Travelander pop-up flatbed (tray) camper

[haven]

http://www.travelander.com.au/products/trayback-camper-dual/194-trayback-premium-dual

In a brief report about his visit to the Brisbane Caravan Show, Scott Brady drew our attention to the Travelander pop-up camper. In Travelander's award-winning design, the roof pivots 180* to become the floor of a very large canvas enclosure. The process is illustrated in these screen grabs from the Travelander web site:

Closed up for traveling

Raising the roof

Fully deployed

Travelander products are available for single cab and dual cab pickups, and in fully equipped and more economical models. The web site (link is at the top of the page) has lots of information, plus a gallery of photos from a gnarly off-road trip to the Cape York Peninsula.

 

[Overland Hadley]

20k for the standard. 35k for the premium.

Pricey campers, but you usually get what you pay for.

 

[SLO_F-250]

Wow, that thing is pretty slick! :Wow1: But Im not sure about that price! Yikes!

 

[mrlocksmith]

Drool

 

[Regcabguy]

Everything's pricey in Oz. I got sticker shock in '79 when I was there. Beautiful country though.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

Holy crap thats cool!!!

 

[Ozarker]

Did you say an award winning design?

In the early 60s a guy made the Camper DeVille tent trailer outside Hot Springs, Ar. My dad got a franchise and had a camper rental business and we bought the first two made. One was sold and we kept the demo, with green and white striped canvas.

The all aluminum box opened the same way as this unit, the roof became the floor. It was ribbed on top to keep the floor up off the ground. The bed was 7 x 7. There was a screened in tent attached to the front making the whole camper 21 x 7.

The only difference appears to be that the kitchen is outside, where storage areas were on the trailer. And, the door was at the side end that flipped out and the windows on the sides (front and rear) were practically the length of the walls and in the wall next to the bed, it had very good ventilation.

Half the bed flipped up and there was a very large ice chest (metal) in the center with a sink to the left and stove on the right. A folding table with brackets simply fit into slots toward the front if the ice box, about where the table shown is fitted in the same manner. Dry ice lasted a week in that box in the southwest according to a customer who rented it.

I was about 11/13 years old and would stay at the lake for a couple weeks showing off the trailer. And I practically lived in it in the back yard. I wish I had it today! One was sold and the demo was stolen from a storage yard. To my knowledge they were the only two built.

Another example of old things being new again. It's a very nice rig, updated I'm sure, but appears to have less room inside. Thanks for posting it!

So, if anyone sees a trailer that opens like that with a green and white striped tentage, please let me know! :coffeedrink:

 

[greg mgm]

Ozarker- Does your dad have any pictures of that camper? That would be nice to see.

 

[Ozarker]

He might, somewhere in a box. Us kids were over rearranging and cleaning stuff out for him a couple months ago and I didn't see any, but didn't actually go through everything, you know how that stuff goes. We were not big on pictures, but there were brochures that may be around too. Next, how would I copy that to my computer? I guess take a pic of it.

I have recently searched on the internet for a Camper DeVille Trailer and got travel trailers. I was hoping to find it on CL somewhere, EBay or some camper forum, but no luck.

I do have part of the tent frame. I took it out for some reason long ago and it was in the garage when the trailer got hauled to the storage yard. I have hauled it around for years thinking I'd have a use for it. I may now with a trailer or camper build, I'd like to use it somehow.

To open the trailer, you would open the lid and take part of the canvas and snap one or two snaps along the side. Then lift the lid and walk around the back and walk the lid down. Then take a hold of the canvas standing on the floor and pull it up. There were two frames (tubing) that pivoted and held the tent up. Then you had to walk around and snap the canvas to the edge of the body all the way around. Then you slid the frames up into position and locked them twisting the tube as they locked with a cam inside. (Later, we added a pipe clamp with thumb screws as the cams didn't hold very well).

By todays standards of instant camp set up, it was time consuming but as a kid I could do it in under three minutes. When people came over to rent them it was my job to set it up, (and egar to do so) the thinking being that if this little kid can do it you can do it! LOL

I should have thought about this before making my comments as I'm on a business forum and folks there are always wanting proof! I will try to remember getting a picture next time at my dad's place or something for everyone.

Actually, it would be an easy build for many here, in wood or metal with the craftsmen we have here. A box with a top, hinged at about a two thirds of the way down on one side and the ends of the cap at about a 45 degree angle from the bottom to the top. The hinge side was just above the drivers side trailer wheel, which were 14 inch wheels making it track very well. There was no spare on the trailer!