Royal Flair Manor 2006 Review

By Greg Williams

Royal Flair enjoys pushing the boundaries of caravan design. Last year it was with its Majestic that it dispensed with sandwich panels and used fibreglass construction methods usually seen on boats.

Now Royal Flair has given us The Manor, which uses the same flat sheet fibreglass construction, but adds moulded fibreglass front and rear sections that look like nothing else on the road.

The aerodynamic front section wraps around the gas bottles to create a very clean-looking caravan.

At the rear, the LED indicators, tail and brake lights are an integral part of the design that looks almost 1950s retro with its sweeping lines and moulding around the spare wheel.

The interior also includes quite a few things you don’t normally see in caravans, from the old to the new – lead lighting here, a wine cooler there.

Smooth runnings

The luxury begins under The Manor from the ground up, with four 14in magnesium alloy wheels connected to the hot dipped galvanised chassis via 2in axles and Simplicity suspension and shock absorbers.

There are two 80L fresh water tanks underneath and quick release drop jacks at each corner.

Starting at the front, there is an Al-Ko hitch at the front of the A-frame, which has a mains pressure tap on the side. But the really striking thing about the front is the rounded front that includes the boot and two 9kg gas bottles.

It’s a great idea, gives a very tidy look and no doubt has aerodynamic benefits. The boot also has a light and houses three 100A deep cycle batteries, 16A charger, all of which is hooked up to two 85W solar panels on the roof.

This makes for a lot of power and would bring you close to self-sufficiency if you’re not sitting on a powered site. The gas bottles don’t sit on the floor of the boot, but on a shelf attached to the chassis, and the boot is moulded around them with a semi-circular cover at the top.

The cover is attached by two self-tapping screws which means that you have to use a screwdriver to gain access to the gas valves. Maybe putting a couple of hinges on one side of the lid and a catch on the other would have been more useful.

The innovative thing about the design and construction of The Manor is that there are no joins or seams to be seen. The one-piece body, using a Meranti timber frame and fibreglass over marine ply, means that it’s going to be aerodynamic and weather resistant.

An Omnisol awning covers two thirds of the length of The Manor. The lid over the barbecue protects the fibreglass sides from heat and spattering.

The windows are tinted, wind-out Galaxys that are located at the front, and the door is a triple lock Camec with a checkerplate step.

What first strikes you when you step inside The Manor is the cool blue LED temperature display on the Mobicool D60 wine cooler, which sits next to the 150L Dometic fridge.

It doesn’t take up a lot of space but it gives a good idea of where Royal Flair is aiming with this caravan.

The choice of colours, fabrics and timbers is interesting too – Royal Flair has steered away from light colours, opting instead for slightly darker hues that give a warm, cosy feeling.

There are plenty of brass fittings to complement the Tasmanian oak finish of the cupboards, the benchtop and splashback in the kitchen have a dark brown marble look, as does the bathroom, and the rest of the walls are plain white.

The bathroom, with separate shower and toilet, sits at the rear with the kitchen in the middle and the island bed at the front. The door is at the rear too, just forward of the bathroom so you face the dinette as you walk in.

At the far end of the kitchen the stove is located next to the door, and as you’d expect in a caravan like this, it comes with an oven, grill and three burners plus a hob.

Light comes from halogen downlights in the rangehood and the window on the wall between the stove and the deep bowl sink.

There is a fair amount of distance between the two, although more space where you can work in the kitchen would be welcomed, especially with the fridge raised so it comes up to the same height as the wine cooler. To the right of the sink is a Dometic bin.

Above the fridge is the LCD TV on a swivelling bracket that allows it to be seen from either end of The Manor, and it is connected to the DNA DVD/CD player mounted into the cabinet behind it.

This plays through five speakers – four in the ceiling and an all-weather speaker outside for when you want to sit around the barbecue with a bottle of white from the wine cooler.

There’s heaps of under bench and overhead storage in the kitchen (some of the lockers up here have leadlight glass), as well as a smaller slide-out pantry under the wine cooler. The drawers are all on runners, as are the two large pot drawers under the kitchen bench.

The island bed at the front of The Manor is surrounded by rich timber and gets a good dose of natural light from windows on either side, as well as a window above the boot and an Electrolux hatch above the bed. At 150cm x 195cm, the bed is queen size and it lifts up on struts to reveal storage space.

While the timber finishes in The Manor are Tasmanian oak, the timber pelmets are a lighter colour which provides a bit of a contrast.

The dinette, with its table using the same granite-coloured surface as the kitchen benches, has comfortable brown upholstery – and yes, it does convert into a bed.

The shower and toilet take up the full width of the caravan at the back with a vent installed above the shower with a 12V extractor fan.

A Dometic air-conditioner is located in the ceiling above the kitchen and there is another hatch above the dinette. Lighting is all halogen 12V, from those built into the ceiling and above the dinette to the adjustable downlights above the bed.

The Manor is a beautiful top-shelf caravan that offers a glimpse of what caravans could look like in a few years’ time – a caravan that will match the aerodynamic appearance of the modern car that tows it.

You can bet you will be seeing more caravans that look like this on the road in the future.

You can find Royal Flair The Manor at Ian Grant Caravans, Princes Highway, Traralgon West, Vic 3844, (03) 5174 1381, fax (03) 5174 8987, www.iangrantscaravans.com.au or visit www.royalflair.com.au for your nearest Royal Flair dealer.

We liked:
• Well constructed with a great new shape
• The addition of a wine cooler 

We would have liked:
• More accessible cover for the gas bottles