Complete Campsite goes international

The slogan of award-winning NSW camper trailer manufacturer Complete Campsite is 'We go further', and that’s certainly the case with some of its more recent products, which are being used to house workers on an oil project in one of the most hostile regions of the world.

The new look Complete Campsite recently secured a deal with an international petroleum company working in Papua New Guinea for an on-going supply of customised off-road campers and storage trailers. The special units will provide accommodation and storage facilities for the company’s security force. 

"The petroleum company is putting in piping across the country and the security company is there to basically keep the bad people of PNG out and look after the workers," Complete Campsite’s managing director, Grant Joyce said.

"As the pipeline (work) moves, they need to move with (it), so this week they might be here, and next week they might be five kilometres further up the track,” he explained.

Joyce said the petroleum company sent a team to Australia earlier this year to find a suitable supplier.

"They were looking for a camper trailer to suit their needs for a project they’re doing over there," he said. "A couple of their guys flew over to have a look at a couple of the (caravan) shows, and they settled on ours."

The first shipment of trailers, including a customised version of the company’s range-topping Kakadu soft-floor camper and a purpose-built storage trailer, left Australia for Papua New Guinea in early April. Five more Kakadu campers and two storage trailers were due to follow around mid-May.

As Complete Campsite does all of its metalwork and some of its canvas work in-house, it was able to fulfil the brief for a large canopy arrangement that could accommodate up to eight people.

Joyce said the storage trailer was another unique design.

"The storage trailers are basically for them to travel back in to civilisation once every couple of weeks and stock up in foods and that sort of thing," he said.

While already well-equipped, with hot water, external kitchen and two, 100amp batteries, the soft-floor campers have been fitted with additional equipment to increase their 'away-from-home' capabilities.

"They were very happy with our standard power set-up, but because they will be out in the middle of nowhere for months on end, they have been fitted with extra solar panels and generators," he said.

"We’ve put extra water tanks on board; we’ve fitted extra jerry cans on the camper and storage trailers. The storage trailers hold nearly 200 litres of water, plus another 200 litres on the campers."

The trailers carry extra spare wheels, and run standard steel rims and off-road tyres but with offset and stud patterns to match the LandCruiser tow vehicles.

The standard, independent trailing arm suspension has also been deemed sufficiently tough to cope with the "extreme" terrain likely to be encountered. "They’ll be making their own roads basically," Joyce said.

Normally priced from $39,950, the PNG/Kakadu campers would retail for "a little over $50,000", Joyce said.

"The fact that these trailers are heading for remote areas of such a wilderness country is testament to the fact that they are extremely off-road capable yet provide comfortable housing for long periods of time," he said.