Fastest camper trailer setup

Submitted: Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 08:57
ThreadID: 92207 Views:29161 Replies:13 FollowUps:8
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HI,

I must be getting old, Im thinking it might be time to move on from my rather luxurious tent and up to a full mattress, however Ive watched many times as caper trailers pull in and it takes them 20 minutes to set up and sometimes another 30 to pull down. (after they pack up all their chairs, tables, fishing rods and other bits n pieces.)
Despite this my desire for increased comfort has increased my potential interest in a camper trailer.
I saw a couple once up off the Gibb Rvr Rd who popped over their hard raised floor on rails, unfolded it on the ground, raised their poles and were sitting in their chairs in about 3 minutes, having a raised solid floor was a most impressive attribute. They also packed up in about 5 minutes the next morning and were gone. I've never seen another camper like it since.
The only other trailer that has caught my interested eye is one of those hard core 'king of the offroad' ones, which was all solid fibreglass and extended and popped out like a tardis, pretty neat but I suspect probably up in the 25-30k price range, therefore not in my budget.

Anyone got any advice on what that old hard floor model was? Can you still get them? Anything similar which can be setup in less than 10 minutes and doesn't require 24 external poles and guys (OK, small exaggeration) to make it stand up?

cheers
Rich
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Reply By: Member - Tony (ACT) - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 09:44

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 09:44
If we are doing an overnight stop as per photo, it takes less than 3 min to get to this stage. bed made up all the time. From start to on the road next morning is about 10 min.
AnswerID: 479057

Reply By: Shaker - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 09:56

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 09:56
Have a look at Pioneer Campers (WA), very quick & easy set up, they are also exceptional value when compared to Kimberley, to appease the Kimberley owners, I will add that they may not be quite as good, but not far off the mark.

By the way, I don't currently have one, we have a Vista RV Crossover, but that it is a whole different ball game!

AnswerID: 479058

Reply By: itsdave - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 10:02

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 10:02
Hi,

We have an Aussie swag camper which takes about 20 seconds to open and set up as it doesn't require any poles apart from the awning if its needed and about 1 minute to fold back up. I think most of the hard floor campers are similar in setting up but then you do pay a lot more dollars for them.

Cheers Dave
AnswerID: 479059

Follow Up By: roger ramjet - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 20:16

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 20:16
Hey thanks Dave,

Looks like there's a few hard floor campers around (funny how despite 100 Google searches some of manufacturers never get on the list), unfortunately at those kinds of prices I'd want the thing to set itself up AND get me a beer from the esky !
Lucky you, they look pretty flash.

cheers
Rich
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Reply By: pop2jocem - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 10:15

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 10:15
Hi Rich,

I don,t know what sort of vehicle you have but we use a home built "slide on" camper for our off road sojourns. Obviously no good to you if you don,t have a ute of some sort. As it is fully self contained we can put the annex (if required)up in 5 minutes. If the annex is not needed we are having our first beverage in about the time it takes to get it out of the Engel. The reason we went for this setup, other than convenience, was that a lot of the type that involved folding canvas wound up with damp canvas on or close to the bedding. These hard top models may not have that problem but maybe something to look out for.

Cheers
Pop
AnswerID: 479063

Reply By: Rangiephil - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 10:23

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 10:23
I have a 1997 Camp'o'matic which takes about 1 minute to set up without awning and 5 with awning.

The awning remains attached so is just left flipped over for a one nighter,which is a big feature in speed of setup..

The Camp'o'matics were made in Yatala until 2004, then went through a series of owners andthe general concencus is that the later ones are not as good.
From 2004 they were owned by Aussie Swag for a while AFAIK.DO NOT CONFUSE THEM WITH CUB WHICH ARE OF A LOWER AHEM SPECIFICATION/QUALITY.

If you do not want a new camper IMHO the camp'o'matic is one of the best pre 2004.
I have met many people with them in various places and everyone loves them as much as I do.
Regards Philip A



AnswerID: 479064

Follow Up By: gke - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 10:30

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 10:30
Agree completely. Ours is a 1998 Campomatic Getaway 4x4. Love it.

Thought it was TrakShak owned them for a while,Philip.

Cheers,Graham.
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Reply By: ExplorOz - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 12:01

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 12:01
I'm guessing the hard floor camper you saw was a Cub.
The other sounds like an Ultimate (my folks have one and it was more like $55K). The saying "King of the Offroad" is owned by Kimberley Kampers, who brought out an extendable called a Kimberley Karavan - but you can double what you thought might have to pay for that!! Yes, truely.

It certainly does come to finding value for money.
Oh - and I can emphasize with the desire more extra comfort - sometimes the simplistic camping is perfect, but other times you can feel a bit envious looking at others with more comfortable abodes ;)

Enjoy the shopping!
Michelle
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Follow Up By: ExplorOz - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 12:03

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 12:03
PS: I was going to add, that I often get green eyes looking at our friends setup their Camprite - not just a hard floor, but the whole living space is elevated and huge and quick to setup. Have done many trips with them - but again these campers are very costly - over $40K.
MM
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Reply By: MEMBER - Darian, SA - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 13:44

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 13:44
A quality hard floor, flip to the rear type camper is very quick and easy to use. We had a 2004 Campomatic for 5 years - excellent product with very fast deployment and pretty fast pack up - Aussie Swag and Kimberley Kamper were the other two mainstream units that I looked over, at that time. While there are other makers of great quality hardfloor trailers these days, the KK is probably the most commonly found. The one you saw might have been an early Campomatic* - they were quite simple then and had very basic facilities - the company had been around for many years, but had $ problems late in 04 and it was sold to Trakshak - they are still distributed from Sydney last time I looked (probably chinese made now :-o) - mine was made in Qld by the original long term owners, the Eastwell family.
(* might have been an early A-Swag too).
AnswerID: 479077

Reply By: Member - Serendipity(WA) - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 14:13

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 14:13
We have the Travelander. A hard floor camper with a lot of extras built in making it the best value for money I found in hard floor campers. Easy to set up in that it has an electric remote control arm that opens the camper or closes it. They retail for around $35k but that includes everything - water tanks, batteries, 2x fridges, 3x burner stove, sink with plumbed water, hot water system and shower, queensized bed that stays made up, lots of storage and more.

You buy it as a slide on tray mount or with the off road trailer but still able to dismount it from the trailer if you wish. Very tough as I have taken it all places and not had any problems with build. We find it cool in hot weather but quite cosy in cold weather. The double tropical roof helps a lot as do the many windows.

The kitchen is very convenient as we can access it without opening the whole unit for a quick lunch stop. We prefer to cook outdoors as a small camper will choke with cooking fumes. You can move the cooker inside though as there is a gas and water outlet inside.

Just a happy camper and no affiliation with the company.

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Follow Up By: Shaker - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 17:48

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 17:48
A friend of mine bought the trailer version, went to Queensland to pick it up & had an absolute nightmare trip home, could hardly keep it on the road.
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Follow Up By: ExplorOz - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 12:40

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 12:40
We've seen Serendipity's setup - very nice indeed, great unit for two people!
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Reply By: Crackles - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 18:47

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 18:47
It's funny Rich the way people exagerate how fast their campers can be errected almost like they believed the pitch the salesman gave them. In researching campers I made a point of timing anyone & everyone then asked them later how long it usually takes. Most took at least twice as long as they thought :-)) In fact it normally took 5 to 10 minutes just to pick a suitable site, disconnect & level the trailer before anything was even unfolded! So i suppose that's my advice. Don't believe what anyone says, just compare for yourself.
Maybe not what you're after but the fastest canvas camper of any type I've seen would have to be the Tailgate camper. 30 seconds real time setup from the drivers seat.
Cheers Craig............
AnswerID: 479107

Follow Up By: roger ramjet - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 20:04

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 20:04
LOL

absolutely, Ive sat and watched many times. I don't think Ive ever seen anyone set up a campertrailer and be sitting in their chair with a cold one in anything less than 10 minutes ! Maybe 8 at very best.

cheers
Rich
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Reply By: roger ramjet - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 20:11

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 20:11
Hey thanks everyone,

Plenty to chew on there.

I watched the video on campomatic.com.au and it was definitely one of them. Now that is my kind of camping !

Appreciate all your advice now I just have to find the champagne trailer with my beer, nay cask moselle, budget !

In the meantime and in return for all the good info, for those who still don't mind 'roughing it' I can highly recommend one of these:
http://www.exped.com/exped/web/exped_homepage_int.nsf

Even if it is the most time consuming part of our campsite setup it's worth every last little bit of inbuilt pumping effort !

cheers
Rich
AnswerID: 479113

Follow Up By: roger ramjet - Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 20:21

Thursday, Mar 01, 2012 at 20:21
Web scripting !!...I used to handcode html way back when...now I have trouble posting a valid link to a post !!!

sorry try this link.
http://www.summitgear.com.au/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6_150&products_id=425

cheers
Rich
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Reply By: Member - Steve M1 - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 06:41

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 06:41
Hi Rich, I have a Compass Off Road 15' popup caravan.
Set up time 1min, same to packup. It can be raining cats & dogs and be set up & enjoying cup of tea or a beer in 1.5 mins.
I've seen other tent and camper dwellers look up in amazment as I sit and enjoy a beer while their still setting up.
cheers
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AnswerID: 479151

Reply By: chisel - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 12:32

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 12:32
Pinnacle do a relatively inexpensive hard floor
http://www.pinnaclecampers.com.au/product/555/OFF_ROAD_HARD_FLOOR_CAMPER_TRAILER
I've never seen one, don't one own etc etc. But you might want to consider it.
Try myswag.org for more hard floor camper discussion.
AnswerID: 479201

Follow Up By: KevinE - Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 18:08

Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 18:08
They look like bolt together Chinese imports? We went to the caravan & camping show last w/e and there were some Chinese ones there; one guy was winding out the hard floor on one to demo it to a prospective customer. It seemed to take him forever! :( rak,rak,rak,rak,rak,rak.............
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Reply By: Member - Ian F (WA) - Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 12:59

Friday, Mar 02, 2012 at 12:59
Hi Rich,
I am in the market for one too, do you have any info on "Southern Cross Campers" ?
Ian
AnswerID: 479202

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