Camper Trailers

Let's be honest, we’ve all dreamt of ditching our everyday jobs, throwing off the shackles of modern-day domesticity and doing a road trip around Australia.

I have just inherited a 1997 Ford Transit Winnebago. It is very sluggish. I don't care about the speed (it can only get to about 85km/h on the highway) but I’m concerned about its acceleration. It has absolutely no 'get up and go'. I presume this is because of the age of it and that it is pulling a Winnebago. Is there anything I can do to the engine or put in a different engine in it to make it not so sluggish in between gears? It's just a safety factor.

Camping has changed a fair bit since Banjo Paterson wrote about ol' mate, the singing swagman who chose a spot under a coolabah tree and waited for his billy to boil.But it's changed for the better – and worse.Sure, advancements in equipment, safety and shelter are more than welcome, but many changes have come at a real cost, in terms of moving the experience of camping further and further away from its true origins, which involved residing in the great outdoors with few possessions or home comforts.That's no longer the case at all.While camping has already progressed too far, according to grumpy old barstools like myself, the recent CES (Consumer Electronic Show) 2024 in Las Vegas gave a little glimpse into the near-future of camping, including a preview of the LG Electronics Bon Voyage camper-trailer, and – in bad news for old grumpy blokes like me – high-tech glamping seems to have become the norm.But with every gear and tech advancement are we at serious risk of losing the real spirit of camping altogether?Read on.There's more camping stuff. Yep, there's much more gear nowadays than even a few years ago: there's a huge range of sleeping bags, swags or tents, chairs, tables, awnings, cooking utensils, portable cookers (or just buy a camper-trailers or caravan with a built-in or slide-out cook top) and so much more that I guarantee your head spins when you go looking for something camping related to buy.But more important than the sheer volume of stuff available, is the fact that the gear available today is – mostly – an improved version of whatever has come before: it's easier to use, more efficient, and the quality of materials and build are much better than ever before.There's more technology. Why miss out on your favourite streaming service while you're out bush? You don't have to these days. Nor do you have to forego your morning frappuccino because there are myriad coffee machines for that. You never have to stumble around your campsite at night ever again because there's now eye-wateringly bright LED lighting every which you look. Not forgetting the fact that your phones, tablets and drones will always be powered up because you have portable battery packs and solar panels galore.There are more people. It's wonderful! Camping is very much a social occasion – it's a happy mixture of different ages, cultures and backgrounds, coming together as part of a common pursuit: to thoroughly enjoy the great outdoors.Camping is now worse, and mostly for the same reasons it's also better. Confused? Stay with me.There's too much stuff. Whatever happened to roughing it? Now you can stay fed and hydrated, heated or cooled, entertained and mollycoddled to your preferred comfortable state of being in the great outdoors. Where's the bloody fun in that?If, as mentioned, you can get slide-out drawers for your clothing, sleeping bags, spares and even a kitchen sink with a stove-top as well, why should you even bother leaving your house?There's too much technology. Ah, the serenity of camping, right? Peace and quiet, with nothing but a gently flowing creek and soft birdsong as your soundtrack. That is until the people in the tent nearby decide to fire up their Bluetooth speakers and blast Taylor Swift turned up to 11, from dawn to 10pm – and that's if you're lucky. Or they're all watching an NRL game at maximum volume on a big screen TV that they've somehow transported to your beloved out-of-the-way campsite, purely for the sake of not missing one second of televised sport.And speaking of people: there are too many of them. People have turned camping into a nightmare. You can forget all about any modicum of peace and no quiet. At a modern-day campsite, there's too much loud talking, too much loud laughing, too much loud music (those bloody portable speakers!) – not to mention too many kids playing, laughing and having fun – all too loudly.One of the great things about camping is that you can scale your trip to suit you; the degree of difficulty and discomfort is entirely up to you.Want a no-frills minimalist adventure? No worries – leave all of your gear at home and enjoy the wild ride.Want a five-star-style outdoors experience during which you will likely want for nothing? Just take everything you can think of – and that kitchen sink in the slide-out drawer – and have a whole lot of fun.It's all camping.

High-tech glamping on wheels just might be the future of camping if LG Electronics (LG) has anything to do with it. LG is not a company known for its forays into the outdoors and recreational product realms, but that’s exactly what it’s doing with the latest version of its Bon Voyage camper-trailer.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Australian ute market only consists of about four models because the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux, Isuzu D-Max and Mitsubishi Triton tend to get the majority of the headlines and press coverage.

How much does it cost to get a tow bar installed?It can cost anywhere from $300 to more than $1000 to have a tow bar fitted to your vehicle. Tow bars themselves costs from $200 to beyond $1000.But equipment cost and fitment cost depend on your vehicle, its towing capacity, the type of towbar you choose, the wiring set-up required and more.The cheaper you go, the riskier it gets in terms of build quality and after-sales service but, having said that, there are tow bar prices, tow bar types and installation companies to suit every budget.In very basic terms, a towbar is a device attached to the chassis of a vehicle for the purposes of towing a trailer, caravan, camper-trailer, horse float etc – but not all at once, obviously.There are different types for different jobs and loads, from standard or light duty towbars (rated for loads up to 1200kg) through to heavy-duty kits that are engineered to take on up to 3500kg. Towbars are designated in three classes – Class 2, Class 3 and Class 4 – according to how much weight they can legally take on. Class 2 towbars (also called standard or light duty) can carry a load of up to 1200kg and they are the lightest towbar of all the classes. These are suitable for teardrop trailers and small box trailers, those kinds of loads.Class 3 towbars (also called medium duty) can legally cope with a load of up to 1600kg. These are suited to tow large box trailers, camper-trailers etc.Class 4 towbars (also called heavy duty) can legally handle loads of up to 3500kg. These are engineered to cope with big burdens, such as large caravans, horse floats, boats etc.Tow bar prices can be a bit of a toss-up.Depending on the type of towbar you opt for, it could cost you anywhere from $200 to $1000 and beyond. Those prices are for the products alone, they do not include fitment.The cheaper towbars are generally for light-duty purposes, and the more expensive examples are for heavy-duty towing, as sturdier materials are involved in the manufacture of these.Prices will vary depending on where the towbars are built, the quality of steel used in the manufacture of the towbar, the cost of the production processes involved, and how stringent the quality-control measures are during the manufacture of the towbar.As mentioned earlier, towbars are classified according to the weight they can legally cope with, but they’re also available in different designs to suit different tasks and stresses.For the purposes of brevity, though, let’s boil down the options to a fixed hitch (as in bolted or welded to the towbar frame); a removable tongue style; a Euro-style swan neck towbar; and, what you’ll see on many 4WDs and tow vehicles, a 50x50mm hitch receiver with hollow tongue fastened to the hitch receiver by using a hitch pin and R clip. Your towbar also needs a hitch, which connects the towbar to the trailer/caravan/camper-trailer/horse float. The hitch usually has a standard 50mm tow ball on a rigid ball mount. Popular in the 4WDing world are off-road couplings (also called articulating hitches), which can rotate up to 360 degrees.Depending on the type of vehicle and the type of towbar to be fitted, installation may be a DIY job – only if you’re very handy with the tools and are certain your work won’t affect the warranty of either the vehicle or towbar – or, better still, get a professional to install your towbar.The rear bumper, tail-lights and any other bits that may obstruct towbar installation and, if so, will have to be removed while work is being done. Also, the bumper, exhaust shield (underbody) and other components may have to be cut to make way for the towbar.The towbar will have to be positioned and bolted to the chassis, then the trailer wiring, including the harness, will have to be installed.Then it’s time to throw the bumper back on (well, don’t throw it – refit it, properly in place).Sorting out the wiring might just be the most difficult part of the process – well, it is for me – but companies, such as Hayman Reese, have tackled this issues by developing plug-in wiring solutions to minimise the fuss and streamline the process. Towing bar installation cost can range anywhere from $300 to more than $1000 to have a tow bar fitted to your vehicle. Towbar fitting cost will depend on the towbar’s load-rating and the type of vehicle it’s being fitted to. The complexity of the task – whether it will involve cutting the bumper and special wiring – will also impact the towbar fitting price.As with the price of the towbars and towbar kits, a tow bar installation price can vary depending on labour costs and how difficult the job actually is.It also depends where you reside in Australia but, don’t fret, because there are respected purveyors of towbars and towbar-fitting specialists everywhere including Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Canberra and Newcastle.

In the final chapter of its three-month long-term test The Ford Ranger XLS Bi-Turbo is connected to a dual-axle caravan for a lengthy towing work-out, with dynamic performance and fuel economy closely analysed.

Going “off-road” or “off-roading” are oft-repeated terms nowadays, but what exactly does off-road mean? 

If you’ve ever been around a group of caravanners, the term WDH will probably have cropped up. But what is a WDH and do you need one?WDH stands for Weight Distribution Hitch, but they’re also known as caravan ride levellers, a load distribution hitch, weight distribution bars, caravan levelling devices, and more, but they’re all more or less the same thing and operate on the same principles.So, how do weight distribution hitches work? Fundamentally, a WDH is used to make a tow-car and its load (trailer, caravan, whatever) more stable by improving the weight distribution of the whole combination.It does that by shifting some of the weight from the rear axle of the towing vehicle to the front axle, and some of the weight back on to the trailer’s axle(s).In the process, this means the car will steer better and have more grip at the front wheels for braking. The safety implications of that are obvious.Standard towing hitches for caravans do not have these features, so a WDH is something you need to specify when buying a van or purchase later.The actual mechanics of the WDH are pretty straightforward. Fundamentally, you’re reducing the effect of the towball downweight applied by the trailer.The WDH achieves this by providing a levering effect that raises the rear of the tow-car and lowers the front.It does that via couplings and sprung torsion bars that link the car to the trailer yet still allow articulation at the tow-ball.Most WDHs consist of a tow-ball tongue with the necessary attachment points, the torsion bars that run between the vehicle and trailer, adjustable chains to allow for different torsional loads, and a set of heavy-duty clamps that attach to the trailer’s A frame to accept the chains.The mistake a lot of users make is to assume that a WDH hitch will also act as a sway control or caravan sway bars as they’re also known.Certainly, by making the weight distribution of a towing combination better, a WDH makes every aspect of towing safer, but a specific cure for trailer sway they are not.Some WDHs incorporate a sway controller into their design, but not all, so make sure you know what you’re buying.There are no hard and fast rules about using a WDH or not, but there’s reasonable consensus out there that for caravan towing under about 2000kg or for a van less than five metres, there’s not really as much benefit from a WDH.The average camper trailer should not really need a WDH. Also, the rule of thumb goes, if the tow-car’s front suspension doesn’t rise by more than about 20mm with the trailer hooked up, and the rear suspension doesn’t fall by at least the same 20mm, you don’t really need a WDH.On a 4WD with heavy suspension, you might find very little deflection of the suspension. Even then, repacking the caravan to better distribute the weight is your first step, rather than rushing out and buying a WDH.Clearly, in a lot of cases, towing without weight distribution hitch is not the end of the world.Some carmakers don’t recommend WDHs either, and, in fact, some go as far as to void your warranty if you use one and damage results.Typically, some cars with air suspension aren’t recommended for a WDH, as the device messes up the car’s factory self-levelling function.Even with a good WDH towing is not always hassle free, and the WDH itself imposes some considerations. One of these is noise, and the levers under tension can produce all sort of nasty creaks and groans.A WDH is also not as good off-road where the greater articulation required at the towball generally rules them out.That said, when it comes to the off-road oriented pin-type DO35 hitch problems off-road can be avoided by ensuring the towball maximum weight of 350kg is not exceeded and that full articulation is maintained.The DO35 can be configured to work with at least two Hayman Reese WDHs.It’s for the same articulation reasons that most WDH manufacturers recommend that you disconnect the WDH when crossing spoon drains or deep gutters and driveways. This is probably the single greatest bug-bear of the whole WDH experience.You’ll often see online forums posing questions about Andersen weight distribution hitch problems, Alko hitch problems, McHitch problems and general questions about all brands including well-known gear such as Hayman Reese.In many cases, the root causes of these problems lie in incorrect use and fitment of the hitch rather than any design or manufacturing flaw, and it’s an absolute fact that correctly and safely using a WDH hitch requires some familiarisation.Which means, of course, that the best weight distribution hitch Australia wide is the one that suits your car and trailer and is the one you know how to use effectively and safely.All the different types and brands use the same basic engineering principles, but a quality brand is crucial in something with the potential to completely change a vehicle’s dynamics. Don’t be afraid to ask question when shopping for a WDH and don’t be surprised if you get a lot of different opinions on the value of such a thing.

Experiencing the bush and beach lifestyle of Australia in all its glory – free range and off grid – is tremendous fun and a right – nay, an obligation – for any self-respecting Aussie.