wife of trevjel with q's about camper trailer

[TrevJel]

Hello,
        My first post as I am the wife of trevjel and having some burning q's about our first 2 day adventure to the Otway forest in the camper trailer. It is completely sealed so I would assume dust would not get in there or am I wrong?. The guy at vic roads making inspection for being road worthy,said it was built with excellence, that's my husband.. So if he says its dust proof it must be.

Husband has finished and registered the camper trailer and we are almost ready to go. What kind of flooring would you or are you using?. I believe there needs to be some floor covering inside the tent area to protect the plastic vinyl type flooring. I will go to clark rubber and check it out, after I read some replies if I get them.

[rossow]

Inside the camper?
We usualy put down those rubber matts that you click together. Buy them in a pack of 6 squares for about $20 at K-Mart.
Not so much to protect the vinyl floor but to make it more comfortable under foot.  We use the ones with holes in them so the dirt falls to the vinyl and its clean under foot. Nothing worse then bringing sand / dirt into bed!

Rossow.

[LJs GU]

Hi Mrs TrevJel,

Something else to consider is a picnic rug.  We've only just picked up our camper, but plan on using the picnic rug that we used to use for our the tent.  I managed to find it from Coles for ~$20 and is huge (i think around 2x3m) with vinyl backing.  The trick is to get one big enough though, as most of them look good folded but are tiny when unfolded.  In fact ours is too big, but we just fold it up at one end against the camper wall. 

We prefer it over the rubber mats, as they take up a fair bit of room, and the rug feels kind of 'carpet'-ish under foot.  At the end of the trip (or during) we just grab a corner each and take it outside to shake the dirt/sand off.  It also takes the chill off the PVC floor.  As for protection, even though it's not as thick as the mats, we aren't worried, as the use of shade cloth under the floor, plus a quick visual look over for sharp sticks etc when setting up is protection enough for us.

As for dust sealing, don't be disheartened if some dust gets in, as there's not a single camper out there that is fully sealed... and don't ever believe them if they say they are.  Fine bull dust will get in.  It's like the annoying in law who manages to show up uninvited at parties!

LJ

[D4D]

There's a few threads on this. Shade cloth underneath and Clark Rubber 'awning mat' inside.

[blackstump]

x2

shade cloth underneath and I bought a 2m x 3m piece of dark grey marine carpet for inside. Fold it in half and store it on top of the mattress when packed up and its there ready when you open up the trailer again.

 

[hairymick]

Yep, what blackstump said.

[krisandkev]

oh, jealous, you will love the Otway Nat Park, we were there last Oct, camped at Blanket Bay, just near the beach.  Beautiful, driving thru the forest just great, saw lots of koalas in the trees on the drive and at the camp.  Will see if we can load some photos.  Kris and Kev

driving thru the forest


koalas caused lots of cars stopping along road


campsite blanket bay - long drop toilets only, campfires ok


otway lighthouse

[speewa158]

Trevjel  I am a bit cunfused when you talk about a CT & Dust proof in the same sentence . It seems to be a clash in terms . Anyhow just to give you something to think about . Our bed ( Queen size pillow top innerspring )  ittravels  in a zip up vynel bag bigger than the matterss. The bed is made with a doona etc towels are stored in the bag in transit . This set up slows the dust a bit off road  you get used to it      eventully  . Its really nice to setup unzip the bag & hey presto the bed is ready .
As for floors a travel blanket is as good as any inside , in the anex we have a rubberised flooring like shade cloth but softer . Dirt & spilt liquid goes through , put on the cloths line & hose off at home job done 

[Bird]

oh, jealous, you will love the Otway Nat Park, we were there last Oct, camped at Blanket Bay, just near the beach.  Beautiful, driving thru the forest just great, saw lots of koalas in the trees on the drive and at the camp.  Will see if we can load some photos.  Kris and Kev

driving thru the forest


koalas caused lots of cars stopping along road


campsite blanket bay - long drop toilets only, campfires ok


otway lighthouse

Anyone done Blanket Bay recently?

[BigJules]

There's a few threads on this. Shade cloth underneath and Clark Rubber 'awning mat' inside.

The rubber mats are useful on really hard and sharp surfaces. Some caravan parks are run by saddists who put down large blue metal for one to camp on. This can damage the vinyl floor as you walk on it.

Shade cloth is perfect for under the floor. Get two sections; One that is just larger than the floor of your CT and another that is just larger than the annex section. C-gear mats are the best by far, but are expensive.

If you don't have any of this by the time you go away, don't worry about it, to be honest most folks will never put anything under the floor, even though it's a good idea. If you're camping on grass the floor will be fine anyway.

As I understand it, Noah had only slightly more rain that Victoria has had, so dust will not be a big issue for you  .

[Paul and Bern]

  Good stuff, you'll love it.  We use shade cloth under the floor as it doesn't seem to kill the grass as much as plastic, (some c/parks won't let you stay more than 3 days without moving due to killing the grass).  We now use a 3mx3m picnic rug for the inside for bit of padding, (was on special) we used to use those square mat tile things but they took up too much storage space.
  Paul

[FZJ]

huge picnic rug here as well.works great especialy in winter,stores up on the bed..El cheapo blue tarp underneath at the moment.

[dooguss]

Black concretors plastic under the camper floor before we open up, marine carpet inside the tent then folded up and left on bed when traveling and shade cloth under our annix