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David & Renee's DIY
camper
Firstly we will give you all a bit about
ourselves and our lifestyle. I’m 34 and Renee is 26, we own a martial arts
organisation, our main school in Wodonga is regional Australia’s second largest
school. We run 27 classes a week from the school with either Renee or myself
teaching them all. We also own a commercial maintenance run, where we do outdoor
maintenance (lawn mowing, gardening, etc) on large jobs only. Our biggest job is
18 acres with 136 units and the smallest is 1.5 acres.
Renee also has an interest in a
commercial cleaning business which gets her our of bed at the unruly hour of 5am
each morning, and she does part time book keeping (MYOB) We don’t get home until
9.30pm each night, then it starts again. We get 12 days annual leave per year,
with two of those days taken up by the oblatory Christmas and boxing day family
events, which gives us 10 days to enjoy our great country. We love getting out
and about, Renee loves camping, so do I……….but I prefer to do it in an accor
motel rather than a tent. (I kinda like my comfort)
Initially we went to the 4WD and camping show and
saw our first ever camper trailer. We were totally captivated by the
concept. We found off road or high clearance trailers starting from
$8,500 ranging up to mega dollars. We left the show with a bunch of
flyers and prices with the intention of going back the next day to buy
one.
That night we had a social BBQ. (as you do on a
Sat night) One of our friends John brought a tent from Brisbane for
$4,000 and attaches it to his trailer for trips. That planted the seed
because we couldn’t see a box trailer being worth $4,500. (based on the
price of a tent) We rang the Brisbane business that John brought his
tent from and they informed me that they no longer imported them……
AAAhha!!! Importing. Most imported items are made
in China, Korea or Taiwan. To the WWW. About two months later I made
contact with a factory in China. It was going to cost me $860 delivered
to import the tent. (over $1,000 and you have GST, import duty, customs
fee’s and whatever else the government can rip you off with)
Done off to the bank to do the international transfer. Six weeks later
the tent arrived.
Our local trailer manufacturer was next on the
list. (who also makes a camper trailer) After sitting down with him and
discussing the requirements of the trailers chassis, Heavy duty, hilux
rims, heavy duty suspension and axle, 3 metre draw bar, we wrote the
cheque for $530 (I think) Four hours later he called to say the chassis
was ready to pick up!! Great service. However I got garden variety
slipper leaf suspension and a smaller draw bar. Not deterred we enlisted
the help of our boilermaker friend who cut, pressed and put together the
trailer box. That took him a weekend, was a casual weekend though. I
picked up some wind down legs from the caravan wrecker for $80, incl the
handle.
I painted the trailer in hammertone silver and
put the tent on. Apon folding it out…..the trailer was too high. One of
my students grandparents had a canvass business in Sydney. Before he
retired he made me a carbon copy of the tent, with two small errors.
(the wall at the end of the tent is a little short, with the frame up I
can’t drive the peg in fully, and the frame on the base overlaps the
front of the trailer 15mm and 30mm at the back which causes dust
proofing problems) It was going to cost me $2800, but in the end he
charged me $2,000 even. So I brought a garden variety 7 x 5 and put the
chinese tent on it and sold it for $3,000.
We put the new tent on the trailer just in time for our christmas break.
We borrowed the registration from our business trailer, organised our
best black belt to take care of the first week of classes and set off to
W.A.
We racked up just over 10,000km on its maiden
voyage. It has been through the “once in a lifetime storm” that W.A had
in January 07, the desert and dirt tracks of the Nullarbor and the
highways of the country. The only drama we had was that the zip on the
cover failed, so we finished our trip with the table and solar panel
holding the cover down.
So to make our 10 day per year trailer we have spent very little.
Like most people who have a CT, we already had our
camping gear, gas stove, bbq, jerry cans, lights etc.
For its initial purpose, the camper trailer is
functional, cheap and the build was easy. I would recommend that people
in our position (limited recreational time) who don’t want to spend ten
grand on a basic camper trailer to do the same. Even without the help of
a boilermaker friend a good box trailer is about a grand from the
factory.
Since the trip we have made some life changing
decisions…….We are selling up and are going to travel around Australia
for three to four years. We have sold our schools, almost sold the
mowing. Our house is on the market.
Within the next few months we will.....
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Install a water tank
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Wire in the 160 watt solar panel to a 24v system
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Wire in a 125 watt solar panel to a 12 volt system
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500 watt or so inverter
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240 volt system
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Replace the suspension
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Install boat rack/roof rack
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Install electric brakes
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Install tool boxes on the draw bar
We have to pull the tent off again, as I said the
zip on the cover failed, that needs to be replaced, but the cover also
needs an extension put on it as I have just brought a new mattress.
(nice thick one) While the top is off I will do all the wiring.
We are now going to spend some money to make it
tough and reliable. By the time we finish we should have something like
the trak shak. We will give regular updates of how its going. If anyone
has any questions I am happy to answer (if I know the answer) and if
anyone has any advise, I am only too happy to receive it. (I’m one of
those pig headed types that doesn’t ask, I just pay for my mistakes!!)
thanks to David & Renee |
