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OK so what is the difference between a Trailor tent, a folding camper and and a folding caravan - especially the last two?

woody 

Traditionally the difference is the beds. If the beds need supporting at ground level it is a TT. If the beds are supported on the trailer frame it's an FC.

If the beds don't extend beyond the trailer frame it is an FC, unless, the four sides and roof are solid, then it is a folding caravan.

you can get folding campers with solid roofs (I've got two!) and trailer tents with solid sides (I have one).

You can also get non-folding caravans with pullout beds.

Fiesta beds have poles to the floor ? and they are folding campers.

The canvas in a folding camper on the main unit attaches at waist height whereas in a trailer tent it goes to ground level.

Folding campers have a kitchen permanently fixed in the main cabin area. Trailer tents it has to be put in position and is outside the main cabin requiring an awning or canopy to cook in the dry (or no rain I guess)

Most folding campers have proper 240 /12 volt electricity in the main unit just like a caravan.

If you just use the main unit with a folding camper there are no pegs which means you can use hardstanding pitches. The footprint of the bigger folding campers is the same as a caravan so you can use caravan pitches and put the awning on geravel / grass. An advantage in early or late season.

In both you sleep off the floor on mattresses. Beds are left made up the whole time.

Folding caravans are entirely different. They are caravans that have hinged walls which fold down to  a smaller towing unit.

"If the beds don't extend beyond the trailer frame it is an FC"

Dont know if this is entirely true?

Quote: Originally posted by PaulineK on 11/5/2008

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. As I understand it (never having owned one) a trailer tent needs the awning attached all the time.

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No it doesn't. You can just erect the cabin section for overnight stops. There are a few older models where the awning is fixed but it's not common any more.

Ok, thank you all. I understand the difference with the folding caravan, thats straight forward, but I think the line is a bit blurred between a T and F/Camper.

So what doea a Combi Camp count as? The idea seems very good and they seem fairly cheap.

Just to explain, I used to have a lovely Lunar, but follwing a domestic split etc I no longer have it. I really enjoyed 'vanning but for various reasons now think a Folding one of some sort might be better. I'm leaning toward a F/camper as that would seem to have the essence and warmth of a 'van, but be far easier to tow and pitch.

Woody

I think the main difference between a folding camper and a trailer tent is that a folding camper is a pretty much self contained unit with out having to put the awning up (so beds and cooking facilities are in the trailer part) whereas a trailer tent needs the awning up for the cooking area etc (though I suppose you could cook al fresco).

Quote: Originally posted by Jan P on 11/5/2008

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Fiesta beds have poles to the floor ? and they are folding campers.

Pennine Fiesta? No, that's a trailer tent equipped to mimick an FC.

On an FC the pivot point is the axle of the trailer, in evolutionary terms that was the difference, all the weight acts thru the axle, if a trailer tent has a built in shower, toilet, oven, fridge etc it is still a TT if the beds are supported by the ground not by the trailer as the weight acts thru different elements not just the axle.

Oh well, at least if I'm wrong so are Dandy, Conway, Pennine and Trigano as they all list them as folding campers.

Combis are "on the cusp " equipment wise the venezia rivals folding campers I think its less important to look at which is what and decide what you need from one.

We were against fiestas because they open "the wrong way" to use caravan pitches easily. John wanted an oven (not that he's used it) I wanted a loo and we both wanted caravan style seating not trailer tent style benches. We wanted to dry quickly and from our frame tent experience thought the bottom of the canvas took longest.

I was keen on the cardinal but conway got taken over by pennine just as we were about to buy and I was worried about servicing and parts. Unnecessarily in retrospect but a lot of money if pennine had dropped the name and the spares.

I also liked the dandy as it didn't need drying but John disliked the lack of bedroom inners and privacy and claimed to be able to smell the PVC so we ended up with a pathfinder.

Combis are quickest and easiest to put up by one person. People still seem to sit on the beds which wasn't what we wanted. They come up often on ebay though and there is an active owners club. here

nother question if you dont mind. I've read the beds will stand heavy large people, but are they roomy? Are you really squeezed in or are they quite wide, and are the mattresses comfy?

In my old Lunar they wre about 6" thick and extremly comfy. We are talking about older models here please.

woody

We have a conway cruiser and I can tell you that the beds are very spacious(1 kingsize & 1 double ). There is plenty of room in ours as the beds are left permanently out & made up (more space than some caravans). There are some larger TTs out there, but they do take a l...o...n...g time to put up compared to a FC.

Its to each persons choice really...