Trailer Tents / Camper Trailers are becoming a very popular method of camping.
They have several advantages over caravans.Firstly they are much smaller and lighter than a Caravan to tow.
Secondly they are much cheaper to purchase.
Thirdly they are much easier to maneuver on site or whilst parking. Camper Trailers also take up much less space to store when not in use.
Our Rig
We use a Camper Trailer ourselves and, as I have commented previously the reasons for this were that as you get older you get to the point where you no longer want to have the hassel of towing a very heavy unit.
Camper trailers are nowerdays very easy to set up with the tent unfolding from the top of the trailer very much like a childs perambulator hood. The whole process of removing the tonneau cover and assembling the tent only takes about 10 minutes. This compares very favourably with the time spent in setting up a caravan.
As far as tips go in deciding which Trailer tent to purchase there are a few things to watch out for. One is the quality of the canvas used in the manufacture of the tent. This should be in the area of 10-15 ounzes per square metre, which is commonly referred to as Military quality.This will provide a much better service life and improved waterproofing.
Another feature that is a big advantage is a ground sheet that is removable ie. can be unzipped from the tent and stored separately on top of the tent. This has major benefits in that it is much easier to clean after the tent has been refolded onto the trailer.
It also makes the erection and repacking proceedure easier and the couple of minutes it takes to unzip it is well worth it.
One very useful modification I made to my trailer was to add a couple of retractable caravan support legs, one on each side of the rear end of the trailer. The reason for this is not always envisaged until it happens to you. The bed mattress is permanently placed on top of the camper trailer wooden base and if one person climbs onto the bed mattress and crawls to the rear end of the trailer to unzip a window curtain, the front of the trailer can tip up and this creates a problem. The two stabalisers remove this problem.
As to where you purchase your camper trailer from is of course a matter of personal choice. There are very many more companies in this market than there was a few years ago and not all of them provide a top quality product. A visit to a Camping and Outdoor Exhibition is well worthwhile before making a final decision on a supplier, bearing in mind some of the tips mentioned above.
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