Hi all, I'm looking to purchase a trailer and keen to see what more experienced campers out there think are good things to look for and avoid. Looking for something second hand around 5-8k for my wife and I, 3 yr old and new born. Not going to do any extreme off road as only have an xtrail to tow with. Prob only keep trailer for a few years so resale is something important.
I will probably rent one for a few days first so if there are any recommendations on hire companies around Melbourne be keen to hear.
I know this is a bit vague but any advice or suggestions will be much appreciated.
Thanks very much. ...
advice on what to look out for when buying a camper trailer
Moderators: krp102, Coxy68, robcaz
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WomblingFree
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 7:07 am
Re: advice on what to look out for when buying a camper trai
In that price range its very hard to offer much advise as everything is a big compromise and most are Chinese kits assemble in Oz.
Don't buy anything with resale in mind. In that price range there are thousands and thousands of second hand units for sale around Oz. You'll have to take your chances on someone buying it from you, in fact I'd be buying a second hand unit and maybe you'll get more for your money. Camper buyers will travel to buy. We live in Sydney and had 4 interstate buyers look at ours, eventually it went to Adelaide.
Have you attended any 4x4 camping shows? There'll be dozens of campers on show. Check out what you can afford and see what the dealer will do about a trial weekend. If he wants the sale, he'll hire one to you.
Read the various forums! Some of the biggest advertising manufacturers have some of the worst owner experiences.
4wdaction.com.au and myswag.org have good sections for camper owners builds.
To give you some sort of an idea, our first camper was in that price range and was a Leisure Matters thing (can't remember the model). It was a full 'off road' model but strangely they only sell it with normal road tyres. We did a two week 'corner country' trip in this clocking up some 5000Km on some pretty horrible tracks and roads.
The camper had a basic stainless kitchen along the lines of every other cheap camper with no cooker built in or supplied. Not necessarily a bad thing as you can try different things out. We used our Coleman Roadtrip barbecue which is brilliant.
It had a Chinese fully hot dip galvanised trailer that was well built and nothing went wrong with it. The electrics however were complete crap and I eventually 100% rewired the entire camper (but then I also had to do that with its $30K Oz built replacement). Not a single connection was soldered and all were simply twisted wires taped over. Don't know if that was done in China or Oz.
The tent was ok for the price but was also the biggest reason for spending more money and replacing the camper.
It came with extra rooms and walls etc which we never used. We just took the main tent (which was big enough to have two teenage kids sleeping in as well) and awning away with us. The biggest problem was setting up the tent. Lots of mucking about inserting, placing and extending poles. Two man job and took 20-30 minutes to sort it out (the new camper takes less than 5 minutes single handed). That tent went up and down every day and by the end of the trip some of the stitching was suffering and pockets where falling off. The zips were crap and were constantly failing.
During the two weeks, most of the bolts that hold the tent base to the trailer fell out. Ozzie assembler idiots mounted the bolts from below so the bolts simply fell out and the tent would start sliding off the trailer.
However the camper did the job and we learnt a huge amount about we want/hate. Although a cheap unit, you do get an awful lot of camper for your dollars compared to 'quality' units. Its $30K replacement is far from perfect as well and suffers from lazy Ozzie shortcuts such as not a single hole sleeved for pipes or electrics - the main water tank filler pipe cut through on the sharp edges...
From attending shows, we have noticed the same Chinese kit is sold by several other 'manufacturers' such as Scamper Camper so you need to look around and check out the finish of each offering.
Cheap campers have the worst tents as this is where the bulk of the manufacturing labour goes.
I think the best bit of advise for a cheap camper purchase is to let the wife play with the kitchen. If you can tolerate the tent erection then the kitchen will likely be the making or breaking of the deal.
Hope this helps...
Malcom
Don't buy anything with resale in mind. In that price range there are thousands and thousands of second hand units for sale around Oz. You'll have to take your chances on someone buying it from you, in fact I'd be buying a second hand unit and maybe you'll get more for your money. Camper buyers will travel to buy. We live in Sydney and had 4 interstate buyers look at ours, eventually it went to Adelaide.
Have you attended any 4x4 camping shows? There'll be dozens of campers on show. Check out what you can afford and see what the dealer will do about a trial weekend. If he wants the sale, he'll hire one to you.
Read the various forums! Some of the biggest advertising manufacturers have some of the worst owner experiences.
4wdaction.com.au and myswag.org have good sections for camper owners builds.
To give you some sort of an idea, our first camper was in that price range and was a Leisure Matters thing (can't remember the model). It was a full 'off road' model but strangely they only sell it with normal road tyres. We did a two week 'corner country' trip in this clocking up some 5000Km on some pretty horrible tracks and roads.
The camper had a basic stainless kitchen along the lines of every other cheap camper with no cooker built in or supplied. Not necessarily a bad thing as you can try different things out. We used our Coleman Roadtrip barbecue which is brilliant.
It had a Chinese fully hot dip galvanised trailer that was well built and nothing went wrong with it. The electrics however were complete crap and I eventually 100% rewired the entire camper (but then I also had to do that with its $30K Oz built replacement). Not a single connection was soldered and all were simply twisted wires taped over. Don't know if that was done in China or Oz.
The tent was ok for the price but was also the biggest reason for spending more money and replacing the camper.
It came with extra rooms and walls etc which we never used. We just took the main tent (which was big enough to have two teenage kids sleeping in as well) and awning away with us. The biggest problem was setting up the tent. Lots of mucking about inserting, placing and extending poles. Two man job and took 20-30 minutes to sort it out (the new camper takes less than 5 minutes single handed). That tent went up and down every day and by the end of the trip some of the stitching was suffering and pockets where falling off. The zips were crap and were constantly failing.
During the two weeks, most of the bolts that hold the tent base to the trailer fell out. Ozzie assembler idiots mounted the bolts from below so the bolts simply fell out and the tent would start sliding off the trailer.
However the camper did the job and we learnt a huge amount about we want/hate. Although a cheap unit, you do get an awful lot of camper for your dollars compared to 'quality' units. Its $30K replacement is far from perfect as well and suffers from lazy Ozzie shortcuts such as not a single hole sleeved for pipes or electrics - the main water tank filler pipe cut through on the sharp edges...
From attending shows, we have noticed the same Chinese kit is sold by several other 'manufacturers' such as Scamper Camper so you need to look around and check out the finish of each offering.
Cheap campers have the worst tents as this is where the bulk of the manufacturing labour goes.
I think the best bit of advise for a cheap camper purchase is to let the wife play with the kitchen. If you can tolerate the tent erection then the kitchen will likely be the making or breaking of the deal.
Hope this helps...
Malcom
Re: advice on what to look out for when buying a camper trai
Thanks very much Malcom for that really informative response. Some really valid points there. I've been to a few camper shops and just waiting for a 4x4 show to come up to check a few more out. Think I'll either go with a Newish Chinese one or an older oz made one. Cheers mate. Matt
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Ern_Reeders
- Posts: 62
- Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2014 2:16 pm
- Location: Melbourne
Re: advice on what to look out for when buying a camper trai
I have my Johnno's light off-road unit FS. See the ad on the website.
Edit: It has been towed happily with a Forester.
(Away til Oct 16th but can 'talk' via email).
Edit: It has been towed happily with a Forester.
(Away til Oct 16th but can 'talk' via email).
Cheers, Ern
Pioneer Argyle SE and Isuzu MU-X
Pioneer Argyle SE and Isuzu MU-X
Re: advice on what to look out for when buying a camper trai
You will find a couple of articles on the tech tips page
points to consider when buying a camper http://www.campertrailers.org/camper_bu ... cklist.htm
buying a camper http://www.campertrailers.org/buying_a_ ... railer.htm
choosing the right camper http://www.campertrailers.org/buying_th ... camper.htm
points to consider when buying a camper http://www.campertrailers.org/camper_bu ... cklist.htm
buying a camper http://www.campertrailers.org/buying_a_ ... railer.htm
choosing the right camper http://www.campertrailers.org/buying_th ... camper.htm
happy camping
Rob & Carol
Australian CamperTrailers Group co-owner
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year
Rob & Carol
Australian CamperTrailers Group co-owner
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year