Camper for family of 5...???

Rather pointless asking us to recommend any of the hundreds of different units available when you don't seem to have much idea as to what you want from it.
Prices will range from $3,500 for a second hand cheapy to near $100,000 for a ridiculously expensive unit. It all depends on what you really want out of it.
Plenty of soft floors that are very quick (under 5 minutes) to set up.
If a soft floor bothers you with add on rooms etc, so will a hard floor. The only difference is the initial main room.
We toured the outback in a cheap Chinese softfloor with two teenage kids and figured out what we liked/hated before buying an expensive softfloor that did what we wanted a bit better but you still need to be prepared to modify it to suit you.

Suggest you attend a 4WD & Camping show and check out the offerings.
Find something that suits you.
Also you can hire camper trailers, Hire one and gain some practical experience in what you like/dislike about it.
Johnnos is one company that does hires with a broad range of styles.

Also look at myswag.org forums. Site dedicated to camper trailers, read some owner comments.

MalcomM,

"Rather pointless asking"
I thought that was the idea of a forum ?

I didn't realise that you are the chosen representative of all others "us" that are on Explor Oz.


" you clearly have little idea as to what you want from it"
Not only can you assume, but it is "clear" to you on our level of experience from a few lines. We have a pretty good idea what is needed, thanks for asking.

"Prices will range from $3,500 for a second hand cheapy to near $100,000 for a ridiculously expensive unit. It all depends on what you really want out of it.
Suggest you attend a 4WD & Camping show and check out the offerings.
Find something that suits you."
I did not need to be told the prices and types vary, I had already said that, yes been to few caravan/camping shows, that's why I thought it would be good to ask what works for others with families of 5.
"Also you can hire camper trailers, Hire one and see what you like/dislike about it."
Done that, that's why we definitely do not want a soft floor, and you cant always hire the ones that you really want to test.

"Johnnos is one that does hires."
You do know Johnnos folded up late last year?

"Also look at myswag.org forums. Site dedicated to camper trailers, read some owner comments.."
My apologies, I did not realise that Explor Oz is not for people with camper trailers, must only be caravans.

MalcomM ,
When you travel , are you a family of 2 adults and 3 young kids ....??

If you do ?,
then I welcome any advice you may be able to share.

If not ?,
then I would prefer if you could please refrain from participating in this particular forum , as you "clearly have little idea what we want from it" and therefore have no valued input and your points are irrelevant.
The question was directed at,
"suggestions or advice from others with 2 adults and 3 children"

G'day. I agree that it is difficult to respond with much detail given that you are considering so many options, but I'll share our experience. For the record, yes we are 2 adults and 3 kids.
However, we chose a soft floor which you have already ruled out, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt although perhaps the principles will help guide you.

First factor is available space. Hard floor camper trailers (or sleeping off the ground trailers) rarely have enough space for 3 kids and associated extra food, chairs and luggage. To achieve that you may need bunks and/or add-on rooms which negates the perceived benefit of a quick set up of a hard floor trailer.

That moves us to soft floor trailers versus jayco style pop-up, bed-out campers. We travel with friends that have a jayco and it really is hard to beat for many reasons. Unless you plan to give it a really hard time they will allow you to visit many places comfortably.

So why don't we have one? 2 reasons. We do like to travel places that means our trailer cops a hiding over many km of corrugated dirt roads and I'm not sure that would be good for a jayco style van. Secondly, and more importantly when we camp we want to be outside not inside.
Eg. Cooking and eating etc. therefore all the internal features of a jayco would be wasted on us.

Benefits of our setup. Simple, basic and tough. Super fast set up and pack up. Heaps of storage. Great value (second hand). Keep in mind our holidays are touring - not set up in one spot. For example on a seven week trip we only stayed more than one night at two locations. We also only set up the awning once (the luxury of dry inland travel!).

Tips to make it easy.
Make sure everything is a one person job. I set the tent up while my wife opens the kitchen and cooks dinner. I pack up while she sorts breakfast and shuts the kitchen.
Only unpack what you need. Don't store junk on the bed that needs to be moved every time you stop.
We have a fibreglass lid. Check out Jumbuck campers - not made any more, but there are some similar options. We are fully set up by the time others have wrestled off their muddy vinyl cover.
Kids have swags that live on our bed when travelling. Just throw them on the floor when we stop.
Make sure your trailer sits level on the car and can be set up while connected. We travel with friends that have to disconnect to set up and we are normally all done by the time they are disconnected and levelled.
Plus all the little things like not needing to move gas bottles in order to cook and having easy access to water etc. Stuff you may not pick up at a camping show but will figure out is a pain on your first trip.

So perhaps don't rule out a soft floor. In our experience the east coast manufacturers build trailers suited to a week on the beach with lots of features but a more complicated set up - especially awnings. South Australian manufacturers seem more suited to outback touring with quick, simple set-ups. I'm thinking Challenge, Cameron and Adventure.

Good luck. Keep it simple. At the end of the day you need storage, somewhere to cook and somewhere to sleep. It's about the destination and the time together as a family - not the funkiest set-up.

Richard.

Hi Tracka
Have a look at these, have a friend with one and he is happy with. He has two girls only though. But you may be able to accommodate a third littly'

http://www.marketdirect.com.au/jackson-forward-fold

Good luck with your search.

cheers

We've got a Tvan and 3 kids 10/8/5. It works well for us. They are well made, go anywhere and don't fall apart. It's quick to set up - dinner can be on 2 mins after stopping and the beds all ready in 5-10. It has a hard floor so you can stop pretty much anywhere. We had kids sleeping under the main bed but as they have grown we've moved to triple disc-o-bed bunks in the tent part.

The hard shell means there is heaps of internal space so we don't have to stuff sleeping bags/etc every time we pack up - bunks go on one side of the bed, sleeping bags/doona down the end then clothes bags on the bed at the foot. Packing up in the rain isn't so bad because the "lid" gives some cover and the wet canvas doesn't sit on the bed.

We had an O'Briens Off Road camper for years. It was well built and designed, don't know if they make em anymore but there are second hand ones around.

Pleant of room for stretchers in the enclosed section for the kids.

O'Briens Camper Trailer

HI
The ezy trail might be worth a look . Check out the Lincoln range dual fold .
Others on hear may have some real life experiences with this model .

Also try looking at Trak shak .

Tracka
From our experience (family of 5)
Don't put all of your reasons into the basket of being able to sleep all the kids, and end up with a bigger unit with longer setup time etc.
When they are really small they sleep with you, when they are pre-teen they see it as an adventure to set up their own little popup tent next to yours, when they are teens they will insist on their own tent anyway, and when they are late teens they may not accompany you on all the camping trips.
No use you buy a unit with extended set-up time now with kids in mind then after 5 years you yearn for a simpler setup that may be lighter and more robust.
Food for thought, above advice experienced first hand.

Have a look at Ultimate Campers.
The under bed room for the kids attaches in less that 5 minutes and there is the added benefit of being able to sit /cook inside if the weather turns nasty.
2 adults and 3 kids will fit inside if needed.
Expensive but a great bit of gear.

try blue water campers in Pakenham vic. front foldover &plenty of storage..

OK, I have also had a look at my swag as I was advised earlier in this thread.
A lot of varied info and opinions there.
There is one forum discussion I noticed where it seems a prototype is being built and tested to go to market that sleeps 5, hard floor off the ground , made for families in mind, and seems to have good specs and tick most of our box's. (couldn't find any pic's though)
There are other extras that may be optional that I don't think we really need, pull out hard floor shower, fold out hard floor in outside cooking area, AC, etc... but these can be left off and should be cheaper you would think.?
I will try to enquire after the company to find out more on design, prices, specifics, etc...
See what comes back and let you know.

Hi Tracka,
Looking at those features that are important to you it may be worth having a look at Camprite trailers, these are/ were made in WA and as far as I recall sleep up to 6 off the ground. The camper opens like an old tool box and the main double bed slides out over the front boot/drawbar. A kitchen at the back under the awning, and it sounds like a good set up.

There are also Chinese copies so be aware.

We are fans of Tvan, on our second now, and also recommend that as an option. We only deal with one or two grand children on an occasional basis so not really the same as your situation, however the family room tent is as easy to live with as the rest of the trailer, particularly in your case, as the entire space above the bed is available to you as storage, ie 3 camp stretchers etc.

Hope these thoughts are of interest to you.

Rgds,
Rob.

G'day We had exactly the same situation and solved it by buying a wind up camper similar to Jayco finch and the first day of ownership I pulled the sink and stove out of it. Left the fridge in though. We use the camper for sleeping only. This is were it gets a bit weird. I built a complete kitchen, stove, sink, microwave storage for plates tea coffee etc in a ute toolbox the same width as the camper and this is mounted on the rear of the camper . When travelling we can stop and do lunch without entering the camper. Engel is in the tug. When stopped for the night the whole tool box ( with a large lift up lid that acts as a shelter) is on a pivot same as spare wheel carrier and it opens at 180 deg to then be under our awning or in the annex if put up. This works well for us and is fairly quick to set up. Has been to Frazer, Cape York (Frenchmans track) Sorry I'm not smart enough to post any pictures. Have never seen anything similar. Cheers Rob

Its a fun game Tracka and might be worth taking a step back and looking at the thing as a whole Car & Trailer combination.

In our group over the last 18 months 5 different campers have been brought ranging from $5000 special (mine) to a $150,000 Ultimate & and which will do the best job has yet to be determined .

I don't know enough about your scenario to recommend anything so I will describe what I did and why.

We have for years sleep in car and or with tents when kids where involved and this lead us to develop the back of our Nissan patrol as a permanent rainproof Kitchen , so when we stop there is no need to go setup a camper for these functions.
Hence their is no need to setup up a slide out stove and maybe erect an annexe to keep out sun/rain etc.

Our camper is essentially a very simple soft floor unit which requires no power and is used for sleeping , getting out of weather and changing in.
We even had its gas bottle rings and jerry can holders removed during its manufacture , as unnecessary weight.

As a soft floor unit it has more free space than all the other types , indeed you can even fit a garden setting and 6 plastic chairs inside it , so when its time for a party that's where everyone heads.

It takes longer to setup than some of the hybrids although its quicker than the hard floor ezytrailer in the group.
In practise though it takes less total time to pack than most others simply because in a normal camper you have to pack up internals then proceed to pack up the actual camper. In our case these functions can be done in parallel, one at the car and the other folding the camper.

Depending on age 3 kids can sleep across the almost kingsize bed leaving the ground floor as a 2.3m * 2.1m open space.

Packing up wet is not an issue , but I am dreading packing up in mud and have so far avoided that.

Ours has leaf springs which you would think is a bouncy disadvantage however because nothing sensitive is inside the camper its a non issue.

With no electricity and no water etc required the whole unit is simpler tougher and less likely to fail.

The huge under bed storage area is reserved for tarps, foldup chairs , bags of clothes etc.

Unlike almost all campers we had ours made with a long single drawbar which makes access to rear of car much easier and it rarely needs to be uncoupled.

But at the end of the day we wanted it to allow us to go where many campers can not and that meant small outside dimensions (narrower than car) and short overall length.

To cap it off, its weight loaded is only 500 kg , about 1/3 of most others which means it doesn't even need brakes and is only 20% of the cars weight and a total dream to pull, and manhandle.

However I still hate towing anything !

So it looks like we might have done a hire deal on a camprite off a brother of a mate for easter, planning on going for a short trip to a few spots on a river system and dam about half a day's drive away.

For the prototype,
From what I have worked out it has been designed and built by a company called REX products, apparently REX is : remote expedition xplorer , and the first model being tested is the F5A.
They are reluctant to release or demonstrate the engineering, plans or computer model at this stage until the prototype has completed trials as there may be some minor changes needed. ( offer to test it for them, very generous of me I thought !! )
Also seem very edgy about who's looking at this stage. Apparently legally advised not to reveal further details until they have the first ones built and released and some marketing done, then they can say who made them first.
Must be the chingers got em wary already !?!

We just bought a Goldstream Wing 3 wind up camper. It sleeps us 5 in comfort. Can sleep up to 8.

We have had an Ultimate for fourteen years or so.
It has been trouble free other than the usual service stuff. Worn out three sets of tyres and on the second pair of shocks, so lots of kilometres.
My kids are a family of five (6yrs thru to 10yrs) and they sold their swan after a test run in our Ultimate.
Yes they now have an Ultimate and have an 'under bed kids room'.
The bed is king size and the lounge sets up as a full size single if needed.
A 110 lt water tank, an internal kitchen with a table that sets up outside when needed and insect free . An annexe 2.4 x 4.2 or an awning for a quick setup 1.8 x 4.2 supported by fibreglass spars.
Very comfortable and hold their value.
There is an Ultimate owner forum which has years of experiences to go through.

I think you need to do a lot more research before you can ask for unsolicited opinions which will be all over the place without a reference for what you want.

There are literally hundreds of campers that meet your spec. From $5k to 100K as someone mentioned. It is a minefield.

Some have higher or lower price
Light weight or tougher
Soft floor hard floor, pop top etc
Kitchen no kitchen, gourmet kitchen.

My suggestion is go to a caravan camping show and make up a list of must have and desirable features. Then go back to the show measuring against that. You should end up with 3 - 4 possible types. Then come back here, with a reference point of the short list and get opinions. Responses that way will be much more meaningful.

Well Tracka D8, you have opened a can of worms. I thought your question was valid. In short we have a Cameron Canvas Camper.Owned it for about ten years. Mainly camp on the river Murray for a few days at a time and it suits that well.. Having shared a soft floor camper, I wanted a hard floor but after looking, settled on the Cameron because it has a quick set up system that works well. (set up and pack up are my main beef with campers). Great kitchen. Good cover that gives you room to store extras. Well built large, front box. We got the large annex which can give you a bit of security as well as shelter. When the two kids got to the teen stage our daughter used a pup tent and son a swag, but the floor of the Cameron has enough room for three kids on the floor for a one night stop. For an extended stay you would need to use the annex, pup tent etc. It makes the kids feel special when they get their own set up.

Drawback for the Cameron. It is a beam axle not an independent system. Most soft floors are beam axle and are much more economical for it.

We have just ordered a hybrid for longer trips and comfort, no kids now and heading for retirement means we will use it a lot more. So the Cameron has to go. Mind you the new one is 4- 5 times the cost of the Cameron.