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Topic: Trailer tent questions
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13/12/2009 at 9:17pm
Location: Outfit:
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Hell, no! Trailer tents and folding campers are all different, with different advantages and disadvantages. Broadly they divide into 4 groups as follows:
1: Traditional Side Folders:
Examples include Sunncamps, older Conways and Cabanons.
Essentially a frame tent in a box. The frame folds out, you have to connect the ridge pole up, unfold the beds and then the canvas pulls down and around the frame. The awning is a frame tent missing its rear wall which zips onto the tent, which needs a stepladder or a tall person. This is the basic bog standard, reliable and well tested, but slow to put up and a challenge with fewer than two people.
1a: Easy erect side folders:
Examples include some Raclet, Trigano, Jamet (TTs), Conway Countryman, Pennine Fiesta, Raclet Quickstop (FCs)
This is a subset of the trad version, in that the act of unfolding the beds erects the cabin frame for you. Knocks about 15mins and one person off the erection time once you take into account that the roof linings and bedrooms stay permanently attached. The TT sort peg to the ground, the FC sort have the canvas attached to the bedboards, making them quicker and easier still to put up. The awnings work exactly the same. Both sorts have examples by Cabanon and Raclet which have hooped, tunnel tent style awnings instead of the traditional frame tent style. They tend to have SIGs as well. With two, they are much faster to put up, with one they are well-nigh impossible.
2: Hard-topped single side folders:
Examples include: Raclet Allegra & Solena, CombiCamp, Comanche Brisa etc.
These are the easiest to put up, in that you just swing the hard top over and the tent puts itself up. No pegging, 3 minutes and you are done. The awnings go up just like the first lot, except for Combicamps which are slightly quicker to do. There is a subset which don't have a hard-top, which do need to be pegged down. Some Comanches are like that, as is the Raclet Moovea and some Holtkampers. With the exception of the Raclets and some Comanches, these tents are comically, insanely expensive. They tend to be bigger as trailers and smaller inside.
3: Clam Shell tents:
Examples include: All Camp-Lets, Trigano Odyssee and Olympe.
In this sort, you open the hard topped trailer up like a clam, and then pull the whole tent up and out like a pram hood on one of those silver cross perambulators. They are incredibly quick to get waterproof and in, and the awning puts itself up automatically, unlike any other type, but they still need pegging and the awnings tend to be small, and you lose the seating space in between the beds. The exception is the Trigano Olympe which is like a huge clam shell tent on steroids. Camp-Lets are cheaper than Combi-Camps. But only just.
4: End folders.
Examples include: Raclet Globetrotter (TT), Conway Cruiser & Crusader, Pennine Pullman, Pathfinder etc. (FC)
These tend all to be folding campers - in that the canvas is fixed to the side of the camper and not pegged to the floor. For that reason, they are very quick to get waterproof, but tend to be so stuffed with gizmos and technology that you can be all week setting up the endless wardrobes, toilets, ovens, etc. etc. etc. The exception is the frugal Globetrotter, which is very very quick to put up, mainly because it has no oak-effect veneered toilet compartments to swear at. They tend to be expensive because of the amount of kit included. The awning needs to be put up separately and unless you are at least 6' tall you can forget it without at least 2 helpers. A real downside of this type.
In the end, you will find the ideal compromise between luxury, ease of erection, quality and price for you. You will find some Sunncamp owners who couldn't care less about taking 20 mins longer to put up, but smile every day when they think of the £5k that they saved over buying a Combi.
Similarly, you will find Conway Crusader owners who think that their 4 ring gas hob and built in heating, oven and flush toilet was worth every penny of the £12k they spent buying it.
Whatever sort you think you might want, go to showrooms and look around, and then why not consider buying an oldish one for a couple of hundred from ebay? You could probably make your money back selling it in 6 months, and you will be able to find out if you like it or not!
Happy TTing!
Charlie
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14/12/2009 at 12:39am
Location: Cheshire Outfit: A Combi Camp called Bluebell!
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I love my 1978 Combi Camp Star (Easy style) which I got last year from eBay for £122!!! It goes up in under 60 secs and is ample for a singleton like me, the awning doubles the living space, the kitchen is on the drawbar and it tows like a dream!
My advice is to look at as many as you can in showrooms, play with them if you can, and ALWAYS go to see it before bidding if getting one off eBay or the classifieds. I'm glad I did, the first I looked at had rotton canvas which was just ripping. This one is fab!
There is a Combicamp forum if this is a type that interests you, with lots of very informed people who are happy to advise a newbie, they were a great help to me. http://combicampers.forumup.org/
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14/12/2009 at 8:58pm
Location: None Entered Outfit: Daihatsu Gran Cargo Campervan
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These tend all to be folding campers - in that the canvas is fixed to the side of the camper and not pegged to the floor. For that reason, they are very quick to get waterproof, but tend to be so stuffed with gizmos and technology that you can be all week setting up the endless wardrobes, toilets, ovens, etc. etc. etc. The exception is the frugal Globetrotter, which is very very quick to put up, mainly because it has no oak-effect veneered toilet compartments to swear at. They tend to be expensive because of the amount of kit included. The awning needs to be put up separately and unless you are at least 6' tall you can forget it without at least 2 helpers. A real downside of this type.
I'm tempted to take exception to some of these comments!
I bought my Pathfinder because it has a toilet inside - that way when I'm camping at zero-facility sites for only a few nights I don't need the awning. Speaking of which, I'm under 5'6" tall and have nearly always put my awnings up on my own.
Overall though it really is horses-for-courses. I made the mistake first time of buying a very small Conway trailer tent - but it only cost me about £100 on Ebay. Have a good look at what's available and see what you fancy. If you're in doubt I'd be inclined to buy older and cheaper first off - you can always upgrade later.
Glen
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