Buying a Camper Trailer Feedback

Hi Rory,

Firstly, have a look at the Trader - Campers and Trailers section of this site. There are several second hand units advertised and you will get an idea of what is available in your price range.

Secondly, check out the reference material under Articles - Campers and Trailers for some great information.

There is also very good Manufacturers reference on most brands of camper trailers accessible from campertrailers.org which also has more good information and tips.

Your idea of visiting the Penrith Show is also a great idea as you can physically check out the different features of each camper on display.

Once you have narrowed down the camper to one that has the features you require, it is then a matter of waiting until the right second hand unit comes along.

Good luck hunting!


Bill.

Checkout e-bay for some cheap ones, or the Trading Post.

My Swag forum will give you heaps of information but will probably make you even more confused.

Regards
Geoff

Hi Rory

Try this site. We bought our caravan through here.

http://www.caravancampingsales.com.au/buy/camping-trailers/

Our only suggestion is do your home work onlie and the caravan show is a good point for all the new stuff.

Cheers

Mish

You should be able to get a pretty good one for that price! I would look both here on the trader section or myswag.org. ( no, i am not promoting this site. they all have their own benifits)

If you go to the show and check out the campers , they normally chuck in a few extras as well for the same price. Just ordered a CT and got show with out going to the show. Bit hard to see CT's on show when living in NQ.

We bought our camper trailer off ebay. We managed to find one that was 15 months old, used only 3 times and was in perfect condition. Got it for $4k below retail and we love it.

I did a bit of research and spoke to some relatives who had them. Main advice was:

- Get a proper off road camper trailer, then you can take it anywhere and not worry whether it will last the roads
- Make sure canvas is good quality and not cheap chinese canvas (we have 14oz walls and roof, dynaproofed)
- Get electric brakes
- Don't waste your money on expensive kitchen
- If you have 2 kids, get the larger-sized tent. We got the 12 foot tent and it has plenty of room for our young family (1yr + 4yr girls).
- We got hyland hitch and are very happy with it (easy to get on/off)

One thing I didn't realise before our trip was the amount of stones that get flicked up onto the camper while driving on gravel/dirt roads. Although a stone-guard will prevent the stones from coming back and smashing your rear windscreen, it won't stop rocks from chipping the undersides/sides of the camper. Get some stone guards to attach behind the tyres on your jeep.

Enjoy your travels!

Have just sold our 11 year old Cavalier off road camper for $5500 this was about what we paid new in 1999 dragged the thing all over the place outlasted 2 4wds was on 3rd one when we sold the unit. If your look at this type of trailer the Cavalier is a good unit. Ps sold it to replace with campervan getting a bit old the pack up all that canvas. Good luck with what ever you do and happy camping the kids will love it. John c

Hi Rory,

We bought a camper trailer a few months ago having been caravaners for years. We looked at many brands and evaluated my process 3 times and came back to the same brand each time.

We are at the stage where we want to get as remote as we can yet still have a good base camp ability.

You need to decide if you are going to be going off road or black top touring to caravan/nationa parks etc.

If you intend to go off road you will need a good quality off road trailer. Be careful not to get the $5,000 chinese import trailers that are on the market. They will not last the distance and you do not want to be 1,000 k's from somewhere and it falling apart.

Check out trading post and ebay. From there you will narrow down a few brands that suit your needs. Qld seem to have a few companies that make campers for reasonable prices.

We bought a Tambo Cooper XT second hand for just under 10k. Our kids are 12 and 9 and the XT has extra tent space for "kid klutter".Tambo are made in Wantirna in Victoria by a family owned/operated company.Tambo do not go to the shows. Their product sells by word of mouth. There is currently many months to wait before they could deliver one. That speaks volumes in my book. By not going to the shows they save advertising $$'s that us consumers are not paying for which is something you may want to consider

There are sure to be similar companies like them in Sydney.

Get an exercise book and jot down anything you think you want to remember. Because 5 websites and 2 days later you will forget what you wanted to remember.

If you intend to stick to black top touring you will save some $$. But if you want the freedom to just go there then get a sturdy off roader. Treg hithes on the camper will give you an idea how serious the trailer is. The standard ball coupling will not enable you to travers the ups and downs that tracks will have.

Consider getting a trailer with a tool box on the front A frame. Having it set forward the width of jerry cans will enable a bracket to be put between the trailer and tool box. Three jerry cans will fit there and increase your water capacity.

Also consider power. We have a second battery in the tow vehicle that gives constant power to the 12V socket in the back of the 4WD to power the fridge. We also have a battery in the tool box on the trailer that is powered by an anderson plug connected to our second vehicle battery. This means we are most unlikely to have the main vehicle battery going flat. Our tool box battery has a 12 v plug on it and also powers our LED strip lights that I have put in through out the trailer.

We also have a inverter that runs of the tool box battery to give us 240 volts to charge the lap top battery and camera batteries. I have run a shortend extension lead from the tool box into the camper to enable us to do all this and keep these items safer overnight.

Kitchens - as previously said do not go overboard. But you need to make sure the Minister of Home Affairs is happy with it. We have a swing out rear tail gate kitchen and a bench extension that attaches once the kitchen is opened out.

The stone guard on the camper is worth it and so is reducing your speed to no more than 80 KPH on gravel roads to reduce the speed stones etc are coming back at the trailer.

Rear access to your Jeep. When you decide on your trailer before you buy it hitch up the trailer to the Jeep, open the rear doors and make sure you can get into the back easily.

Annexes etc - If you are going to be staying in the one place for 2 weeks you may want an annex. If you are doing 1-2 nights then moving on you may want to consider just an awning and one wall where the kitchen is. This is what we decided on. From start to finish we are set up in 8 minutes. Pack up time is about 12 minutes.

Good luck with the adventure of doing it your way.

Cheers
Paul