Camper Trailer Thoughts for Family of 6 (2 Adults 4 kids)

[Bird]

...and option up with the extra room for the Tin Lids.
It will be quick to setup and packup.

once you have extra rooms and stuff, they are no quicker.

[meimarocu]

at his budget, he could have something 100% custom made, and keep the change to go towards many holidays!!!!!

Correct !!!!!   20k on a good second handie. Or new one.
And 20k for a 6mth around oz trip.

Cheers Ian.

[Paul (SA)]

I will go left field and say with 4 kids and needing plenty of room go GIC. They have acres of room under canvas and with the uber cheap cost you won't give a rats what damage four kids could do to it.

The left over money should all go on 26 red at the local casino. Trust me. 

[SteveandViv]

once you have extra rooms and stuff, they are no quicker.

Here - Here.......

It's all relative. Add more, take longer. We can set up ours in 10 mins. Throw the bags in the corner the swags are on the bed and that it order McDonalds Oh - then - Get out the - this and that and add the you know what and - and - and....

[Glenno]

Absolutely agree on the Camprite.

Amazing campers that will go anywhere, tow fantastically, but when setup are deceivingly roomy. Exceptionally high quality as well!!

Am extremely happy with ours and did us well on our lap.

[crackacoldie]

I will go left field and say with 4 kids and needing plenty of room go GIC. They have acres of room under canvas and with the uber cheap cost you won't give a rats what damage four kids could do to it.

I wouldn't go GIC, freinds bought the 18ft tent model, takes 45 min for the "quick" setup.  Buy Aussie for 10 minute setups.

[Bird]

I wouldn't go GIC, freinds bought the 18ft tent model, takes 45 min for the "quick" setup.

You wouldnt expect less with a tent that size and 209820394832 poles..


I think it comes down to comfort expectations and general space expectations and trip timeframes (overnight or basecamping for weeks).
Some are happy with 9ft tent and 5 kids.

We have a 12ft tent, and 2 kids I feel its just right. I wouldnt want much more in there.

[DannyG]

I wouldn't go GIC, freinds bought the 18ft tent model, takes 45 min for the "quick" setup.  Buy Aussie for 10 minute setups.

With a budget of 40k I wouldnt go with GIC either, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that the 'quick' set up or main tent doesnt take 45 minutes to set up or if it does I have to wonder why it is taking so long?

However long it takes every Aussie made tent to open up one side and extend the poles, the 18' gic is the same except it has 2 sides to extend the poles.
From pulling up, to being able to climb in and sleep is under 20 minutes easily, we regularly do it in 10-15 minutes.
As for the general claim that they need a zillion poles!! The main tent has 4, and again if you know what your doing we leave those poles in so its just a matter of extending them rather than inserting and extending not that the extra few seconds it takes to grab the little pole off the bed and insert it is a problem!!
Maybe the GIC 18' tent is an old design or something, but I am pretty sure it is the same as the imported 18' tent we have

Sorry to be off topic but people need to get the facts if they are going to make decisions.

[DannyG]

You wouldnt expect less with a tent that size and 209820394832 poles..


I think it comes down to comfort expectations and general space expectations and trip timeframes (overnight or basecamping for weeks).
Some are happy with 9ft tent and 5 kids.

We have a 12ft tent, and 2 kids I feel its just right. I wouldnt want much more in there.

LOL how many poles does your main tent and awning take to erect?

My awning comes with 209820394832 poles but I have never used them, nor do I know what half of them are for
I can put my huge awning up with 6 poles if I use guy ropes and I am certain its not bad weather, but the proper set up is 12 poles if using the spreaders etc. We are talking about a 7mtr x 3mtr awning though! Just saying

And again with a budget of 40k I wouldnt be messing around with a set up like mine!! My tent is what poor people buy

[gowalkabout]

yet another here to recomend the camprite. we looked around for a long time and have been very happy with our choice

[fuji]

Hi ya
Mountain Trail, Complete Campsite, Customline, Camprite, Cub, Trackabout. They are all good trailers and you won't go wrong picking one of them . Personally I would not go hard-floor with kids as there is no room for more than a couple of kids comfortably. Our old Customline slept 3 kids with room left over. My opinion only. I looked at all of them but decided on an Aussie Swag as it is easier at my age to pack up and plus I'm a shortass with only a 6y.o daughter.
Wayne

[Bird]

... an Aussie Swag as it is easier at my age to pack up and plus I'm a shortass with only a 6y.o daughter

ya not that much of an old fossil!
well...

[qlddsl]

Hi ya
Mountain Trail, Complete Campsite, Customline, Camprite, Cub, Trackabout. They are all good trailers and you won't go wrong picking one of them . Personally I would not go hard-floor with kids as there is no room for more than a couple of kids comfortably. Our old Customline slept 3 kids with room left over. My opinion only. I looked at all of them but decided on an Aussie Swag as it is easier at my age to pack up and plus I'm a shortass with only a 6y.o daughter.
Wayne

Porn for my swaggers, that's one good looking rig there Fuji

[Sixtys Guy]

We have got a Cameron Campers off road model with the concept top and kidz room and think its great..... If you don't need the space of the extension you just don't use or you can unzip it completely and leave it at home.... Their are lots of features that sold us on it, some of the big ones for us were ease of setup, I reckon for a quick stop without annexe about 5 mins, you also sleep east-west so climbing over one another to get in or our out of bed and the framed cover that goes over the packed tent can be put up with optional walls that turn it into an extra room that we use as an ensuite that goes over the door from the main tent towards the towbar or if you are stopping for a quick over night it can be used as a shelter over the kitchen instead without the need for the annexe.

X2!

Kids room takes an extra 2 minutes to setup.

You could buy 2nd hand (almost new) **shameless plug** 

http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=26463.0

[fuji]

ya not that much of an old fossil!
well...

Thanks mate, I'll take that compliment. (From an old bloke, lol)

[Kimberley Mob]

Definitely the Camprite

[wholehog]

All Terrain Camper Trailer...17 foot walk up with kids room option......
Camper Trailer Magazine winner in its price range/catagory 2 years running
Mine is a 14 foot...

http://www.allterraincampertrailers.com.au/demonstrators-for-sale.shtml
Mine with the kids room and  extened annex

[Bird]

so what is the Original poster thinkin of the suggestions?

[kiva]

An Ultimate with the kids room would easily hold two adults and four kids; with the kids spread out between "upstairs" and "downstairs". The whole "upstairs" / "downstairs" set up is easily done within 5-10 minutes.

To answer the OP's questions ...

1. Which is better - Hard floor or soft floor. Had soft floor before and kids often grumbled about the surfaces that we camped on. Any thoughts appreciated. Am currently leaning toward the hard floor.

We went for hard floor. It just happend to be so and I am glad we did as we don't worry about the ground surface.

2. Which sort of camper would be good in a price range of around the $40,000 mark. May be able to put a bit more into this for the right camper. At the same time the cheaper the better.

I am biased, but Ultimate are good 

3. Companies that we are currently thinking about are Hardfloor - Aussie Swag, Australian Off Road Campers or Cub or the Soft floor - Complete Campsite or Trackabout. Would be willing to hear about any others also. If any thoughts on these particular companies - good or bad would be appreciated.

Our Ultimate will be for sale in the next few weeks in the OP's budget - hint hint

When the kids are grown up, the Ulti is perfect for two people. Nevertheless, there are rails for attaching Rhino Rack bars for bikes etc, the CT itself is light (700 kg tare), has 110L of water and will follow you anywhere.

Just for something different, here are some photos of the configuration of our forthcoming camper. It will sleep two adults and four kids (we only have two). This isn't our camper, but are pics of what the CT manufacturer has done when they fit out two sets of bunks that can transform into couches -

[shanegtr]

just thought I'd dig up this thread. I've now got 4 kids and I think we might outgrow our camprite. Dont get me wrong, the camprite is great, quick to setup, well built etc... but theres just not enough storage room. Especially considering with 4 kids you end up with very little room for gear in the tug, which means more needs to go into the camper. Ideally I'd like to have my fridge in the camper (possibly 2 for the longer trips - one being used solely as a freezer).
Just been having a look at the adventure campers and they might be a goer - need to have a look at one in the flesh however

[4runnernomore]

Just thought  I would add my two cents worth. Make sure you are comparing apples with apples in the  hArdfloor range.

In the cub range you would need to look at the Spacematic. I have one and found it to be great. Open it extends to 20 feet. I have a family of four with two boys. They were easily accommodated in oversize stretchers on the floor with room to spare. If you are just throwing down sleeping bags or swags I reckon you could easily sleep 4 on th floor I comfort with mum and Dad very comfortable on their queen size bed. If you need extra storage look at optioning a boat loader to use as a roof rack or consider the space an for extra internal storage.

Cheers, Chris 

[GeoffA]

just thought I'd dig up this thread. I've now got 4 kids and I think we might outgrow our camprite.....

For 4 kids....TrakShak....

[shanegtr]

Just thought I'd dig up this thread again. I've just managed to finally get away again with my family of 4 kids. I am now convinced that the camprite may not be the most suitable camper around for my purpose. I've got my fridge in the car along with one child in the third row - who needs to either climb over the fridge from the back to get in or over the second row seats (can't fold them up due to 3 child seats installed there). Then there is just nowhere near enough storage space for us - and we travel reasonably lightly too. We currently do not have the optional bunk bed setup installed, but if we do then thats more gear that needs to be stored in there somewhere.

We really to love the fact that all the beds are ready to go and the fact you can pull up dam near anywhere and make camp is awesome. I'm starting to think that a soft floor camper is the way to go for storage space

[Barrabart]

G'day Richard,

Welcome to the site........ mate I'd be going the soft floor, and picking a Trackabout Safari SV Extenda 

[GeoffA]

TrakShak