Titan Blackhawk 595 Touring 2021 Review

With many thwarted overseas travelers now refocusing their sights on exploring Australia instead, a clear template has emerged for the sort of caravan they want.

As many of these caravan ‘newbies’ are older buyers, comfort and space are important, as is storage space for all the things they might want to remind them of home.

At the same time, the renewed focus on ‘discovering’ Australia, combined with a robust state government program to seal many Outback roads, has made a sturdy caravan capable of dealing with the rough and the smooth, highly desirable.

The budget? Well, less than $100,000 seems to be it, given that many of these inbound travellers expect the difference between their caravan purchase and resale price after their trip to be approximately what they had budgeted for their overseas odyssey.

The next question is ‘when can I get it?’ and this narrows the field even more.

Ready to go

Titan Caravans' boss, James Creswick, says that substantial component pre-ordering has put the Burpengary, Queensland-based brand in an enviable position to offer new popular-model caravans for immediate delivery at a time when some rivals are only able to quote mid-2022 hand-overs.

In fact, the Blackhawk 595 we took for review was already spoken for, hence Creswick’s understandable request that we did not use its cassette toilet.

We complied on our recent far Western Queensland trip, which was a pity in one respect, as the ‘couples’ Blackhawk 595 has one of the roomiest caravan ensuites we have seen for some time, even including its 3.2kg top-loading washing machine.

The key attraction of this model, that has made it one of Titan’s best sellers, is that it ticks most of the boxes for today’s COVID-19 travellers.

For start, it’s the right size. An internal length of 19ft 6in allows plenty of room to negotiate a north-south queen bed and allows two people to pass between the galley and the café dinette lounge, while leaving enough bench space to do some decent cooking.

The angle kitchen is one of two optional layouts for this door configuration, but for those who feel uncomfortable entering the van via the bedroom, there are two rear door layouts that lose the angle kitchen in the process.

Another reason people shy off the front door layouts is because of the risk of stumbling down the entry footwell while searching for the bathroom in the early hours, but Titan has solved this on front door Blackhawks with an angled storage cupboard jutting from the wall at the bed end that steers you away from such a misadventures.

Wired for adventure

That’s one examples of clear thinking in this 'van, along with the plethora of double power points (we counted seven) and numerous USB charging slots in every conceivable space where they might be needed.

Sadly, given all these power options, a 12v/240v inverter is not standard, but can be optioned, or one can be purchased separately from an electrical parts retailer like Jaycar.

Despite the charcoal finish on the internal cabinetry and benchtops, the gloss black façade of the large dual-door Dometic compressor fridge, and grey timber-look floor, the Blackhawk is light-filled inside. This is thanks largely to its big bedroom and kitchen Aussie Traveller windows and its roof ventilation hatch, helped by the off-white of the leather-clad café dinette with its drop-down footrests on the review van.

The angle kitchen with its Thetford 3+1 gas/electric hobs and mini-grille below, is a real space-maker that allows plenty of bench-space, yet does not intrude into the wide corridor that leads to the rear ensuite.

Apart from good benchspace, there are soft-close drawers and spacious cupboards under and above the galley in which to house all your kitchen tools and supplies, with an under-bench pull-out three-tier pantry at the door end.

The Camec microwave oven sits above the kitchen in a matching angled row of cupboards with quality European Blum hinges – but it’s unfortunately a little too high for the safety of shorter chefs. A separate filtered drinking water tap would be nice, but it can be optioned.

Non-cooking occupants can take shelter in the café dinette lounge opposite, while all this Master-Chef prep is going on, with those at the seat nearest the bathroom able to enjoy an uninterrupted view of the standard TV/DVD combo.

The TV can also be enjoyed in bed and does not impede occupants accessing either side, thanks to the generous space between it and the surrounding furniture. And the interior can be kept toasty warm in cool-weather camping with the optional combined Truma water and space heater.

Appropriately for an all-road touring caravan, the Titan Blackhawk is fitted with in-house designed and imported T-Tech trailing arm, coil spring and twin shock absorber per wheel suspension, although Brisbane-made Cruisemaster steel and air suspension are extra-cost options.

Underneath, the suspension is attached to the sturdy 150mm x 50mm galvanised steel chassis and A-frame with external scrub bars standard to protect the lower body sides. In other signs that Titan takes off-road touring seriously, the Blackhawk 595 Touring comes standard with a roof-mounted Dometic Dust Reduction System, and its brakes are 12 inch drums all round, when 10 inch drums are more usually fitted to tandem models of this size, and Cruisemaster disc brakes are another option.

There’s good under-body stone protection for the twin 95 litre fresh water tanks, although the plastic pipe outlet for the standard 65 litre rear grey water tank looks like it's in the firing line. A bit of lagging with a carpet tile and cable ties would fix that.

Other examples of ‘off-grid’ thinking include optional mesh stone-shielding for the A-frame mounted water tap, plus generous stone-shielding for the front, rear and a metre up the sides of the Blackhawk, while there's generous ground clearance that will clear most obstacles where owners are likely to tow this van.

A standard off-road Cruisemaster DO-35 coupling ensures that you can tow the van to remote off-grid places.

Power in remote areas is addressed by a pair of 120AH AGM batteries mounted externally off the side of the chassis in a checker plate box, and these are fed by a pair of 160W rooftop solar panels – enough for extended free-camping – with their charge controlled by an Enerdrive solar regulator.

Wet storage options

Outside, there’s good storage space in the Blackhawk 595 Touring.

The front A-frame-mounted checker plate toolbox is split 50/50 into two compartments – one housing the twin 9kg gas bottles and the other with a slide for an exterior fridge.

A through-body boot behind is unencumbered and protective steel-lined, so it can store quite a bit of tough and dirty caravan stuff, while a vertical locker at the rear of the body on the door-side is ideal for storing portable chairs and a bagged table for roadside lunch stops.

Although there’s a standard external gas bayonet for a portable BBQ, I’d also like to see a slide-out kitchen either standard or optional on the door side. No doubt the gas bottles could live on the other side of the toolbox and a kitchen could replace the fridge slide. Or, it could slip into the through-body boot?

It’s an issue that a discussion with a Titan salesperson could resolve quickly...

Verdict

So, the Titan Blackhawk Touring 595 is nearly the perfect couples COVID touring caravan. It fits into the sweet spot of Australia’s most wanted caravans because it offers the combination of internal room and comfort with all-roads versatility that many of today’s travelling couples want.

Now, a slide-out outside basic kitchen, a filtered water tap in the kitchen and a standard inverter would complete it for me. The other things I could fix, or live with.

Time to twist a dealer’s arm!

How much is the Titan Blackhawk 595 Touring caravan?

Price: $98,990 (tow-away Qld)
Travel length: 8900mm 
Travel Height:3311mm 
Travel width: 2390mm 
Interior Height: 2000mm 
Tare: 2780kg 
ATM: 3500Kkg 
Ball (Tare): 200kg 
Body: 35mm fibreglass sandwich panel walls/50mm composite floor honeycomb floor/one-piece fibreglass roof
Chassis: 150mm x 50mm galvanised steel chassis and A-frame with external scrub bars
Suspension: Independent T-Tech tandem with trailing arms, coil springs and twin telescopic shocks per wheel
Brakes: 12-inch electric drums
Wheels: 16-inch alloy with LT265/75-16 M/T tyres
Water tanks: Two 95L fresh water/65L grey water
Battery: 2 x 120Ah AGM
Solar: 2 x 160W rooftop glass panels
Gas: 2 x 9kg
Hot water: Electric/gas
Cooking: Thetford (3 + 1) Minigrill  
Fridge:  Large Dometic compressor fridge/freezer
Shower: Separate internal shower and toilet
Lighting: LED throughout
Supplied by: Titan Caravans, Burpengary, Queensland