MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Palmer on August 14, 2019, 05:48:20 PM
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I'm looking at getting back into the camper trailer world.
Previously had a 2015 Jayco Swan OB, which was set up nicely for us and went around Australia, including Cape York, Gulf, Lorella Springs, Gibb River Road etc. plus plenty of places around Tassie. Alas, due to a change in circumstances, the Swan has gone but I've missed doing theses things in comfort (a swag does t offer much of that...).
I'm interested in a hard floor camper with slide out kitchen and fridge box setup, plus a possible boat rack. Initially looking for a rear fold, but know people who really like there MDC front fold. My son is now in a swag, and daughter will be in swag in a year or two. As I'll have a limited budget of below $10K (looking second hand) and would like to get back to Cape York and OTT etc. I am hoping some swaggers can give some info on the benefits of either.
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Have modified original post to reflect that I'm looking at second hand units.
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Join the owners group. There’s a few for sale in your price range. I like rear fold but there’s a reason they make both. All depends on what is most important to you.
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Below 10K budget would mean a number of rear folds in your price range but not to many forward folds I would think. If you haven't already, have a look at what is available in your price range as it might just about make the choice for you.
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IMHO the advantage of the FF is that "if you can park it, you can sleep in it" there is no need for extra space for the fold down.
Hem
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I personally like the rear fold better
When looking i found the 2 main disadvantages of Foward fold as follows
Most has insanely high ball weights when loaded
Some you have to take the bed apart and put it on the floor to fold it up
I found the main drawback of rear fold is that you can end up putting wet or dirty canvass on the bed. You can get around this by getting a bed swag made up
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at the recent 4wd and camping show had a look at some of the FF and after owning two RF I would have much preferred the FF. Main reason being once the bows are set on a FF there is no need to change them unlike the RF. With the RF unless you have absolute level ground or the same angle ground as last time the canvass just doesn't sit right and that can have a flow on effect to everything else. For me the FF is just a lot easier, event if it means a little bit more work to have the bed ready.
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Thanks All for the info, it has got me thinking even more.
As tryagain said, budget might end up dictating choices.
Tassie has a camping expo coming up next month, so looks like I need to get along to that and check out both types, and then hit the second hand market
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IMHO the advantage of the FF is that "if you can park it, you can sleep in it" there is no need for extra space for the fold down.
I keep hearing this - how often do you not have enough space to fold out a tent??
EG: if you can drive into a spot theres usually an extra 10ft behind you to fold the tent out...
then you have the bonus of not having 50 ton towball weight.
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I see the storage in a FF being compromised.
Remaking the FF bed with every setup would become tedious.
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Then there’s the living area. Kitchen on the edge of the awning and exposed, sitting area in front of the ladder and in the kitchen, and fridge/pantry on the other side. I tried to like a FF but too many compromises for us.
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We have a follow me camper, a side folding hard floor which might be coming up for sale soon if you are interested. Very unique and well designed and all Australian built. The side folding hard floor has a bigger floor space than a rear hard floor and by folding out to the side its roomier inside and it has the walk up to the bed much like the soft floor models. It has the annex and side wall all in one piece which you can leave on all the time and it literally only takes 5 min to put up.
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Dont know wich ffs you guys are looking at but i have had 2 ffs recently (both modcon verities) and neither required any dismantling of the bed. both had mattress toppers and bed was made up and strapped in when folding over. if a bed is made for a child it can need to be rearranged to allow closing. storage wise they can be a bit limiting, but a lot come with fold over boat/storage racks which you can keep things strapped to and not need to remove as they fold over and lock in.
In saying that i have had 2 rear folds as well, (1 Aussie swag and 1 cub) the first had similar storage space as the ffs, and the 2nd had heaps as it was a cub spacevan. but both where a nuisance to set up if ground wasnt level. all campers allowed for the main awning to be flipped over the roof and packed up in the camper. alot of ffs inparticular wont allow this.
The modcon ffs have a single bow set up at the back, just push up till it clips in and its bed time pretty much, no other need to push up forward and middle bows and then Flip the awning over and if good weather 3 poles out the front and 3 ropes, pull the kitchen out and fridge and you are cracking a beer looking for your camp chair. Similar set up with the rear folds but after you have leveled all the floor legs or pulled out your timber to chock them up to make em level.
Thats my 2c.
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Campingaroundoz, that's a concept I hadn't contemplated.
At this point I am still gathering info and making up my mind what I want, so I won't be in a position to purchase for a little while, but will keep it in mind.
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The follow me campers were made in WA, great quality and different design concepts. Not too many around though
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The follow me campers were made in WA, great quality and different design concepts. Not too many around though
Quite different, and that could explain why I hadn't known about them
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I have had nothing to do with any off them so can not comment, but my mate has a FF one its 2 flopping Ton and he said some are 2,5ton, Craig
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I see the storage in a FF being compromised.
Remaking the FF bed with every setup would become tedious.
I have a Modcon Imperial (Aussie made one) and it certainly has enough storage for the two of us.
The bed has two straps on it to hold it down while folding it up. I just remove the pillows and doona into the lounge area, do the straps up and Bob's ya parents sister. Not once has the bed been an issue.
Love my FF, best thing I have bought.
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I have had nothing to do with any off them so can not comment, but my mate has a FF one its 2 flopping Ton and he said some are 2,5ton, Craig
Not sure what make these /\ /\ are but my Modcon, which is built like a tank, is 1200Kg Tare. I thought mine being locally built would be one of the heaviest. A quick look at a few on the web found a range of 980Kg to 1700Kg so they must be optioned up a heap.
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The CUB comes in at a reasonable weight, but is barebones, lots of options.
https://cubcampers.com.au/range/forward-fold-series/frontier/
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Having towed a Jayco Swan OB - tare 1445kg - around Aus (packed to the hilt) I like the thought of something a bit lighter.
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Having towed a Jayco Swan OB - tare 1445kg - around Aus (packed to the hilt) I like the thought of something a bit lighter.
What about a smaller Jayco than the Swan. the Penguin or something isnt it?
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What about a smaller Jayco than the Swan. the Penguin or something isnt it?
Had toyed with the idea of another Jayco, but I want to be able to get to more out of the way places and take it on "harder" trips than I was willing to push the Jayco on.
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I have to admit, I am seeing a few rear folds on gumtree that are cheap enough that I could also get a tinnie in my desired pricing as well... which is something else I find attractive, but it wouldn't take long to eventually get the funds for a small tinnie further down the track.
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Not to keep harping on about modcon, but it’s what I have, FF1 is the Chinese built, Aussie assembled forward fold modcon camper. It is heavier than the older ones at 1500kg but still very well constructed. The biggest feature is that it’s less than 1/2 the price of the older completely Aussie made ones
(And you don’t need to pull the bed apart to pack up)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I have the ecomate ff, which as i take it, is the original version modcon went with before their current manufacturing change to the Chinese built and imported FF1 now, and i believe the SUV brand in the similar design. I had previous the aussie made one and it was heavier than this one due to full steel construction welded together and as in 1 piece main body and fridge/storage sat on a chassis and powder coated. the ecomate is painted steel main body joined together with the chrome side strips with aluminium fridge box separated from the main body and bolted up underneath, on the chassis and the draw bar bolted to the back part of the chassis. The FF1s now come into the country with the main body and fridge compartment and the draw bar separate, to be bolted on later with the suspension and wheels attached. I saw this when i took our 1st modcon to modcon for a service before we went to the cape last year, and the FF1s on pallets in the back of their workshop. Either way they are a great camper, Built to Modcons design and not just a re branded generic wich as far as i see 90% of all other campers are. we did Uluru trip a month ago, via camerons corner, streslecki track oodnattta to coober pedy and the merinee loop. my mates camper had mulitiple issues on the trip being just over a year old, and ours never had an issue. Albeit i did replace shocks for some efs ones before leaving but nothing else replaced.
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I hadn't even considered the modcon, looks like I've got a lot of searching and researching to do.
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I hadn't even considered the modcon, looks like I've got a lot of searching and researching to do.
I'd say probably out of your price range, put into gumtree what your price range is and go from there, no point spending time looking at stuff that is just going to end up out of your price range at the end of the day.
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I'd say probably out of your price range, put into gumtree what your price range is and go from there, no point spending time looking at stuff that is just going to end up out of your price range at the end of the day.
Yeah, I'm going with what I can afford, so I can get back out there, rather than saving and waiting for too long for a better thing
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Theres a few soft floors in forsale section for around 3000.. maybe one of them as a temp fix until you save up for what you want.. and this way you get out there..
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Theres a few soft floors in forsale section for around 3000.. maybe one of them as a temp fix until you save up for what you want.. and this way you get out there..
I reckon you should seriously consider this.
Another advantage is it will also give you the time and experience to see what you really want and need in your set up.
Ive found that what you start out thinking you want, and what actually works for you are 2 different things.
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Ive found that what you start out thinking you want, and what actually works for you are 2 different things.
I think Glen's suggestion is spot on. The wife and I travelled with another couple who had three different campers while we still had our tent. It was good to see what worked on their trailers and what didn't. It worked so well for us in that we purchased our first camper about 16 years ago (with advice from the other couple) and we still have it. It is a rear fold and we love it to pieces and have travelled a lot of Oz with it.
My advice would be to determine if you think you will do more base camping as opposed to moving along after a night or two. This will decide if you get a camper that unpacks and packs up quickly and easily. Obviously if you are moving a lot the effort in packing up is a BIG factor. We recently travelled with a couple that have a two year old FF camper that looks quite flash but is a heavy jigger to pack up. The couple aren't the fittest around and have decided to sell it as the wife is having real issues with the packing. She is very impressed with the unit apart from that, but can't cope.
Don't forget that there are a lot of campers out there to hire these days, and would be a good way of test 'driving' it before you buy, and you get a fun weekend away as well.
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My advice would be to determine if you think you will do more base camping as opposed to moving along after a night or two. This will decide if you get a camper that unpacks and packs up quickly and easily. Obviously if you are moving a lot the effort in packing up is a BIG factor. We recently travelled with a couple that have a two year old FF camper that looks quite flash but is a heavy jigger to pack up. The couple aren't the fittest around and have decided to sell it as the wife is having real issues with the packing. She is very impressed with the unit apart from that, but can't cope.
Don't forget that there are a lot of campers out there to hire these days, and would be a good way of test 'driving' it before you buy, and you get a fun weekend away as well.
Interesting you say that the FF is hard to pack up. The whole reason I moved from a soft floor Trackabout was I couldn't pack it up myself. My new (to me) Modcon FF is a dream to pack up. Literally 30 seconds by myself.
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Interesting you say that the FF is hard to pack up. The whole reason I moved from a soft floor Trackabout was I couldn't pack it up myself. My new (to me) Modcon FF is a dream to pack up. Literally 30 seconds by myself.
I agree, I didn't believe it would be that difficult either, certainly no harder than a rear fold. They originally had a Kimberley Kamper but they thought that the room in the FF was a better idea, so they went for it. They really do like it but packing it up knocks the stuffing out of the wife particularly. I think it is an Eagle trailer (?), and we had to leave for home about the time they started to complain about it, as I would have gone across and given them a hand and then could have seen what the drama was.
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I'm looking at getting back into the camper trailer world.
Previously had a 2015 Jayco Swan OB, which was set up nicely for us and went around Australia, including Cape York, Gulf, Lorella Springs, Gibb River Road etc. plus plenty of places around Tassie ...
I'm interested in a hard floor camper with slide out kitchen and fridge box setup, plus a possible boat rack... ...below $10K (looking second hand) and would like to get back to Cape York and OTT etc.
I really enjoyed our ttravels with the OB Swan, I know I want the slide out kitchen, fridge box and boat rack with a big comfy bed, but don't want to be pulling bed ends out and want to be able to take it a little further of the beaten track than a Jayco.
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Plus, after travelling with friends with soft floors, I've learnt a bit about what they like/dislike in their rigs.
They do like the large room for family in their softs, something I'm not overly interested in, but wish for the easier setup / pack up of the hards.
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I've got a 2002 softfloor rearfold - takes 5-10 minutes to set up, and I can do it myself (unless we put the awning up which adds about 5-10mins - it adds 8 poles and guy ropes). Its pullout, 6 pegs, and tighten two wing nuts on the arms, and its done. We just leave the annex attached and fold it over the roof if not using. Its really only a 2 person van but the kids are in swags these days. The annexe is only a roof with one side wall. Might not work for Tassie in the winter but it did us in NSW. Even better now we are in FNQ. The longest part is putting all the chairs etc back in.
We bought it along on the 2015 PP GTG in Tassie, not sure if you'll remember it?
I looked at the FF's which were new on the market back then, and they didn't really appeal. And their weight just seems nuts - mine is 800kg Tare. And they seemed to have less space. All the ones then had a lounge area which we wouldn't use. We are outside all the time when camping. We only sleep and get changed inside.
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I've got a 2002 softfloor rearfold - takes 5-10 minutes to set up, and I can do it myself (unless we put the awning up which adds about 5-10mins - it adds 8 poles and guy ropes). Its pullout, 6 pegs, and tighten two wing nuts on the arms, and its done. We just leave the annex attached and fold it over the roof if not using. Its really only a 2 person van but the kids are in swags these days. The annexe is only a roof with one side wall. Might not work for Tassie in the winter but it did us in NSW. Even better now we are in FNQ. The longest part is putting all the chairs etc back in.
We bought it along on the 2015 PP GTG in Tassie, not sure if you'll remember it?
I looked at the FF's which were new on the market back then, and they didn't really appeal. And their weight just seems nuts - mine is 800kg Tare. And they seemed to have less space. All the ones then had a lounge area which we wouldn't use. We are outside all the time when camping. We only sleep and get changed inside.
Even though I had written off the idea of soft floor, you have got me re-thinking this.
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I think most soft floors are quick to put up - MOST - some of the imports seem to have more poles than Poland.. There used to be a vid on my brands site, 1 minute to setup tent - once trailer was unhitched and legs down, travel cover unzipped. Which wouldnt be far from right.
Its all the other bullShit that takes the time.. soft or hard floor.
Some are poorly setup some are better thought out.
If mine could grow 4 walls and a roof with air con on it, I'd be happier.