Recommendations for a second CT

[Weasie]

Looking for some ideas and advice - which I am sure will not be in short supply!! ;-)

I have had an Ezytrail soft floor camper for the last 3 years which has been great -  however time has come to look at an upgrade.  The biggest issue is the setup time for the tent and awning.  We are a family with three young-ish kids and normally do weekend or long weekend camping trips.  What is everyone else in a similar situation doing??

I am happy to spend about $20k and due to the small space we have to store the camper it has to be less than 5.5m long when towing and less than 1.9m wide.  We have a 4x4 so no dramas with towing any CT.

Would love to hear your thoughts / experiences...

[KingBilly]

Maybe a forward fold.  Kids can bunk down on the lounge/floor.

KB

[tk421]

Cub Spacevan. We don't have one but spent two weeks with a couple who had one. Foam Mattresses on the double, open tent, pull mattresses onto floor. Job done. Pack up was reverse. Seriously thinking of one as our next one.

[Weasie]

Just checked it out online - looks a great option - thanks tk421!

[tryagain]

Looking for some ideas and advice - which I am sure will not be in short supply!! ;-)

I have had an Ezytrail soft floor camper for the last 3 years which has been great -  however time has come to look at an upgrade.  The biggest issue is the setup time for the tent and awning.  We are a family with three young-ish kids and normally do weekend or long weekend camping trips.  What is everyone else in a similar situation doing??

I am happy to spend about $20k and due to the small space we have to store the camper it has to be less than 5.5m long when towing and less than 1.9m wide.  We have a 4x4 so no dramas with towing any CT.

If this is the main issue, have you thought about optimising your current set up, comfortably fitting in 3 kids requires a bit of space, a lot of the "quick set up" options require additional bits and pieces to accommodate 3 kids so aren't all that much quicker in the long run. Awnings are awnings when it comes to campers some may be a bit quicker, but in general, they all take a similar time to put up. I have read a number of comments from people on here who went down a similar road for the same reasons as yourself only to later realise it wasn't really much quicker. If you do go for something else on the basis of set up times just remember to compare like set up for like set ups, the basic set up of any camper can be quite quick, ie here is a soft floor in 90sec here but we all know in reality it takes longer.
 

[Bird]

Jayco Swan or similar?

Any trailer with canvas will take time to setup... but having said that the more you do it and more regularly you use it, then work out the plan of attack, the quicker it becomes...

LS used to have a video on their site of my trailer being setup in 1minute... that was after being parked, feet down and the travel cover being unzipped.. Yes 1 min would be right to unfold and stick up 2 poles - 2 people..

But its all the other Shit that takes time.. awning - biggest time waster for me..
Then chairs, kitchen, tables, the bedding etc blah blah...

So unless you go along the lines of a Swan or get a caravan (which are becoming more and more appealing to me), its all going to take time, they all have canvas..

[GBC]

Go and sit in a caravan park for a while and see just how long it takes for all of the 'quick setup' rigs to finish setting up. It's one thing to roll out an awning off a van, then adding the roof struts and walls and tie downs to match a camper annexe is something else. Soft floors really aren't that bad to stick up at the end of the day, and they will handle a blow.
$20k will buy an MDC Cape York which comes with a kids room standard and an ensuite attached to the main tent as well which you can store gear in. Still a fair bit of ginning around and you need a fair bit of real estate to fit the kids room onto the rear as well, but an option nonetheless.
The vid will give you an idea of the size and setup procedure. If time is your issue I don't think you will find any camper awning amazingly fast unless it is small.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw01xOmxmP4&feature=youtu.be

[paceman]

we are slowly moving (once the funds allow) to do a similar thing to you...

we have a cheap, soft floor camper but would like to move to something that is more suitable for weekend/long weekend trips... 

we find the soft floor is OK if you are going to be in the same place for an absolute minimum two nights, but not suitable for quick overnight trips, or a quick sleep stop when doing a longer trip.  we have many places around our area that would be great for overnight camps, but the thought of setting up the soft floor for one night is not appealing.

we have our hearts (at this stage) set on a modcon quattro (link below) as we have two boys and being able to just open out the main tent and just go to bed (two single beds with bedding already setup) is very appealing for us.

http://modcon.com.au/campers?camper=5


it comes with a touring awning for the quick one night stop, or a proper annex for long stays... 

some of the cub campers are also appealing as well...

having said that, i agree with what others have said about being as organised as you can be, and in that spirit, we are hopefully going on our first trip this weekend after purchasing a drifta kitchen (with return) and storage box (after just having the kitchen on the tailgate). 

already we can see how this design will make setup and packup more efficient. 

we also have purchased a 3x3 aluminium frame gazebo for quick extra shade (fits under the camper trailer cover), rather than adding extra annex tops, sides and poles...

[tk421]

How old are your kids? We actually have a small rear fold soft floor - really it only sleeps 3 - 2 on the double and one on the floor in the tent. Our youngest goes in the tent and uur other two kids just use their swags.  They're both under 10.   The tent takes 5 mins top to set up. The Awning, another 10-15.

I find the tent the quickest to set up. Its all the tables, chairs and other crud that takes the time.

[paceman]

How old are your kids? We actually have a small rear fold soft floor - really it only sleeps 3 - 2 on the double and one on the floor in the tent. Our youngest goes in the tent and uur other two kids just use their swags.  They're both under 10.   The tent takes 5 mins top to set up. The Awning, another 10-15.

I find the tent the quickest to set up. Its all the tables, chairs and other crud that takes the time.

boys are 8 and 6.  both are autistic, so sleeping out of the tent area is not really an option at this stage.  they are slowly taking a shining to the bunker-style beds, but we'll see...

ours is only a cheaper, chinese-style tent... i am sure better made soft floor campers would be easier to set up... 

agreed about the other stuff... one benefit of the modcon quattro is that the beds at least are ready to go, without any need to set them up...

[Weasie]

How old are your kids? We actually have a small rear fold soft floor - really it only sleeps 3 - 2 on the double and one on the floor in the tent. Our youngest goes in the tent and uur other two kids just use their swags.  They're both under 10.   The tent takes 5 mins top to set up. The Awning, another 10-15.

I find the tent the quickest to set up. Its all the tables, chairs and other crud that takes the time.

They are 10, 8 and 2 - so we could have the little one in a queen bed with us and the other two in a swag?  Now I am really confused lol!!

[Weasie]

Funnily - this is exactly the debate me and the missus ave been having... shall we stick with what we have got, upgrade to a caravan (if so, would we ever use it as we would have to get it stored somewhere) or get a batter camper (in which case, will it actually be much better?)....

[Bird]

They are 10, 8 and 2 - so we could have the little one in a queen bed with us and the other two in a swag?  Now I am really confused lol!!

yes.
2 single swags inside the trailer tent, then when they get older, they can stay in swag under annexe, and other one on the workbench with you.

[tk421]

They are 10, 8 and 2 - so we could have the little one in a queen bed with us and the other two in a swag?  Now I am really confused lol!!

I don't know about you but when ever our youngest gets into our bed I have no chance of a good nights sleep!!

[tryagain]

I don't know about you but whenever our youngest gets into our bed I have no chance of a good nights sleephag!!

Fixed it for you.

[Weasie]

Lol!!  I'm married so not a problem!!

[GanG]

So unless you go along the lines of a Swan or get a caravan (which are becoming more and more appealing to me), its all going to take time, they all have canvas..

I hear you there, we just upgraded to the hard wall, hard floor no fold model 

On a serious note, we had a hard floor front fold, its a great layout, but with awning etc its really not that much faster to set up than my mates soft floor.........and I need a step ladder to get the awning ridge pole in place.

Time again I would look at a jayco/coromal camper in whatever config works for you

[nab]

How are you supposed to get "intimate" with a little one in the bed with you? Ours try and get crawl in our bed with us but they get sent off immediately haha! If there is any chance of scoring, it will be zero chance with a child in the bed......

As others have said, our Jayco Dove is quick to setup for an overnighter but for a weekend or longer it isn't much quicker than our old softfloor. Much less physically demanding though.

[carlyle]

As others have mentioned looking at different setups results in very little setup time difference between soft floor/hard floor/caravans if just looking at getting the structure set. It's the extras that take the time.

We have 3 kids 2, 6 & 8 and have been camping in some form of trailer since 1 kid. We started with an older style aussie made second hand camper which was great but quickly came to realise that the time involved in lifting the bed frame up to unpack boxes of camping equipment to then set up under the awning after taking 20 mins to set the trailer up wasn't going to work long term particularly with a growing family and the idea to travel the big lap in the future (it was basically a box trailer with camper on top and simple kitchen box mounted to tailgate). Then packing up was worse trying to fit everything back into where it came from etc.

We upgraded to a Complete Campsite still in the soft floor mainly for 3 reasons, one the softfloors can fit 3 kids more easily than hardfloors, 2 we can take it further offroad than a caravan that fits 3 kids and 3rd the kitchen/fridge etc was all built within so there was no need to unpack that part of it.

No doubt about it the setup time has been halved at least but whenever anyone asks me how long to setup, the tent & awning I can have up by myself in 15 mins max. Its the kids bunks, porta cots, making beds, setting up the dinner table & chairs, laying down the cgear mats, unpacking kids clothes, finding a spot for the surf/beach/fishing gear, un-hooking the bikes, picking the site and reversing/setting the position that takes the time. This to me doesn't change a great deal whether you are camper/caravan it all takes time as these things happen in any setup to a degree (we go camping with in-laws in expanda and they take as long to set up).

We have streamlined it as much as possible in the kids bunks are partially deconstructed and thrown on top of ours as are their self inflating mattresses before packing up so a lot of work/space is saved but unless you are pulling in for a quick overnighter with no need for cooking/awnings etc I think you will need 30 mins to 2 hours depending on your setup when you have 3 kids to get setup for a period of more than 1 day. Anyone that says they do it quicker doesn't do everything at the start and sets up things (like a weber for eg) as they need them rather than everything from the start.

That's my 2 bobs.

[loanrangie]

How are you supposed to get "intimate" with a little one in the bed with you? Ours try and get crawl in our bed with us but they get sent off immediately haha! If there is any chance of scoring, it will be zero chance with a child in the bed......

As others have said, our Jayco Dove is quick to setup for an overnighter but for a weekend or longer it isn't much quicker than our old softfloor. Much less physically demanding though.

Intimate and camping are as far removed from each other as you can get 

[peter_mcc]

It's probably out of your budget but a Tvan works for us with 3 kids. 5 mins to set up the Tvan then another 5-10mins setting up the bedding. At the moment our kids are 11/9/6 - two sleep in a set of double bunks and the third sleeps under the main bed on an inflatable mat. Because the Tvan has heaps of storage inside you don't need to stuff sleeping bags, deflate mats, completely disassemble the bunks.

We don't tend to stay in one place for long (1-2 nights normally) so we don't have an annex - we've just added a side awning (like used on 4wd roof racks) which would take a few more minutes to put up for some shade/shelter.

[whitey001]

we are slowly moving (once the funds allow) to do a similar thing to you...

we have a cheap, soft floor camper but would like to move to something that is more suitable for weekend/long weekend trips... 

we find the soft floor is OK if you are going to be in the same place for an absolute minimum two nights, but not suitable for quick overnight trips, or a quick sleep stop when doing a longer trip.  we have many places around our area that would be great for overnight camps, but the thought of setting up the soft floor for one night is not appealing.

we have our hearts (at this stage) set on a modcon quattro (link below) as we have two boys and being able to just open out the main tent and just go to bed (two single beds with bedding already setup) is very appealing for us.

http://modcon.com.au/campers?camper=5


it comes with a touring awning for the quick one night stop, or a proper annex for long stays... 

some of the cub campers are also appealing as well...

having said that, i agree with what others have said about being as organised as you can be, and in that spirit, we are hopefully going on our first trip this weekend after purchasing a drifta kitchen (with return) and storage box (after just having the kitchen on the tailgate). 

already we can see how this design will make setup and packup more efficient. 

we also have purchased a 3x3 aluminium frame gazebo for quick extra shade (fits under the camper trailer cover), rather than adding extra annex tops, sides and poles...

This is exactly what we did.  Had an Aussie Jay's softfloor and did a 3 week trip to QLD and back.  Mix of overnighters and 2 nights on the way up and back with 7 nights up there.  Setting the main camper up wasn't an issue as it only takes 5 minutes & 4 pegs.  It was taking the chairs, poles, mats, pegs, ropes, table etc off the top BEFORE being able to set up as well as making up the boys beds (1 quickfold stretcher and one self inflating mat), moving the folded annexe & walls off the bed, then doing this in reverse to pack up.

It's the extra's that take time.

We now have a Quattro and will find out Monday what our setup time is like.  I do know I don't have to move anything around to set it up ready to sleep though.  Will just come down to the annexe & mat set up times.

Al.

[Jakster1]

Check out the jayco outback campers.
We have the eagle outback after having a johnnos soft floor, And at this stage it suits us better with 2 littlies.
For quick stops and over nighters it's 100x easier than a soft floor, just wind it up and everything else is ready inside Togo. Table, chairs, couch, kitchen, beds ready made (1double, 1 King single, and the 2 couch/table beds.
Not as tough/robust as some off-road camper trailers but they still go alright.
Full setup with awning, flooring and all the stuff is A bit quicker but still takes some time and work.

[nab]

I think the Jaycos are no good to him as he said that it needs to be less than 1.9m wide, Jaycos are about 2050mm plus awnings/handles etc.

[nab]

Intimate and camping are as far removed from each other as you can get 

You're camping in the wrong places...