If you think about it, a camper really is an extension of your family home. You wouldn’t run out and buy a home without first considering a few factors that would influence the type of home you buy. Buying your camper trailer is no different. Without running through a checklist of must-haves, wants and needs you’re flying blind in a market that sometimes has too much choice. To make sure you’re as informed as you can be we’ve compiled a list of considerations for you to take into account before buying your next camper trailer.
Roominess
How much room do you need to feel at home and comfortable on your travels? This is the first and most important question to ask yourself before searching for your new camper trailer in NSW. As there are 2 main types of camper trailers, this question will help you eliminate half the market up front. A hard floor camper will be easier to set up and pack away, but won’t give you as much room as a soft floor camper. A soft floor camper will extend much easier and cheaper than the hard floor so making sure you know how many people are likely to be travelling and how much room is enough room is very important.
Terrain and weather
Are you a summer or winter traveller? Are you likely to stay on-road, or would you prefer to explore off the beaten track? Once again, this question is a very important one in determining the type of camper trailer that is going to suit. A hard floor camper, for instance, will keep you off the ground and therefore be more stable and warm in the middle of winter. They are, however, headvier to towanad will use more fuel on bigger trips. Soft road campers are harder to set up but allow you more space to move around and can be custom made to suit parking, or off-roading.
What’s your car?
Before even considering a camper trailer of any sort you’ll need to understand the towing capacity of your vehicle. You want to keep your trailer well under its maximum towing capability as you’ll need to add passenger, food, water and luggage to your total. If you end up with a trailer that is above your maximum safe load you may be up for a very hairy ride once you get off the main highway and into uneven ground, or rough dirt roads.
Better to be safe and take a look at your cars user manual prior to looking at camper trailers and check out it’s towing capacity.
Patience and skills
This may sound like a harder question to answer, or even an irrelevant one, until you get to a campsite with your soft floor camper and you’re tired and sore and realise you have another half an hour of setting up to do before you can sit and admire the view.
You need to be realistic about the skill set of your travellers and their overall mobility and patience at getting things done. A soft floor, forward folding camper may give you more room, but they are also much harder to set up and pack away. A hard floor camper will make the task of setting up into a 10 minute swing out and peg down task rather than a full blown set up.
In conclusion
Before you begin your search for a new or used camping trailer in NSW, make sure you’ve asked yourself the hard questions and answered them all. On top of the above checklist remember your budget and your wants and needs and you’ll be able to find the perfect camper trailer that fits your needs and you’ll be heading off into the sunset in no time.
