Camper Trailer advice

G'Day Roamin,
For the money the Hayman Reece style will be much better. The biggest advantage is that you can change the height of the reciever so that the camper rides straight, and so will be better balanced when towing.

couplings

Hope this helps
Rolande

Camp-o-matic trailer camper (5yr old)...any more info ? weight? size.? Model? sorry to ask ...but can u be a bit more specific? ...there are a heap of models out there that fit this general description..

Roamin
We hired a Trackabout Safari last year as a "try-out" before purchasing a trailer and it was fitted with an electric brake kit on the side of the tralier tucked in around the "lip" for protection. Seemed to work OK, the guy calibrated it for us when he hooked it up and we never had to worry about it.

I would suggest the Haymen Reece if you can.

Hope this helps.

With the electric brakes.

You can put the controller on the trailer. It will be triggered by the brake signal from the car.
The simpler models are just a rheostat that increase or decreases the braking on the trailer. i.e. you set the braking you want and every time you touch the car brakes that same braking is applied on the trailer, no matter how hard you brake the car. More complicated models have some type of braking sensor (systems vary) that varies the braking on the trailer.

We have this set up on our local scout group canoe trailer so every one can tow it. It is only the simple rheostat type.

Bit of experimentation and when the trailer is empty I set to to about 1/3rd on.
Reasonably well loaded, set it to about 1/2 way.
Heavy load I set it to 2/3rd braking.
(if it is set to 2/3rd on an empty trailer, the trailer wheels lock up on any braking.)
But of course you need to stop and get out to adjust it each time when trying it out.
And if you have a panic stop, you will not have full braking on the trailer with this basic rheostat system.

But this setup is better than no brakes on the trailer!

However, one problem I did find is that the person who hooked up the system used the brake input signal to power the trailer brakes. First few times I used the trailer the 6 amp brake fuse in the trailer connection blew each time. Had to upgrade it to a 10amp fuse, and make sure the car brake fuse and wiring was up to powering the trailer brakes.

Trust this helps.

Hi Roamin

The On Board controller you are considering is approved in Qld but I am told that they cant be installed or fitted in NSW or on NSW registered trailers??

We have them on our Hire Fleet and they work fine. We power the unit from the camper battery vis a relay meaning less chance of blowing the fuse as mentioned above.

We get ours from Vehicle Components in Bris about $100 -$150 plus install.

Good luck.

My thoughts on the towing capacity of the tow pack on the Territory, or any other vehicle for that matter, are to get the highest rated pack you can.

You say the camper is 1100kgs, is that gross or tare weight? If it is tare you will very quickly bring the gross weight above the 1600kgs you say the tow pack is rated to. If it is gross weight this will be less of a problem. However, if you are scooting along one of our lovely back roads, say White Cliffs to Mutawingee to Tibooburra or Ivanhoe to Menindee, the corrigations will give the car, trailer, tow bar and coupling a hiding. If the tow pack is already close to capacity it has less left over to deal with the strain of our less than perfect country roads.

Go the heavier duty tow pack.

Duncs

Guys, Thanks for the great replies - info that I've generally not been able to pick up from the net. The trailer appeared to indicate 1100kg gross but this appeared heavier than the current models on the net, so that would be plus potsn pans etc i guess?? (Sorry to be vague there)

The 2300kg towpack is RRP$1800, but includes "load levelling" and Transmission cooloer kit. Normally I'd look at aftermarket, but in swapping existing order I don't have that luxury. I think I'll go the heavy duty option after your comments.

Thanks again all for the sound advice, and where to source the elct brake controller - much appreciated. (A Treg coupling on the back of a Territory is bound to get some comments ...)

Hi Roamin, try Ford Forums. This is a link to the Territory forum, anything you can't find out here(explore oz), you should be able to find at Ford Forums.

I guess the load leveller will help but you should make sure you have enough clearance to lower the jockey wheel. It best to have your vehicle loaded when testing this.

The last thing you want is to be backing up onto ramps or blocks every time you un/hitch.