Aussie trailers compared to American trailers

[rockman]

Isn't it funny the difference between camp trailers ....... between countries ?.
This is not a ' our trailers are better then yours ' thread .

The difference between the size of the tents , ours ( aussies ) seem to be getting bigger and bigger and yet it seems that in the states you have rooftop tents or 5th wheelers and nothing in.between
I have had Trackabout Safari trailer , great trailer , extemely heavy-duty with all the bits , but have since moved on to a Conqueror Conquest trailer .I find the Conuest alot better to use , the only problem that I have with it , eveything just seems to be built alot lighter then what I am used to .

All the trailer builds that I see getting done and the trailer manafacuters , seem to be very short tailers , compared to what is over here .

This forum has been great to look at for idea's '

Cheers :victory:

 

[ExpoMike]

I think the big difference is that most of Austraila is not accessed by paved roads. This leads to a lot of offroad travel and very extreme distances and weather. You have to be more self sufficant then in the US. They don't have a McDonalds within 50 miles of any place as they do in the US.

That and the mindset of the American traveler, who feels they need all the comforts (and in cases more) of home and want to take it with them. I am amazed by the size of some of these motorcoaches and 5th wheelers I have seen.

My opinion...

And as a side note, our Kamparoo is imported from Austraila.

 

[Redline]

The difference between the size of the tents , ours ( aussies ) seem to be getting bigger and bigger and yet it seems that in the states you have rooftop tents or 5th wheelers and nothing in.between

You have a valid point there, and it's one of the reasosns I have a Kimberley Kamper. I would love to see some more off-highway focused trailer options for the US market, both tent and hard-sided.

 

[The Adam Blaster]

With all the smaller SUV's, and how popular they have gotten in recent years, I've seen a shift towards smaller and lighter travel trailers. I still see lots of those ginormous road whales being pulled behind a dually disel p/u, probably at an unsafe weight rating, but whatever...
I have seen a lot more options lately in the smaller TT's, not that many could handle rougher trails or anything, but at least the market is opening up to more than a house on wheels, or pop-up fabric trailer.

I've actually started to consider a 19' TT made from a Canadian company called Escape:
http://escapetrailer.com/
The company is fairly small (read - not mass-produced and stapled together thin pieces of paperboard) and they seem to have an eye towards a sturdy and quality built line of trailers.
I think the 19 footer is big enough that it will be comfortable for my wife's tastes, and have the amenities to keep our son, and 1 or 2 future kids, clean, dry and warm in inclement weather, but won't be too heavy that I'll need a fullsize diesel to pull it.
From what I've heard from other owners, the trailers are put together pretty well, and the company is willing to do custom work on their trailers, including modifications to the suspension that would help with its offroad capabilities.

So, the market has expanded quite a bit in N. America, hopefully we see more offerings in the future from smaller companies that are interested in building quality units, rather than making 1,000,000,000,000 pieces of junk that fall apart in 2 years.

 

[The Swiss]

I think there are quite some people on the portal here taking some inspiration from the Australian trailers. A friend from Australia brought me two issues of the Camping Trailer Touring Magazine; I came across some very interesting trailers. My favorite: Vista Crossover. :drool: It might be a little out of my price range though.

 

[rockman]

Things like stone guards , placement of fuel cans / gas bottles , fridges on the drawbar , stuff like this , we are completly different over here .
Unfortunatly our market is now getting destroyed by the amount of imported china-made campers , they look they part , but thats all they are good for , looks .
As i said before , i have brought a second-hand Conqueror Conquest , when i got ikt up here , i thought that i had made the biggest mistake , when you start looking at the chassis , the hitch set-up , no stoneguard , but i'm stating to come round now , a few little changes and i think it will be all good.

Cheers

 

[OS-Aussie]

I do like the trailers from home, but like the home prices it now looks much cheaper here in the US.

I do think that if you compare the market and landscape we start to shake out some of the differences. The Southern states which are more like Australia appear to be the strong hold of the same type of trailers despite the smaller market share. Don't forget that cheap petrol (Gas) and low price RV's (Caravans) are a common way to see the very accessible National and State Parks here.

I think the spot light test applies. In Australia I could drive for hours on High beam on the highway without needing to dip my lights. Here it is almost impossible to use high beam without getting on some minor road.

My wife and I told one of our friends in San Francisco we were going camping the following weekend and her response was "Camping I would not stay at a Ramada for anyone" I can't ever see her throwing out a swag in the back of the ute......

 

[trek 4wd safaris]

does she know what a swag and a ute are??

some of the tracks i drive have no wheelmarks and need gps to make sure you are in the right spot, len beadell was the last to drive most of them in the 50's

generally i'm 4-5 days away from a fuel supplies let alone McDonalds

 

[tdesanto]

generally i'm 4-5 days away from a fuel supplies let alone McDonalds

That sounds ideal to me.

 

[StumpXJ]

some of the tracks i drive have no wheelmarks and need gps to make sure you are in the right spot, len beadell was the last to drive most of them in the 50's

generally i'm 4-5 days away from a fuel supplies let alone McDonalds

Rub it in will ya? :victory:

 

[dirty Bakers]

One thing I have noticed (only from pictures) is that the aussies aren't to worried about tire size. Is this true for those with first hand experience?

 

[Borrego60]

Not much on tire size but I like to have everything standard like the military,rims,tires ect

.

 

[trek 4wd safaris]

Big tyre are not how we do things there are some people with them but the average 4wd will have something close to a 265/75 r 17 and a few in 750 r 16

most tralier maufactures supply rims and tyres to match your car with the same offset ( we have lots of sand and desert where it is essential)

 

[Romer]

That Vista RV link was really cool

I have had an offroad pop-up (Jayco Baja), an AT Horizon and now the Kimberley Kamper

The Jayco internals are glued and stapled and fell apart with even minor offroading. I do have a friend who tore his down and rebuilt it to last. It was comfortable with smaller kids, kind of big when it was just me with two big beds.

I used an Oasis II RTT on the Rubicon and that worked great. Used it on the roof the first night, and then took it off and put it on the ground when we stayed in Rubicon Springs for a few days.

The Horizon is a great little trailer, I just didn't like having to climb a ladder to get to the tent all the time. It would work for multiple people, but with two I felt cramped, course my daughter does take a lot of room. It seems many of the RTTs are Australian of South African. These have better build quality then the US tents I saw. I had an EEZI-AWN on the trailer and it was a very durable tent.

The Kimberley fit the bill with a few modifications I put in. I bought a 2002 so I added a propane Heater and Engel fridge. It's very comfortable and spacious. The thing I like the most is the flexibility. For a quick overnight, 3 minutes and its up so I can sleep.
A little while longer and I can have the Huge awning. Even longer and I can put up walls making a huge inside tent space. The key is flexibility.
The stainless Steele is also durable and will last a long time. This trailer is almost 8 years old and looks close to new still.

I spent a month in Alice Springs where there were lots of built rigs that look like my 80 series Land Cruiser. I also saw lots of different camping setups. There is quite a variety. In the interior of the country, you may be camping for weeks to months and the circumstances and market drive quality. as you could be >500km to help.

In the US, many people go camping in campgrounds with hook ups or parks with designated sites. Less take trips to the back country and are typically only a few days to a week. If you have a problem, you can get in your rig and get somewhere in short order. The US market does not drive the durability and options required for long stints into the outback

 

[indiedog]

I've wondered for a long time why there aren't more "aussie" styled campers over there in the US and have asked that before. Ken, I think you just went a long way to answering that! I suppose when you've got 15 times the population in a similar sized country, and a much higher percentage of it is habitable, that makes perfect sense. I still would have thought there's enough "wilderness" to escape to??

What you talk about regarding flexibility is a great point. We have a young family and that currently is driving what we are looking at. For a quick set up with enough beds for 2 adults and 3 kids under 5, something like a Jayco pop up looks good. Not what I want though. For when I go away by myself an American styled trailer with an RTT would be more suitable. If I had the space and the money, I'd have one of each!