Choices, choices its doing my head in!!!! Need help

[nk1880]

Looking at buying a new Camper Trailer, have about $18,000 to spend.  Just when I think I have a camper picked I find something else, and kitchens so many to choose from.  I think I have narrowed it down to Lifestyle, Trackabout and Camel.  Can someone please give me some advice on what is best value for money ect.  Also how good are the Drifta products? Do they last, get damaged from water easily? Is a fixed sink better than a tub? In desperate need of help, my head is about to explode.  Are the walk thou style a good thing?

Sorry for so many questions but don't know what to do!

Damian

[evolution]

Well I can answer the drifta question.
I recently bought a camper that sat in the weather leaking day after day for roughly the last 5 years from Brisbane.
It had a drifta DSO on it. It looked to be in a sorry state, however after speaking with Luke it is now as good as new.
After a sand and re varnish it will last many more years to come.
However I do plan to replace it next year, the reason being is I now want the dpo in black stainless. 
I had a good look over a lifestyle today actually, and for my money buying new I would buy a track about. It just seems to stretch further. They are all very well made though.

Cheers
Evo

[Nay-DMAX]

Hi Damian

Welcome to myswag, I can only help with a couple of those we have the Drifta kitchen bed table and head rest love all of the products and great service from them.  We have only used it a handful of times but so far we love it very easy to set up and use.  Ours is the portable sink and we just carry it and tip the water and it works fine for us.  Cant tell you much about the campers sorry I like the look of the walk thru. Things you need to look at are how many in the family how easy do you want the set up to be do you need a lot of tent space or awning area.  Do you need to fit a fridge under camper or will it go in car I know that just gives you more things to think about but might help you narrow down your choices.  Good luck

[nk1880]

Thanks, the Drifta stuff does look awesome. I really like the Lifestyle Extenda, but the Trackabout looks good also, reading a few posts on here the Trackabout seems to be a bit more popular, can't seem to find a great deal of reviews on the lifestyle.

[Darren253]

Welcome... 

Have you had a trailer before?

Walkway or rear fold is a massive advantage to my family. It removes the need to climb over each other all night if a) i stay up and carry on drinking by the fire when the wife has gone to bed or b) she climbs out go use the bathroom 3 times during the dark hours! On a serious note, it was a deal breaker for us... I would have loved a quality hard floor but didn't have the $$$ so a walkway was the next step and provided a larger tent for the future (now current) family.

Trackabout have an awesome reputation, but i'm not sure you'll get there walkway trailer for $18k, Camel also have a large following and seem to tick a lot of boxes, lifestyle i believe (don't shoot) are now chinese (but well quality controlled) and I read some negative comments here and there. Still, i think it's the only walkway trailer on the market for circa 12k without going "cheap chinese". Wait for the forum snipers....

Good luck on your quest... Location is also a consideration! I added a tropical roof blanked and keep the awning attached and my gas struts were struggling with the added weight. The bonus of buying just down the road was i could swap them over with another set, just down the road without any hassle. Just my experience.

Darren

[Big D]

I built my own kitchen but purposely resisted the temptation to build in a nice stainless sink.....reason being that ALL of the time we do washing up out of a plastic wash-up tub which slots into the main kitchen shelving when stored and contains washup liquid, sponges, tea towels, and other odds and ends.  We always wash up on an aluminium slat table and we stand the dishes up in between the slats so the water can drain, and it keeps the water away from the camper.

As for the camper itself, can't really help you there.  Our 7 year old Sar Major with really heavy duty Aussie made canvas looks like it's going to last another 20 years so were not really in the market.  All I can say is in my opinion you'd be doing the right thing if you're looking at hanging onto it long term buy buying quality Aussie made, even if it is at the expense of some of the luxury items now being included on some campers like moon roofs, electrical wiring etc.   Just my opinion.  All the best in your decision making

[fuji]

There are plenty of good quality second hand campers. Some are hardly used and represent a good buy. Look at below to confuse you more.
http://www.campertrailers.org/camper_trader.htm

http://www.caravancampingsales.com.au/buy/results.aspx?N=1549+1552+1600+1601+1602+4294964593+4294965530&Nne=15

Good luck!
Wayne

[GeeTee]

Confucius say: You should analyse your needs rather than be bamboozmisled by choices

[Tanglestoo]

Hi Damian,

I cannot speak for the other brands but we purchased a second hand 2010 Camel discovery (now the Beachcomber) with the 13 foot tent upgrade and a tropical roof. It takes about an hour to get fully set up from parking to 1st beer including the annex setup.

After tenting for about 20 years including owning canvas tents the quality of the canvas on the Camel is first class, now I don't care what the weather does, if it storms down during the night I just sleep through it. The best thing is after a long night around the camp fire sinking the odd whisky I can sleep in the dark cool canvas cave long after the tent people have to get up.

Seriously though the heavy quality canvas is great in both bad weather and to keep cool on those hot summer days.

The information on this site is outstanding, take the time to search the threads and research the choices of trailers, second hand can be great value for money but new means peace of mind as well with a warranty.

With your budget you will get a great trailer, and if you can stick it around the $15K mark you will have enough left over to power it up with some serious batteries and solar as well. If you are unaware you will need the power to keep your beer cold for extended periods.

Tangles.

[kiwi_camper]

Drifta are the best IMHO

[nk1880]

Thanks Darren,
Yeah mate first camper, wife and two very young kids.  From my dealings with lifestyle so far I believe the only Chinese product is there cheap camper, I'm pretty sure all other regular campers still use Aussie made tents etc.  We live in Mackay and the only campers sold here are the camel campers.
Fuji, have been looking at second hand campers, people seem to want new prices anyway, all the same I think we will opt for new.
Cheers for the advice been very helpful

[nk1880]

Tangles,
I do like the Camel Campers, and we have a local dealer in Mackay.  I am def buying new, as you say warranty and peace of mind mean everything.  I'm going down to Brisbane for the camping show in June so hoping to have made decision by the time I get on a plane to come home.  I know Lifestyle have a cracking deal on the Extenda for a show special, will be hard to beat. Keen to get an up close look at all the different CTs, will prob confuse me more but will be worth the trip.

[MarkVS]

Damien,
I know this is going to sound a little anal,but applying a process can sometime help make the decision a little easier.


What you do is initially list out the things you want in a camper, and devide them into your 'musts' and your 'wants'. 'Musts' are things that HAVE to be in your camper...no if's or buts....'wants' are nice to have.
For the musts, if a camper hasn't got something on your must list, you move ono the next one. eg..a specific price range should be 'must', whether it is aussie canvas or not,

Once you've filtered the field a bit, then you put a scale (1-10)onto each of your wants....and you rate the campers against each 'want'. Some examples of wants may be ease of setup etc....... 
You multiply the scale against the score, add it up, and then pick the top 3 scores...and using your heart, then make the final decision.


As for the kitchen, I use to have a tailgate stainless kitchen on my camper, and have taken it off and gone the Drifta Stainless DPOR. great unit. I would suggest going that from the outset.

Also have a look at Vacation Campers....they do great quality units....there was a guy selling a 2 year old one on here recently...have a look..


Hope I've helped. It is really hard at the start.

MarkVS

[KingBilly]

Another suggestion is the Customline who also do a walkup.  For me it was a toss up between a Trackabout and a Customline and even though I eventually bought a Customline, I would be more than happy to have a Trackabout as a CT.

To add to your confusion, my Customline has an east/west bed.  Basically there is a bed extension which you slot in and then spin the mattress around.  This means the wife and I don't have to crawl over each other getting into/out of bed plus we have full length side tables either side of the queen bed.  And the big bonus for us was that the trailer was the normal length.  With walkups, the trailer is longer by the width of the walkup section which adds to the overall length (storage & manoeuvrability) and puts considerably more weight on the tow hitch.

We have a Drifta kitchen and love it.  The timber is sealed so water doesn't effect it.  We like the wash up tub instead of a fixed sink as when we are finished we just chuck the water out.  With a fixed sink you need a drain hose or something to drain into.

Good luck with your search
KB