When starting in 4x4s, a weekend away (or longer) required packing 2 plastic tubs with cooking and recovery gear, the esky, some food, beer, a chair and my swag. Ready to go in 15 minutes.

Life was simple.

A story that I’m sure is familiar to many of you, over time the camping setup got a heap more complicated.

Longer trips, a wife, a child and perhaps the fact that I had a little more money resulted in an exponential increase in what I carried with me off road.

What also changed as a got a little older was my ability to sleep soundly on a 1 inch mattress settled nicely on rocks. It started to have a real negative impact on our desire to go away. Waking up on the second morning all stiff and sore isn’t fun for everyone.

So I started to experiment…

First up was to try a air mattress on the ground. This also resulted in swag being left at home in favor of a tent. The result: It was worse. Not only was it more uncomfortable, we were plagued with leaks and of course the added setup time to blow it  up and and setup the tent.

So then I tried a plastic  base for the mattress. I’m not quite sure what I was thinking here. Maybe it was if I made the air mattress look like a bed, it would be as comfy as a bed. I was wrong. It was easier to get in and out of, but the rest of the problems remained.

We had to do something a little more drastic.

Clutching at straws

I started looking as swags / tent hybrid things. They were a heap cheaper direct from the USA, but still a stack of money for something that might not change anything. After some serious um and ah’ing I decided against it.

Then browsing through eBay I came across the idea of campers. There was one giant stall point for why I never even considered a camper trailer as an option in the past You have the tow the thing around and it will impact your off road capability.

But then I started to think about it.

I asked myself.

How many places have you camped in the last 5 years that you couldn’t get a camper too?
none.

How much to do you diss like towing things?
I don’t mind at all

How much to you value a good nights sleep?
Like a cold beer on a hot day

I started to realise that I could no longer actually justify why a camper shouldn’t be an option so I started to look a little closer at the camper market.

Searching for a camper trailer

After a short search I quickly thought to myself … shit there’s some volatility in this camper trailer market an some real thought to be done. From a $2K basic camper to an OMG $50K+ camper — with so many in between.

If a camper was in my future, this wasn’t going to be easy.

I started by coming up with some criteria in what’s important to me:

  1. Size: In all it’s dimensions size matters. If the camper was too big I might as well buy a caravan. If to small then my 6 foot + frame won’t fit in the bed and I won’t be able to store all my stuff in it. It was a balancing act. Not to small, not to big, but just right!
  2. Weight: We own a 200 series Landcruiser, so a lack of power to pull the thing wasn’t really an issue. But there’s more to weight than the weight of trailer, it’s how much extra weight can we cary, and did it need it’s own braking system that were considerations with weight.
  3. Build Quality: I didn’t want to drag a big heavy wet blanket around only to spend more time fixing the thing than enjoying the luxuries it provides. Quality of the engineering, the materials and the build were important.
  4. Warranty: It was likely that I would by a 2nd hand camper (more on that later), but I was interested in the warranty the company offered with their new units. You’re desire to stand behind your product might say little bit about you’re performance on point 3.
  5. Profile of company: I also like to do my research on the company itself. How long have they been around. Where are they based. Do they have a phone number, email address, website.
  6. Ease of setup: I don’t mind a little effort to set up the camper, but I have my limits. So how hard or easy it was to set up was always going to be a consideration.
  7. Accessories: If I was going to lug around a camper I wanted it to have some creature comforts. Storage, water tanks and a kitchen were the three accessories highest on my list.
  8. Customisations: I wanted some flexibility in the camper so I could set it up my way. I will always want to make my own modifications so being able to do that with a solid base mattered to me.

… and of course price!

They were my main considerations by there was also my experience with general trailers that shaped my decision.

About 1 year earlier a bunch of mates all chipped in to buy another mate a new trailer for his 30th birthday. With a couple of grand in hand we did some shopping.

What we found were:

The cheap import stuff: Looks great in the showroom, and the manufacturing seems impressively good, but it’s the attention to detail that gets lost in the process. The paint is slapped on wont last – leading to rust and other problems. And the accuracy of the engineering leads to structure and fitting problems just to get started.

The assembled here but still imported: In somewhat solves the paint problem – if you are on them though they build. But doesn’t solve the engineering problem.

The made here: Are distinctly better engineered and put together but vastly more expensive than what you get above but will probably last you a lifetime.

How this influenced my camper trailer decision:

It pretty much ruled out the idea of purchasing a cheap camper trailer off eBay and other places as they seem to have all the accessories you could dream up, but how long would they last would be the issue.

I also realised that this was going to be my first camper trailer and it just might not work for me, so forking out 10,20,30 maybe more grand in cash seemed like a big outlay for a still questionable outcome.

Buying the camper trailer

So I decided to set myself a $5K budget for the best second hand camper I could find. My search continued.

1. I headed to eBay
2. I headed to a dedicated classifieds site
3. I headed to the trading post
4. I headed to gumtree (owned by eBay)
4. I headed to a couple of different forums

When you’re looking at the second hand market, timing can dictate what’s available. I spent about a month looking at the pricing and brands and what they were being asked and how quickly they sold. I used this to narrow in on a single brand that I could then find the best price on.

Considering my budget, and everything I mentioned above I settled on getting the best Tru Blu camper I could. They are built locally (not too far from me) and have been around for a long time. Like every brand on the internet there will be people who complain about them, but the overwhelming majority confirmed they were rock solid and built to last.

There wasn’t a heap on the market (which is potentially a good sign) and only two worth looking at. One was a true off-road model, the other a newer but standard model.

I went and looked at both. The standard model was newer, cleaner and had a heap more accessories (like a full kitchen). The off road model had a lot more lift, bigger tyres but had obviously been beaten up a lot more than the other. $7K was the asking price of the off road one, $5K was the asking price of the other.

Thinking back to the start of this journey I realised again, could I have got the standard model every a place we’ve camped in the last five years? The answer was a resounding yes so whilst I would have loved the off-roader, the 2K difference and the fact that the standard was in much better condition. The standard did I buy.

I negotiated him down to $4,200 so was even under my $5K budget!

Getting the camper out for the first time

We were eagerly anticipating the first trip in the camper. We headed out to the murray river for a long weekend. The trip up was a breeze and the camper handled brilliantly behind the 200 series. The weekend was all going as normal. Lot’s of muddy fun up and down the river, good food and a blazing redgum fire at night.

It was the first nights sleep that transformed the way we camped.

It’s hard for me to describe what sleeping on a queen size spring mattress in the middle of the bush means. Other than I woke up in the morning freasher than I ever have before and was ready for a big 2nd and 3rd day. So soundly did we sleep and all the stiffness from the inflatable bedding were a distant memory.

Sure the onboard water, the kitchen and sink were handy, but nothing compared to the good nights sleep in complete darkness and silence. We were converted camper trailer campers.

Hows it going today?

I still to this day would like an off-road camper and I’m sure one day I’ll upgrade. I even went down to Tru Blu to talk to them about upgrading and it’s just the suspension that is the difference between mine and the off-road model so it’s completely possible to convert.

We’re also changed campers. We were finding reasons not to go camping with the bad nights sleep that ensued (particularly with my partner) but the promise of a comfy bed resulted in my partner organising trips not just coming along.

… and the camper.

It’s still looks and works exactly the same. Not a break, not a tear, not a leak. It’s now nearly 15 yrs old and you wouldn’t know it. I’ve made some personal modifications that I’ll start in later posts but I’m extremely happy with what we have for what we paid.

Built to last — built Tru Blu!

Now I’m off to save some pennies for that off-road upgrade.