Budget Camper Trailer - What to do?

**funkyfedaykin** · 2nd August 2011, 09:16 AM

My wife & I have been looking around, weighing up the options for camping and buying trailers for home use. Basically, we came to the agreement that by the time you buy a nice tent, and a reasonably sized box trailer, you may as well combine the two to get a camper trailer. It's also easier to set up, more comfortable etc.

With that in mind, we headed off to the Toowoomba Outdoor Adventure & Motoring Expo. After we were shocked at the prices of the campers near the front gate, we were relieved to find some better priced campers down the back. There were basically 3 companies with off road products more suited to our price range and preferences. After much thought we came to the following conclusions, and yes, they are in preference order:

1. Mad camper 12 (madaboutcampers)
These guys looked to be the most quality of the lower end trailers, and therefore are more exy than other options. They use brand name (Oz trail) tents (for whom they were full of praise), that look much better from the outset, quick to set up and are also a bit taller (I'm 6'5"). The trailers look pretty sturdy, come with new wheels, and the tent easy to remove for other trailer uses. The downsides included the need to buy the annexe floor separately, no kitchenette/toolbox/water tank incl., and no good show deals. They do include a foam matress & gas struts, as well as offer 3 month lay-by.

2. GIC 12 Ft camper with Off road or Semi off road trailer (giccampertrailers)
GIC looked reasonable. The trailers especially look pretty good quality, sturdy & nice looking. The trailer even had a spot where you can attach bike racks (tongue & pin style) that also doubles as a recovery point. The quality didn't follow through to the tent though. What we saw on the ground and in pictures is a short, somewhat saggy tent that looked a little on the flimsy side, but on paper still sounded quality. While there was no mattress, the show special meant the extras (tool box/water tank/kitchenette/gas struts) would be thrown in for a song, plus you can lock in the price for 6 months with no obligation. It's a little more complicated to remove the tent off the top, with riveted piano hinge that you would need to have all the rivets replaced with screws. Still means you have lots more screws to remove than the other campers. If you want to get the off road trailer & the extras, you'd be looking at the same price as the Mad camper 12. 18 ft camper tent looks way to complicated and time consuming to set up.

3. Market Direct Campers - off road model (12' Tent I assume)
(Market Direct - Importers Wholesalers Retailers Brisbane)
Dodgy & cheap. Sums up these guys pretty well. While it seemed that MDC had the best bang for your buck, it also looked like it would blow over at the first sign of wind (or at least cave in the roof). The show specials seemed to good to be true (almost 50% of i think), and the only extra was a kitchenette. We didn't stick around long enough to really evaluate much more, but i can tell you there was no mattress included & both trailer & tent didn't look like they'd last long. A quick look at their website shows no information on camper trailers, and reinforces the likelihood that it's all imported from the cheapest manufacturer.

While this thread is a little old, it confirmed my views on the options 2 & 3: http://www.aulro.com/afvb/camping-tu...k-these-2.html

All of the above trailers had holding spots for gas bottles and jerry cans, spots for tool boxes and i think they all had a spare. All the trailers had a member across the top of the gate at the rear, which would restrict loading. I think i would cut that and put it screwed brackets to hold it so it can be removed with the tent. I'd probably add a little strengthening on the outside at the back to compensate for any forces that would normally be applied on the member.

With all this in mind, i was just wondering what your thoughts were, and if you had other suggestions for sourcing a budget camper trailer in South East Qld?

(p.s. second hand campers start in a similar price range to those mentioned above)

**Hoges** · 2nd August 2011, 10:21 AM

basic questions: How many people? and, what's intended in your camping: establish a "base camp" and sit for days at a time, or, setup/pull down every couple of days.

for option 1: a tent /camper trailer is excellent

option 2: something simple...like a roof top tent which can be put up/packed away in under 5 minutes is a better bet.

Option 2 plus a trailer to carry necessary camping gear is a good compromise.

Have you trawled the "show us you camping setup" thread in "Pinnacles" fror ideas?

good luck

**funkyfedaykin** · 2nd August 2011, 11:47 AM

At the moment the tent is for two, but we're buying in anticipation of a few children to come, or camping with mates. So lets say 2-8.

Camper trailer is better suited to us because,

A ) we can lend it to friends/family with ease.
B ) will often be setting up a "base" for a few days, but can still be rolled out relatively quickly for overnight stops. (leaving annex folded over top of tent)
C ) can't fit 8 in a roof top

I had imagined taking a leisurely 2 day trip to a camping location, set up base for a few days running around in the car (sight seeing, 4x4 action), and then maybe 2 day trip home. so this calls for relative ease for 1 night set up & also ability to live in for a couple days.
The idea is that for normal use, sleeping is done in the "bed room", and food prep & other stuff in the annexe, save setting up a seperate gazebo or whatever.

I've had a quick look at some of those camp set ups, but i'm pretty set on what i want.

**Ivan** · 2nd August 2011, 11:55 AM

I purchased mine last year from Castle Campers It's the full off road version with a Brisbane made trailer and a 5 year warrantly on the trailer. Cost was around $9K which included a swing out kitchen, 65 litre water tank, stone guard and a front mounted toolbox.
The tent is Chinese but it's 14oz Ripstop canvas and is very sturdy. They are located on the South Side of Brisbane.

HTH

Ivan

**Tank** · 2nd August 2011, 12:46 PM

As you are 6'5" tall you should be checking the sleeping area has enough room, so that your feet and head isn't touching the walls at each end of the bed, or your feet aren't hanging out the end.
I would be looking for a good Quality, expensive camper trailer secondhand in good nick. Never know you might get a bargain, Regards Frank.

**Mick-Kelly** · 2nd August 2011, 02:42 PM

Personally i lean towards the GIC semi off road with the 18ft tent. They have their problems but are easily customised and you cant beat that price. Less than $5000 for a 18ft tent on a decent trailer.

**Barney2803** · 2nd August 2011, 02:49 PM

We bought a market direct camper a few years ago. It was their huge BARRACKS model that has 3 extra annexes and opens upto 30ft long. Really for what we paid for it, we can't complain at it's quality. I'll agree they're customer service and after sales service is shocking but we get around that by buying parts locally.

We paid$5600 and that was 3 years ago. We didn't get a kitchen as we feel it's a waste of space when all a kitchen is, is a bucket and cooking device. We bought it over eBay sight unseen and my dad drove it to Adelaide on the back of his commodore. It's a "full" off road version but realistically we wouldn't use it for a major off road trip but ave done the border track with it and it was fine.

We bought it cos the price was half everyone else's, and really it's been great. It's not made perfectly but for $5600 it was a heaps better option than others (gic wasn't around I don't think) or a caravan.

I'd recommend their product as long as you realize it's not $40000 so don't expect it to perform like one that is 8times the price.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Redback** · 2nd August 2011, 04:45 PM

I have one comment and that is, there are a few people having issues with GIC, probably not the best budget camper on the market.

Have you looked at the second hand market, there are a lot of good bargins to be had out there, the bonus with second hand is the camper is usually already set up and normally you won't need to spend any money on getting it to where you want, you will only need to buy a new mattress (not a fan of sleeping on someone elses body fluids

)

Baz.

**Ranga** · 2nd August 2011, 04:57 PM

try MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum - Index - plenty of knowledge and advice there for camper trailers.

scanfor · 2nd August 2011, 08:47 PM

We bought the Madabout at last year's show. It was an offroad model with the Camper 9 tent.
As you noted, the tent is good quality. The seals around the top of the trailer are rubbish and allow a lot of dust to get in.
On our trip to Cameron Corner and the Strezlecki Track it went well, but we snapped a spring pack on the way home near Chinchilla with fairly serious results. The springs are eye-to-eye (not slippers) but the whole pack just broke in the centre and the trailer dropped onto the axle.
I also noticed while under the trailer doing some rustproofing that a lot of the steel tube is made up of short sections welded together

Whatever you choose, make sure that you get a braked axle - ours isn't braked, and while the compliance plate reckons 350kg tare, I reckon that's bulltish. I've towed a lot of trailers behind the Defender, and this thing when loaded up with some gear and water was incredibly heavy to pull and even worse to stop.

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