Messin with Jim – tasteful 70s design, made possible with SATA
Messin with Jim – tasteful 70s design, made possible with SATA
When Kayne Allan’s cool coffee caravan stops somewhere in the Melbourne region, opens its window and the smell of freshly brewed coffee blows out, you probably can’t help yourself: you put on a relaxed smile, stand back and take in the stylish and lovingly built caravan. The inscription “Hard livin” can only be meant ironically. Though having said that, the construction of the charming caravan did in fact entail a little hard work here and there...
Kayne Allan had a stable job at a company in the tea industry. A lover of tea and coffee, he had long dreamed of becoming self-employed. Then came the pandemic and the lockdown, and dreams became concrete plans. Together with his father, Laurence “Laurie” Allan, National Field Demonstrator/Account Manager Commercial Performance Coatings at PPG Australia, the budding barista bought a Franklin caravan from the 1970s. They found the old girl just one block away, waiting to be reborn. The pair dragged the caravan into their driveway. She survived the relocation, just, but fell apart during the clean-up work – the whole body fell off the chassis. What would have discouraged many others was only a small setback for the Allans. They redesigned the entire structure – with “common sense and hard work,” Laurie later explained. “Many attempts and many mistakes,” he says to sum up their approach. The two didn’t make it easy either, because they wanted to use as much recycled material as possible.
The new basic structure was clad with panels made of fibre composite material, a very durable, water-resistant and stable material, which is also used for truck trailers. The worktops, window frames, shelves and counter were made of wood.
As a trained professional, Laurie Allan took care of the painting himself. He used a SATAjet 1000 B RP for the chassis. In view of the large surface area, a SATAjet 1000 K RP and a SATA 2-litre material pressure tank were used for the outer shell – an obvious decision for the expert. In general, Laurie appreciates his SATA spray guns very much: “The atomisation is so fine, they are so well-made and make the job easy in the long run. Not to mention how reliable they are.” Now the “Messin with Jim” coffee caravan has been on the road for some time and supplies coffee lovers with freshly brewed coffee at festivals, farmers’ markets and sporting events.
Just one final question remains: How did the unusual name “Messin with Jim” come about? Laurie Allan also has a story about this: “When my children grew up, I was a wrestling fan, and one of the wrestlers, the “Iron Sheik”, called his opponents ‘Jabrone’ (translating loosely to ‘windfall’). So my children were always called Jabrone. Kayne was nicknamed Jimbroni and Jim, which just stuck. The ‘Messin with’ part is from the Jim Croce song ‘You Don’t Mess Around With Jim’. Kayne is a big fan of 70s music.” When so many passions come together, the result can only be good. We wish the Allans much success in their coffee adventures and hope they keep having fun with it.
SATAjet 100 B
Perfect for fillers and primers – because even the first layers have to be applied with perfection. And the young professionals are well aware of that.
SATAjet X5500
First choice for the application of basecoats and clearcoats. Outstanding advantage, not only at EuroSkills: the X-nozzle system.