First look: Gecko Slide-On Camper

Slide-on campers, once a poor person’s caravan, have enjoyed a resurgence of interest in recent years, thanks to the popularity in Australia of dual-cab utes.

With one set of wheels, you can now have a weekday workhorse, family transport and an off-road camper – all with the ability to tow a caravan, boat or horse float weighing 3000kg or more, making the slide-on an appealing and relatively economical lifestyle option.

The problem with some slide-ons, particularly those designed for US pick-ups, is that they are so heavy and laden with features that they render the vehicle they sit on incapable of venturing far off the beaten track. A high centre of gravity, a large cabin bed overhang and a protruding tail that reduces the host vehicle’s departure angle, are common issues.

Built for purpose

None of these criticisms apply to the Gecko Camper, built by former boat builder and vehicle mechanic Peter Barber and his son David on their rural property at Bittern on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

Coming from a marine background, Peter was very conscious of weight and hence the Gecko, whose initial design dates back five years, incorporates a lot of ‘boat smarts’.

For example, as Peter previously built aluminium boats, the Gecko’s monocoque body is almost entirely made of 6062 and 5052 plate marine-grade aluminium up to 2.5mm thick. The exceptions are its chassis, fashioned from 6000 Series transport grade aluminium and the bed base, which is a composite panel.

Aluminium of this quality isn’t the cheapest material to use for a slide-on, but it's strong, and surprisingly light for a single cab-chassis slide-on at 440kg. It also takes a lot of punishment according to Barber. A two-pack paint finish is also used in preference to powder coating for durability and touch-up ease.

Fully tested

Every part of the Gecko is built along these bullet-proof lines and to ensure that his camper would survive the roughest treatment, Barber put his prototype on the hire market for the first two years in full knowledge that it would get less care and harsher treatment than any owner would dish out.

This is a refreshing approach in an era where many off-road caravan and camper trailer manufacturers are so busy building to meet demand that their owners inadvertently became unpaid members of their ‘R & D’ departments! So, when Peter says all you need to do is remove the mattress and “hose it out” after a long inland trip, he means it!

Spartan interior

As you can guess, the Gecko deliberately is pretty basic inside.

Unlike some of its market rivals, it's essentially a box, with a small cabin overhang, but a blunt rear end. All the main components are located at the front, low down in the camper. This places the majority of the weight between the vehicle's wheels, which improves vehicle stability, safety and longevity.

Setting up is simply a matter of releasing the over-centre roof clamps, swinging the DynaProof tent section made from quality Australian Wax Converters Billabong canvas, over to the left-hand side.

Step inside via the rear drop-down stairs and the 2400mm x 1800mm bed with its foam queen-size mattress and waterproof overlay is on your left, while the right-hand side houses a clothes locker and other lidded storage space.

Opening the large top-hinged door under the bed base reveals the Gecko’s compact and well-laid-out kitchen – all under cover and out of the elements once the tent section’s lower skirt is pegged out.

Outside cooking

From left-to-right the kitchen consists of a two-burner Bromic gas cooktop and griller on a slide, a custom-built central pantry with slide-out plastic drawers and a drop-down slide for the optional top-loading 60-liitre Engel portable fridge-freezer

The other (driver’s) side of the Gecko houses the camper’s optional 12v/240v hot water service, portable shower and a large storage area that could be used as a large pantry or to hold other camping gear. The 75-litre water tank itself is down low under the camper to keep the centre of gravity low.

Meanwhile out back, there's a small locker alongside the door housing two 2.5kg gas bottles. Standard power comes from a single 100AH deep cycle battery, although upgrades can be optioned. There's no solar as standard, but a 90W solar blanket that can double as a windscreen sun-shield, is also optional.

Thoughtful features

As an example of the practical and thoughtful features built into the Gecko, all electrical connections are soldered to ensure they stay put on corrugations, while the sail track is fitted all the way around the body’s upper perimeter so that sun-shades and awnings can be added to suit individual needs and locations.

All Gecko campers are made to order to suit either single or dual cab popular model utes, with the latest models offering a slightly longer 600mm ute cab overhang, allowing an additional 500mm x 1800mm mattress to be fitted for children.

Of course, one of the great things about a slide on is that you can pull into supermarkets to load things directly into your fridge, stop unobtrusively for the night in places that you can’t with a caravan or camper and then detach the camper body once you reach your destination, to go exploring or fishing with a tinnie in tow.

With the Gecko, Barber has made this easy by incorporating keyways in the brackets that hold the camper to the ute tray, speeding the removal process – something he says takes 10 minutes.

Then when it’s detached, the Gecko’s legs support it securely for stand-alone camping. camping.

Verdict

You won’t see a Gecko every day, with Barber estimating at the time of our review that there were probably only a dozen currently travelling Australia in the hands of their owners – but you're likely to see the smiles on their owners’ faces for a long time.

At a price of around $32,000, depending on options for models to suit either single or dual cab utes, a Gecko isn’t the cheapest slide-on solution around, but its quality is top-notch and owners should enjoy its benefits for a long time.

Gecko Slide-on Camper

Overall camper length: roof: 2400mm; tray 2100mm (single cab), 1800mm (dual cab)
External body width:1800mm
Weight: 440kg
Chassis: Transport-grade aluminium
Body: Marine grade 2.5mm aluminium
Fresh water: 1 x 75l
Battery: 1 x 100Ah AGM deep cycle
Solar: Optional portable 90W solar blanket
Gas: 2 x 2.5kg
Cooking: 2-burner with grill Bromic stove
Fridge: Optional 60l top-loading drop-down Engel
Lighting: LED
Price: From $32,000
Supplied by: Gecko Campers, Bittern, Victoria