Jayco Sterling

Sharpen your pencil

When planning to build a new caravan, manufacturers have in essence two choices. One is to design a completely new caravan and the other is to refine and improve and existing product.

Whilst designing a brand new caravan does create a great deal of interest, there is nothing wrong with the refine/improve course of action, particularly if the original product was good to start with. Economic times might make that a more prudent course of action and it also gives the opportunity for customer suggestions to be implemented.

That's what Jayco has done with its 2009 Sterling model, with changes both inside and out. I was able to get my hands on one of the first 2009 models out of the factory door, a 6.65m (21ft 10in) tandem-axle caravan with a full width rear bathroom. It arrived not long before we did at Brisbane Camperland and Shane Carnavas was soon giving me a run down on the features.

NEW PROFILE
From the outside, the most obvious changes are the new styles for the front and rear mouldings. Caravans by their very nature are often white and big box like structures. It's surprising the difference that fibreglass mouldings can make, they've given the latest model a much more streamlined look. In keeping with the times, the new Sterling also comes with external speakers for the entertainment system as a standard feature.

Some things haven't changed though, like the base of the Sterling with its hot-dipped galvanised Millenium chassis, rocker leaf spring suspension for the tandem axles, Al-Ko corner stabilisers and dual 82L water tanks. Part of the chassis design includes the weight saving pressed holes that can also be utilised for wiring and plumbing.

Above the chassis, the aluminium framed sandwich wall construction is still the same with its bonded layers of fibreglass, ply and polystyrene foam - to provide strength and insulation. Windows are tinted hoppers, mostly large, and the door is the usual Camec triple-locker with rounded top corners. Up front, the boot is quite large (it contains two 9kg gas cylinders) and it has also been designed so that not too much bending over is involved as you get things in and out. At the rear, the spare wheel under a colour coordinated cover is mounted on the rear bumper.

INTERNAL REFINEMENTS
Inside our Sterling, the layout features a full-width rear bathroom, bedroom with east-west bed, front kitchen and lounge/dining area between the kitchen and bedroom. Decor is the Jayco 'Euro look' with update styling on the cushions, curtains and pelmets. Not so obvious are the curved aluminium corners on the cupboards - it looks good and should minimise wear and tear.

Large windows and two roof hatches give a good level of natural light and ventilation. For evening times, there's a mixture of ceiling mounted incandescent fittings and halogen down/reading lights.

Starting in the rear, the bathroom has a circular shower cubicle in the nearside corner and a Thetford cassette toilet on the offside. The washing machine, which was previously in the rear offside corner is now centre stage. This has the effect of giving easier access to the washing machine and more space around the loo, but means the wash basin is pushed to the offside. Cupboard and locker space has been re-arranged accordingly and whether you like it or not, depends on how you use the bathroom. The window, formerly in the rear wall is now above the toilet and has been replaced by a large wall mirror.

Taking up most of the space in the bedroom is the double bed, which measures 1.83m x 1.32m (6ft x 4ft 4in). It's set against the offside wall and now comes with a doona and matching pillows. The bedhead has a window behind and is surrounded by cupboards, a shelf, overhead lockers and small wardrobes. A problem that sometimes arises from a design like this is a lack of bedside shelves, but Jayco has avoided that problem by building shelves into the sides of the lower cupboards. It's quite a neat little idea, as are the small drawers also built into the lower cabinet.

At the foot of the bed, there's a full height diagonal cupboard built into the bathroom wall corner and a small cupboard in the front corner. It sits on the wheel arch, which does protrude slightly in to the walk around space. On the wall above in that same corner is the flatscreen TV, along with the powerpoint, antenna connection and mounting bracket. If needed, the bedroom can be closed off from both sides.

LOUNGE ABOUT
Something I noticed as soon as I sat down in the lounge is that it's more comfortable than what I've seen in the previous model. The seat back height has been raised, which makes it much easier to sit back and relax - similarly for the dinette. The lounge and dinette will each seat two people without trouble and there are powerpoints (240V/12V) and antenna connection above the fridge to ensure TV viewing comfort. Part of the under lounge seat area is taken by the 240/12V power supply and the 100Ah deep-cycle battery. Drawers are fitted to both ends of the lounge seat.

Up front the L-shaped kitchen bench features all necessary items for happy caterers - a Smev four-burner cooktop/grill/oven, stainless steel sink/drainer, Dometic 150L fridge and an LG microwave above. One of the benefits of an L-shaped design is the reasonable bit of bench top area and cupboard space, although the corner area is a bit hard to always use effectively One of the benefits of an L-shaped design is the reasonable bit of bench top area and cupboard space, although the corner area is a bit hard to always use effectively. Here, Jayco has fitted a wire basket under a bench top flap to improve its usability and, as well, there's a selection of cupboards, overhead lockers and a small slide-out pantry. This particular design has what Jayco call its 'small bench extension' between the fridge and the front bench. It makes a surprising difference. Powerpoints are fitted to either end of the bench, both tank and filtered drinking water are supplied to the sink and there is a new style fume extractor fitted above the cooktop.

With a tare weight of 2060kg and an ATM of 2535kg, the Sterling has plenty of load capacity but that does of course mean that a mid to large sized 4WD is going to be the default towing choice. Certainly the Toyota LandCruiser that I was using for towing handled the Sterling without difficulty, but something like a Prado would be more than capable as well.

THE BOTTOM LINE
Earlier I noted that there was nothing wrong with refining/upgrading an existing product and I didn't see anything about the new Jayco Sterling to change that view. There were a number of changes, some clearly from customer feedback and others from operating experience that have improved the breed, which should make the Sterling a winner in 2009.

I WOULD HAVE LIKED

Brisbane Camperland
1459 Wynnum Road
Tingalpa Qld
(07) 3348 8200
www.brisbanecamperland.com.au

For more information, including your nearest dealer, visit www.jayco.com.au