Troopy Campers - pros and cons

you will need to get one with a pop top , high roof ones are too high to take anywhere

Hello Duncan,
I used to be a tent camper for the last 20 yrs , spend most of my time setting up & packing up daily had a very capable 80 series sold it all and bought a troopy no high roof no pop top . Has full length draws ,100 ltrs water fridge and double bed inside so my bed is always made no matter what the weather is doing . outside i have a 4mtr x 3mtr Aussie traveller awning that takes about 4 minutes to erect thats in im set up. have all the usual bits and pcs that you need to carry for remote travel. the best thing I ever did I love it, not as comfy as the 80 but better in every other respect for 40k I think you will have the perfect vehicle . cheers ron

G'day Duncan

I've owned a Troopy camper for a couple of years now. Mine was bought secondhand, with high top and btw in Perth where it seemed a good number of ex hire vehicles are sold off.

Mine now has a pop top. High tops have various cons for me including higher centre of gravity, wind resistance and lack of space in the upper sleeping deck.

I've posted about this before in answer to questions by a guy whose son was looking to buy one for a big lap. A thread or name search might turn it up.

The short of it is that the ex-hire vehicles are pretty "well" used and if I were doing it all over again I would look for a good second hand troopy and get the conversion done. General reason is that the hire vehicles have a very basic conversion done to the low end of the range Troopy. You might get lucky and find a good second hand one that was privately done but you might be waiting around a while too.

In my view carrying and sleeping 2 is fine. Three might be pushing it a bit on anything but shortish trips especially over rough country.

Can't really comment on your budget figure but my budget was to buy, convert to pop top and accessorise for around $30k. I'm probably in the red by a few grand on that budget but I'm not unhappy. It does everything I need. If you want mobility and 4WD capability then amenity and comfort/luxury of the fitout are what suffers. How one's partner feels about all that will vary like milage. If she's happy with camping out of the Terracan it will be a big step up in amenity IMHO.

It's nice to camp high and dry and set up in quick time. Nice to decamp and move quickly too. Crap weather? You can cook inside. Never used a camper trailer. Have hired campervans from 2 to 6 berth. It's not a caravan and it's not a larger campervan but you know all that already. Beats the heck outa tenting and I've done a lot of that too.The big thing is to be very very well organised - hence in part my comment about having a conversion done.

My driving is different to yours being more on the black top and gravel with some beach driving and fire track type stuff thrown in. It's a fishing truck not a remote outback trip vehicle. Having said that it is extremely capable off road - beyond my typical risk envelope as a single traveller.

Happy answer any other questions I can help with - now or later, on or off forum.

Cheers
Mark

Hi Dunc, looks like you are getting ready for Safari early this year! We knew a guy a few years ago who had an early 2000's ish Trakka troopy pop top camper he had a good run with it, he had it for a few years and used to go all over the place in it.
Met a Swiss couple in Kal this year, they had a Kea Troopy pop top conversion Ex hire, that they had bought to travel Aus. They had gear strapped all over the thing, jacks water containers, jerry cans you name it, I wondered how the radiator got any air at all. This was a very nice conversion worth hunting down I reckon. Looking at your budget you'll be getting into a coil spring front end at the very least and possibly a V8 diesel 4.5 litre job, if you look around you should get a decent Ex-Hire unit. Good luck with the shopping Dunc. Go the Troopy. ATB the Kanga's.

Hi Duncan

I wouldn't agree that a troopy is a very capable vehicle, they are the first to tip over , usually first to get bogged and at the end of the day they are narrow inside and also rough and noisy with poor access.

I have friends who have ended up just not being able to hack it with long hours of rough driving and back problems caused by them.

They are today built on the basics of a good strong V8 with tough chassis and high reliability these are great features for some aspects of what we do.

I know its a difficult choice as there just isn't much out there for 4wd drivers when there are lots of 2wd campervan options.

Have struggled with the same issue trying to do everything I can to aviod dragging another set of wheels.

If only there was a troopy as wide as my Patrol, but there isn't so what to do ?

Some of the tray based 79 series cruiser models with there aftermarket rear sections come up pretty well.
I have seen some home built sections for these with low down water tanks, alloy upper sections designed to be slept in and wider than a troopy, and with rear wheel spacer options, and coil over mods and suspension seats.

These would probably be where I'd start , but for now we will stick with sleeping in our Patrol and making the accessories fit around this option, it seems a more civilized and practical option.

Hi Duncan,

We have had a petrol Troopy for about 20 years during which time we have done a fair number of big trips including on some pretty rough tracks. Our blogs will give you some idea of where we have been. WE love our Troopy and consider it to be a very capable vehicle - and a younger diesel version would probably be even more capable.

The only real issue is the lack of side doors which limits access, but a well designed drawer system can overcome that. We have set up our Troopy so that it is very comfortable for an extended trip - here is a link to the blog we have done on the set-up. Some may query our lack of a cargo barrier, but we have not found a way to use one and still have the functionality of our bed and storage system. We do carry a fair bit on the roof and would miss that capacity in a pop-top.

Some people reckon the seats are uncomfortable, and in their basic vinyl covers they are. We have overcome this by always having covers on to stop sliding around, and currently have sheep-skin covers which are excellent - and have stayed remarkably clean.

Another big plus for a Troopy is the excellent visibility you get.

Good luck with finding the right Troopy.

Cheers,

Val

I have an ex Britz 1998 hightop Troopie with about 180 000 kms on it and find it travels well on or off road. I run 16" split rims and 16 ply cheesecutters. Goes almost anywhere and good to camp in. Don't go to underground carparks at supermarkets though. Not expensive to run, same as most 'cruisers, I believe. Around 1100-1200 kms from 2 tanks of diesel. Got OME suspension so it's fairly comfortable. Sit on around 90 kms an hour. Faster drinks more fuel, but easy to do (well, not uphill...) Often tow a trailer and hardly changes the fuel consumption. There are reports of how they can tip over but the fibreglass high top isn't heavy. Basically, I corner slowly! It's a good place to keep a lot of bedding when you're driving. We always leave the bed set up up top. Very convenient and comfy. Fold out bed at the bottom is fine. A bit of a tight fit for two at the bottom but possible. With 3 or more people a trailer is well worth the effort. Handles outback corrugations well. The sturdy 75 series has stood the test of time and the high top addition doesn't alter that a skerrick.. Top marks for convenience and reliability. I've had pop tops before and find this a bit better. The pop top I had before rattled a lot off road.