Camping With Kidz

Is a Camper trailer the right choice for you and you and the kids?

Well if you’ve been to a caravan and camping show lately you will know that there’s a variety of camper trailers out there on the market ranging from cheap and reasonably priced campers to ones costing more than a large caravan.

Camper trailers have their advantages and disadvantages like all of the other forms of camping accommodation we have discussed.

These days you can buy a large camper trailer with numerous annexes for not much more than $5000, conversely you can also buy camper trailer for more than 80 or $90,000.
A couple of years ago we sold our large comfortable Jayco Expanded to move into the camper trailer market. What a mistake that was…..no, no, I will explain, for us it was.

At that stage in life we had two children, one aged five and the other aged seven, we were expecting a third child, so we made the decision to buy a large camper trailer. We bought an off-road camper trailer which was large enough to accommodate the five of us in comfort, two kids on large camp stretches and one in a port-a-cot. The camper trailer we bought had two awnings, one fixed to the main tent, and one detachable, both complete with walls.

Having this amount of room made it very comfortable to spend a week away in a park or wherever we decided to pull up. Having said that, it was a lot to set up and even with experience and streamlining what had to be done to set up for the week comfortably, it would take the best part of two hours. Pack up however would realistically take three hours at the end of the week.

I enjoyed the camper trailer from the aspect of being out in the great outdoors, you really feel like you’re camping as opposed to being in a luxury caravan. With that comes the reality that your just in a bed tent with a comfortable bed. Like with a tent you know when it’s raining, windy, hot or the weather is just pleasant and nice to spend camping and sitting around camp.

Camper trailers have the advantage of being relatively lightweight, compact and easy to store when not in use. They are relatively inexpensive and practical for going off road because of their physical tow size and ability to be made far more rugged and more capable of taking some hard knocks along the way, due to little electronics, moving parts, cupboards, etc.

Bear in mind that the bigger the camper the more difficult it will be to put up. Much more difficult to put up, that little bit extra room can make it far more difficult to erect, requiring more poles, obviously more canvas, more weight and making it that much more awkward to put up. I know that all sounds obvious, but we learnt the hard way. If the camper was a metre shorter (floor area in the tent) then the setup and pack up would have been far more bearable. As a guide, if the tent requires any other poles inside the tent area, other than the ones that fold out from the trailer then you could be in for a lot more work. I would also only recommend campers that have awnings that zip off, this makes it easier to erect, but also means, if you’re staying for one night you don’t have the awning to deal with.

One major disadvantage with the camper trailer that we found as a family was the lack of use throughout the winter months. A camper trailer isn’t something that you would choose to use on a rainy windy weekend, unlike a caravan, if it rains or if it’s windy you barely notice it and there’s nothing to worry about drying and cleaning when you get home. If you do happen to purchase a camp trailer make sure that you have enough room at home to easily set it up if you return from a trip and the campus is wet. Believe me, from experience you want to dry the canvas as soon as you get home. A friend of ours had the same camper trailer as us, came home after a week away with wet canvas, it was the middle of January, within 48 hours the canvas was riddled with mold which permanently stained the canvas making a unsightly mess. Having enough room to put some of these large camper trailers up at home can be rather restrictive. Bear in mind that if you come home with a wet camper trailer it may also be wet at home when you return and could be erected for many days if not a week before you’re able to pack it up dry.

We really noticed when we sold the camper trailer to buy another caravan how much more we were able to use it throughout the year. Family holidays throughout the cooler months of the year were simply nonexistent because we weren’t able to dry it out on returning home. To make the trip away and an enjoyable one a camper trailer would be low on my list.

On a positive note, camper trailers are, relatively inexpensive, generally small to store when not in use, easy to tow, can be towed by many medium sized vehicles, no need for electric trailer brakes to be fitted to your vehicle, and far more comfortable sleeping than in a tent. The kitchen on many are great and comparable, if not better than a caravan. We had an Australian made Drifta slide out kitchen which was expensive, but well worth it.
Another product that fits in here is the wind up style camper from manufactures like Jayco, Coromal, and Goldstream. For example, the old Jayco Dove, that’s been around for years. These too have their place, and if the budget could stretch, I would highly recommend one other these styles of vans/campers.

They too are easy to tow, store, great for you and all the kids, very comfortable, and much quicker to setup. But don’t be fooled by the quick 5 minute erection you may see at your local dealer, or Caravan and Camping Show. Yes, they are easy to put up, yes, that are up in about 5 minutes or so once you get the hang of it, but, that is not it. There are still a lot of other things to be done that all take time, jacks down, water on, power on, awning out, and beds to be made, anything that is normally out has to be put out, etc etc. Beds can be left made sometimes, if your bedding is fairly low profile, and the canvas is dry. Like with a traditional camper trailer, moisture is always going to be a problem. If your canvas is very damp on packing up for home or another location you made need to put a tarp over the beds, especially if you intend on sleeping in them that night.

We had a Jayco Dove many years ago, and travelled up the east coast of Australia with it. It was great, but moving every couple of days by the end of the 6 weeks away I was over it. But as I have said to many people over the years, so long as you know that there is still plenty of other things to setup after winding it up, you can make a more informed decision.
A family friend has a Jayco Swan Outback (off road) model and to my knowledge have had no trouble with it, despite the fact that they have taken their 3 boys up the Simpson Desert in it, Birdsville Track, and Victorian High Country.

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