Phil Lord•21 Dec 2017

REVIEW

First look: Windsor Silhouette XC

Name: First look: Windsor Silhouette XC
Brand: Windsor

Perth manufacturer releases new wind-up camper trailer for off-road adventurers

The wind-up camper, with canvas sides and slide-out beds, is hardly a new concept; the design became popular in the 1970s and it remains one of Jayco's biggest selling models.

However, these days, there aren't that many wind-up campers left on the market. Into this vacuum Windsor has released its latest wind-up model, the Silhouette XC.

Related reading: Silhouette camper trailer returns

The Silhouette’s point of difference is that it's a dedicated off-road camper, available with four layouts and two levels of off-road ability: XC (as reviewed here) and top-spec X4, which includes extras like hot water, scrub bars, extra battery and solar panels, external kitchen, air-conditioner and TV.

Both version comes with a new patented gear wind-up system that does away with the potentially troublesome wiffle tree cable system.

According to Windsor, the roof is a one-piece construction and is strong enough to have a boat rack fitted to it.

Invest in a battery-powered drill

Setting up for camp does require a bit of effort, but that's nothing new. If you want a wind up camper, well, you have to be prepared to do plenty of winding.

The roof panel is secured by four over-centre latches, which you release and then fit the crank handle in through the rear bar to wind up the camper roof.

The winding system is very low geared, so it’ll take you around two to three minutes (depending on how many breaks you have) to get the camper roof up.

This is all good and well if you’d like to include this operation in a fitness regimen, but if you don’t an 18v battery drill with the appropriate attachment would make this operation much easier and quicker.

With the roof up, legs can be dropped down and the beds and kitchen then extended to their camping positions. Then the canvas hoop for each (beds and kitchen) can be extended and tensioned. Finally, the beds also need their supports fitted outside the camper.

Big and not so big beds

There’s a 1450mm x 1900mm (queen) bed up front, and a smaller 1150mm x 1900mm (double) bed up the back. Both have zip-up, meshed windows on three sides, along with portable fans and reading lights. To climb up to the front bed, you have to step on the seat cushion, while the rear bed has a dedicated step up to it.

The cafe dinette/lounge is spacious enough for two people, but depending on sizes, four could be a bit tight. However, there’s also a long bench seat at the front of the layout, next to the front bed, which would comfortable seat three adults.

The internal slide-out kitchen (a feature of earlier Fleetwood campers) is a great idea, providing room on the bench for the cooker and single-tub sink, plus a small amount of pace on the bench surface surrounding them. There's also plenty of food-prep space on benches on either side of the cooker/sink bench.

The slide out kitchen features a large meshed window, giving a pleasant outlook and additional ventilation.

Decent interior storage

Storage is covered off with multiple cupboards and drawers dotted around the inside. There are two drawers to the right of the microwave, one cupboard to the left of the fridge and three lockers under the kitchen bench (which also house the highly-visible plumbing and 240v breaker switch).

However, in my opinion this all could be arranged a bit better – the lower lockers are hard to get to, and the drawers/locker are a bit small for larger items such as a saucepan.

To the right of the entrance door there's a two-door cupboard, providing ample space for things like foodstuffs and clothing. Three drawers under the bench seat at the front are tailor-made for clothes storage.

The Silhouette also comes with a foldable hanging shelf, which is positioned above the kitchen bench. It would be even more useful if the shelves were lipped (to avoid items falling out if the shelf was knocked) but even as is it's a great additional storage spot.

Rugged exterior

Outside, starting at the A-frame, you’ve got a D0-35 off-road coupling with handbrake and a central-mount jockey wheel. Further back, on the nearside A-frame rail, there’s a tap, protected from stone damage by a triangular piece of sheet steel welded to the A-frame.

Above the A-frame sits a meshed stone guard, with mud flaps attached below. These mud flaps are an important feature for dirt-road driving, deflecting stones from the undercarriage and thus helping avoid damage to the underside of the camper.

Above the stone guard is the front toolbox. It's quite a clever design, with a large locker on each side of the box and a lift-up central locker, which includes a deep centre section (big enough to fit a generator), and central drain, and smaller shelves on each side.

While this design allows poles and such to be laid across the locker, if you wanted to store smaller items on the shallow side sections there’s no lip or divider to stop the gear falling into the deep centre section. It’s not a big deal, but something to consider when packing the camper.

Another thing to consider is that you can’t lift this centre hatch up very far with the front bed extended. You’d be able to pull out smaller items, but would have to push the bed back to access a gennie.

The off-side locker of the front toolbox is equipped with a slide-out drawer, making it much easier to get to any heavy gear stored in there. The nearside locker is where the two 9kg gas bottles are stored.

More hidden compartments

Moving along the nearside of the camper from the front corner, there’s a locker in which the battery is stored. Then, behind the wheel arch, a twin USB outlet, a 240v outlet and a TV antenna jack.

Just behind this you'll find a tunnel boot with an (optional) long slide-out drawer. Below this is a tunnel locker, perfect for storing tent poles and the like.

Moving to the offside, there’s the front toolbox locker with slide-out drawer as mentioned, then another relatively small storage locker in the body of the camper, and a wide but shallow locker below this. Then there’s the the water tank filler and water mains pressure inlet.

At about mid-point along the offside is an external shower (although a hot water service is optional), while the rear corner contains an access hatch to the rear tunnel boot (and lower locker to access the pole storage section of the tunnel boot).

Tough underbelly

The underside of the camper is very well protected, with galvanised sheet steel around the water tanks and power-coated sheet steel protecting the underside behind the suspension.

Everything seems well-protected and tucked up neatly, except the brake wires. Although neatly cable-tied in position, I suspect they might be prone to stone damage when touring off-road.

The suspension itself is Fleetwood's own Sport X trailing wishbone design with coil springs and dual shocks. The camper certainly towed well on the rough dirt roads we drove on to get to the photoshoot location, tracking smoothly behind the tow vehicle.

Verdict

The Windsor Silhouette is a tough-looking camper all set up for off-road touring, with plenty of interior space, a generous kitchen layout and a fantastic amount of external storage.

But it could do with a hot water service as standard and perhaps a better large drawer set-up in the kitchen.

SPECS

Windsor Silhouette XC S421

Travel length: 5530mm

Body length (open length):4500mm

External body width: 2350mm

Travel height: 2200mm

Interior height: 2070mm

Tare weight: 1765kg

ATM: 2165kg

Ball weight: 175kg (at Tare) 325kg (maximum)

Body: Fibreglass composite