Quote:
Originally Posted by naddis01
Well guys, I'm after some advice...
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i don't have any first hand knowledge to pass on, but before buying the jayco (bought it today), we were set on buying a forward fold camper trailer.
2 things stopped us.
1. forward fold campers are heavy, and esp heavy on the ball. Given i have a falcon with only standard tow pack, it ruled out all but a handful of lightweight versions.
2. size of the 2nd sleeping area. these are fine for parents with young kids, but my eldest is 17 this year and up around the 170cm, give or take. the sleeping config of the forward folds, is the double or queen is long ways on the trailer section, and the kids sleeping area is east/west, meaning the width of the trailer determined the length of the bed. this just was too small for us. you could get larger ones, but this impacted on the weight, and the price.
If you aren't limited by either your tow vehicle or the sleeping size, then they are great trailers. personally, i wouldn't buy anything other than a forward fold. they just utilize the space a lot better. they set up extremely quickly and the kitchen etc is available as soon as you pull up.
Like you have mentioned, as with most things, it certainly is a case of 'you get what you pay for', but it doesn't mean you have to pay the top dollar. as long as you are aware the cheaper ones are built to a price, they may still suit your purpose. even the chinese ones like MDC are becoming increasingly better built, and actually won camper trailer of the year.
this style of camper trailer will go where others (esp caravans etc) will never go, providing you have the tug (tow vehicle) to get them there. they are heavy because they are built extremely tough. the ball weights are high though because pretty much all the weight is in front of the wheel.
if you need to sleep more than 2 adults and 2 young kids though, they probably aren't the best suited type of trailer. they are all about full on off road stuff mainly.
the annoying thing is, the choice is almost too much. there are so many brands and different setups out there it becomes impossible to try to narrow down any sort of shortlist. it became easier for us because we had to find something with a ball weight less than about 130kg which massively narrowed the field.
good luck with your search. if you didn't spot the link earlier, a good forum for all things camper trailer is
http://www.myswag.org/