Camper trailer brands, New vs Used

[katwoman]

We will be looking to upgrade our camper in the next 6-12 months. So, I thought I'd start researching now.
We currently have an Kanga camper( http://www.kangacampertrailers.com.au/bigred.htm)

I like everthing about it except it has no independant suspension, but I believe the new models do.

As we all know there is shiploads of brands out there now. Has any one had any thing to do with this brand ?
http://www.skamper.com.au/campers/dingo-forward-fold-hard-floor/

Being advertised in 4WD Action probably means it's not the best quality and at over 5 metres long, it may be too long for our needs.

But, this is the sort of design we are after...
It needs to be able to be set up by one person, have the tow ball hitch, and the 'tent' section only needs to be 10-12 foot.
So, new or used ? Do they hold their value ? I'm thinking to spend around the $10-15k mark.
We spend most our time in the vic high country, so lots of rocks and whoopsie doos.

I am still very much leaning towards the Kanga again as the one we have has been great and is Aussie owned and built.
Any other suggestions of brands ?

[BigRAWesty]

Quick question?? Why independent suspension??
We all drive very capable off road cars which have solid axles so what changes with a trailer??
A good leaf eye to eye set and shocks is as good as any independent setup..
Imo save the money and put it into built quality or batteries etc..

Does it need to be foward folding?

[Sir Roofy]

Just get a popup bugger the tents but then your still only young and fit

[mudski]

Just get a popup bugger the tents but then your still only young and fit

Yeah I'm kinda siding with this. Albeit heavier though.
We have a soft floor camper, had a ton of issues with it since buying it new. But I fixed all issues and made it even better than what the manu's did. Crap loads of storage being a soft floor, we keep all our camping gear stored in the camper with our 75L Engel. But. Its a right PITA to set up.
Once both my kids are tenting it, and not sleeping in the camper annex, we want to sell it and go a popup or a hard floor. Pop ups are quick and easy to put up though, more time for camp fire time...

[Sir Roofy]

That was my thoughts as well why waste beer o clock time setting up a camper

[Cuppa]

Hi Katwoman, I’m not trying to suggest what brand to buy, but some comments on campertrailer suspension.
I’ve long known Collyn Rivers who, among other books wrote ‘The Campertrailer Book'.
( http://caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/product/the-camper-trailer-book/ ).
He has had an interest in suspension & handling dynamics of vehicles for many years & suggests that for off road use a combination of long travel suspension & good damping is very worthwhile, BUT only when well designed. He considers that on many ’off road’ camper trailers that the independent suspension is not particularly well designed (being more of a marketing ploy than a useful addition & that a good leaf sprung setup with shockers is better in those circumstances. He stresses that good shock absorbers on a trailer are much more important than whether the suspension is leaf or swingarm/coil. The disadvantage with swingarms/coils is that if you kill the shockers the suspension becomes virtually uncontrollable, whereas with leaf springs they will still work reasonably in those circumstances. Whichever way you go shockers are essential if you want to avoid the sort of damage which many experience with their trailers over corrugated outback roads. The long travel would be of most advantage in the more uneven gnarly off road stuff.

My limited experience with our Tvan’s suspension (250mm travel, softish but well damped ..... and one of the independent suspensions which get Collyn’s approval) is that unlike any other trailer I’ve owned which would bounce over stuff, it just absorbs the bumps. Other Tvan owners talk of outback travel with stuff just sitting on the bed over rough ground not moving at all. For high country use my choice would be long travel independent suspension on a trailer with as low weight as possible but I suspect with a budget around $15k you would need to be buying secondhand to get this, so a well damped leaf setup may be better if buying new??? Then again for predominantly high country driving I suppose it would be relatively slow speed stuff, quite different to long distance corrugations & ruts of outback travel which ’test’ suspension more than anything, so long travel might be more important than overall design???

Not easy is it? LOL

You are *way* more experienced than me in driving/towing around the high country, but I’d also wonder if the trailer you linked to is fairly heavy (1900kg) to drag around that sort of terrain?

[lucus30]

Yeah I'm kinda siding with this. Albeit heavier though.
We have a soft floor camper, had a ton of issues with it since buying it new. But I fixed all issues and made it even better than what the manu's did. Crap loads of storage being a soft floor, we keep all our camping gear stored in the camper with our 75L Engel. But. Its a right PITA to set up.
Once both my kids are tenting it, and not sleeping in the camper annex, we want to sell it and go a popup or a hard floor. Pop ups are quick and easy to put up though, more time for camp fire time...

I like the idea of storing all my camping crap in one but if they are a PITA to setup I just couldn't see the value for me.
I'm really keen to get one, but it has to be an easy setup without the awning. Awning doesn't matter so much as 90% of the time we wouldn't use it

[LaughingBeagles]

After a shed load of reading, dry washing my hands and gnashing my teeth, I've bitten the bullet and purchased a used 2007 Complete Campsite 16' Nomad. It's the one nearly at the bottom of this (http://www.completecampsite.com.au/offroad-trailers-for-sale.html) page. Why this one? For a few reasons - 1. It came with a truck load of gear, 2. Complete Campsite are consistent winners in their class for camper trailers 3. Every forum I've read, owners rave about them, 4. The person from whom I purchased mine is a serving police officer. I am an ex-policeman so there was a connection there that I knew I wouldn't be let down. 5. The price was right. I paid significantly (by some thousands) less than the price advertised there.

We plan on touring and off roading with it both with our club and just my wife and I. Very happy camper.

EDIT: All that said, I've not picked it up yet so cannot give you the heads up on ease of set up etc. But people consistently say it's not difficult and can be done by one person between 10 - 20mins per segment (or less of two are setting up). Segment being main area, annexes etc.

[Cuppa]

Every pole, every guy rope, every bit of canvas ............ adds to the PITA level. What is acceptable for the occasional weekend or two week holidays is very different to what is acceptable for longer touring trips. Every *minute* it takes to put something up or to take it down quickly compounds over more than a couple of weeks travel. I am reminded of TPC who whilst having a great Kimberley trip with camper trailer found that toward the end of a few weeks they were really over the daily grind of setting up/packing up & opted for motels IIRC.

This was the main reason we went for a Tvan, & even with that, setup can take anything from 2 minutes to 20 minutes depending upon how much we set up. I can’t imagine setting up the 20 minute option unless planning to stay at least a few days. One camper trailer I saw which had every bell & whistle imaginable, all stainless this that & the other, a gazillion poles & acres of canvas - looked fantastic......... until I saw them packing. No exaggeration - pack up took over two hours!

I wouldn’t dream of buying any form of touring ‘accomodation’ without first watching the seller set it up, or setting it up myself. The reality for many is very different to the promise.

[mudski]

I like the idea of storing all my camping crap in one but if they are a PITA to setup I just couldn't see the value for me.
I'm really keen to get one, but it has to be an easy setup without the awning. Awning doesn't matter so much as 90% of the time we wouldn't use it

Yeah mine is a pain to set up. Well. We have got it down pat pretty good now. The actual tent part can be done very quickly. It just folds out, add a few poles inside and extend them out, a few pegs and your done. The awning that covers the rear part of the trailer, where the kitchen is, is the painful part. We normally keep this attached to the main tent and all is needed is the poles inserted and stood up. This can take a bit as I'm not real tall so I take a small ladder with me. Lol. And you need two people to put this part up. One of the longest parts of the setup is getting the stuff out required to setup up. Which usually has all the other camping gear stacked on top.
But we have an inner spring queen size bed to sleep on which makes up for it. Lol

[TPC]

Every pole, every guy rope, every bit of canvas ............ adds to the PITA level. What is acceptable for the occasional weekend or two week holidays is very different to what is acceptable for longer touring trips. Every *minute* it takes to put something up or to take it down quickly compounds over more than a couple of weeks travel. I am reminded of TPC who whilst having a great Kimberley trip with camper trailer found that toward the end of a few weeks they were really over the daily grind of setting up/packing up & opted for motels IIRC.

This was the main reason we went for a Tvan, & even with that, setup can take anything from 2 minutes to 20 minutes depending upon how much we set up. I can’t imagine setting up the 20 minute option unless planning to stay at least a few days. One camper trailer I saw which had every bell & whistle imaginable, all stainless this that & the other, a gazillion poles & acres of canvas - looked fantastic......... until I saw them packing. No exaggeration - pack up took over two hours!

I wouldn’t dream of buying any form of touring ‘accomodation’ without first watching the seller set it up, or setting it up myself. The reality for many is very different to the promise.

I did not think anybody would remember my laziness at the end of that trip. lol

We can do a basic setup of our camper in about 30min when we are doing a one night stay but by the end of the Kimberley trip we were definitely fed up with the camper.
When we bought ours about 12 years ago it was all we could afford, I would like to change over to a hard floor camper but the misses wants to go for a caravan next so I am reluctant to change.
We did have a good look at the Jayco offroad caravans at the Adelaide Camping show on the weekend but I don't believe we could take it to half the places we have taken the camper trailer.

[lucus30]

as I'm not real tall so I take a small ladder with me. Lol.

Yeah I don't have this problem ha ha. However being tall does have its disadvantages I hit my head on everything poor mego must be worse than I

[BigRAWesty]

We did have a good look at the Jayco offroad caravans at the Adelaide Camping show on the weekend but I don't believe we could take it to half the places we have taken the camper trailer.

Now this is an odd statement.. lol.
If your worried about limited access then a full size van aint for you..

I'm stooked with my little purchase of the jayco dove..
It sits in behind the patrol so well..
One of our recent trips required to drive threw some thickish scrub.. still designated road. I went without second guessing. It the patrol fit so did the van..
The other 4 with full size vans stopped and found another access point..

Now I'm also with you all about long setup / down times and I'm in a similar boat to cuppa with his tvan..
Setup of the dove can take as little as 5 mins.. level it up, wind it up, beds out, beer..
Or a full setup of all canvas is around 15 - 20 mins. .

So glad we didn't go a soft camper in the end..
But the wind ups have more that can go wrong so catch 22.. I've already fully gutted the cable system on ours and re done it.. it's not difficult just a pita..

Another thing I've notice with camper trailers.. stay away from white roofs..
My parents camper is a grey roof.. dark threw the day but pitch black until the sun if fully up and windows open..
Inlaws is white and your getting up at dawns crack.. which atm could be 5.30-6am!!!

[gaddy]

If you like the one you got , why not retro fit independent suspension, there's quite a few mobs doing good quality kits around

[TPC]

We did have a good look at the Jayco offroad caravans at the Adelaide Camping show on the weekend but I don't believe we could take it to half the places we have taken the camper trailer.


Now this is an odd statement.. lol.
If your worried about limited access then a full size van aint for you..

I'm stooked with my little purchase of the jayco dove..
It sits in behind the patrol so well..
One of our recent trips required to drive threw some thickish scrub.. still designated road. I went without second guessing. It the patrol fit so did the van..


I don't think it is an odd statement, I am sure there are a lot of places my camper would go that a Jayco could not.
The Jayco Dove is 4.5 feet longer, wider and double the weight of my camper which are all things that work against it off road.

Having said that I will probably still end up with one and will just use a tent for those places where it will not go.

[BigRAWesty]

I don't think it is an odd statement, I am sure there are a lot of places my camper would go that a Jayco could not.
The Jayco Dove is 4.5 feet longer, wider and double the weight of my camper which are all things that work against it off road.

Having said that I will probably still end up with one and will just use a tent for those places where it will not go.
Yea sorry I clipped a bit much. Yea I agree you'll drag a trailer further than a pop top, but if you get a caravan for the missus that'll restrict you a bit..
But the ability to hook on and drive is nice..

[katwoman]

Ok. When I said independent suspension I kinda meant 'suspension of some kind'. The Kanga is a solid axle, we looked at fitting shocks, but for some reason cant. ( I dont know why) It bounces no matter where or what driving conditions.
No, it doesnt need to flip forward.
Roofy- Would you take your Penguin down zeka spur, or into Talbottville via crooked river track during winter? And be confident it wont get damaged? Just curious.
And it's still a little on the small side for us. We still have a teenage daughter that tags along when her social life allows. As for fit.....pffffft. NOT
Cuppa- every time I see a T-van I think to my self, I must have a closer look at them, so they are on the list. Yes weight probably should be an issue, but I figure because it's made with thick steel and canvas, not tin foil and tissue paper it's acceptable.
We wont even look at those tent on trailer things. Been there, done that.
The Kanga is all gas strutted, so it is almost one handed to put up. Its almost like flipping up the bonnet, pull the canvas out, two poles in, peg floor, done.
I'll put Complete campsite on my list. Love the Exodus, but at $88k, it's a little steep, ATM.

[LaughingBeagles]

Campertrailer Australia do a great write up of the exodus here: http://www.campertraileraustralia.com.au/campertrailer-reviews/1506/complete-campsite-exodus-16-video-review/

They also do a good review of all the top,ten brands.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[BigRAWesty]

I'd take our dove down crooked river..
But the main thing is (and I guess every trailer has this issue) water egress..
You'd want some good sealing covers on the vents of a van..
The penguin is a great 2 person van. If your wanting something to sleep a fee extra the eagle is small packed down than the dove but has a queen mattress at one end and either a double or single at the other.. our dove is smaller than the penguin but only has doubles at either end.. I'm 6'2" and sleep comfortable with my wife on the double..
The Swan is the next one up, same closed size as the penguin but sports double queen beds..

Or if you want really small look at the swift or finch..

The out back range is a good off road van..
As cuppa said the indapendant suspension is true..
Off the top of my head the only van to really sport a decent setup is the t van with its cross axle setup..

Anyway it's a very personal choice ey..
Also don't forget jayco ain't the only ones who do pop top vans..

I personally don't like the fold foward campers due to the massively long draw bar.. so steep crests or river beds could pose clearance issues, and I could imagine the tow ball weight would be high with all that storage on the bar.. but have never owned one so purely commenting on what I see in mags

[Maxhead]

Hey Kat, If you're happy with the current one why not replace whole suspension to independent. this is just the first on the list but many more there:http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1600KG-OFF-ROAD-CAMPER-TRAILER-CARAVAN-INDEPENDENT-SUSPENSION-IRON-MAN-SHOCKS-/180646125724?hash=item2a0f59209c:g:UywAAOxyRNJSk-yK

You have the right person to get it done, use him....LOL

[Sir Roofy]

Ok. When I said independent suspension I kinda meant 'suspension of some kind'. The Kanga is a solid axle, we looked at fitting shocks, but for some reason cant. ( I dont know why) It bounces no matter where or what driving conditions.
No, it doesnt need to flip forward.
Roofy- Would you take your Penguin down zeka spur, or into Talbottville via crooked river track during winter? And be confident it wont get damaged? Just curious.
And it's still a little on the small side for us. We still have a teenage daughter that tags along when her social life allows. As for fit.....pffffft. NOT
Cuppa- every time I see a T-van I think to my self, I must have a closer look at them, so they are on the list. Yes weight probably should be an issue, but I figure because it's made with thick steel and canvas, not tin foil and tissue paper it's acceptable.
We wont even look at those tent on trailer things. Been there, done that.
The Kanga is all gas strutted, so it is almost one handed to put up. Its almost like flipping up the bonnet, pull the canvas out, two poles in, peg floor, done.
I'll put Complete campsite on my list. Love the Exodus, but at $88k, it's a little steep, ATM.

Zeka Spur no I wouldn't even attempt it the switch backs are to sharp you know what happens on them

Crooked river yes but not in winter remember how deep and strong it gets and someone got the man flue bad

Most other places maybe but you have to remember if my gear goes bust theres know way I could replace it

[blocko05]

Ok. When I said independent suspension I kinda meant 'suspension of some kind'. The Kanga is a solid axle, we looked at fitting shocks, but for some reason cant. ( I dont know why) It bounces no matter where or what driving conditions.
No, it doesnt need to flip forward.
Roofy- Would you take your Penguin down zeka spur, or into Talbottville via crooked river track during winter? And be confident it wont get damaged? Just curious.
And it's still a little on the small side for us. We still have a teenage daughter that tags along when her social life allows. As for fit.....pffffft. NOT
Cuppa- every time I see a T-van I think to my self, I must have a closer look at them, so they are on the list. Yes weight probably should be an issue, but I figure because it's made with thick steel and canvas, not tin foil and tissue paper it's acceptable.
We wont even look at those tent on trailer things. Been there, done that.
The Kanga is all gas strutted, so it is almost one handed to put up. Its almost like flipping up the bonnet, pull the canvas out, two poles in, peg floor, done.
I'll put Complete campsite on my list. Love the Exodus, but at $88k, it's a little steep, ATM.

It looks like you are very impressed with the set up you already have. I dont think it would cost too much to just have the suspension replaced to your liking. Sometimes it is better to just upgrade what you have and know that it will do what you want as it has already proven its self.

[katwoman]

Hey Kat, If you're happy with the current one why not replace whole suspension to independent. this is just the first on the list but many more there:http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1600KG-OFF-ROAD-CAMPER-TRAILER-CARAVAN-INDEPENDENT-SUSPENSION-IRON-MAN-SHOCKS-/180646125724?hash=item2a0f59209c:g:UywAAOxyRNJSk-yK

You have the right person to get it done, use him....LOL

We've looked at that. It's not just the suspension. The canvas is getting a little thin, and it's a big job to replace it. But, yeah, I see your point. Just testing the waters at this stage.