Camper Trailers

[LLadnar]

What ever you do don't buy a GIC, their crap.
We just upgraded to a Jayco camper van outback, love it

 

[UncySpam]

Im pretty sure neither of these have happend and i know this for a fact. Buuuut they do have dealers all over the country and its possible one of them pulled the pin.

bryan

sorry to disappoint, but Trackabout went under Administration a few months back. The upside, is they have been bought by Rob and Kym Adams who were a dealer for them. More detials are on the front page of the website...

--Edit--

Worked out the confusion. Johnno's is not under administration. Johnny Trackabout was/is.

 

[UncySpam]

We bought a Camel CAmper, and would highly recommend them. We got ours second hand (1 year old) with no 12v setup, but for $9k you can't complain.
I would recommend getting on myswag.org as that forum is dedicated to campers, and you will get a good idea of what is worth buying over there.

 

[garfish]

2nd the myswag.org is the place to look for these,

If it is Aussie built and canvas I narrowed it to 4.

Johnos
Customline
Camel and
Lifestyle

I went lifestyle after looking at them all, but was not much between them. These are all Brisbane based

 

[LLadnar]

Try Jimboomba camper trailers, we seen them after we bought our crapy GIC, good quality and not too overly priced (even thou they do have some dearer models)

 

[Elsewhere]

I'll add that ours is an Aussie Swag - brilliant!
Greg

 

[JASON-D40]

had a market direct for a while now, since 2010. has served me very well for a basic camper and has been trouble free.

I have just upgraded to a new coromal camper and have to sell the old one, will be hard to let it go.

could look at hiring a couple to see what you like before you buy.

 

[RLI]

After looking at so many camper trailers today, at the 4x4 show in Brisbane. Price's ranging for $3500-$60,000, I'm curious on who's using what brand and what they rate them.

As my wife, child and I are looking to do a trip with one next year to the Cape, What would i need just a basic solid axle or will i need larger independent wheels?

load any pics of what you have and how its been layed out would be good.

Cheers
Mitch

G, day Mitch,

My wife and I bought a second hand 2004 Jayco Hawk off-road camper trailer 2 years ago after conducting the following;

1. Attending various caravan/camper trailer shows
2. Reading the numerous caravan/camper trailer magazines
3. Researching the various camper trailer websites
4. Checking out a number of the manufactures premises and
5. finally speaking to people who owed camper trailers at the various caravan parks in our area.

Originally, we had a budget between $10,000 and $15,000 dollars for your traditional box/tent type camper trailer; this changed dramatically when I looked inside a new Jayco Swan off-road camper trailer at Watson’s caravans in Coffs Harbour.

We were that close to purchasing the newly released CIC Extreme Ranger Off-camper trailer it was not funny, we had negotiated the lay-out and other extras and came to a dollar value of $12,500.00, we were advised the camper would be ready in 3 weeks all we had to do that afternoon was pay a deposit.

My mate Dave paid his deposit 4 weeks before and his trailer was still not ready, that prompted me to wait and see his trailer arrive first and thank-f--k we did. When my mate was finally advised by GIC to come down to Sydney to pick-up his camper trailer they were still building the f—ker. Late that afternoon minus no tool box fitted or side storage boxes fitted due to they had run out of those items, he returned to Coffs Harbour (not a happy chappie)

It was a further 4 weeks before the pricks finally sent them up. I then fitted them to his camper trailer; furthermore, I had to refit the slide out kitchen as it was not properly fitted. To say the least I was not overly impressed by the build quality for an $11,500 camper trailer.

After viewing the GIC and further conducting research into the Jayco off-road campers. I was chuffed when I found out that my sister-in-laws brother worked as a maintenance manager in Melbourne for Jayco. After speaking to Brad and gaining further knowledge we decided on buying a 2004 Jayco Hawk Off-road based on the following;

(a) The best built off-road models were built between 2002 and 2005 due to the larger box section steel used to build the chassis and draw bars
(b) Second hand offered us all the added luxuries and a better camper trailer than a new CIC could offer that kept my wife (handbrake happy)
(c) Extremely quick to set-up compared to the traditional off-road camper (10mins compared to 30mins plus)
(d) The resale value of the Jayco off-road campers are extraordinary (own it for five years and essentially get your money back when you sell it)
(e) They sell far quicker than any other camper trailer (check-out the various camper trailer websites and monitor Jayco off road camper trailer movements compared to other camper trailers.)
(f) Finally you get more bang for buck. We paid $15,000 for ours including battery pack, barbeque, twin gas bottles, hot water shower, boat rack, pull out awning, full annex and a generator.

We took our Jayco to Cape York last June/July via the Old Telegraph Track view photos attached. Only modification I am doing to her is replacing the solid axle for the Cruisemaster independent suspension. (Booked into getting the new suspension fitted this Thursday) then i have the perfect rig to travel anyware!

Regards,

RLI

 

[Geoff3DMN]

I've had a couple of Jayco camper trailers and I agree with RLI that they are excellent value for money and they hold their resale value extremely well but I would caution people that they aren't really an 'off road' camper... more along the lines of all-road or semi off-road if one is being honest.

Jayco themselves on their own website used to advise setting them up as a base camp and then 4 wheel driving in the 4wd alone (they may or may not still do so but it wasn't long ago that this was clearly mentioned on their web site).

Personally I'd be happy to own one again... just not for 'off road use'.

 

[JASON-D40]

RLI is right on the money, the years quoted were Jaycos best, 40mm aluminium frame, henrod riveted (similar to aircraft) and solid constructed timer furniture.

Once they changed to fibreglass sides, flat pack furniture and a weaker chassis they went downhill fast.

 

[Jimbob]

For the last year and a half I have been researching soft floor camper trailers and what they offer for myself, my wife and our 10 month old daughter.
My priority was fuel as we often travel long distances, water for showers and baby baths and of course the price.
I had a budget of $10,000 - $12,000
The top contenders were Austrack and Customline.
We recently took a trip to QLD to look at Austrack and in Hervey Bay and Customline, South of Brisbane. Austrack at this stage was on top of the list due to the standard features they offered for only $9999.
We happened to come across Johnno’s Campers whilst in Hervey Bay. I am aware the trailers are Australian built with Australian Canvas, but I found them to be VERY over priced for what they offered. I discarded Johnno’s Campers long ago for this very reason, but seeing that we came across one of their outlets, we thought that we would call in and have a look. My original beliefs were right, they are grossly overpriced.
Austrack Campers on the other hand are great value for money. Yes I know they are a Chinese import tent, but put that aside, the trailer is very well built, strong, and comes with more standard features than any other camper trailer for the price. Also noted was that the trailer is completely Australian made and designed. The only thing that lets them down is the canvas, being of a Chinese import. It is quite evident when you look at the difference in canvas first hand, but they do make a top quality trailer.
We then arrived at Customline, the first thing that both myself and my wife noticed was the difference in quality of the tent, compared to not only Austrack but also Johnno’s. The quality of the tent was 100% better. Not only did it look better, it also presented better, looked like it sat better once erected and had an overall better feel, a tent that we could see ourselves staying in for long periods of time in comfort and with peace of mind. After talking to the manager and doing a bit of negotiating and optioning up of both the trailer and the tent, we walked out with a Deluxe Off Road Camper Trailer on order.
I also have to say that Customline was the only company who put forward a sales pitch of any sort, throwing in a few things here and there for free.
With all options included, the overall price came to a little over $13,000. Sure it put the budget a bit over, but I believe I have a trailer that will last the distance in time and off the beaten track making it well worth the extra expense.

 

[qqc d22]

Mate you will be so glad you didnt buy a chinese tent. they are the biggest heaps of crap going, usually need fifteen million poles to put them up it would be quicker to put up a circus tent. congrats on the new camper make sure you get out there and use it once it arrives

 

[Jimbob]

What do you all think about getting Hot Dip Galvanizing (for a maintenance free trailer).
It is an extra $700.
Just wondering if anyone think it's worth the extra expense. The Wife doesn't like the silver look, she prefers the normal dark grey colour.
Is it something that can be painted over?

 

[qqc d22]

Mah no real difference both have pros and cons hotdip will be more stone chip resistant but will eventually chip and then you dont have a nice smooth surface to repaint. paint will chip a lot easier but is also a lot easier to get the spray gun out and repaint the whole front of the trailer.
Theres no right or wrong with that one just dont powdercoat for the love of god. seems like a great idea but just isnt in my experiences

 

[johnbritto]

well i have had by blue toungue 18' semi off road for 5 months now and get away once a month for a long weekend, yes its a chinese tent but i cant complain about anything i can set mine up including annex in 30 minutes yes there are a couple of poles to set up annex but once up it would take a cyclone to blow it over (figurativly speeking) i hired a jonnos before buying my own camper but was never going to pay that sort of price for an item that sits in shed most of time, mine cost me $3800 and i made my own kitcken cost 100 gass and jerry holders were $22 each and a 60 litre water tank is next after working out that this is the amount of water i need to carry i have priced these for $80 fit my self add to that my 12v power supply i have a a reary decent product with all the options i will ever need for under $4500

 

[qqc d22]

You can still do australian campers cheap if you can source a cheap trailer or build one yourself i charge $3980 for full tent awning pegs poles ropes mattress everythingbyou need still big size tent with 5 windows 1 screendoor. I imagine there are other canbas workshops around the country that are capable of doing it and would assume there around the same price. still dearer than china thats for sure but if you can afford the bit extra its well worth it imo. knowing you have quality canvas but not only that the things thay are actually giving up the ghost on chinese campers are the other things. tonneau covers fall apart real quick on a lot of them. window screens and cheap zipping that breaks is another killer. window zips suck to replace so its not a cheap fix when one lets go.
Another one is they usually use a different size zipp to us in australia so if just the slider breaks you have to replace the whole zipp or order an odd ball size which sometimes takes forever to get here and still may not fit when it gets here as there are slight variations between different zipp manufacturers.

That big boring speal done lol i can totally understand why alot of people still go china. as said above its a lot of money to have sitting in the shed thats for sure

 

[outback dreaming]

My North Coast camper trailer is gal dipped. Had it for 4 years, been to Birdsville, Fraser Island and a million places inbetween. No rust at all and it doesn't chip like the 2pac ones. In saying that, the painted ones look heaps better.

 

[Jimbob]

I agree that the painted trailers do look a lot better.
I have also been told that you can paint over the galvanise, you just have to apply an Etch primer first.

 

[nakedape]

My Inlaws just bought a small (the smallest I think) A-van. They love & think its the ducks nuts. I had a decent sniff around it & have to say that I was appalled by the finish & attention to detail (or lack of). Every thing looks sweet on the surface but dig a little & Oh boy!

 

[UncySpam]

We got a Camel Discovery earlier this year (1year old, $9k) and so far its proved itself to be awesome - easy to setup and put down, tough and easy to tow.

About to start modding it to add electrickery and hot water to it, and maybe even a heater so we can camp during winter...