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/di...ld-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/...-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 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