“What camper trailer?” Now there is a question. The more you look the more you find, and everyone’s requirements are different
Suffice to say a lot of time was spent looking at websites for different trailers, each offering a different blend of comfort, off road ability, weight and price.
For anyone looking the best thing is to go to a show and see as many as you can in the flesh. We went to the Sydney 4WD show and crawled all over them. Several we had thought looked great on paper turned out to have features which ruled them out (200kg+ ball weight anyone?), and others previously ruled out were back in contention.
So on a journey that started in a Jayco showroom we have chosen the Mission. For us it is compact and light, has low ball weight, is designed to be taken off road, and came with many inclusions that other brands were asking $$$ for. It also has room for 5; parents on the bed on top of the trailer, kids on mats in the attached annex, and has privacy screens between them.
We will post some pics shortly
If you are interested the Mission website is here
Hi there. Thanks so much for recording your trip. We can’t wait to get started in a year or so, with our 2 young children. We are currently building a camper trailer and are thinking about putting the mission tent set up on it. We are particularly interested in the long stay set up. There don’t seem to be too many pictures of the full set up. I was wondering if you have set up the canvas for a long stay yet? And how long it takes to set up ? Also, any general feedback you have on the Mission canvas set up? Thanks so much in advance .
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Holly. We have just come back from Cape Leveque, where we used the full set up (flysheet, not the walls). Its very easy to set up, takes about 20 minutes to have it put up and pegged out. If you need the walls they then zip / velcro in and peg out along the bottom, nice and simple. The tent itself it is an easy set up, we have it down to under 5 minutes now between 2 of us – a couple of minutes more if its just me. The family room for us is permanently zipped in, and folds up with the rest of the canvas, with enough room remaining under the cover that we can leave our duvet on the bed and put 3 sleeping mats up there before pack up. A particular feature for us was that the ladder runs down the edge of the family room, so the entire floor is usable, too many have the ladder in the middle of the room – however as it runs tight to the edge of the room you may need to factor that into your trailer build. Daniel at the Expedition Centre will be able to give you all the details, he is incredibly helpful. Hope that helps
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Hi, my wife & I are thinking of buying a Mission, are there any modifications you have made, or would like to make? Thanks
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Russ. Good to hear from you. The only modification we made was to match the wheels to the 110, but that was because are going to remote places; if we were using it more locally / for shorter trips we would not have bothered. We did have a couple of canvas panels made up (there are a couple of photos on the blog) to provide extra shelter around the kitchen, from either wind or sun; but that was just personal choice as we are moving frequently and if we were using it more as a base station would probably not have bothered.
Other than that we haven’t needed to change anything, its been great and done everything we have asked of it – corrugations, sand and rocks
A modification to the tap was posted on the Mission website, would be worth checking out.
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Hi there, Spoke with you in Castletown Shopping Centre car park in Townsville just after your 110 was serviced. I was driving a white 90. Spoke about the Mission and your trip. One question… Is it possible to fully open Defender rear door with trailer attached? Really enjoy reading about your trip.
Regards
Mike Butler
Townsville
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Mike, great to hear from you. With the trailer straight behind you there is not enough space to open the door fully, the stoneguard gets in the way. However it does open enough to get stuff in and out of the back of the Defender OK. If you have the trailer slightly angled then this shifts the stoneguard relative to the Defender and the door will open all the way. Hope that helps. Simon
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Hi,
Fantastic record of your trip with some really interesting information. Thanks for sharing your adventures.
I am currently in the process of selecting an off road camper trailer and the mission has made it to the short-list. So far I’ve been able to view a mission trailer and have to say it looks even better than I expected.
Considering the time you’ve spent living out of your mission camper, I’d be interested to hear how you found the rooftop tent and zip on room in decent rain – setup minus the fly. Also whether you found it difficult to set up the the zip on room in situations where the campsite ground is a bit uneven.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Cheers,
Tony
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Sorry for the delay. All good, and no problem with uneven ground. We tried to avoid rough ground as the girls were sleeping on mats down there, but that was our choice, sloping ground you just adjust the poles to appropriate length.
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