Monday, Jun 11, 2007 at 07:39
Trailer!
Our Cavalier is 12 years old, (we've had it 2 years) and for an "overnighter" can be set up in 10 minutes. It has a small awning, but we carry an Oztent 3m X 3m Gazebo instead and set this up outside for longer stays. The
kitchen, cooker and table/chairs are all in the gazebo, which has solid walls for rain and fly walls for insects. We don't always put the walls on. Full set up is about 45 minutes, full pack up about an hour.
Our previous
camp site was a dome tent and tarps, and usually by the time everything was put up, we weren't real happy with each other and the kids would have disappeared to get away from us. Packing up was a nightmare as
well, but the real problems were getting it ready to go and packing it away when we got
home! With the trailer, we pack food and clothes in, fill the water tanks, put the fridge in the truck, hook up and go..... when we get
home, unhook, unload clothes and leftover food, take the fridge out then relax in the spa with a glass of red.
From our experience, some points to ponder;
Some trailers are easier than others, recently we set our gear up and sat back watching 3 of our friends setting their rigs up, all included large awnings that required poles and guy ropes and lots of hammering of pegs.
Trailers that fold the tent "off-the-rear" tend to have smaller internal dimensions, therefore larger awnings are needed. Tents that fold "off-the-side" are usually larger. The common size is 9ft, ours is a 14ft tent which is HUGE inside, we didn't know they came that big till we found ours and now wouldn't have anything else. Even with the kids beds made up, we can still sit at a table inside and play cards or whatever if it's cold outside or wet or whatever. Plenty of room.
Have a good look at what's available and when you're looking at trailers in a showroom situation, have a go at folding/setting up, and see for yourself how it's done. Maybe hire a few to try out. (We hired a Trackabout Safari before buying ours, a very good unit but they have some features that don't suit us.)
Hope all this helps
Cheers
Brian
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Follow Up By: pauljohnston - Monday, Jun 11, 2007 at 14:27
Monday, Jun 11, 2007 at 14:27
Hi, Tanks for the comment, What brand is yours?
PJ.
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Follow Up By: Member - Brian (Gold Coast) - Monday, Jun 11, 2007 at 18:04
Monday, Jun 11, 2007 at 18:04
No worries Paul, it's a Cavalier.
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