caravan revieW GIC OuTbaCk ROveR Roaming · The GIC Outback Rover is a hard-floor camper at a budget price, but does it provide value for money? Roaming the outback Words maRk allen

The GIC Outback Rover is a hard-floor camper at a budget price, but does it provide value for money?

Roamingthe outbackWords maRk allenPhotograPhy auTOmOTIvelIGhTbOx.COm

62 FebRuaRy//maRCh 2011 auSTRalIan CaRavan+Rv www.caravanandrv.com.au 63

caravan revieW GIC OuTbaCk ROveR

above and leFT The main part of the GIC Outback Rover can be erected in less than a minute – slightly more when setting up the awning and extra walls.

With much anticipation about its latest offering, GIC Camper Trailers put up one of its Outback Rovers for evaluation. It’s a hard-floor, rear-fold model and GIC claims it can be set up in just 45 seconds with a hand winching system and a few slight adjustments to the interior bows.

Campers are subject to many incredible set-up claims. Nearly as many fall short and take an age to erect. The GIC Outback Rover is one that lives up to its claim – imagine having the main part of your camper-trailer set up in less than a minute with no pegs or ropes needed – not bad! Admittedly the awning and extra walls do take more time to set up, but are mostly easy to do once you’ve got the hang of it.

Set-up times aside, though, most of the trailer was a little disappointing. We found nuts missing on the shock absorbers, a bent and dented kitchen sink, misaligned lids on the front storage box, doors that didn’t close properly, rivets that had not been set properly, loose hardware, poor design features and poor workmanship.

TECHNICALLY TALKINGThe main body of the trailer is a claimed 1.5mm-thick galvanised steel sheet that has then been powder-coated, combined with a 1.5mm aluminium chequerplate roof section that unfolds to also act as the floor. The front full-width aluminium vented storage (tool) box houses a 9kg LPG bottle holder, jerry can holder and plenty of room to stow general gear. Unfortunately, the fit and finish of this box was pretty poor, with the lid not fitting squarely with the box by about a thumb width!

The poly-block coupling certainly helps with off-road work and the mechanical override drum brakes (also with electric brakes) help to stop the 700kg (empty) trailer, which has a GTM of just 1000kg – a meagre 300kg payload. Tyres are 235/75R15 fitted to six-stud steel LandCruiser pattern rims with a 45mm round axle.

The Outback Rover sports an eye-to-eye shackled six-leaf suspension pack with shock absorber, plus a small coil helper spring mounted between the leaf pack and the chassis. While these helper coils assist in carrying the weight of the camper, they weren’t fitted directly above the axle causing them to lean and twist slightly – poor fit, poor design and unnecessary if the leaves were of good quality. An extra leaf in the pack would be simpler.

As for the shock absorber, the lower mounting method is such that the bush is not retained properly by the two flat washers either side of the shock eye, which would allow the bush to move and wear out prematurely. More poor design work.

We found nuts missing, a bent and dented sink, misaligned lids and doors that didn’t close properly

64 FebRuaRy//maRCh 2011 auSTRalIan CaRavan+Rv


above The Mazda’s 2.3-litre direct injection engine was a perfect match for the lightweight Sungazer.

While the flip-up jockey wheel is a quality Alco unit, its positioning in relation to the upright spare wheel is atrocious – every turn of the handle saw the handle (and my knuckles) hit the tyre! While you could force the handle past the tyre, it really is a lamentable arrangement.

The two rear wind-up corner stays worked well, as they could not only firm up the trailer on its suspension, but also raise the rear of the trailer to help with levelling – it’s just a shame the knobs that needed to be pulled to release the swing-down mechanism weren’t a little more substantial to allow a decent grip.

Access to the inside storage of the trailer is via a rear flip-down hatch, which wasn’t well fitted or aligned on its hinge.

The side-mounted slide-out kitchen unit incorporates a stainless steel sink and

washboard, a 12V operated tap plumbed to a 70-litre stainless steel water tank (although the owner / customer must provide a battery to operate it), a small food preparation area and adjustable flip-down legs to support the whole unit. While the kitchen did slide in and out reasonably easily, the rollers were all loosely fitted and the sink bowl was dented.

INSIDE STORYThe canvas of this tent is a claimed 14-ounce rip-stop material and combines with fine mesh windows and doors to help keep sandflies out. As noted above, the main tent is very easy to set up, as is the awning and extra side walls. The side room also has a removable floor – a nice touch should you want to use this area for sleeping extra people. While the awning can have an

internal frame erected, which negates the need for guy ropes and would result in a much sturdier structure, we used just three vertical poles with ropes and pegs and still managed to have a neat-looking roof line in a shorter set-up time.

Once the main tent is set up, the lower side flaps are pulled over the trailer sides, but this model doesn’t have any means of tying that loosely fitting canvas flap down. Wind in the wrong direction combined with rain would soon see water pouring in.

Above the bed is a sun (or moon) roof type window that unzips to allow light to pour in via the clear plastic cover.

While the bed base lifts on gas struts for access to luggage underneath, it wouldn’t lift high enough for the struts to hold it in the up position – more poor design!

leFT Adding injury to insult, the jockey wheel handle can’t be turned without scraping knuckles on the spare tyre.

below This storage box hatch door was misaligned and badly fitted –a cardinal sin.

below Dented and damaged sink. What gives?

The canvas of the GIC Outback Rover is a claimed 14-ounce rip-stop material



This camper is a two-person unit, although extra people could sleep in the awning area with the floor in place. There are plenty of windows and doors around the tent to allow flow-through ventilation.

IN THE ENDWe were quite excited about checking out GIC’s latest budget-priced camper-trailer as the company sells a high volume of units and is well regarded for its low-cost trailers. Unfortunately, the unit we had was very disappointing in many ways: some faults were one-offs, but the poor design features are not and left us less than impressed.

We clocked up just shy of 250km in a day, which saw the trailer track true, handle both bitumen and good condition gravel roads with ease and was very easy to reverse. On set-up we found no sign of dust ingress and on an extremely hot day opened doors and windows allowed the breeze to cool us, while

the awning also provided respite. While most of the GIC trailers are made

in-house in its Sydney factory (to which it adds an imported tent), this Outback Rover is an imported unit that comes in a ‘flat pack’ form, which is then assembled here.

For a hard-floor camper, the $14,800 price tag is reasonably cheap, but for that money you could get a higher quality unit of superior design – albeit not with a hard floor. Perhaps some of GIC’s other packages would be a better option for your money – the Extreme Ranger (from $8900), the Aluminium Extreme Off Road Camper (from $8900), or the Extreme Off Road Camper (from $5900) or even some of its on-road models at still lower prices.

We all want to spend as little as possible and expect the most for our dollars, but that old saying really is so pertinent regardless of industry – you get what you pay for!

Fast FactsManufacturer: GIC Camper TrailersModel: Outback Roverlength/Width/height: 2.2m / 1.75m / 0.6mtare: 700kggVM: 1000kg

Price: $14,800 as reviewed

contact: GIC Camper Trailerst: 1300 2267 377W: www.giccampertrailers.com.au

RIGHT The ‘helper spring’ fitted between the chassis and leaf suspension is clearly misaligned, causing it to flex out of shape.

RIGHT Wind-up corner stays do a good job of levelling off the camper, but the lack of grip on the knobs that release the swing-down mechanism make them difficult to use.

above There’s plenty of under-bed storage, but the struts do a poor job of keeping the bed in an upright position.

above The Outback Rover has been designed to sleep two people, but can accommodate others in the awning area with the floor in place.

Verdict

Quick and easy to set tent up.Budget price for a hard-floor camper.Poor design.Poor workmanship.Poor value for money.

What to looK for in a Budget caMPer-trailerLook for a trailer design that works easily and appropriately. Ensure the trailer is (as a minimum) undercoated and top coated for some form or rust protection – although paint easily chips exposing bare metal. Ensure the suspension is up to carrying the total load of the trailer plus the contents. Ensure the trailer has an adequate braking system and uses an appropriate hitch.

The whole trailer must conform to Australian design rules to achieve registration and must comply with the National Code of Practice VSB1: Building small trailers, which outlines everything you need to know for trailers under 4500kg.

Ensure the canvas tent is an easy design to erect in reasonable time and ensure it is a waterproof material: hard to know until it rains, unfortunately. Weight of canvas does not signify waterproofing; it is only a weight in ounces – 10, 12 ounce or 14 ounces as an example. Generally, the heavier the canvas the more rugged or durable it is.

As a very rough guide Australian-made trailers and canvas tops will be more expensive than overseas imported units. Some overseas canvas tops are of good quality and design, some are not. Same goes for Australian-made ones – there are good and bad ones floating around.

You are not going to get all the bells and whistles with a budget camper-trailer, but you can still get out camping and have just as much fun, so do your research, ask questions and choose wisely.

above Stainless steel sink and washboard slide in and out easily enough, but the rollers are loosely fitted.

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caravan revieW GIC OuTbaCk ROveR Roaming · The GIC Outback Rover is a hard-floor camper at a budget price, but does it provide value for money? Roaming the outback Words maRk allen

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