Author Topic: Hi there from the gong!  (Read 4374 times)

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Offline alternative

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Hi there from the gong!
« on: March 23, 2013, 09:29:29 PM »
Hi, I am Dave, I am in the 25-55 age bracket, Live in a fibro 3 bedroom house with my 1st and only wife and 3 young girls, Own an ute and drive a truck.. nothing `alternative' about that.. or about my story.
I am in the market for a CT following a succesful hiring weekend late last year,  Nothing flash, something the kids can grow up in and if they dismember a zip or ride a pushy through the annexe we can laugh rather than cry. I have read a lot of the threads giving the same advice of go second hand local over new imported.. but for what we are after, theresnot going to be a lot of offroad, maybe to coolendel as an extreme but mostly caravan parks for their resorts, while the kids do love camping in the wild, until the wild is between them and the toilet block, We will be doing a lot of Big4  and some local national parks.

I have put off puttting a tow bar on the new triton ute to save us from any emotional purchases pursuaded by a "buy today and we'll throw in..... blah blah blah". We kicked tyres at a few places in sydney today including Mario, GIC, Direct and Toptrail.. they all seem to be similar in both specs and pricing, and it gave us a good idea of what we want/need in a CT, now keeeping an eye on the classies and fleabay to see what comes up, we are in no rush and will probably go the rosehill show before we even settle on anything.. despite not needed an offroad, the extra GVM could come in handy

I am enjoying the hints and tips here, gives me ideas of what I would like and what i can do once we finally get one, and a few honest reviews certainly helps.. see you out there on the well sealed tarmac!

Offline HEM19X

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2013, 06:11:47 AM »
Welcome to "The Show"Dave, hope you enjoy the ride...Theres no correct way of CTing, just get out there & enjoy theis great country of ours!

Plenty of great spots withing an hour or so of the "Gong!
2019 BT50 with custom canopy and lots of fruit. Towing a 2014 Lotus Freelander [welcome to the dark side]

Offline speedhump

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2013, 09:21:29 AM »
Hi,
welcome - I hope you find "my swag" as informative and entertaining as I do. There really is some good stuff on here.
Speedhump
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KingBilly

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2013, 01:06:23 PM »
Welcome to the tribe Dave.  Nothing wrong with the imports for the type of camping you are considering.  A few people are disappointed with their imported CTs because they were expecting a 50K camper for 6K.  Just make sure you understand what you are buying and there won't be any tears.  Looking forward to reading of your adventures.

Happy camping
KB

Offline Rob C

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2013, 07:07:16 PM »
Hi Dave and family,
Good on you for going about the search for the perfect CT that will fill your needs. Don,t get sucked into a purchase that looks good, make sure that you have fully researched what is offered and then you will be assured that what you get will be the perfect Ct for you.
All the best and happy camping.
I,m sure yore family will have a great time together enjoying the Aus country

Rob C
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Offline StrvnMrvn

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2013, 07:13:21 PM »
Welcome to the clan Dave,

Like others have said, find the CT that you need and want, but don't be sucked into the hype!!

Look forward to hearing of your adventures!!

 :cheers:

Strvy
Cheers

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Offline Fun Police

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Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2013, 02:31:44 PM »
Welcome, from a fellow 'Gongger! I'm up in Farmborough!
You can't spell 'funeral' without 'fun', nor 'manslaughter' without 'laughter'

Offline alternative

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2013, 08:14:26 PM »
Thanks for warm welcome, and the warm acceptance of my situation  :laugh:.
One thing that surprises me is that places such as top trail count the bed area as part of the tent, where as others don't. . So what is an 18ft tent by toptrail is a 12ft according to Mario/Gic. Buyer beware I guess!!

P.S I am in dapto, well thats where I sleep anyway

Offline 1HDT

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2013, 09:05:19 PM »
Welcome to MySwag alternative.

Offline MY0080

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2013, 07:39:54 PM »
Welcome mate, from a fellow Wollongong Swagman  :cheers:
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Offline BigJules

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2013, 01:49:52 PM »
G'day & Welcome.

Are you any closer to getting a camper?

Whilst youve suggested you don't need a full offroad camper, I reckon you'd still benefit from the quality of one made to go anywhere, plus resale and market size seems appreciably better for offroad campers.
Julian
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Offline muzza01

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #11 on: April 15, 2013, 05:55:29 PM »
Welcome to the forum Dave.  There are heeps of 2nd hand good quality campers for sale on Gumtree in the Gong area as well as Sydney.  Worth a look mate.

middojnr

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #12 on: April 15, 2013, 06:01:38 PM »
Welcome to the forum Dave (and family!)

What I did was hire one for 3 trips so I had a really good idea what to look out for, what I would do differently and what I would add myself.

(And then we bought one with none of that, in the first instance, and upgraded later on...) :D

Offline jwb

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #13 on: April 15, 2013, 08:18:27 PM »
Welcome aboard Dave!

Cheers
Cheers

Jwb

Offline Heiny

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #14 on: April 15, 2013, 09:02:52 PM »
Hi Dave and welcome to My Swag

 :cheers: Brett
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Offline Paj880

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #15 on: April 16, 2013, 09:38:44 PM »
Hi Dave

Good luck with your search. I'm down the road at Kiama. Not sure of your budget but for around $8k check lifestyle camper trailers walkthru. Import tent on Aussie trailer. We have had our lifestyle Extenda for over two years and are wrapped with it.
2011 Pajero RX with Coopers and 2010 Lifestyle Extenda with mods. Work gets in the way

Offline alternative

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #16 on: April 17, 2013, 09:27:37 AM »
Thanks for the warm welcomes and tips, we have gone with a mario "semi onroad" that I picked up pretty much unused second hand for quite a good price vs. New
I appreciate the merits of an offroad for resale and the such.. but a lot of the offroaders in our price bracket seem to be all about the sh*t and glitter rather than the form and functionality. While I have a vehicle with 3t towing, keeping tare weight down and not needing brakes means one less thing for me to neglect to maintain and have fail.  If we get 4 years out of it with 5-7 trips (3 nights) a year, to a caravanny park style camp site. I am not fussed about retail price!
See you out and about

Offline BigJules

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #17 on: April 17, 2013, 09:39:57 AM »
I have a vehicle with 3t towing, keeping tare weight down and not needing brakes means one less thing for me to neglect to maintain and have fail. 

I, and I know I speak for many, strongly advocate fitting brakes anyway, even if not legally required. Very few campers will stay under 750kg once you've loaded them up with food, water, bedding etc. Sure, we've all towed box trailers full on top soil, way over the limit and everything was fine, but I sugest that we tend to travel much further with our campers and usually with our most precious family onboard. I also suggest that you won't ever feel like it was a waste of money to fit them onve you've used them.
Julian
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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #18 on: April 17, 2013, 01:37:54 PM »
The sheep that ran across the road infront of me ont he weekend was pretty glad I had brakes ont he CT, even if he didn't realise it  ;D

Almost (within cm's) had a lovely lamb spit to take to the Scouts.

Bunyip
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Offline alternative

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Re: Hi there from the gong!
« Reply #19 on: April 17, 2013, 09:06:33 PM »
Thanks for the input guys,
It has tentatively been placed on the gunna list.. the one we hired had a brake controller  running on 12v in the trailer itself. Has anybody else done this setup.. or are overrun/ride brakes just as good?