Recommendations for the tent top?

[ScottH]

I have my brother building a walk-through camper trailer for me at the moment, and it's time to start thinking about the tent to go on it.

I've attached a basic SketchUp of the tent design, which really just consists of the main tent @3.6m long, a rear kids room and a front annex.

I'm after some guidance in a few areas:
Door location
Most tents seem to have the door alongside the edge of the trailer, but this wont work in my design. I have a slide-out kitchen and the tailgate swings around to sit against the front wall of the main tent, with a fold-down bench mounted on it. The tailgate will span approx 1m along the wall beyond the edge of the trailer. The means the door needs to be either ~1m from the trailer edge, or at the other end of the tent (as drawn).

Are there any issues with having the door at the far end of the tent?

Tent bows
Are these something I should be expecting to make myself, or will whomever does the canvas provide them?
Same with the poles for the awning.

Who to make the tent / cost
I'm picking the trailer up in Mackay and driving back to Sydney, but also do the Sydney-Brisbane loop every month or so with work. Any suggestions on who to talk to about getting the tent made? Seems that the moment you mention camper trailer to an auto trimmer, either the price jumps way up or they don't want to know about it.

I've spoken to a couple of canvas guys here in Sydney and had guesstimates around $6k. Does this sound right?
Are there imported tents that suit walk-through campers? My last camper had an import tent and the canvas was great (I've seen others that were tissue-paper, so I'd be checking them out pre-purchase).

Colours
Light roof seems obvious to keep the heat down, but what about wall colours? I'm hopeless at choosing paint colours, so this could be the main stumbling block

Anything else?
What else have I forgotten?
Is there something I should look at doing differently?

[noel_w]

Drop by Trackabout in Moss St, Slacks Ck. (Brisbane) I am pretty sure they would make a custom tent for you. Their tent work is superb.
I would say that the $6K would be around the mark for a custom job. I priced one of theirs a couple of years ago as I was going to convert my 7x4 off road box trailer and it was going to be $4K. Ended up getting a 2nd hand Trackie as it was a lot easier than converting mine.

[Marschy]

There are no issues with putting the door at the far end of the tent, both my main tent and annex do this.

[asmithaxe]

I am a big fan of the vertical wall next to the bed.  I can't stand the tents where the first bow doesn't extend out so the person sleeping next to the wall has canvas in their face all night.  That's what I liked about the Trackabout and Vacation Campers tents.

[Bird]

That's massive
How many families are going to be sleeping in that?

[GeoffA]

That's massive
How many families are going to be sleeping in that?

Yep. Why so big??
The more you set up, the more you have to pack up.
That size would make it harder to find a decent spot.......

[ScottH]

It's only 5.6m wide including the trailer, which is smaller than my current tent (sorry if that's not clear in the drawing - the 2m length is the trailer width). 3.6m of floor space will be quickly taken up by two stretchers (2.1m long) and the door (1m wide) with 500mm spare for bags, etc.

When we are touring, a typical setup will be the main tent and the front annex roof, possibly with the kitchen wall for a windbreak. The rear kids room and full annex walls would only be used for extended stays (we camp in one park for 2-3 weeks at Christmas).

I could narrow the rear kids room to ~2m instead of 2.4m with no real impact. Will saving 300mm of depth make a big difference to my choice of campsites? Most caravan parks seem to have sites that are nominally 9m x 9m or 10m x 10m, and the full setup is only 5.6m x 7.5m. Without the rear room it's 5.6m x 5.1m, which isn't really that big.

Marschy - do you know how tall your tent is at the outside edge? I've allowed 2m, but not if that's enough.

Edit - attached a revised drawing to hopefully make dimensions clearer.

[Bird]

I think most places are caravan sized, which is a camper without any extra awning etc - well the ones I've come across. the last 2 we were at we had ropes overhanging the next site, that was with a 12ft tent + small awning. Copley had tiny sites, and Maree I couldnt even put the whole trailer up as it was out in the road!

Some places do have unmarked/unsized sites (EG: first one on right as you come into Coonabarrabran, or Lake Fyans out in Grampians), so your laughing there, but many places I think your going to hate life. If worst comes to worse, just pay double and go the second site and enjoy the sun.

I suppose it depends where your going and if your happy putting up/packing up all that in the rain on ya solo...

FWIW,
We fit 2x stretchers in a 12ft tent with all the bags of clothes with ease...
then just have the awning with 2 walls on for cooking and living in during the day.

[Marschy]

Marschy - do you know how tall your tent is at the outside edge? I've allowed 2m, but not if that's enough

Not off the top of my head, but at a rough guess, I'd say 2 metres. I'm 182cm tall and I can walk through the door without ducking my head.

We have a double annex, and as Lost suggests you would need to book two CP sites to set it all up.

Cheers Marschy

[Marschy]

Just had a look on the Enztrading website, but they change the tents all the time. The current tent has the door in the middle.

The current specs are

Center height: 230cm
side height: 175 cm

I reckon ours is taller. I'll get an annex side wall out this weekend and measure it for you

[ScottH]

FWIW,
We fit 2x stretchers in a 12ft tent with all the bags of clothes with ease...
then just have the awning with 2 walls on for cooking and living in during the day.

Maybe my drawing is unclear, but the main tent is 2.7m long and 3.6m wide not including the trailer (which is 2m wide - a standard box trailer is ~1.8m wide). That is the same width as most 12' tents, just slightly longer to allow for the step-through area (regular tent is 2.1m long).

[Turbojohn]

Have a chat to the guys at bell canvas. I think they're in minchinbury near Penrith Sydney. They do some nice work.
If you can get that size setup for the price you mentioned in wax converters canvas thats a bloody good price!