Sunday, Feb 01, 2009 at 11:21
Just a couple more things to ponder.......... (turns out to be a longish post...)
1. Where do you intend to take the camper? I categorize traveling routes as the following:
Highway and bitumen roads
Good, smooth wide, fast dirt or gravel roads
Dirt/gravel roads with corrugations
Narrow winding tracks with washouts
Steep mountainous country (+/- mud/bogholes)
Sand/beach driving
"Offroad" (aka - untracked territory, through deserts)
A high quality "offroad" model as others have mentioned will do most if not all of these types of tracks, but with varying strain on the towing vehicle. The harder. more corrugated, steeper tracks will ensure more ongoing maintenance is required to the trailer and vehicle. I won't get into the independent v leaf spring and shockers v no shockers debates. You will need to work out this one yourself with lots of research and your general 'feeling'.
2. How much do you value your '
home comforts'? Fancy extras cost money and for similar dollars you may be able to buy a more basic model, but more robust. Lots of fancy extras often create more things to break and increase maintenance if used heavily on very rough corrugated roads.
3. Do you value VERY quick setup (ie hard floor) or do you prefer increased storage capacity for largish family? Mostly, the hard floor campers have less storage space than the side-fold soft floor ones and the hard floor (often) have less tent space for extra beds or stretchers for kids etc.
In my situation, I have a growing family and wanted lots of storage space, the capacity to leave the thing in a 'ready-to-go' type setup; very solid chassis - fully galvanized to prevent rust; solid and proven
suspension system that would not shake the cr@p out of all my gear (and without having to lower the campertrailer tyres on corrugated roads more than is normally accepted as this heats up tyres too much and WILL reduce their life and potentially increase risk of blowout and the resultant damage that may be caused). I also wanted one that was built near where I live for after sales service (particularly advice), a solid company that has been around for a while with a good reputation etc. Solid reliable canvas and canvas contruction with appropriate ventilation and flyscreens; innerspring matress (foam just doesn't last from what I've seen, though there are some better options these days); fully articulated 'offroad' coupling; capacity to carry a couple of jerry cans;
water tank; solid jockey wheel; plus a few other little bits and pieces.
To get all this in a QUALITY built camper was out of my budget new, so I went to the used market. There are heaps around and it just a matter of looking around for a little used one with what yu want and within your budget. I felt that the value in a good quality second hand unit was better than the cheaper ones bought new as they will soon be second hand (after the first outback trip!). I also felt that with a high quality unit it was less likely to bust something major and hopefully the little problems were sorted by the previous owner.
SO far I have been happy with my purchase. Like anything it is a compromise to some extent as I find if I do trips where I am on the move everyday to get somewhere distant, the setup and pack up gets a bit tedious. A caravan or faster setup hard floor camper would be better for this, but when I get to where I'm going, I appreciate the extra space and load carrying capacity mine has, thus a compromise.
I am confident mine will go anywhere I want to take the car, with the exception of very steep high country tracks. Whilst I have no doubt the trailer would cope with the situation, I feel it is too much strain for the car - engine, transmission and running gear. I simply change the way I do these trips, by setting up a little 'base
camp' for a few days and do day trips to see the area, then repeat process. I feel it's better for the family this was as they get more time relaxing around the
camp, rather than the perpetual setup/packup routine.
This shows a storage option on my camper and I can safely say that nothing has ever broken in these lockers over some fairly corrugated roads....testament to great
suspension setup IMO.
I'm not really pushing one brand over another as there are just so many options around, depending upon preference for inclusions,
suspension type, budget, size, ease of setup/packup, etc.
Good luck in your hunt. You will have many good times touring in a campertrailer, if you need the capacity to get 'off the beaten track'. If I wanted to stick to bitumen roads and/or the best of the smooth gravel roads for short distances, I would get a caravan. For everything else, it's hard to go past a solid campertailer.
Cheers,
Mark
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