Hard Korr Bushmaster

Solidly built camper gets you out there for a ridiculously cheap price

If you’ve visited an RV show recently you would have been bedazzled by the various LED lights on display; in particular the ritzy display from the guys at Korr Lighting.

Diversifying into other areas of the RV market the Queensland-based business has come up with, to date, two camper trailers including this little Bushmaster HKC-3600 we looked at recently.

Set up in situ for a day in the bush this rig is really eye catching but the real head turner is the RRP of only $16,990.

With a price like that, ‘China’ comes to mind and Korr makes no bones about it; that’s where many of the components come from.

Taking care of QC

One of the biggest issues for camper trailer brands sourcing products out of China has been quality control. Put simply, if you don’t have feet on the ground in the factory, short cuts happen and the quality of the end product will suffer.

Hard Korr appear to be on top of this and the evidence is in the finish of the Bushmaster. It presents well with a smart two-pack paint finish which is sprayed on in Australia and all, not welded joins were neatly sealed off with silicon to prevent water and dust ingress that usually heralds the onset of rust.

The superstructure is mounted on a 40mm square, 2mm wall galvanised box section welded to the 150 x 50 x 3mm draw bar which has its bend profiles heavily fish plated. The hitch is a rubber-block and pin style similar to that offered by South Australian company, Treg.

The Bushmaster’s 65 litre, stainless steel water tank is slung between the drawbar rails and while it protrudes below the bottom it’s still well above and in front of the axle line. A plate aluminium shell on its front, bottom and rear sides provides some insurance against damage while bush bashing or perhaps we should say ‘mastering’.

The rear of the chassis has a solid bolt-on bumper bar with three recovery points, two of which will host interchangeable tongues with bow shackles.

A crank handle inserts into a central hole in the bar to lower the underslung spare wheel, while a six stud Toyota Landcruiser compatible wheel bolts to a 10-inch brake drum armed with electric brakes.

The suspension is a trailing swing arm style with bump stop inside a coil spring and a single shock absorber, with an over extension prevention chain each side. The sub axles are removable via four bolts so replacing them when outback is not an issue. You can expect to see a spares kit from Korr in the near future and a spare stub axle may be optioned into that.

Like many of the cheaper camper trailers the Bushmaster’s main body sits high to allow plenty of storage options within. The Tare weight is 750kg with a handy payload of 750kg on top of that.

The Waeco 50 litre fridge in the test trailer is an option and you can get to it from the central rear door. It sits on an over-length retractable drawer, which is handy for loading and unloading contents.

The power supply in one of the side walls of the compartment impedes the free sliding of the unit but a redesign made from a concertina style flex and moved to the inside rear wall will see this fixed.

There are numerous anchor points on the drawer tray for securing the fridge during transit and an exhaust fan vents heat from the compartment out through the door.

Storage aplenty

Above the fridge compartment and under the roof top tent a large shallow, slide-out drawer offers space for short stuff, and there are plans to lift the roof top tent to double the depth of this drawer system to roughly 180mm.

There’s another large storage space in the nearside rear corner, under a metal drawer slide, and another couple of drawers behind a shorter door over the wheel arch.

On-board storage compartments are seemingly endless including a few around the slide out kitchen, which includes a Smev two burner stove and round basin sink incorporated into a stainless bench with supported extension.

The electronics are neatly installed with water tank level indicator, solar controller panel and circuit breakers. A Korr solar panel ‘blanket’ is optional, as is another battery to go with the standard 100Ah battery.

There are also spots at the front of the camper for jerry cans and a 9kg gas bottle, close to a hand pump tap and another lockable storage box. An angled shade cloth stone deflector is also part of the package.

Before the roof tent can be erected the swing out awning tilts on a hinged upright from its safe position over the top of the tent cover. The tent with its removable fly attached then unfolds to the offside.

Tent material is 650gsm poly-cotton canvas with midge screens and a 60mm high density foam mattress as standard. No doubt many will be looking for some extra padding so egg shell foam from Clark Rubber might fit the bill.

The room below the overhang is built with a PVC soft floor, with the aluminium telescopic ladder doubling as the lever to unfold the hinged tent top base.

The awning is ‘fox-wing’ style, albeit with individual hinges from which the rafter poles swing; making it cheaper and easier to replace broken or worn parts than typical, one piece spider systems.

Verdict

Being a patriotic lot, many of us try and find fault in product not from these shores. On the surface there’s nothing I could find to indicate any falling down in the QC department with this Hard Korr camper, although Old Man Time will be the final judge.

Small in size but big in the storage and features departments, this Bushmaster gets you into camper trailering at a ridiculously cheap price of $16,990. Should leave some change for any accessories needed...

HARD KORR BUSHMASTER HKC-3600

Overall length: 3.570m

External body width: 1.8m

Internal height: 1200mm above mattress

Tare: 750kg

ATM: 1500kg

Ball weight: 60kg

Body: 2mm zinc sheet metal with two-pack paint finish

Chassis: 150 x 50 x 3mm drawbar/40 x 40 x 2mm box section chassis

Wheels: 235 x 75 x 15

Brakes: 10in electric drums

Cooking: Smev two burner gas

Fridge/freezer: Optional (Fridge box 1140x460x560mm)

Toilet: No

Shower: Optional

Gas: 1 x 9kg

Lighting: LED

Battery: 1 x 100Ah

Solar: panel or blanket optional

Price as reviewed: $16,990

Website: Hard Korr Campers

Hard Korr Bushmaster

Tags