Slide-On campers

I know of a member with one from Metalform in Warragul, it is very good, a small issue with waterproofing which I'm sure could be solved. One thing they have imrpoved on their unit was to make get made a frame for it to slide on. so then the ute tray is removed to put on the camper, saves a couple of hundred kilos........
Nick

Hello Mary Anne.
I wonder why you feel that a slide-on is the way to go. If you intend to drive out daily from a ' kinda base camp', then yes, go 'slide on'. We haven't stayed more than a week or so at any given spot, and do find our rig a bit (lot) restricting. But 'The Boss' reckons that, as long as she can still crawl up into her swag, then this is the way to go.
. revs , we're no longer young 'n silly: just silly.
Are you still young?
I thought so. Check out our images - it's pretty damn good, and NO, I'm not touting.Stay safe. JH.

Been going down a similar comparo myself. At this stage I'm leaning to the TrayOn made on Sunshine Coast. www.trayon.com Lighter than most, strong and very easy to use. Good value as well. All owners I have met on the road are very happy but I am told there is a bit of a wait to have one made. I'd go for a two way fridge and solar panel.

I have the same vehicle. I have a slide-on canopy, rather than a slide-on camper. We still use swag or tent, but have considered slipping a Maggolina bed up top. The canopy is a custom-built full aluminium with lift-up side doors on struts.

I have tried to minimise weight, so the vehicle remains very capable for remote travel. And the canopy height and profile is the same as the cab. One side is set up as the kitchen, the other has drawers for clothes, spare parts, swag etc etc The whole setup is completely dustproof and waterproof. Under the tray is a 75litre water tank, and a split rim spare tyre. HF aerial and fullsize spare on the back. I have space inside for up to 14 extra jerry cans of either water or diesel, but rarely go above 8. And I can carry two engels. The roof is a mesh rack for anything extra plus firewood.

Its been our best setup for outback - just lift up the sides, grab a beer or a G&T and sit down. We usually roll out the swag when going to bed.

The Tray-on seems to be the pick of ready-made campers - doesn't add too much weight, and pretty posh inside. We have friends who have one on a 79series - its very nice, but a little more complicated than what we want.

rev's
. I would like to talk to you and your Old Man. He seems a lot like me: Stuff the computer!
. Quite seriously,we've got a pretty good setup, and didn't pay $18000 for the privilege of not being able to use the rear view mirror.
. Hey, travel safe M. Anne. And the $50 or so you spend to be a member probly won't be the worst yez ever lost, eh.
. Look forward to seeing you as a member.(Gees, I just remembered, our computer has ducks 'n drakes: maybe you've already succumed to the 'dark side')
Be gentle Folks, JH.

Mary Anne,

I can not directly relate to your vehicle but I can relate to the subject of slide-on campers. I just purchased one, which is still in the US and on its way soon.

I have done a lot of research on that subject and my wife and myself have been looking around for some time before we made a decision. I can give you some of my opinions and criteria. We had a lengthy process of identifying what we really wanted and lots of backwards and forwards in our decision process. It is a major point for us because we are going to live with it for some time to come.

We have been looking at larger caravans first, because we wanted a bit more space to live in when on the road for several years. None of the caravans really took our fancy (we only looked at so called off-road). At the end of the day we considered a large caravan as too restrictive and once we made the step towards a slightly smaller living space the consequence was clear. We wanted to take the boat too (would have been on top of the vehicle - was not really a small boat) and so the idea was born to get a slide-on.

We have looked at Supreme (liked it - but requires tray on larger vehicle) and others but found them either too small or tray versions. I personally do not like tray tops since they sit too high on the vehicle. I want the camper to sit between the wheels and not above. That limited the choice.

Most locally available slide-ons are reasonably small for the toyos and nissans etc. and after adding the weights of what we wanted to take with us including water, petrol, our dive gear, photo gear, computers, batteries, solar panel, grill guard -- oops sorry bull bar, winch, dogs, wine cellar (very important) AND the tounge weight of a boat trailer we did not see any chance to do this with a 3/4 ton truck or even with a 1t truck like the F-250 .. the total weight would exceed the payload of the truck by far ...

consequence was .. F-350 dual rear wheel .. at the time Ford stopped producing them and had only the chassis version anyway .. not a decent trim level, bed or crew cab for that matter so we decided to go the full monty and bring in our own truck.
Now this is not about the truck but the camper. Since we decided to bring in a truck we were not too far away from bringing in a camper too ... which we did.

I went through that process... timber frame, metal frame, fiberglass, alu panels, foam insert .. you name it ... at the end I was more confused than in the beginning. Now in the US you have a selection of 30 or 40 companies doing truck campers as they are called there , Northstar is one of them and that model is sold here (there is an importer).. There are many many more .. I read forums, posted questions, talked to dealers, factory reps, people I know in the US etc etc ..
I had as many arguments pro a certain brand or constructions as I had against ...
Timber is a bit out in the US mainly in the wet areas and some brands get a bad wrap about leakage .. but to be honest .. moisture is not really a problem here is it ? well QLD maybe .. a fiber glass shell gets the most votes for stability with an underlying alluminium frame .. but then again some have bad experience with sloppy frame construction where timber looks easier to build and has more flex ... these are the arguments I read on the forums and I get told. I have no own experience yet with mine since it is not yet in the country, but will be soon.
Some reported cracks in the shell and would prefer panels .. Slide-on off road is not really that common even in the US... mine is sold "built for the back roads" .. well we will see ... it was not why I bought it ..

I have decided to buy a pretty raw version (not many extras) to fit it out myself because some items I want are not very common in the US and not available in Australia... for example .. we want a ceramic cook top running on diesel. I do not take LP on board .. can't be bothered with a third type of fuel .. diesel for the truck and petrol for the boat is bad enough. I have not yet solved my water heating/shower issue. Still need to find a water heater I like - non LP. My research resulted in some more knowledge and tricks the boys accross the ocean do ..

very important is the tie down mechanism.. solid tiedowns and turnbuckles with solid anchors on the camper to make sure it does not move a bit or jump ..

There a rubber mats on the market (1cm thick or so .. quite dense .. water can penetrate through) which make a good underlay and give the camper a bit of a suspension... they have to be firm though for a heavy one that you do not get too much of a spring effect ..

The differences I think are mainly in the features and extras and looks rather than the construction too much when you compare fiberglass against fiberglass or panel against panel ... at the end of the day I said .. what the heck .. if it will break I will fix it and other criteria than construction wre important to us.

Pop Top or not: Pop tops make it more versatile, smaller, lighter, easier to go places. Cons are less insulation (hotter or colder depends where you are), less comfortable and not many shower versions available. Well we wanted a shower and we did not want the tent top so the pop top was out ..

In the US the truck campers are mostly very big .. 10' floor space and 3400+lb
People load them on top of single rear wheel truck and I really wonder how that can work without more disasters .. well it can not work here and especially not in the bush ... weight is an issue. They drive mainly bitumen. The smarter ones put these monsters on a dual rear wheel ... now duallys have some problems on sand and especially the stock trucks (without diff mods) are not too good in sand ...
With a truck camper on the back you are much heavier and have to be even more careful not to dig yourself in .. the US trucks have their own issues here .. but thats not important now for this subject.

My criteria was to find the lightest truck camper with the interior size we could compromise on and with the least overhang in the back ... which I found and purchased.

Now .. beeing through that process I can say that the only justification to use a truck camper is when you tow a boat .. if you do not tow you are probably better of with a smaller solid off road van or a good camper trailer ... the truck camper on my truck will give me some giref in the future , I am quite sure, and I guess when you do not use a heavy duty truck like I do you will have some grief too unless you compromise dramatically on weight or get a dual axle mod for the truck.

I am still convinced I made the right decision for myself, but we have to be prepared to leave the boat behind at times and leave the camper on its legs and take the truck on it's own for certain places .. but that can be done with a van too (unless you tow a boat). If you do not want to be restricted in your 4wd ability you have to go as light as possible and thats probably only possible with a pop top .. but they are not cheap either here ... with a slide-on you dont have a trailer of course, no additional tires and spare, no suspension failing ... etc .. but your vehicle will suffer and you will need airbags and better shocks ...

Not an easy subject ... I wish you well with your decision
good luck
gmd

Hi Mary Anne,
The only mistake I've seen people make is to go for something too bulky or too heavy. Weight is a issue when going to the places you're planning. Your Landcruiser has a payload of 1200+kgs, and can be upgraded by another 400kgs if needed, so you have the right vehicle. But the more weight you have, the more fuel you use, the more likely that you'll bog down, and the more likely that you'll have issues on our corrugated highways. You'll need to have upgraded springs with whatever option you choose, so good ground clearance is maintained.

As you gather from above, everyone is different when it comes to how you setup a traytop camper - theres plenty of good options.

You may get some ideas from the archives and photo sections of the traytop camping email group

Cheers
Phil

Rev's

We picked up our Trayon in March, have it fitted to a 79Series cruiser, been to the Vic High Country, Simpson (Hay River) so far this year and have found it to be great. We to had been down the path of towing a camper in the past but found it to restrictive when off road. We have found the Trayon is ideal for two people, simple for one person to pack up if required, good dust sealing, light weight off road but also gives you the comfort of being of the ground. The 3 way fridge has worked well for us even though some people do not like them. I would highly recommend the Trayon if you are after a slide-on.

Regards
Pete

Mary Ann

Check out "Innovan" campers on the web. (has film clip of camper in action)

Photo in our profile. We are waiting delivery of ours.
We also are heading for the Kimberley's. Did a lot of research on this and think it is
the way to go.
We are setting up our truck now to suit the camper, hope to be on the road Dec.

Regards

Allan & June

Hi Mary Anne

We had a Heaslip unit for 2 years and found many excelent aspects to it.
However a bit cumbersome to erect.

We now have one of these (1month ago) www.utilitycampers.com/
We did a lot of research as we also do pretty hard off road stuff.
The utility set up has the least compromises and is less than 5 minutes to set up and pack up.

The main thing to look for is how stuff is secured as a lot of these are made by caravan idology manufacturers, which means that everything moves around inside on the rough stuff. Learnt this the hard way with the Heaslip and ended up using heaps of foam and shock cord etc to secure things.

There have been a couple of threads on this here that may be worth checking out.
35872 and 36095

Good luck
Chris

Hi Rev's

All good suggestions and you can also try www.candycanvas.com.au

My advice with the info posted here is to look at all them and decide what best suits your needs and budget.

Cya
MOH
:)

Haver had a trayon 6yrs. Have covered a lot of country & no problems & no dust, just put a mat over the floor vent. New models look even better!. This year we got an extended tray and put a tool box behind to carry those outside things (chairs, table's) Just gets better!

Hi Mary Anne,

We purchased a "Supreme Sunray" Slide on camper last November from Supreme Caravans in Fawkner, Victoria and have just done over 7,000 kms from Perth to Uluru via the Great Central Road, Gunbarrel Hwy, Lasseter hwy, then Oodnadatta track to Marree and then up the Birdsville track to attend the races. After Birdsville, we headed south via the Strezlecki track to the Flinders ranges, Adelaide and Melbourne. We encountered some pretty rough tracks at times (worst was in NT from border at Docker River to Uluru) but nothing broke or fell off but we did get a bit of dust in the camper as you would expect. We have our slide on mounted on a 2003 Nissan Patrol ST 4.2 litre Turbo-diesel ute and it handles it pretty well but we did have to beef up the suspension, add airbags and a heavy duty rear roll bar though. Our unit weighs 800 kg all up which is pretty heavy and you would need to be careful of sloping tracks but it is extremely comfortable with a real queen size bed. All in all we are very happy with our unit but we now look for comfort and not too much roughing it so there would be places it may not go compared to a roof top tent type slide on unit. Camping is full of compromises ! Happy to send you some photos if required.

John & Angela Syms
syms@westnet.com.au

hi mary anne

i'am building one at the momement, we will be sleeping in side of it so no set up time will be involved. we will be carring 2 engels , queen size bed , kitchen, cooker, every thing we will need , had enough of tents and trailers, so a slide on is the way for us. we are going from cape to cape , cape leuwin agusta w.a to cape york next june , up through the middle or as close to that as we can. the camper is
2.6metres long 1.980m wide and 1.150 high aluminium with 400mm pop top roof for more head room, as my wife is a bit taller than me .
will send you some photo's when finshed, thats if you are interested and thinking of going the same way.

bugger me

There's a Carry Me Camper in our local paper this week for $6500.00

Hi Mary Ann,
There are heaps on the market. The main issue tends to be weight. We have a carry me camper (there is a link in a previous reply) on a 79 series TD. We have just taken it down the CSR and across the Gunbarrell and Great central Road. It works very well and met our expectations. The only thing we did was add Poly Air Bellows to lift the rear a bit. As we normally drive it empty upgrading the rear springs was not really attractive. It is horses for courses though. I suggest you go and look at all of them and get the one that meets your needs and that you have the $ for.

Steve