OZtrail camper tops are great quality and a really inexpensive way of building your own camper. In this article we take a quick look at the oztrail camper 6, camper 7, camper 9 and camper 12 as these are oztrails most popular models.
The first thing to do when you are building a camper is to decide if you want an on road or off road camper trailer. OZtrails Camper 6 and Camper 7 cater to the on-road market while the Camper 9 and Camper 12 suit the off road market.
Once you’ve decided what size camper you need you’ll want a trailer to suit. The Camper 6 and Camper 7 can go on a standard 6×4 trailer which makes them very popular as a lot of people already have one this size around the garden. The traditional 6×4 stands at 75cms high, however oztrails on road campers are designed for up to 85cms high. This isn’t a problem it just means your canvas will sag a little at the bottom of the tent. If you are buying a new trailer I’d suggest to try and get one with higher sides to make it up to the 85cms as this means the tent sets up much nicer and it gives you extra storage room under the tent in the tub or the trailer.
Once you have your tent and trailer picked out the Camper 6 or Camper 7 just bolts on to the top of your trailer using the supplied coach bolts. It only takes a couple of hours to bolt on and you just need a drill and a couple of spanners.
The off road camper tops from oztrail are designed for bigger 7×4 trailers, however we have had customers mount them to 7×5 and 8×5 trailers with little modification. These tops need a trailer from 105 to 110cms high, with 108cms being ideal. To get this height most trailers will need an off road suspension with sides 48 to 50 cms high. Some customers have used trailers with on road suspension and made sides as high as 75 cms creating huge storage room inside the trailer. Which option suits you will depend on whether you want to use your oztrail camper for off road use?
Once you have selected your trailer you’ll need to fit the tent to the trailer which is a bit harder than the onroad versions. The Camper 9 and Camper 12 come with gas struts to lift the bed base off the trailer for easy storage. OZtrail provides full instructions on the set up with each camper top, so its not too difficult, the main point we’ll make is that you need to ensure the trailer doesn’t obstruct the base when you try and tilt it up, so make sure there is nothing backward of the hinges when buying/designing the trailer.
We have an online video of oztrails camper tops setting up on our website and you can find more information under each mode here: oztrail camper 6, oztrail camper 7, oztrail camper 9, oztrail camper 12.
When you talk about trailer sizes i.e., 7×5 what about the mudguards. I am looking at building at camper and the metric size is only slightly larger than 7×5 ft., but it has extra wide guards,around 4ins. bigger than standard. Will this cause a problem or will I have to trim the guards back.
Hi John, when I say 7×5 I’m talking about the tub size the guards are extra. What will happen when you go to a 7×5 trailer is the guards will stick out past the camper top, so when the camper tent sets up it will hang over the guard a bit, but this is no real problem. Brett
Hello Brett or reader,
I don’t know if this is the right place to put this enquiry, but yesterday I bought a new Citroen Berlingo Van, with a view to using it in part for camping.
I am looking for an ad-on tent product that I can erect connecting to the side of the van, to give us a small eating cooking and sitting area, while we have a bed set up in the van floor.
As I have just spent all my money on the van itslef, please take this into account, but what products might you have that could be appropriate, if anything.
Thanks
Gerard