Leading boat builder loses Edge

The demise of marine-inspired tent trailer brand Desert Edge was due in part to strong competition from customer focussed ‘backyard’ builders, says Jacqui Carrigan, the marketing manager of Telwater, Australia’s largest manufacturer of aluminium boats and the builder of Desert Edge trailers from 2008 until late-2012.

According to Carrigan, the mass-produced Desert Edge trailers struggled to compete with the low-volume, high quality campers built by “local, custom manufacturers who only make a small number of trailers in a year (and) have low operating costs”.

“It was a bit of a difficult market for us. We tried to diversify but saw that it wasn’t one of our core markets and after giving it a go for a period of time it was just a strategic decision by the company to withdraw from the market,” Carrigan said.

Backed by a two-year factory warranty, the Desert Edge range initially comprised a small selection of keenly priced, soft-floor camper models. Hard-floor and off-road models, as well as budget boat-and-camper packages, were introduced later.  

A major selling point were the trailers' high resistance to corrosion, thanks to bodies made from lightweight, marine grade aluminium underpinned by hot-dipped galvanised chassis.

Durable, Aussie-made Rip Stop canvas was used across the range, while buyers could opt to stand out from the crowd with bright, two pack painted bodies, courtesy of Telwater’s in-house paint shop.

Carrigan said difficulties setting up a dealer network covering all regions, separate from its marine network, also contributed to the brand's downfall. 

“(We thought) we could use the same model as we have with marine. We had the production capacity, but it was getting the retailers on board (that) was the really difficult thing,” she said.

Despite the lack of market penetration, Carrigan believes the Desert Edge trailers were “the right product”.

“We had a lot of competencies with regards to aluminium and also making our trailer frames, because we make all of our own trailer frames for our marine trailers as well,” she said.

“We were disappointed to close it... but it just really wasn’t where the core business was.”

With iconic boat brands including Quintrex, Stacer and Savage, Telwater currently produces around 12,000 boats and 6000 trailers annually. The Gold Coast-based private company is one of a handful of marine specialists who have ventured into RV production, including The Haines Group which recently introduced a line of off-road fibreglass caravans.