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My 5yo son keeps harping on about going camping. Not one to do things by halves I visited a camping show yesterday and was taken by a display of 2nd hand trailer tents.
I like my retro stuff, and the Raclet trailers seemed to have a nice mix of retro colour vibe and big comfy sleeping compartments with proper mattresses - the main bit I prefer over sleeping in a dedicated tent.
So what are the pitfalls of owning these? At the show they were priced circa £1500 for approx 10 years old models. Sure enough a skim of eBay reveals seemingly same models selling for £350-£500. Seems like a bargain for a few summer holiday breaks, plus I'm sure it would sell on for similar money. Camping stove, sink unit, extra storage all seem to be part of the kit plus leaving extra room in your car. All in a small contained unit. They had the feel of a camper van but without the additional cost.
What's not to like?
Excellent question...
I'd either go whole wobblebox or stick with a tent, trailer tents seem to be the worst of both worlds - you haev a trailer but still have soggy canvas to sort out if it gets wet and you can't hang it in the garage to dry out.
We have used ours for last 5 years. Makes summer holidays much more affordable. It is a lot better than the tents I've tried - two large beds, light, roomy, kitchen with stove and sink. Its also takes bikes on top.
Downsides: Canvas needs to be put away dry. We limit use to three weeks away in the summer months in South France. Getting it wet for the odd weekend away in UK was not worth it.You have to store it.
Having said all that I'm having a year off and renting a chalet this summer.
I had one (an Andre Jamet French one) when the children were small & they loved it. It was good too to get up off the ground with decent mattresses. The best ones were made by Conway - and the most expensive.
It was pretty easy to erect with 2 hinged leaves folding out from the trailor for the beds & a front frame & canvas to attach. It's good to carry the kit in too as it takes the pressure off the car. The only downside is having somewhere to store it - ideally inside to avoid the damp - and a towing speed limit of 60mph on motorways.
You can probably get a good one for reasonable money on eBay - often with additional kit - but the prices will rise with summer coming on.
We had a conway as a kid - awesome - all the best bits of a caravan (decent beds and stove) all the benefits of a tent.
We did own/rent a 2nd garage though for drying.
Trying to convince him to sell it to me for my family's holidays.
We have a Trigano Olympe GL. I think what makes it better than a standard tent is the proper beds, a sitting area with cushioned seat, the the gallery bit, ease of having it all in one place and being able to store it in the garage ready to hitch up and go.
Because it's cotton it's a lot cooler than a nylon tent. Stop time is less than an equivalent standard tent as well.
You do have to store them dry so make sure you have somewhere local you can get it bone dry if you have to pack up at a site with it wet and drive home - we use the playground at the school my wife works at.
If your buying second hand you have to see the tent up and make sure there's no smell, that everything is there and you're happy with how it works.
Had a caravan,then a trailer tent,and back to a caravan.
The biggest pain with the trailer tent was the awning part.This took ages to put up and peg out.It would be pretty gloomy sitting between the double beds all evening.
Sometimes it has to be packed away wet and then you have to find somewhere big enough to dry it.
Only benefit over a caravan is smaller car needed to tow,more mpg,and could be easier to store.
have a look at folding campers eg pennine pullman comfier than a trailer tentt and quicker to erect
For £500 it's worth a go, you can always sell it on for broadly what you paid for it (providing it doesn't go rotten).
I would say get a caravan but it's a lot more expensive game and you need a bigger car to tow it with.
Try it though you might love it!
We, as a family of four, toured America with one. They could also be considered the best of both worlds.
We (wife, and 3 kids) use ours regularly. Kids love it. Wife loves having a proper bed. Yes you do have to dry it but I do this on my drive, just open up and leave for a while..
Ours is a camplet. Really easy to tow, have towed with my old 1.6 Astra no problem. Fits in a normal garage easily.
Yes, but it has to be one of these.
[url= http://conqueroraustralia.com.au ]Trailer Tent[/url]
Can I borrow it, when you get it.?
My brother's setup in Oz.
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Is that your brother in the pic? Is he de-evolving?
That is fantastic though. It'd be fantastic even without the fantastic wheels.
So what are the pitfalls of owning these?
When your 5YO said he wanted to go camping, this is probably not what he had in mind...
Northwind - Member
Is that your brother in the pic? Is he de-evolving?That is fantastic though. It'd be fantastic even without the fantastic wheels.
Nah, he ride a Ducati - that's his normal posture. 🙂
Yeah it's a great setup. Opened up it's bigger than a small caravan, and it has an upstairs. 🙂
Thanks for the advice guys. I tend to agree with the general consensus that the proper mattress beds and ease of towing with smaller car stick out as main benefits.
Plus like others say, for £500 you don't stand to lose much should it all go a bit pear shaped. The drying out part is a pain but not insurmountable, and I much prefer the feel/environment of canvas or cotton over the synthetic materials.
Main sticking point I see now is that my car model (megane GT) has centre exit exhausts which seems to rule out the standard megane tow bar options. Can anyone advise a towing guru that could possibly offer a solution?
Can anyone advise a towing guru that could possibly offer a solution?
Erm Renault ?
How are you going to tell if the tent is still waterproof, at 10 yrs old, I doubt it would be
Camping in the rain should do it
I was on a ferry to France and there was a'meet' of Conway owners. The massive convoy was all aiming for the same campsite. I was bemused. Don't say you haven't been warned.
We had a Pennine Fiesta (same company as Conway mentioned above) it was great.
Easy to tow. Simple to put up, really spacious and comfortable. We did about 170 nights in it in over four years. They are a great buy second hand and you will sell on easily.
The downsides are storage they take up a lot of drive or garden but a garage would be ideal to protect from hard winters. Putting down dry can be a bind. The camping season is much shorter than caravan's or campervans.
A friend of mine has a trailer tent because it's lighter to tow than a caravan.
This mean that he can run an Alfa Mito rather than anything bigger and since there's only the two of them they have no need for a car big enough to tow a comparable sized caravan.
How are you going to tell if the tent is still waterproof, at 10 yrs old, I doubt it would be
A decent canvus tent should early be waterproof after 10 years!
I would try to find a folding camper rather than a trailer tent, the main unit can be erected in a few minutes without pegging out. this makes them much more usable especially for short stays.
How do you tell if canvas is still waterproof??
I re-proofed my tent every 2-3 years (and I now do the same with the canvas on my campervan pop-top) with Grangers Fabsil. If you buy a lage container (5L?) it's much cheaper than smaller amounts & aerosols & paint it on with a brush it will last you 2-3 applications.
I wouldn't chance second hand canvas being waterproof!