Author Topic: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!  (Read 8566 times)

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Offline GreenEyedMonster

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*Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« on: August 04, 2015, 08:34:51 PM »
Hi All,
Another newbie here- am looking at purchasing a CT in the coming months and am keen to get as much knowledge as possible!

Not decided if we should get a new CT or second hand? Have also thought of hiring first?
What do you suggest and why?

If it helps;
*budget around $10,000
*family of 3 (myself, husband and a little 1yr old)
*car is a Nirvara D22
*will at this stage be looking at staying mostly at camper trailer sites but am hoping once were a bit more confident to venture off track
*zero experience with CT, have mostly camped in tents
*located in S.A

So, keen for all advice/tips/suggestions - hit me with everything I'm keen to learn as much as possible!!

Thanks in advance  :cheers:

Me, him, the little one and a dog.
Navara D22
2011 Trackabout Safari SV

Offline speewa158

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #1 on: August 04, 2015, 09:01:51 PM »
GreenEyedMonster Welcome to MySwag    ,, we will be gentle with you .
Having decided to CT after tents that's a good thing , much more fun  . Your price range tells us to best look at not 2nd hand but preloved CTs . More bang for your bucks , the bugs ironed out with more mods done to make life easier .
 With the D22 it will easily pull most CTs almost where ever you want to go so that's a really good start  .
With a  " Zero  Experience starting place its all up from here
& being in SA  well things can only get better   ;D

The only silly question is the 1 you don't ask , if you want to know ask then you wont be silly you will be informed
                                                  Enjoy     :cheers:
You can go your own way . Treg Up & Make Dust

Offline GreenEyedMonster

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #2 on: August 04, 2015, 09:11:01 PM »
Thanks Speewa158, appreciate your advice.
Yes pre-loved sorry not 2nd hand  ;D the only concern I have is not buying new being niave with CT I'm a bit scared well buy a lemon as we won't know what finer details to look for - but I guess with the right advice we will know what to keep our eyes out for..

What brands should we be looking at - or avoiding?

We went to a caravan show on the weekend, saw a few with the massive 3 seperate room tents, they look appealing thinking of kids down the track in teenage years (shudder) but I'm concerned practicality of the massive tents when your on a site won't even fit, and also the set up time...
Me, him, the little one and a dog.
Navara D22
2011 Trackabout Safari SV

Offline Benduro

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2015, 09:18:28 PM »
Aussie made, second hand (pre loved) would be the go.
Something like a Tambo Cooper would be a quality platform to add to/modify as you need.

Good luck and enjoy!

Edit: Reread and saw that you are in SA. Cavalier, Heaslip and Challenge I think are all quality Aussie offerings and all were built at some stage in SA. Heaslip are no longer but should be some second hand. We had one and found it to be a terrific unit with quality build, practical kitchen and storage, and fast, east set up. May prove a little small however with children in tow?
« Last Edit: August 04, 2015, 09:24:59 PM by Benduro »
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Offline speewa158

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2015, 09:31:32 PM »
Thanks Speewa158, appreciate your advice.
Yes pre-loved sorry not 2nd hand  ;D the only concern I have is not buying new being niave with CT I'm a bit scared well buy a lemon as we won't know what finer details to look for - but I guess with the right advice we will know what to keep our eyes out for..

What brands should we be looking at - or avoiding?

We went to a caravan show on the weekend, saw a few with the massive 3 seperate room tents, they look appealing thinking of kids down the track in teenage years (shudder) but I'm concerned practicality of the massive tents when your on a site won't even fit, and also the set up time...


When you 1st started to drive your own car you looked for different things than you would want now  . As it is with CTs  , your needs change . lt might not be wise to start with a CT that you might find a hassel to spend hours deploying with extra rooms  . When you could pull up ,set up & have a can in hand/bum in seat ,to saver the serenity in less than 1/2 hour , for less than 10K  :cheers:
You can go your own way . Treg Up & Make Dust

Offline GreenEyedMonster

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #5 on: August 04, 2015, 09:46:18 PM »
Thanks for the replies,

Benduro - I love the idea of modifying a CT to our needs, but neither myself or husband are the type handy enough with tools to be doing much in the way of modifications - is there places you can take a CT to for work? (Sorry if that's a dum dum question)

Thanks for the suggested brands I will have a look at them!

Speewa158 - a very good point and great way to look at it, I was thinking buying now for the next 15years but obviously expectations/needs change!

Another question - soft top vs hard top? Are hard tops really that much easier?



Me, him, the little one and a dog.
Navara D22
2011 Trackabout Safari SV

Offline GreenEyedMonster

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #6 on: August 04, 2015, 09:55:32 PM »
Also, would raising the budget to $15,000 greatly improve what we would get? Thanks
Me, him, the little one and a dog.
Navara D22
2011 Trackabout Safari SV

Offline speewa158

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #7 on: August 04, 2015, 10:01:31 PM »
15K yes that would open up another world    :cup:  but what do you want    ???  Don't Know yet  ??? ???
Are Yes   Grasshopper   ,,, So Much to learn         ;D ;D                           :cheers:
You can go your own way . Treg Up & Make Dust

Offline GreenEyedMonster

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #8 on: August 04, 2015, 10:09:01 PM »
Argh soooo much to learn indeed!  ???

Me, him, the little one and a dog.
Navara D22
2011 Trackabout Safari SV

Offline speewa158

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #9 on: August 04, 2015, 10:11:49 PM »
GEM  have a poke through CT Classified section to see whats about  & in your realm of thinking  . Then go for there as a starting point   . :cheers:
You can go your own way . Treg Up & Make Dust
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Offline Big Damo

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #10 on: August 04, 2015, 10:24:50 PM »
Welcome to Myswag and well done on deciding to go down the camper trailer journey
After checking out the massive tents on offer my suggestion would be to go for large main tent and not worry to much about extra rooms,
My reason is that the main tent will be the easiest part to erect to give you good living space but adding on extra rooms can sometimes feel like to much work especially for a short stay.
However it is good to have the flexibility to add an extra room for those times that you will be staying more than a couple of nights.
My wife and I hired a Johno's camper before buying and while it was quicker by 10 mins to set the main tent than the Lifestyle we bought we both appreciate the extra room that we have with our camper.
Whatever CT you decide to get I will be looking forward to seeing you post pictures from your first outing.
Also find the thread on which state you live in and add another for SA.
too few of us posting compared to the East
 :cheers:
Damo

XR6 and Lifestyle Extenda Elite
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Offline Trailer Bloke

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #11 on: August 05, 2015, 11:16:51 AM »
G'day and welcome lots of hints and ideas to be found on this forum enjoy happy and safe travels  :cheers:
Cheers Jon
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Offline Ash1

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #12 on: August 05, 2015, 12:20:27 PM »
Hi and welcome, we are new to the CT world also, our budget was considerably lower than yours, we went for a pre-loved one that we could modify slightly :) If we had your budget we would have likely bought brand new as I've seen plenty that would suit our needs in that budget, in saying that a lot of top of the range ones could be bought preloved in the budget also and you would have those extra features etc.. personally though Í would find it extremely hard to spend that much money on something 'pre loved' especially a camper. While some can  justify spending up big on camping & caravanning equipment personally I just can't as that extra money can be used for more experiences (cruises, helicopter tours, theme parks etc.) If you have a great budget for those though that's fantastic :) Of course I do think you get what you pay for in most cases and there are some things you're better off paying more for, I guess you really just need to think about what you will do with it and all of the features that you definitely want and research prices for new and preloved and see what would work out better for your family :)

We decided on a side folding camper trailer (which we preferred to the rear fold ones ads they have more room inside without extra rooms and are not as narrow) it has a big awning and the annex that goes on the awning to enclose it. we are a family of 5. 2 adults and 3 children under 6 and this is plenty of room for us. Personally we aren't going to bother putting the awning or annex on unless we are staying more than 2 days as there's plenty of room inside. We also really love the privacy screen that separates the bed up on the trailer from the rest of the tent. We also really wanted one with a tailgate kitchen for a few reasons but being able to pull over in a rest stop and easily make some food without unpacking everything was a big plus. I also liked the idea of having a big pole tube (not sure what these are called) on the outside, for fishing rods etc. so they don't get damaged.  These things may or may not matter to you but might give you something to think about :)
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Offline GreenEyedMonster

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #13 on: August 05, 2015, 12:21:41 PM »
Thanks everyone!

Big Damo - we have looked into Johnos to hire, did you find them good to go through?
Me, him, the little one and a dog.
Navara D22
2011 Trackabout Safari SV

Offline GreenEyedMonster

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #14 on: August 05, 2015, 12:25:59 PM »
Ash1 - thank you for your advice, I have not looked into the side fold campers but will deffinately check them out! We also are keen to get a slide out kitchen - is tailgate kitchen the proper name for these? Great suggestion about the big pole tube for he fishing rods, that also will be something we will want!
Me, him, the little one and a dog.
Navara D22
2011 Trackabout Safari SV

Offline b1

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #15 on: August 05, 2015, 12:35:37 PM »
Welcome GEM.

We had a Cameron semi off-road CT for 10 years. Built in your home state and never had a single problem.

It was reeeeally basic but that didn't matter as we had camping stoves, fridges etc from 10 years of camping. Kids slept up on the 6 x 7 ft foam mattress with us until they were teenagers.

After some use there were a few basics we wish we had that you might want to include if u can.  A swing out or slide out kitchen, slide out drawers to access the stuff under the bed and somewhere to put a gas bottle so you can run stove and perhaps a fridge.

We didn't get an extra room which would be good in poor weather,  but did get a wall that would zip on at either end. A 'must' for cooking outside

Good luck with the search and keep us all posted  :D

B1
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Offline Ash1

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #16 on: August 05, 2015, 12:41:11 PM »
A tailgate kitchen is one that's on the tailgate of the trailer, but there are some campers that have slide out kitchens on the sides (if that makes sense) the pole things you could easily add yourself also :) We may add another smaller one on the other side.

Apparently rear fold are easier to fold out and set up than the side fold but I think it's because they are narrower and there's less room, for example we looked at a rear fold one that you could fit a double maybe queen mattress on the floor of the room then go up the ladder to the bed... we could fit our three down but would be stepping all over them getting in & out. The side fold one we got could probably do a queen and single next to each other (or three singles) and there would be plenty of room below the ladder to walk to & from the door without stepping on them :)

Offline GreenEyedMonster

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #17 on: August 05, 2015, 02:49:05 PM »
Thanks b1, we are keen to get a kitchen too - the husbands a chef so it's on the 'must have' list  ;D

Ash1 - have had a look at the Johnnos camper site, from the pics I think I can see what you mean regarding side fold trailer, it does look roomier - cheers for the tip I wouldn't have noticed that!  :cheers: might add that to the 'must have' list too!

Me, him, the little one and a dog.
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Offline tk421

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #18 on: August 05, 2015, 02:51:14 PM »
Hah - spend enough time on here and you'll get overwhelmed with options!

Having recently been through this moving from two oztents to a CT, you'll appreciate a good nights sleep on a nice mattress :) - good quality pre-loved is the way to go for your first one IMO.  You will find plenty around in that budget $5-10K. The good thing about that is if you don't like it, the cost won't be too bad, and you can re-sell at a similar price. You could even get a brand new Customline for around $10k. I bought a second hand one that I didn't have to do anything.

Think about what style of camping you want and work out from there. We actually use a rear fold softfloor and an Oztent, rather than side fold with a big main tent with lots of extra rooms. It suits our style of camping better (minimalist) and gives us more flexibility, but we've compromised on tent space - they're definitely smaller than the side folds.  We spend most time outside so big main rooms don't do it for us - though still more than just in a tent. For other campers big rooms are important. So it depends on what you want. I actually wanted a rear fold hard floor but they are out of our budget at the moment :)  Rearfold footprints also resemble a caravan so fit in more places easily than the huge 14" Taj Mahal campertrailers I see around Xmas and Easter

You'll see plenty of newish campertrailers around, mostly imports advertised as "hardly used', "only used twice etc". Usually because they are a real pain to set up. Before I get flamed, I'm not bagging all imports but that's what I found.

Something we also considered was a good offroad trailer with an Oztrail tent bolted on top- would cost you about $5-6k, and a nice blank canvas to start with (this is just by way of an eg: http://www.sydney-camper-trailers.com.au/product/off-road-venturer/)

If you are planning on getting off road then I would suggest that you make sure what you buy has an off road hitch of some sort. Saves you having to replace it later.
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”  - Ernest Hemingway
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Offline GreenEyedMonster

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #19 on: August 05, 2015, 07:28:08 PM »
Tk421 - that link has some great looking trailers at what seems super cheap for Aus made, is hard hard to find someone decent at doing mods for camper trailers?

I guess we're still deciding what style of campers we are, looking at the preloved market now on the net, feel like a fish outta water don't even know where to start!
Me, him, the little one and a dog.
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Offline Sixpack

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #20 on: August 05, 2015, 07:46:13 PM »
Welcome to Myswag greeneyedmonster it sounds like you are in good hands with all the good advice given.  Good luck with your purchase and don,t forget to post some pics when you get it.
Cheers Terry.


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Offline Big Damo

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #21 on: August 05, 2015, 08:20:41 PM »
Thanks everyone!

Big Damo - we have looked into Johnos to hire, did you find them good to go through?

Hi GEM,
We hired through the dealer in the Barossa Valley and found the experience to be very enjoyable
on pick up they showed me how to erect the tent and pack away before I left the showroom
I was able to erect the tent by myself and only required wife's assistance to hold annex poles while I pegged it down. really enjoyed the experience and was enough to convince the wife that we should purchase out own.

Our reason for not buying a Johnno's was that we really wanted a walk through to make getting in and out of bed easier and they did not have a suitable camper when we were buying. they have since added this style of camper but we are very happy now with what we  have.

Another advantage with our extended trailer and 12 foot tent is that living space is approx. double the sized of the Johnno's 9ft tent

Happy to answer any further questions you may have

 :cheers:
Damo

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Offline GreenEyedMonster

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #22 on: August 05, 2015, 08:47:44 PM »
Big Damo - looking up the LifeStyle trailers now, they look really good! I see a lot of additional add ons, did you get much additional added to yours? What power additions do you think are required? Thanks  ;D
Me, him, the little one and a dog.
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2011 Trackabout Safari SV

Offline GreenEyedMonster

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #23 on: August 13, 2015, 06:38:23 PM »
Thanks for all the advice and tips everyone - we went and had a look at a camper trailer today we found here on the myswag classifieds and are pretty excited to have this beauty coming into our lives soon!

http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=42970.0

 :cheers:

Now bring on our holidays!!
Me, him, the little one and a dog.
Navara D22
2011 Trackabout Safari SV

Offline tk421

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Re: *Newbie Alert* New to the CT World, all advice appreciated!
« Reply #24 on: August 13, 2015, 07:55:01 PM »
Thanks for all the advice and tips everyone - we went and had a look at a camper trailer today we found here on the myswag classifieds and are pretty excited to have this beauty coming into our lives soon!

http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=42970.0

 :cheers:

Now bring on our holidays!!


Jeez mate. Why did you buy that? There's nothing left for you to do to it!

Seriously though, that's a nice trailer.  We looked at trackabout as well. You'll have lots of fun I'm sure. Happy glamping!
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”  - Ernest Hemingway
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