2003 campomatic - deal or no deal ?
Submitted: Monday, Sep 19, 2011 at 23:24
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Jodie R
Hi good people,
About to realise my dream next year and this girl is hitting the road - have my eyes on a 2003 campomatic
Ranger off-roader (no fridge inc), boat rack., would $17,000 sound fair ?? Also can a person collapse/put up on their own ? I live in the tropics and expect it will be packed away over the build-up for a few months - how do people deal with the mould or preventing canvas rot ? Appreciate your help, thx
Reply By: wendy H - Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 06:50
Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 06:50
We have just bought a Cub Kamparoo
Brumby 2007 for $17,000.....no fridge, 2 batteries and large solar panel. Is quite heavy, and yes I can fold it down on my own and I'm over 50. We live in the Snowy Mt...no problems with moisture etc here ..hope that helps...
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 07:41
Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 07:41
Hi Jodie,
We have a 2009 model
Camp-o-matic
Ranger which includes the fridge, etc., and think the price you mentioned sounds fair.
Not having the fridge is not a real disadvantage providing you have one in your vehicle. Our Waeco upright in the camper is fairly heavy on battery capacity and we tend to rely more on our Engel.
One person can set up the camper on their own, but in my opinion you need two people to close it again. I have made up a manual winch attachment to make this job simple to achieve for one person, but it is not an option available from
Camp-o-matic as an accessory.
As far as the boat rack is concerned, you will need to remove it, (simple enough to do) if you are not taking a boat, as it is impossible to lock down the rack when empty. It needs three men to achieve this unladen as the design "assumes" there is a boat included to add weight.
The stove as supplied as standard is not a real "flyer" in my opinion. It will do the job but like most similar type units installed in campers, suffers from average burner intensity.
It does not compare with our portable Coleman two burner stove, but I have had the jets drilled out to increase the flame and improve the heat output.
The griller is great for toasting bread, but I haven't used it for anything else.
As far as everything else is concerned, the
Camp-o-matic is an excellent off-road camper that will provide quality camping wherever you may go.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: MEMBER - Darian, SA - Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 08:53
Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 08:53
We had an 04 Campomatic
Ranger M3 for 5 years (now using a van). The price sounds quite fair to me for a sound unit. The one you are looking at would have been built by the original company at Yatala Qld (
mine was one of the last)..... operations shifted in 05 fas as I know when the company was acquired by Trakshak. They are a strong, quality product overall. Deployment of the unit is very easy for one person - packing it up solo is another matter though - suggest you'd need a winch of sorts to assist in the process - there is required folding and tucking of the canvas in stages as you close it up - without help, you need something to retain the floor part closed as you scoot around the trailer. I closed
mine solo many times, but I made up a rope assembly to assist in the process.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: MEMBER - Darian, SA - Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 15:18
Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 15:18
er.... and... meant to say.... hope someone with tropical experience re canvas bobs up with a comment (I'm south, in the cold) - it is important....my guess is it might be best stored open.
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Follow Up By: Member - Boo Boo (NSW) - Wednesday, Sep 21, 2011 at 06:54
Wednesday, Sep 21, 2011 at 06:54
I aree with Darian, I would store it open during the wet and the build up,
I was up at Jabaru for 15 months and the humidity would be a problem.
We have a pop top van and during the humid summer last year in Qld we had a mould problem where the top met the body when closed.
After I had cleaned the mould off I left the top up during summer and no more mould problems.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Alloy c/t - Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 09:12
Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 09:12
Bought ours privately in 07 ,was 3rd hand by then , was 2001 model made at Yatala ,chasis no2001 , first build for year , paid $17500 , sold end of 2009 as no longer required to a dealer nthside
Brisbane , got $17000 , saw it 2mths later with price tag of $19990 ,, easy to setup but a pain to pack up unless a whinch is fitted to the front so foldup of canvas is easier , with ours our 9yr old was able to packup by himself.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Rangiephil - Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 09:22
Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 09:22
Putting up easy. As said down not so easy.
I have just come back from 3 months on
Cape York in my 1997
Camp-o-matic Getaway.
Unless you have a winch fitted it will be difficult for you to close. In addition to that already stated, you will need to be able to push up with your arms above your shoulders in the initial lift of the floor. Not so easy for ladies of a certain age , (without knowing yours of course). Also if it is like
mine , my wife finds it difficult to tighten the Knurled screws that hold the levelling struts at the back and under the middle in position so look at this aspect.
Make sure the gas struts are in good condition as these help. There are numerous "gas strut men" in the phonebook.
A 2003 would have been built at Yatala and so IMHO would be excellent.
However it sounds quite expensive to me. Have a look at the Camper trailer site where there are always lots for sale
http://www.campertrailers.org/
Regards Philip A
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Reply By: Rangiephil - Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 16:52
Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 16:52
Re the mould.
I guess that could be a real problem in the tropics.
Where I live at
Avoca Beach, I make sure it is as dry as possible , then cover with a Polytarp over the floor structure and boxes of the closed camper.This gives quite a bit of air circulation. I pass a tent pole through the holes in the floor end feet and make sure the camper jockey wheel is elevated so that all water runs off.
However my camper is in a place which gets very little sun so the grass under is damp and the jockey wheel rusts etc.
You should be OK as along at is is totally dry on packup and covered.
You could coat it with Driseal which is a wax product and also inhibits mould. I have coated
mine about 6 years ago and it is still OK.
Of course I guess the ideal would be to have it under cover and open every couple of weeks.
Regards Philip A
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Rangiephil - Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 17:06
Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 17:06
I just asked my wife her opinion and she raised another two points
1 If it has an offroad coupling, it is difficult to line up the holes to put the pin in, and often takes quite a bit of strength to move the camper to align the holes. You get better at it .
2 If you take down the camper by yourself it is difficult to get a"good pack" . this makes it difficult to do the initial latching of the overcentre catches which hold the camper closed. As my wife says, I have to use all my considerable weight to do it sometimes. This is partly because a
Camp'o'matic has a great advantage of having the awning able to be left attached when packed, and it has to be folded neatly to fit. This depends to some extent on how deep your bed is. we have a 4inch foam matress plus 1inch cellular , plus a padded matress protector.
Given all this maybe you would be better of with something like an A van which I understand from a woman friend who has one is easy to erect and dismantle, but is only On road and has a ball coupling which is easy to attach. ( of course you could fit a ball coupling to a
Camp-o- matic also.)
Regards Philip A
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Jodie R - Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 17:01
Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 17:01
Hello everyone,
Thank you very much for all of your useful information. Unfortunately this campomatic trailer is a 'no deal' this time ... it sold whilst i was still thinking about it !! I will keep looking for campertrailers, in particular the campomatic brand or T-Van ? , and learning from this website as I go. Thanks for all the great advice ! Jodie
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Follow Up By: Member - barbara M (NSW) - Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 20:53
Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011 at 20:53
Hi Jodie R!
We did have a
Kimberley Kamper and the reason we sold it because I could not put it down by myself. My hubby and I used to do it together but after a simple fall where I smashed my ankle I became aware of how easy it is to have an accident. So we bought a Tvan which I can put away by myself so maybe that may be worth a look or what about a really small off road van as that would be a lot easier for a woman. That is the way I would go or a slide on a 4x4 ute. Hope this helps. Congratulations for giving it a go and best of luck for the future.
Barb
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