Off-Road Camper for 6

Submitted: Thursday, Jun 30, 2011 at 14:53

ThreadID: 87300 Views:5938 Replies:15 FollowUps:6

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Buying a Camper Trailer

For many campers the decision over the 'living quarters' poses the greatest quandary in the pre-trip planning. Other than a wide range of trailers,

NUTS!

I'm interested to hear what other large families are using for camper trailers, or any idea's people have.

I have 4 kids (4yo to 12yo) and want a camper that's very quick to setup/pulldown and will sleep all 6 of us. I'll be using it for bush tracks, desert trips, beach and road touring with overnight stops. Towing with a TD 200 Series cruiser.

I've been steering away from traditional soft-floor campers as I borrowed one and it took ages to setup and the kitchen was still out in the rain (took another half hour to setup extra annex). However it was very solid and would handle any off road track.

I've also been keeping away from the Jayco and similar wind up roof campers because of their size, weight and I doubt they'll handle the off road track's I'll be throwing at it. Also, have to set these up just to access the kitchen and food.

Am I dreaming or is there actually something out there that'll work?
(I havent found anything yet).
Cheers
NUTS!

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Reply By: Sir Kev & Darkie - Thursday, Jun 30, 2011 at 15:35

Reply By: Member - A J- Thursday, Jun 30, 2011 at 15:38

Reply By: MEMBER - Darian, SA - Thursday, Jun 30, 2011 at 16:28

Reply By: portlester - Thursday, Jun 30, 2011 at 16:28

Thursday, Jun 30, 2011 at 16:28

Hi Nuts

We have a Trak Shak for us and 5 kids (aged 18 months up to 9) and love it. It has two queen size beds and also a queen size retreat under one of the top beds as well. With so much floor space there is still plenty of space available even when the porta cot is set up.

It is quick to set up, and the large floor area is great for the kids when its wet outside and they are stuck inside (most of the other campers we looked at may have been able to sleep 7 at a pinch, but there was little room left for moving around in). It also has heaps of storage space inside, which with a growing family of 7 is needed.

The camper is very basic wrt kitchen, water setup etc however we quite like it that way. With the kitchen on the rear door, when we pull up we pull it off the door (you can always leave it on and then cook inside the tent if you wish), setup the tent and then put the kitchen back under the awning. There is no water tank, but with room for up to 9 jerry cans this is not an issue, you only nee to pull off one jerry at a time.

The Trak Shak is built like a tank (with only a possible concern for those first built when they moved overseas). We have had ours now for just over two years and have travelled extensively through VIC, NSW & SA across all terrains and it has never skipped a beat.

If you can't tell, we are very happy with it. There are other 'large' campers, but the Trak Shak suits us and we wouldn't swap it.

Good luck with the decision.

AnswerID: 458868

Follow Up By: NUTS! - Thursday, Jun 30, 2011 at 16:33

Thursday, Jun 30, 2011 at 16:33

Thanks for the top run down :-)

If you can fit 5 kids in it and still come out smiling, then I think we'd fit no problem.

Do you have any idea how much it weighs?

Cheers

FollowupID: 732439

Follow Up By: portlester - Thursday, Jun 30, 2011 at 17:32

Thursday, Jun 30, 2011 at 17:32

Just took a look at the weight. Ours is a 1999 model. It's tare weight is 690kg and gvm is listed as 1100kg. We tow it with a 100series diesel landcruiser and have not issue at all.

Also forgot to mention that ours does not have the boat/solar panel rack which we probably would have got if there was one available when we were looking. Now that we don't have the rack (although it would still be handy for using as an extra roof rack) we don't find it an issue as we are yet to ever run our of packing space with what we have.

Here is a photo of our one for you to take a squiz at. The Trak Shakwebsite also has a video of one being setup - it almost as simple as they show.

cheers

FollowupID: 732447

Follow Up By: NUTS! - Sunday, Jul 03, 2011 at 21:38

Sunday, Jul 03, 2011 at 21:38

Thanks again, I'm almost totaly sold on these track shak's :-)

How do you find the storage space? IE once the rear door with kitchen is folded away, and the front door with fridges is folded away, is there enough space in the middle to store food and clothes and camping chairs (among other things) for 6 people?

Cheers
NUTS!

FollowupID: 732673

Follow Up By: portlester - Sunday, Jul 03, 2011 at 22:21

Sunday, Jul 03, 2011 at 22:21

Hi NUTS!

We find it has plenty of room for storage inside - even with a fridge and the kitchen. We fit four 45L Kitab crates (with our clothes); a 68L crate (which will probably be swapped for another to 45L crates, but at the moment stores general stuff); two food crates (one 19L & one 38L) plus a selection of smaller bags (containing shoes, towels, etc).

We now have packing/unpacking down pat, especially since we got the 45L crates - food down the fridge end and clothes down the kitchen/tent end. Literally once the tent is up it takes two minutes to pull out what is needed for the night and then put it back the next day. Much quicker and easier than the tote bags that we first used.

A trick we were taught from another ex Trak Shak owner was to keep our sleeping bags/bedding on top of the beds (and cover with a tarp) before we fold the tent up. Saves both a heap of time as well as space.

The camp chairs are put on top of the cruiser. Because of the type of camping we like to do (away from the crowds & therefore shops) on our longer trips we also have another 19L food crate & a couple of clothes bags on the roof racks as well.

As I mentioned earlier, if you can get a Trak Shak with the solar/roof rack then it would be useful (although in some ways I'm glad we didn't get one now as it would probably lead to us taking even more than we do).

To give you an idea of the space inside, the photo below shows my 9 year old climbing inside the camper to get some bowls, etc out from the kitchen after the latch broke on the trailer door at Hattah NP (it was easily fixed once we got to a welder in Mildura - and was my fault for letting the seals wear away to nothing and me do nothing about it but continue to tighten the latches more).

Happy hunting. I know from experience that it is a bit confusing at first and everyone thinks what they have is the best (myself included!). Have a look around and see what suits you.

cheers
Ian