camper trailers

Glenn,

Your dilemma is similar to the one we identified a few years ago.
We had a soft top camper that was becoming "too much of a hassle" for us to pack up, especially in strong winds, so we bit the bullet and changed over to a hard top camper.
I made a winch up that fits into a jockey wheel clamp and this makes the closing up of the camper "a piece of cake", with the ability to stop at any time to tuck in the canvas as you go. In my case however, the winch strap attaches to a bracket on the hard top to help lift it up into the closed position. The extra bracket I attached to the other side of the "A" frame and is used for both the winch and a dual wheeled Maco Mule I use to Manoeuvre the camper into the shed.

I can't think of any winch method that would be applicable to a soft top camper.
There is just nothing to attach the winch cable/strap to.

Hi Glenn,
my wife and I had the same problem. Only solution was to sell the soft top and buy a hard floor camper. Even my wife can close it up on her own now. Using the winch to open and close is easy..... if you buy the right model. Take your time, shop around, there are some good deals around. Some of the chinese built and assembled models are rubbish. Make sure the dealer demonstrates the camper fully set up and packed up ... with only one person operating it.
regards
Fred B

Agreed, re Sandy's comments Glen.... you are staring down the barrel of a 'camping formula upgrade'. Happens to everyone.....we had soft and hard campers over 10 years, before moving to the van. The hard floor campers are so darn easy to deploy and only a little bit harder to pack up... but even so, I ended up adding a manual winch setup to make the hard floor easier to close too (ended up being a one-person job, if required). Now of course we are slack as all heck and lounge about in decadent luxury.

G, day Glenn
We had a hard floor CUB camper, winch already built in.
Simple and easy to put up or down.
Fyi very well built, canning stock route twice, cape York telegraph track, an numerous other desert trips, still going strong.
Cheers
John

Hi Glenn

Happy New Year to you and yours.

From your description, it sounds like a soft floor camper?

If this is the case, Yes you can attach a winching system to bring the canvas back over. Mountain Trail Campers have it installed it in their top of the line model. Perhaps you could take a wander into one of their display rooms and have a squiz.

I have seen it in operation - it is electrically operated, and takes about 1 minute to set up. From memory, looks to have the workings inside the tent.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Anthony

I've scratched my head over some of these " camper trailers".
Some of them have huge tents.....I just don't see the point.
Most people buying these camper trailers would not buy a tent that size..the whole format has got out of hand.

At one time and there may be a very few still arround, there was a light trailer with a fairly modest & easy to errect tent structure screwed to it.

The idea of a proper full sized matress, off the ground, a couple of other comforts and an easy to errect shelter is very attractive.

But these huge multi room complexes carried on a near 2 tonne trailers baffle me.

I blame the women......they are enamoued with the idea of "camping".....but they seem to reject the realities and practicalities of it.

Maybe a more modest unit will solve the problem.


cheers

Try putting pull ropes onto the canvas ,exterior to tent frame, to assist in opening it up-worked well for mine in combination with a broom handle to give the reach and push with from other side. there's usually loops to tie to on the canvas. also try a tie down ratchet and strap att to trailer, then to tent, may need a cantilever set up to get proper opening action.
MG.