Yorke Peninsular 2007 Review

By Malcolm Street

York is a name that has been around for a fair few years in the caravan industry, going back to the 1970s, when caravans reigned supreme on the roads. Now, after nearly disappearing, the York brand is back, under the umbrellas of Sydney’s Camden Caravans and Gold Coast Caravans.

Michael Payten, general manager at Camden Caravans, contacted CW to let us know that York caravans were once again available. “We are relaunching the brand,” he said, “a more modern shape has been introduced and we are developing both highway and intermediate road-going caravans.

“We are working closely with a van manufacturer at nearby Ingleburn – yes, there are vans manufactured in Sydney – to produce the on-road Peninsular (sic), and the Cape York for national park and dirt road use. Having a manufacturer in Sydney does keep our transport costs down.”

We also understand that among the York line-up will be a bunk van, while for ute and tray owners a slide-on is under construction. For our review, we borrowed an on-road 18ft 10in (5.74m) Peninsular model.

Inside, the van layout features a rear kitchen, rear bathroom, mid-dinette and front bedroom area. Like most vans these days, it has been designed for two-person use.

Plenty of window area gives a light and spacious feel. Windows are Camec tinted hoppers, except for the one behind the door, which is a slider, so the door and window can be open at once.

The kitchen has curtains only; all other windows have nets as well. The stained-timber look predominates in the cabinetwork, and floor coverings match.

Having the bathroom in the rear corner means a split kitchen. The main bench in the rear has a Smev four-burner cooktop (three gas, one electric) and grill, alongside a stainless steel sink and drainer.

These days there is a trend for the cooktop to have at least one electric element. It does seem to be a reasonable idea: all is not lost if the gas runs out!

Bench space is minimal, but storage area is reasonable: two cupboards, two overhead lockers and three drawers of various sizes. Kitchen lighting is under-locker halogens and a ceiling fluorescent.

On the other side of the bathroom is the Dometic 104L fridge with microwave above. Because the fridge is mounted off the floor, both it and the microwave are thankfully at a user-friendly height. It’s puzzling how many manufacturers can’t seem to get this right.

By the fridge is a sort of kitchen dresser setup, with benchtop space, drawers, cupboards and overhead lockers. Part of the cupboard is taken by the water heater and wheel arch. There is a powerpoint but no real lighting in this area, at least not under the lockers, and the ceiling fluorescent will cast a shadow.

Dining can be done at the L-shaped lounge with accompanying table, measuring 44in × 20in (1.1m × 0.5m). The foam cushions are contoured and there is the usual under-seat storage area, although part of it is taken by the wheel arch. Two overhead lockers above complete the storage arrangement. Two halogen reading lights and one overhead fluorescent give good illumination.

In the keeping-clean department, the compact bathroom has flexible-hose, variable-height shower, small corner wash basin and Thetford cassette loo. A small window and fan hatch supply ventilation and the translucent door lets in a small amount of natural light, removing the confined feel bathrooms can have.

Up the front, the main bed innerspring mattress was a little short at 5ft 8in (1.72ft), but longer ones are readily available. Lifting the bed on its extendable steel and timber base reveals a compartmentalised storage area underneath. Gas struts make the bed relatively easy to lift up.

On either side of the bed are two-drawer side cabinets and a small bedside shelf. More useful is a good-sized shelf behind the bed, along with reading lights and powerpoints.

In the corner above the bed are mirrored door wardrobes and above those are two overhead lockers.

At the foot of the bed is a full-height diagonal cupboard in the nearside corner and a half-height cupboard opposite. Above that is the entertainment unit: flatscreen TV mounted on a flexible arm and AM/FM radio/CD player mounted in the locker. The TV can be swivelled to be viewable from the dinette.

Easy going

All York vans are built on a hot-dipped galvanised chassis and have an aluminium frame with aluminium cladding around the outside. Suspension is leaf spring, the tandem axles have white sports wheels and the corner stabiliser jacks are the standard wind-down variety.

On the drawbar, two 9kg gas cylinders sit within the chassis rails, as does the jockey wheel mounting. At the rear, the spare wheel is mounted on the bumper bar which, we have to say, does look a little agricultural.

Out of sight, mounted on the chassis, are two 80L water tanks.

With an ATM of 2159kg, this particular Peninsular is just within the Commodore/Falcon towing range and a mid-sized 4WD is not going to have any problems. For our review, we had the loan of a Toyota LandCruiser that had no trouble coping. On the road, the Peninsular had good road manners and tracked very well behind the LandCruiser.

The bottom line

Apart from a few niggles in the fit and finish department, the Peninsular is ready to go, and has a few neat little ideas that we’d like to see in some more upmarket vans, like variable size cupboards and drawers.

Camden Caravans calls the York Peninsular its entry-level model, and that’s exactly what it is: an affordable caravan with everything you need for long-term touring, and with money in the bank for all those travel delights.

Camden Caravans, 66 Camden Valley Way, Camden, NSW 2570, (02) 4658 1929,

(07) 5520 4555