WHICH HARD FLOOR CAMPER TRAILER

Tension, not sure what level of offroad or onroad camper you are looking for, but I have just been through the process and came a cross a very easy set up and more importantly easy pack up hard floor camper, EDX from Mountain Trail Camper from Albury, uses electric rams to open and close, maybe what you need after your surgery? I ended up buying an Aussie Swag Camper, but was very close to buying the EDX. Good luck with your search.

http://www.mountaintrailcampers.com.au/index.php/off-road-camper-trailers/hard-floor/the-edx-hard-floor-camper-trailer

Depends on how bad your back is. When I was looking at A camper Complete camp site had a winch arrangement that was used to close the hard floor. Just looked on there site but couldn't see it mentioned now. I ended up with an Aussie swag.

The Aussie swag can take a bit of effort to close when you dont remove the awnings. otherwise it is no effort to open or close

IF you want a really good one you have to pay a fair bit for them. The other choice I had was the Australian off road campers, not much between the two.

I think the Cubs are OK you see plenty of them about.

I’ve had several soft floors but the wife and I both decided we’d like something easier and quicker to set up so we bought a Cub. After a little work we headed off on our first trip. Once away, we couldn’t get back quick enough.

The good: light and easy to tow, quick to wind open,, no leaks, comfy bed and a nice tidy package.

The bad: The canvas around all the windows and doors sagged badly. making it difficult to zip up; certainly, zipping one handed was impossible. I spent hours adjusting hoops trying to even out the canvas, all to no avail. The awning end wall rubbed on the pull out stove and dragged the front end of the main tent down so much when it rained the canvas wall at front filled up with water. I installed four spreader bars between the hoops and adjustable legs under the front hoop, solved the water problem - almost, but still couldn’t zip up without difficulty. None of the press studs around the floor pan or side of the camper lined up properly and the awning roof continually filled up with water whenever it rained. Winding the floor down was simple, but setting it all up actually took longer than our soft floor took to set up.

As soon as we returned, we put it on the market, no takers at all over 4-5 months so we traded it. Every time we see someone towing a Cub we cringe. Worst experience we’ve ever had with a camper. Now this is our experience only, others may differ.

We’ve met plenty of people that love their Cubs and equally as many who hate them, the ones that love them say they never experienced the same problems as us, the others that hated them all had the same complaints.

Whenever we go to a Caravan and Camping Show, we make a point of looking at the Cubs, To us they are still look the same: saggy canvas and awnings, press studs don’t line up, awning wall rubs on the stove.

Cub have been making these flip over campers for ever, one would think they would have solved these problems by now.; certainly some of the other hard floors don’t look like they share the same problems.


Keep in mind that not all soft floors are heavy to pull over, it’s all to do with hoop hinge points, canvas weight and making sure all the doors and windows are open. Cavaliers are very heavy to pull over, and having a crook back myself, they didn’t endear themselves to me a great deal, Koala Campers in QLD were extremely light to pull over (never owned one though), but I’m pretty sure there are some other soft floors that are not that hard on the back. I’m equally sure there would have to be other hard floors that don’t have the problems we endured; certainly, some of the other displays at the Caravan and Camping Show didn’t look like they suffered from the same problems.

Once again, our experience only, others experience may differ. Whatever you decide on, make sure you have a go at setting it up yourself!

i have a Cub Supamatic offroad and love it I have none of the problems mentioned above

I'll throw a Track TVAN into the equation, quite easy to set-up, with a hard sell around you vs. just canvas.

Good luck with your deliberations...

Cheers, Baz - The Landy

There are probably at least half a dozen good hard floors to look at, to some extent it depends on what state of the art electrics you want it to be and how "rugged" it is required to be.
We can't complain about our Kimberly Kamper other than heavy to tow, but I can pack it up unassisted by myself (though slower).
Aussie Off roads seem to win one Camper Trailer magazine awards in recent years.
There is also Pioneer, AOR, T Van, Ultimate that I can think of in addition to Kimberly.

My only advice is that if you aren't going to use iheavily such as a 12 month round Oz trip or similar, consider buying a 2nd hand one. How well the canvass has been looked after is probably the greatest issue with 2nd hand ones.

We have had a Cub Spacematic Regal for about 8 years now and have driven most of the desert tracks and some. We were looking at something smaller but glad we ended up with this. Our camper has and continues to be the best investment for what we want. We have modified it a little with electric water pump, LED lights etc. but find it simply but well appointed. Folded out it is virtually a 20ft caravan that has a towing weight of around 800Kg loaded. Given your affliction you may look at fitting a small electric winch to put it away but putting it up is not an issue. You really can pull up and be in bed in 5 mins if you don't include the annex.
We rented as many campers that we could find for weekend jaunts before we bought and Cub won. I recommend you rent if you can and look at what would suit your wallet and your requirements. Small modifications to suit your needs are not expensive and are satisfying to solve.
Regards
Quentin

Complete Campsite do Hard floor campers, I was reading up about the Fraser yesterday and they have an electric winch and gas struts to assist in closing the top.
Regards