What you describe sounds somewhat similar to an blog entry about the way navigation was done in WebObjects I wrote not long ago. I was just trying to find the answer to the question: why it is not done that way in Seam?
. Would you say your navigator is similar?
Our crazy proxy at work has blocked most blog sites (which includes yours) :( So, I can't make any comments right now. I'll try look it up at home one day.
But either way I do think that navigation should be re-thought so as to allow a much more flexible and powerful use of the SEAM infrastructure straight out of the box.
Please take a look to this other thread.