Coromal Navigator

WE LIKED: 
>> Smart style and overall finish?
>> Roomy layout?
>> Interior décor options

NOT SO MUCH: ?
>> Heavy roof winding mechanism
>> Top half of door difficult to secure for travelling
>> Tricky ‘hockey-stick’ rods to stretch bed canvas 

Ever since Gerry Ryan and his small team built their first Jayco camper trailer back in 1976, other Australian manufacturers have been trying to make a better mousetrap along similar lines.

Western Australia’s Coromal was the first, building camper trailers, then pop-tops and caravans, along similar lines from 1977. In Victoria, several senior Jayco employees left to start Goldstream in the early 1990s, also making quality and custom-building their principal points of difference.

However the problem for all of Jayco rivals was, and remains, the quality/price equation.

Jayco’s state of the Australian-art $55 million, 50,000 sqm Dandenong, Victoria production plant opened in 2008 churns out campers like precision sausages at the rate of 55 a week. That’s still 30 below their pre-GFC weekly peak, but well ahead of anyone else in the industry.

So while others may claim to make better camper trailers, they couldn’t compete on bang for buck . . . . until now.

Instead of trying to compete with a similarly huge local investment, Western Australia’s Fleetwood Corporation, which owns the popular and long-standing Coromal and Windsor brands, has gone offshore, to China.

Surf the web and you’ll see Chinese companies offering an array of RV products, from chassis and axle sets to complete soft-floor camper trailers, slide-ons and box trailers.

In Coromal’s case, the new Navigator range of camper trailers launched at this year’s Queensland Caravan Show in June are designed in Australia, manufactured in China, shipped in ‘flat pack’ form in batches of 20 and then assembled at Coromal’s Perth factory.

This allows what Coromal sees as the best of two worlds – the combination of Australian design know-how and eye for detail in final production with the precision and low cost of Chinese manufacture.

In the case of the two new Navigator models (which are the same size but differ slightly in their lounge seating arrangements), the price is also pretty right, with both the 4.25 metre (exterior body length) N421 and N422 selling for $27,500 drive-away through its main Victorian dealer, Bendigo Caravan Centre.

While that’s about $4000 more expensive than a Jayco Swan camper trailer of similar size, it’s only $1000 more than a  Swan Outback in Victoria, with which the Navigator shares many features. However in the West, the prices are likely to be much the same.

FAMILIAR RECIPE

You won’t find a word in Coromal’s brochure about where the Navigator’s hot-dipped galvanized steel chassis, with its substantial 150mm x 50mm main members and 120mm x 50mm A-frame is manufactured, nor its smooth and attractive ‘cappucino’ coloured fibreglass sandwich panel walls.

But with Coromal’s longevity in the industry, its reputation for quality and the strength of its reassuringly-strong 22 dealer and 75 service agent national network, do buyers really care? I doubt it.

Certainly the Navigator N422 that we hitched to our Mitsubishi Challenger tow car looked very smart, with its smooth beige bodywork and stylish decals.

Despite its 1400kg tare weight it also towed easily behind the Challenger, tracking nicely on both bitumen and the bush tracks we took it on to our set-up site, a sign of good design and also a tribute to the Navigator’s fully-independent ‘Knee’ independent swinging arm and leaf spring suspension.

As previously mentioned, the Navigator in some ways is a half-way spec between a standard Jayco and a Jayco Outback model, offering enough ground clearance with its independent trailing arm suspension (versus a beam axle on the Jayco until the company’s new independent suspension is released early in 2014) to go where most owners will be prepared to take it, along with things like sturdy 150mm x 50mm main chassis rails, a shield for its 80-litre water tank, a galvanized steel step that folds-up out of harm’s way and a water tap located on the inside of the A-frame, out of stone’s way.

The optional 16-inch alloy wheels should provide a little extra ground clearance, if this is required.

However the corner jacks are conventional wind-down units, not Al-Ko-style drop jacks, there’s no jerrycan holder and the sloping nose of the Navigator, which contains its huge storage boot, has no stone protection.

CRANK AND CAMP

Despite the passing of nearly four decades since the first camper trailer was made in Australia, it’s amazing how little the basic concept has changed.

Having owned three Jayco campers – as secondhand Swan when we had all the kids and their friends, a Flight for myself and my wife once they left home, and later a new Dove Outback when we wanted to travel further off the beaten track – it was all very familiar territory.

Once you release four over-centre clamps that hold the one-piece fiberglass roof, you then crank it to full height. Unlike Jaycos, the Navigator’s cranking port is located behind a plastic screw cap at the nearside rear, rather than the front.

I’m betting that Coromal dealers stock a few of those caps, as there’s no tether to secure it and as one of the last things to he handled after packing down, many are surely going to be left behind.

The other larger issue I have with the Navigator’s winding mechanism is that while low-geared, it requires a lot of effort – too much for many women I’m sure.

Once the roof is raised, the two beds – the queen-size front and double rear – glide out easily on their roller-bearing slides, thanks to convenient grab handles,  and the supporting poles that most people will store in the boot, are easily fitted to guides welded to the chassis.

But getting the attractive white and grey canvas taught, via the ‘hockey sticks’ that are used inside to raise the canvas supporting hoops, is ridiculously hard.

It was made easier when new, or in cool weather on my previous Dove because you could leave the canvas loose at the end of the bed before slotting the stick into place. But on the Navigator, the canvas is permanently secured to the bed end, with only the sides sealed by Velcro, so there’s nothing to give. A better system is needed.

Also problematic is installing and packing away the upper part of the door. As on Jaycos, it’s secured to the 2.18m tall ceiling of the van when stored, but the two small sliding latches were beyond easy reach of my 1.72m tall body, even with arms extended.

No problem if you’re tall, but many people – particularly women – aren’t. So it’s a job for a small step.

And while I’m griping, the two clear plastic Velcro bands that are required to hold the winged section of the window in place for travelling are a low tech solution to a simple problem. From memory, my Jayco had little turning latches for this job 12 years ago.

INTERIOR DELIGHTS

However once erected, the Navigator is a great camper to live in. The layout of the N422 we reviewed is excellent, with loads of benchspace either side of the large stainless steel sink with its mixer tap and the three gas plus one electric burner hotplate to its right, with grill and standard microwave below.

The camper’s compact three-way (12v, 240v and gas) fridge is located below the bench to the left of the sink .

The cupboard that backs onto the four-seater café-style dinette also has a large workbench top that can be used to locate a TV, a coffee capsule machine, etc.

Coromal emphasises the structural integrity of its Euro-style furniture, which is made from 12mm thick plywood screwed to the cabin assembly and reinforced with galvanized steel frames.

All drawers and cupboards have positive catches and with the strength of the furniture, showed no intention of opening involuntarily during our test.

One feature that will earn the Navigator lots of sales is the wide range of colour schemes available to buyers. Along with a slightly different layout in the N421 model (which offers slightly more benchspace as a tradeoff for less lounge seating), Coromal offers purchasers the choice of eight attractive fabric patterns for the upholstery, although the curtain, floor and laminate colours are fixed.

Tensioners on the clear/flywire windows that surround the cabin are a  nice touch also.

IN REVERSE

Packing up the Navigator is basically a reverse of the assembly job, with the latches that secure the height-challenging door and removing the bed end ‘hockey sticks’ still the sticking points.

We timed the whole operation at 12 minutes ‘up’ and 10 minutes ‘down’ -- for two of us, go to whoa -- which is pretty standard for this type of camper trailer, based on some years’ experience.

VERDICT

Coromal’s move to Chinese manufacture has generally resulted in a positive outcome for its new Navigator camper trailer.

Attractively styled, generally well finished, roomy and with a wide range of trim options, it matches the best of these type vehicles on the market in terms of features and now, price.

However despite 36 years’ experience, we were disappointed to find that erecting the camper still meant some hard work – something that many older travelers will find a greater problem than the Navigator’s origin of manufacture.

COROMAL NAVIGATOR NT422

Overall (towing) length: 5.7m
Overall length erected: 6.7m
External body length: 4.25m
External body width: 2.2m
Internal body width: 2.015m
Travel height: 1.9m
Interior height, erected: 2.18m
Tare weight: 1403kg
ATM: 1808kg
Ball weight: 128kg?
Chassis: Hot-dipped galvanized steel, 150mm x 50mm
A-frame: 120mm x 50mm
Suspension: Independent Knee suspension with leaf springs
Body: Fibreglass sandwich panels
Brakes: 10in electric?
Electronic Stability Control: No?
Wheels: 15in alloy with 235/75-15 tyres
Freshwater: 1 x 80L?
Cooking: Four-burner & grill?
Fridge: AES 3-way
Microwave: Daewoo
Lighting: 12v/240v LED ceiling
Options fitted: None?
Price (on road, Vic): $27,500?
Supplied by: Bendigo Caravan Centre, Bendigo, Vic
More info: Coromal Caravans