Thread: Any advise for a first time camp trailer buyer?

Originally Posted by Vern

Agree, I think it takes me about 5 min to set my hard floor up, beds out, awning on, kitchen out, chairs done, stubby in hand

Exactly the sort of set up I'm after. Especially the stubby in hand part

Just picked up a campomatic hard floor camp trailer.
Takes me about 2 Min to set up.
Can't wait to get out in it now

To early for a stubby?

Just picked up a campomatic hard floor camp trailer.

Congratulations.
I have had a 1997 Camp'o'matic basic "Weekender" for 7 years now and could not be happier. Apart from wearing zips and a few popped rivets it has been faultless and has endured some of the roughest roads in Australia, including the GRR and Kalumburu. Mine only weighs around 550Kgs so I don't need brakes.

A few hints. Buy some expanded nylon airflow stuff for under the bed , to eliminate having to lift the mattress to clear the inevitable condensation.

If you don't have a gas fridge a single 4.5Kg gas bottle should last about 6 weeks for stove only so a second cylinder is really redundant.

If it has ALKO parallel bearing hubs with electric brakes the bearings are Ford Falcon rears. I use marine seals on mine to ensure minimum dust and water intrusion.

I understand that from 2005 onwards they were fabricated in China and assembled in Australia. Up to 2004 they were built in Yatala by the original builder who was a fanatic for quality. Unfortunately all the records of parts used were lost so it is a bit of a hassle finding out what bits were fitted eg I have never been able to find out who made the suspension and what bushes and springs are in it. My springs are rock blasted and rusting but that should not be such a deal. I checked the bushes and they are still OK.

If you have any questions I can help with just send a PM. There is a dealer in Sydney at Silverwater who is just as much in the dark as I am re parts! LOL

Regards Philip A

The model I ended up getting is the campomatic converter. From what I was told the converter was a hard top camping module that you could buy and attach it to the back of a tray top ute or a box trailer of your choice. At the time campomatic were also manufacturing heavy duty box trailers that they sold to amongst others the army and council. So what they decided to do was put one of their campomatic converters on top of one of their heavy duty box trailers and it's fantastic. The trailer itself is bomb proof fully gal dipped, independent suspension with king springs and koni adjustable shocks. It has alko electric brakes and uses land cruiser 60 series suspension bushes with parallel wheel bearing running on land cruiser rims. The best part about it though is that because the kitchen swings out from the side of the trailer where it stows above the wheel arch, it leaves the entire inside of the box trailer empty which has a swing open door on the back that opens out to the side to reveal a massive roller draw the full size of the trailer. It's also accessible from inside the tent when it's opened up too which is handy. Good thing about the whole set up is that all our gear can just live in the trailer, the only thing I need to put in the back of the disco is the 70L fridge and a bag of clothes on the back seat. Only downside to the trailer really is the weight. The trailer alone minus the converter module on top weighs in at 700kg and with the converter unit on it plus gear water etc it comes in at 1200-1300 kgs which gives the disco a workout. All in all I'm very happy with it so far and I've done a trip down the south coast plus a few weekends away and it's worked great. Looking forward to many more!