Wednesday, Jan 24, 2007 at 12:36
Hi Birdy,
I know exactly what you mean about storage and it was one thing that originally put me off . However, in practise it is actually much better than my previous caravan - and that had a heap of dedicated storage space like cupboards, under
seat and full roofline cupboards!!!
For a roadside stop, you simply swing the tailgate out and you have access to the kitchen.
The steps turn out to be great seats and your food (packed in containers on the floor) are easily accessible while sitting on
the steps. If you do want your chairs, they are easily reached.
When setting up for a quick overnight stop (ie. not wanting all chairs etc.. set up), simply open the camper and raise the canvas (<3 mins) and its here you do have several containers of food, a few chairs and a bag or two of clothes on the floor.
What I do is simply stack these at the foot of the single beds. They take up say one foot of space and still leaves heaps of room for even me to lay down (could sleep my kids head to toe if required and have a spare single bed). This completely clears the internal floor space within the camper. My camper has the set of six _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx that are under the end of the double bed and this is where most of the clothes are stored.
I actually find this much better than my previous caravan as when initially packing everything, all food and clothes have to be packed into the dedicated space in the van while in the camper you pack it in the house straight into the bag/containers directly. This may sound backward but, suprisingly, I can pack the camper much easier and quicker than the van. And having less dedicated storage space means you do think about what you really need. I reckon I rarely used more than 25% of the stuff I took in the van!!!
And unpacking is quicker still. As everything is in 6 or so bags/conatiners, simply carry them into the house. Whereas the van required unpacking from underseat storage and food from cupboards and it seemed to take a LOT longer. Its funny that while a van seems easier to get ready in theory, it actually takes a lot longer.
Also, accessing clothes in the van required people to get off the seats and/or remove the acculmualtion of junk on them while in the camper you easily access the bags on the single bed or the slideout storage container under the double bed.
So my initial concerns about gear stored on the floor of the camper turned out to be unfounded. Must admit I am really pleased about that :)
The main reasons I choose the Camprite is the dedicated single and doouble beds with all beds
well off the ground. All beds are left made up so quick overnight stops are so easy, nothing much to do once the camper roof is up. Also, the interior space seems much bigger and the built-in seats work out really
well in practise - you are not sitting on the beds all the time.
While I like the idea of the hardfloors like the Pioneer, it simply didn't have enough room after the kids beds were put on the floor - plus they cannot be left set up or have somewhere to sit (not counting the bed). But if you don't have kids then that negates a lot of the Camprite advantages.
Both the Camprite and the Pioneer are excellent WA products and choosing between the two is more about what your needs are, not trying to see if their construction is tuff enough for true off road work as they both are really
well made. There are minor differences (I prefer the Camprites electric brakes to the Pioneers overide discs for example) but the point is they are both up to the task.
Cheers
Captain
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