 inch tires from Treddit Tire for enhanced clearance and is further protected by a skid plate and custom nerf bars tucked up tight against the outer sidewalls to protect the carbon fiber The folks at BAL provided the frame and tied it into custom front bike racks and a custom rear kayak rack It just kept morphing Koltookian said For example someone saw unwanted dead space and Power for the self sustainable travel trailer comes from an array of nine roof mounted solar panels feeding 1000 watts of power to a bank of nine lithium ion batteries came up with ideas to fill it In the bathroom closet one of the workers thought a dead area could accommodate a wall safe Junior Raber the plant manager suggested Home Depot had a safe that might fit and it did Likewise the back wall of the closet conceals a movable wall that accommodates storage for guns fishing rods and any other larger valuables The interior is finished with custom furniture designed by Seat Tech in collaboration with Snyder and KZs interior designer Sonya Schmucker Will the Sonic X ever make it to production Possibly However according to Koltookian the X would price out at three times the cost of a standard Sonic When you go to the New York or Detroit auto shows you see these concepts that never come to fruition but parts of them sometimes do said Koltookian I think the same thing will happen here We learned things that we can carry forward throughout a new product line A concept vehicle like this spurs on many conversations about what is important We will be asking dealers and customers for more information and dial in a product that fits their needs at the right price And I think that developing ways to put dual holding tanks in a unit for more fresh water or nonstandard ways of putting water back into the coach all of thats very achievable he added Would someone spend eight or nine thousand dollars on a carbon fiber exterior Come to find out they just might One thing that Koltookian couldnt put a price tag on was the experience gained by plant personnel during the build About 30 people including vendors had a hand in it but a core group of about 12 men and women built it offline said Koltookian It truly was a team effort The floor guys were coming up and helping final finish Plumbers were helping electricians Cabinet setters were helping fiberglass Everybody jumped in and worked together to create something thats never been done at least in our company They had a great time he added And the side benefit of this project is that they learned a lot about each others jobs and how each are intertwined What one group does affects the entire unit And RVX more than anything has reminded us that the RV industry is ready for more More innovations more conveniences and more specialized equipment We were also reminded by a new group of onlookers that just because conventional wisdom says to use an RV one way a whole new group of users is asking why Why not use what you have how you want RVB M A R C H A P R I L 2 0 1 9 RVBusiness 63