If there was a "best" then we would all have the same camper.
Whatever it is get the basic stuff right.
Easy to put up; pretty self explanatory but things like needing even one peg for basic o’nite setup is a pain after a few weeks. Good campers these days need no pegs or ropes till you start putting up awnings.
Easy to set up; Putting up the tent bit is sometimes the easy bit. I have watched people put up a camper in 2 minutes flat only to spend the next hour setting up kitchens, kids beds, fridges, lighting, seats and tables etc etc.
Kitchens that work; the biggest issue with kitchens as I see it is height. Some are so low that even my little old mum would get a bad back bending down to the bench tops. Jayco’s are (unless they have changed) really bad for this. Also, some of the new breed of bling busses have all these fancy pull out draws and cutting boards etc, which is fine, right up till they pull out over the stove, or the bench space etc. you literally have to clear the space away to get to the shredded chives.
Beds that don’t turn you to a pretzel; get a camper with enough room closed to house an innerspring mattress. Foam is ok for weekends away on the sauce but after a hard day’s work (read standing on the beach fishing for salmon) you need a real bed. Kids are a bit more flexible though. My kids survived fine on camp stretchers and self inflating mattresses.
On that note, you don’t want to be having to make beds every time you open the tent. We put both the kids made up self inflators up on the main (made up) bed and only had the stretchers to set up. If we were late stopping or looking for an early start, the kids would just put their beds on the ground.
12v Water; hand pumps suck the big one. Make sure to have a pressure pump fitted to your tank and plumbed to a regular tap. But a tip for the noobies, make sure the power to the pump has some sort of positive lock out. By that I mean some way that the power to the pump has to be cut before you head off to the next destination. Hoses can come loose over the ruff stuff particularly when they have a few PSI up their bum. You will lose your water in minutes if that happens and that can be a disaster. I set mine up with a merit plug that I had to plug into a socket on the outside of the trailer. While I could close it up with it plugged in, the cable was dead giveaway when I did.
Heavy duty wheel bearings and suspension. Your camper is going to cop a flogging coz you won’t be in it driving to suit it. Don’t be fooled into thinking you must have independent suspension, just coz it’s a flash red colour with pretty yellow springs and blue shocks doesn’t make it robust or durable, it just makes it expensive. There is good and bad in all but a good quality set of leaf springs will let you go anywhere even the best independent stuff will.
Brakes; Electric. Don’t buy into any BS sales guy that tells you override discs are the go or even just ok. They’re not, trust me I have battled them all over this great land.
Refrigeration; this is very personal and I have seen some really good setups of all types. What worked for us was two fridges. A 60ltr Evakool in the front of the camper that we used for the bulk meats, veges and frozen stuff. It got opened maybe once or twice a day. Some like there everyday fridge in their camper but we found that having another 60ltr this time an Engal and just a fridge, no freezer, in the back of the cruiser was the best daily use arrangement. There was rarely a time wher I couldn’t park the car just outside the kitchen area and we still had all our stuff when we left the camper for a days outing. But like I said, that’s personal so you will find your best arrangement. Unlike the brakes where the override discs just plain suck no matter who you are :lol:
Power; again, personal. We ran 2 x 100 Amp hour AGMs and a EU2 Honda geni via a Ctek 15000 charger. Some will say solar is best but I reckon it was easier to park up in the shade and run the geni for a few hours every 4th day. You could argue that till the Mayan’s come back and finish their calendar though.
There is prolly another 1000 words in this but that’s enough for now. I’m not here enough these days to cut in on the locals so if I have missed anything someone will add it
Cheers and happy travels
Joff
