Choosing first camper

Hi Mudmaps

Look around for an early model Ultimate.

King size bed

Inside kitchen area

So light to tow, you will not know you have it behind

100% Australian made

100% dust and waterproof



Cheers and happy looking


Stephen

Not many choices if you want a king size bed.
To me that equates to lots more weight.

Your spec fits a lot of trailers so you need to specify what you want a bit more or you will be inundated with everyone recommending what they already own.

What style do you want?
Generally soft floor = bigger space and lighter trailer, usually pretty quick setup (my Johnnos is sub 5 minutes). Usually a flip over awning.
Hard floor = smaller space and more weight but usually quick setup. No flip over awning so longer setup.

Full off road or not.
Chinese or Aussie made - dollar choice plus how long to want it too last.
Ability to expand with zip on extra rooms - how many people in it?
Water capacity - how long do you intend to stay in one spot.
etc etc etc

Need more info from you or you will be flooded with way too many replies.

My best advice: try before you buy!

Some manufacturers hire out their campers, otherwise there are businesses that hire camper trailers, that enable you to try them out first. The $80-$120 a day you spend in hire fees may well be the cheapest few hundred you ever spend.

It's amazing how your view of them changes after you've used them. Things you think will be great aren't when you actually get to experience them and other things you hadn't even thought of will be come really important.

Second best piece of advice - buy second hand so you can try out what you really like a few times before you buy new. New campers (like new cars) lose value by the thousand the minute you tow them out of the showroom, which is a lot of money to blow if they turn out not to be to your liking.

Third piece of advice, no matter how big the bed, the dog expands to use it :)

Best wishes with your deliberations.

Hi Mudmaps
We took a different route which enhances and expands on our existing setup.

We bought a most basic soft floor camper made in Vic and buildt with some changes we specified with a new cost of $5000.

Its really a leaf sprung trailer with side folding top and massive storage area underneath , and there are 2 things it does very well.

1/ Lots of room with a bigger than queen bed

2/ Goes more places than most by virtue of its under 500kg weight , hard to tell your towing anything , also because you can see over the top of it in rear view mirror.
(Ball weight is only 10-15kg)

We drive a GU Patrol and its setup for sleeping inside and has all our kitchen stuff available at the rear barn doors - i.e. the car is fully setup for overnight camping and doesn't need to use the camper. I designed the camper with single long drawbar (instead of A Frame) to enhance use of rear of car.

Hence we don't need to setup for overnight stays , don't need to disconnect the camper much either.

If camp site is really muddy then we simply use the car to save muddy floor.
(Sometimes we also use "throw away" ground sheets).

We also designed the camper to have no kitchen - no water - no electrics and this all means it can take a hell of a bashing without breaking.
These things being already in the car setup.

Also the soft floor tent area is the smallest I could get (2.2X2.2m)- but is still twice the size of friends campers like Vista / Nautlis etc.

When its not suitable to sit around campfire , we can seat up to 8 inside the camper.

Disadvantages include - to hot in sun , we have tried a fly over the top and while this helps a lot we don't think is worth the effort as its easier to use a pit tent etc.

Also takes good 5 minutes to unzip top cover , and also have to take care with setting up in wind.

Have a look at Cameron Campers in Lonsdale SA. I have got one and they are a good quality Australian Made product. Queen size bed. They are soft floor but the clever design means you do not have to use tent pegs.
https://cameroncampers.com.au/

I agree with the many sentiments expressed.
At present there are a flood of "flat packed or partial" campers getting into the leisure market, these are imported campers imported into Australia in either semi-whole or in parts and assembled in Australia.
They have become extremely popular because the price of these are very comparable to the Australian equivalent...sometimes by over 50%.
If you are interested in buying one of these types of campers in new condition...please check thoroughly the trailer workmanship, canvas material and the after sales service.
The second hand market has some very good examples...Kimberly, Aussie Swag, Pioneer, Cameron, Lifestyle, Modcon etc, all at quiet reasonable competitive prices, when considering quality, longagivity and especially "resale value"
Good Luck.

Cheapest to retrain your dog.