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 Topic: Why should I Upgrade to a Trailer Tent?
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31/7/2013 at 11:23pm
Location: Mancunia
Outfit: Raclet Globetrotter
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Joined: 27/4/2013 Platinum Member 
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Do not go and check TT in the rain, you want full demo so expect to see the unit packed up when you get there. Ask for demo, as you want to see if you can manage it and all works.
Check the canvas for repairs/wear and mold stains. Use your nose and have a good whiff you can smell damp from a mile off. Check all poles for kinks or repairs, check underneath and check the wheels/bearings for play if you can (more so on older units).
Ask if they've ever waterproofed it, canvas is naturally waterproof so if its been done, then its a job that's a b4ll ache and you will have to keep up with it, so personally I would avoid one thats been waterproofed.
Check the mattresses and bed boards for mold staining, check ALL seams and zips to make sure they are intact. If it has a kitchen on-board, ask to see it working, take your own gas bottle if needs be - i took the one from our bbq and worked perfectly (let it cool down before you pack away).
Check the corner steadies are sturdy and wind up and down properly and that's all i can think of. Sounds a lot but you can do all that really quickly, any genuine sellers won't mind giving a demo, but the weather at the minute is your worst enemy.
As for make and model, then that's more of a personal thing, I LOVE our Trigano unit as it has great head height, I went to see a Sunncamp and felt it was not high enough for me at 6ft 2". The colour of the canvas was important to me, I found some of the older raclets and sunncamps really dark.
Good luck with your search, there is no rush to buy one so visit some dealers, then go look for private sale, you will save a fortune.
If your kids are at the younger age, then underbed pup tents are great, if they are in their teenage years, they may find them a squeeze so go for one with a larger awning where they can sleep (or annex) and try and find one with a front box included, they are invaluable, but expensive to buy separately.
Pauly
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As a child my families menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.
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02/8/2013 at 9:33am
Location: Scotland.
Outfit: Conway Camargue Lots of Vangos. .
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Joined: 19/6/2004 Diamond Member 
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If I was selling my old but very good condition Conway Camargue (I'm not, but if) I'd only be expecting about £250 for it because it is very faded and has a few marks. Yet it's still got 5-10 more years of life in it, the canvas has been taken care of, the trailer body has been maintained with servicing and new tyres, it's got brakes and every extra ever made for it, from sun canopy to the tablecloth that matches the curtains, lol. It would make a fabulous starter TT for anyone but as it's old I wouldn't be expecting £500 for it, not by a long way.
So for £500 I'd be expecting the same but newer. Look for the top names like Cabanon, Conway, Trigano, Raclet etc, the Sunncamps are good but they were made to a lower price point and though they're absolutely fine when new they won't last as long as the canvas isn't quite the same quality. It's a great time to be looking for a TT btw, they're half the price at the end of the summer compared to what they were in May.
My 6'2" rugby prop son still sleeps in a Conway undertent btw, they fit one adult or two small children.
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02/8/2013 at 2:17pm
Location: Wiltshire
Outfit: Sunncamp 550se
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At the moment, £500 will go a long way. You will get a really nice trailer tent with a "frame tent" awning. Most new TT have either a quick errect awning or a dome tent awning - the advantage is that they are quicker to put up and usually have a Zip in Ground Sheet (ZIG). With Older style Trailer Tents the Awning is a big frame, that you errect first, then pull the canvas over the top, this takes a bit more time, however, once up will be just as good as a new tent. The big disadvantage of older TT is the lack of ZIG, this does make the awning much more useable, less prone to dust or groundwater coming up through saturated ground As per previous post, older style tents are now absolute bargains. Do not let seller fob you off. Sunncamps are perceived to be worse quality, as a result they are much better value - a 2009 Sunncamp 400 will probably be within your budget. or you could buy a 2006/07 Cabanon or Conway. Having owned a Cabanon and currently have a Sunncamp 550SE, just go with condition, Sunncamps are fine, whilst certainly slightly lower quality, the difference is not that big. Make sure that you are getting a TT with kitchen attached to the back, this is one of the biggest advanages of a TT, why anyone wants to buy a TT without attached cooker is beyond me
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02/8/2013 at 4:46pm
Location: Scotland.
Outfit: Conway Camargue Lots of Vangos. .
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I don't actually use the groundsheet over the entire awning so a ZIG would be wasted on me. I dislike having groundsheet in the cooking area, it gets slippy and greasy in my experience. I fold the groundsheet back to give a clear area of grass in the front half of the awning. The only time a ZIG would have made any difference to me on wet ground I was packing up at top speed before the rising water undercut the legs and wheels of the trailer!
With older modular TTs you have the option of putting up just the cabin section for overnight stops or, depending on the model, the standard awning, the awning + extension section awning, all of the above + sun canopy or cabin + sun canopy. Some models have movable front walls too. A modular setup also means you can dry off wet canvas inside as it breaks down into sections small enough to handle, I've got the cabin canvas of my Camargue drying off over the stairwell as I write. With many other designs of TT you have to dry the canvas by erecting the TT or taking the whole canvas of in one piece.
Also watch out for the pack-up method, if you have a TT that folds the canvas down onto the beds before the beds fold into the trailer you run the risk of wet canvas making the beds wet, even with wet pack-up sheets. With other models the beds fold in first then the canvas folds down onto the back of the beds, this keeps them separate.
Models where the kitchen swings out on a hinge from the trailer are easier on the back than models where you have to pick up the kitchen and move it off the back of the trailer. Definitely a two-person job! You can put wheels on the kitchen legs of course to assist with moving it.
Wind down steadies are the norm on younger models, drop down steadies are perfectly usable though.
Having owned both a braked and an unbraked TT I'd say braked every time, I still remember the odd feeling of the car being nudged by the TT when stopping. And brakes mean you're far more secure when pitched, especially on a slope.
Of all the extras you can get with a TT I'd say a sun canopy is the most desirable. You should also have as many undertents as you have spaces to hang them, a quality undertent can cost £40+ and many TTs only came with one rather than two. Replacing inners in general is an expensive job btw, there are a lot of different sizes and you usually have to buy for your exact model ...difficult if it's discontinued. Ditto curtains.
If you're setting up from scratch you can often inherit a lot of kit with your TT...my first one came with table, chairs, kitchen unit (it didn't have an integral one), two gas bottles, cooker and a vast number of small items. I'm still using the table and kitchen unit in my other tents! So it's worth getting this sort of deal if you're short of kit, don't pay over the odds for it if you don't need or want it though.
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