camper trailers

hi there, dont have specific knowledge of these trailers, but have heard stories about jayco. from what i understand (correct me if im wrong guys) but ive heard that no matter what they call it, its still a modified onroad camper! a mate travelled the cape with his tambo and he saw some jayco's that had nearly rattled themselves to death. if you want an "off road camper" buy one from someone who makes "off road campers" not someone that makes on road ones and has had a go at building an off road one! plus if its one of those wind up ones, it will give you the craps evey time you have to stop and get supplies and wind it up, get inside, put it away, wind it down again.......
personally, i love my tambo, as you can lift the side or open the tailgate weather it is set up or not! but this may not suit your purposes

i think you may need to provide more details, like; how much will you use it for off road/on road camping 50/50 80/20? what sort of off road are you talking, dirt roads or high country? what are you using to tow it? how many people does it need to house? do you NEED a solid floor?

even if you have your mind set on one of these two trailers, some more info would help those who have better knowledge of the two, to answer your question.

hope this helps!

If you really are going off road, then do not get a Jayco.
There are plenty of camper trailers out there that will not fall to bits.
We have a Trak shak ,, 10 min setup and pack up time, but the main thing to look at, is that what ever you get, go for Independant Coil Springs, nothing else, for the best all round performance.

I know very little about off road Caravans ,, but have a look at Bush Tracker, andTrack Master,, from what I have been told they are brilliant .\

Cheers Nate
Bucky

My parents recently bought a 'Traveller' brand off-road pop top camper van. It's tough! It has a Treg hitch, offroad hubs, bearings, full gal chassis, swept up rear for departure angle, dual jerry can holders etc. It also uses independent suspension with leaf springs.

Before they purchased this, they sold their Jayco 'offroad' wind up camper van. I believe it was a Jay Dove?!

Anyway, the point to be made here is that there was absolutely no comparision between the toughness of the two. They've done the Cape etc and reckon they'd never have ever thought of taking the Jayco up there. They would however consider towing the new Traveller up there.....

Friends of ours are semi retired, or were at the time of this series of events:
They were towing their old everyday van down the east coast doing some touring when it finally decided to give up the ghost. This was to be expected as it was very old. They traded it in on a brand new Jayco offroad van down south somewhere. Since then, they've done heaps of touring in it including following the extent of the Murray River etc, and it has started to fall apart. They're not particularly happy with the quality of it.

I'm building my own camper trailer at the moment and understand the issues involved with trying to engineer something to last. Camper van manufacturers do really well in terms of trying to keep such a large object so rigid for the extent of its life.
I guess you just have to use your best judgement in terms of choosing a van which suits your driving style. If you look after your gear then I'm sure you will respect whichever van you buy and you won't have many problems.

Good luck with it.

Anthony.

If you want a 'wind-up' camper then the off-road abilities will be limited (no idea what you think off-road is). If you do really want 'off-road' to be anywhere you car would go, then a camper trailer will be needed. You (or partner!) may not want to deal with some of the aspects inherent in using a tent camper trailer. A full sized off-road van might be nice but you need the right vehicle to tow it, manoeuvre it, not to mention the funds to buy it.

They are all compromises.

Hi Sg - we owned a Jayco dove, and then a Coromal Magnum (the model before the Silhoutte). Our Jayco was very old, so I will not comment.
The Coromal was brilliant, and we towed it into some serious off-road locations.
Fossicking tracks on cattle station west of Eromanga; Moutain trails into river gorges etc; Crossed the Cooper creek in flood; Sand/beach at Double Island point Qld. (Most of our camping is off the beaten track.)
The Coromal was brilliant. We recently traded it for a Coromal off road Poptop.
Why - No longer need beds for the kids (grown up) + prefer the convenience.
Absolutely love the Poptop. Same chassis, wheels, suspension as the Magnum.

Have a look at my reply on post 46335. This lists some (minor) items to look at.
Highly recommend the Magnum off-road version. Not too sure how the new ones will go - they are now fiberglass - but technology improves and even plastics can be made stronger than steel.
If you can find an off-road one secondhand - just buy it. You may have to search and wait though. They do not come on the market very often. (I wonder why? ). We searched for about 6 months - rang the same day it was advertised and went down - paid a deposit - and seller had at least 2 other buyers interested. (paid $17,000).
3 years later, a Dealer gave us the same price for trade-in on the pop-top (also second-hand - 2 yrs old - $28k).
Hope this helps ..................Keith