Message Forums

Quote: Originally posted by Valiant Son on 29/7/2013

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There is a lot said about the quality of the Camp-let, and when I bought mine that was certainly how I felt too. I am, however, less enamoured than I once was. Problems I have found due to questionable design/construction:

1) Battery compartment for water pump is placed too closely to the pipe work so that the cover won't fit on once the batteries are inserted. The cover needs to be on to secure the connection of the battery terminals. The end result is that you need to jerry-rig something to hold the batteries in tightly.

2) Centre roof pole is poorly designed, with the end that meets the bedroom compartments simply resting (a little precariously at times) on the poles to each side. It could easily have been designed to clip on to either side (as many of the other poles do, e.g. the curiously named, "wardrobe pole" - most useless wardrobe ever).

3) The lid does not always close squarely (to be honest it's rare if it does). This means that it doesn't engage with the catch at the kitchen end and two people are needed to pull/push it into alignment - with considerable force required.

4) The centre joining pole for the front of the tent can be incredibly difficult to get out. Two people needed to manhandle it.

5) The restraining strap for the pivot bar is incredibly tight to fit and, once again, often requires two people using considerable force to push the pivot bar in tight enough and then fiddling around to get the strap on. If it were merely 5mm longer then it would be fine and would still hold the pivot bar in place.

6) No SIG (not possible given the principle of the design) or ZIG (entirely possible if they wanted to make one). Camperlands did produce a strong waterproof groundsheet for Camp-lets. This was supposed to be a "bathtub" design, with the edges sitting up at 90 degrees to the ground, so that water wouldn't wash in to the tent. I have never been able to get it to do this. It is a very strong groundsheet, but doesn't do what it is supposed to do. At £100 I expected it to actually do its job! (I should really have complained under the terms of the Sale of Goods Act).

7) The jockey wheel is horrendously badly designed. Every time I hitch up I spend another 10 minutes making sure that the jockey wheel is secure and isn't going to drop or swing about (thereby smashing into the electrics connection) during the journey. The first time I towed it (back from Camperlands having picked it up) I didn't realise this and ended up with a damaged electrics connection and a damaged bumper where it had pushed the plate on my towbar inwards!

The kitchen is a bit low and not absolutely stable, but this isn't one of my major gripes. It works well enough and is significantly better than lifting many of the heavy units found on other trailer tents. I would add, however, that there are a couple of issues worth keeping in mind with regard to the kitchen unit:

a) It has a three ring gas hob, but unless you have very small pans then you will only ever be able to use two at any given time.

b) The lack of a waste connection to the sink (washing up bowl) means that if you drain anything (e.g. pasta) you then have a pool of water sat in it that needs emptying somewhere.

The chassis, body work and tent fabric are all of a high quality, but the lack of care and thought in construction significantly undermine the potential for this to be a really good trailer tent.

The instructions suggest that you don't need to peg the mud-flaps down unless the whether is very bad. Apart from the weather being rather changeable - so how do you know if it is going to be bad or not - this is also a bit of a stretch of reality. Without pegging them down even slight gusts of wind lift the canvas and cause significant bowing of the tent walls. Peg them down and it is very sturdy.

As others have observed, it is very quick to put up (i.e. fold out lid and lift the tent out), but then takes quite a long time to fit the other poles (wardrobe pole - actually provides rigidity; centre pole; roof pole), skirt, and peg out. All in I reckon it is more like 45 minutes if you are going well!

Ultimately I think that Camp-let have been a bit lazy when it comes to refining the product and are not always that careful in building them. The basic design has been around for 40 years. There has been little refinement or innovation since. On their website, Camp-let say,

Quote: The idea behind the Camp-let has always been that it should be quick to erect – a smart design and that the quality has top priority. Through the years the achievement of these main targets has given us total customer satisfaction and the best trailer tent.

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I can't help feeling that they are a little bit complacent. I am not the only customer who has expressed disappointment and reservations.

Don't get me wrong; there are a lot of good things about Camp-lets, but they are not the wonder trailer tents that they could easily be with a little more thought and care!

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