Rick Huckstepp•15 Jul 2016

REVIEW

Gidget Noosa

You don’t have to compromise on style or substance when choosing a teardrop camper

Retro is a term bandied around by furniture, household ornament dealers, car enthusiasts and an increasing number of RV manufacturers.

Joining the ‘everything old is new again’ brigade is the Australian designed and built Gidget, although this is no ordinary take on the humble teardrop camper.

Following a desire to build a camper for themselves, Glenn Wills and Christine Bree have come up with something unique and quite desirable it seems, judging how busy the Queensland factory is.

Wills is a carpenter by trade and has a background in restoring classic cars and boats; the sort of experience from an era where apprenticeships covered all facets of manufacture and entire builds were done in house with the same staff.

That’s compared to the current trend where job components are contracted to outside companies that often have vastly different ideas when it comes to the level of quality control required on any given product.

Christine is well learned in 2D and 3D design and marketing. A good mix it seems.

So is the Gidget 100 per cent Australian made? No, and in this day and age no product on wheels can claim that title.

Tyres have to come from offshore, solar panels are generally made in China and products such as televisions, radios and other electrical items come from international suppliers.

So is the Gidget close to the most Australian made camper trailer on our market then? In all likelihood, yes.

In any case the quality that oozes from the build of this camper, both inside and out, stems from the fact that the majority of manufacture and fabrication is kept in-house and in that factory, QC reigns supreme.

THE NITTY GRITTY

The Noosa model we looked at is built on a box section, hot dipped galvanised steel chassis, which varies in thickness from 100 x 50mm, 75 x 50mm and 50mm square.

The multi leaf-spring suspension is rated to 1300kg and the Custom Chrome Smoothie wheels with steel rims fit snugly under guards that travel with the suspension rather than attach to the body. And it’s no mistake they look very ‘hot-rod’!

The 1.2 tonne ATM means electric brakes are fitted as standard and the drawbar is a very plain affair with a standard hitch.

The stone guard on the front of the body is mirrored stainless steel and, just to snazzy it up a bit more, the front end is dressed off with stainless caps over the drawbar rails.

The two side walls of the Noosa are aluminium and plastic sandwich panel, fixed to lightweight waterproof ply while the roof, slide-out, kitchen lid and doors are a reinforced fibreglass foam mould.

The internal build and cabinetry is also lightweight waterproof ply and rot-proof, fabricated plastic board similar to King Starboard marine-grade polymer sheet used extensively in the boating industry.

The internal modules are built first then put on the chassis, which is protected underneath by a system of alloy bash plates.

GOOD LOOKING KITCHEN

The kitchen lid opens to beautiful veneered furniture with curved down side brows and drawers veneered in one of 10 natural timbers.

There are shelves here to hold canisters, crockery and kettles while the single bowl sink is offset in the ample bench top.

Central on the back wall of the kitchen is a revolving module that houses the stereo system above a draw set. This module is unlocked to spin the 24in HD TV into place for outside viewing, or it can also be watched from inside the sleeping quarters.

The electrical functions are monitored from the sill above the sink and a double powerpoint is accessible at bench level.

The large drawer on the rear offside opens to a custom dual gas burner cook top with space below for storage. A removable wind-break for the cooker is also supplied and it folds up and tucks away in a slot below.

It’s worth noting from a safety aspect that if the drawer accidentally closes whilst the gas burner is alight the gas to the appliance shuts off.

An 86-litre icebox is standard but our review camper had the optional Waeco 80 litre fridge/freezer fitted in the nearside drawer.

Above the fridge, a bench top drawer pulls out with internal space for crockery and other kitchen gear. There’s also a large central drawer that opens to a pan storage area with another small drawer unit tucked back next to the sink bowl.

We’ve seen less kitchen space in an 18ft caravan plus most of the camper trailers we’ve looked at over the years -- the design that has gone into this set-up has to be seen to be believed.

A lockable door on the offside wall opens to a holder for a 4kg gas bottle and an elongated lockable door on the nearside reveals the removable portable toilet and gas hot water system with 3.0m long hose and shower head, plumbed directly to the underfloor 105 litre water storage.

Buyers will need to supply their own privacy screen for ablution purposes if required.

WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Climb through one of the large, teardrop doors located on each side and the design ingenuity and impressive use of space continues...

Teardrop campers are renowned for their cramped quarters, but Glenn at 6ft 6in tall has designed it so he can traverse the sleeping quarters with ease.

A bed consisting of laminates of various high density foams folds out to queen size after the front slide-out of the camper is pulled out and locked in place.

The skylight is curtained and there are privacy, heat reflecting and insect screens behind the heavy-duty opening Perspex windows.

The bed dis-assembles to form a full width lounge with space behind the back rest, and your feet fit down inside the well that holds the covered spare wheel.

The entertainment unit is rotated as required and the pull-out table can be used as a workstation or for inside dining.

One of the drawer sets across the bottom of the back wall holds the house battery while above it on each side cupboards are flyscreened to ventilate any clothing stored there. On one of these cupboards opens to a deep well so that long trousers and coats can be hung without being crumpled or and creased.

VERDICT

Accolades to the guys at Gidget for getting so much stuff into a relatively small camper. There’s even a motion sensor alarm system fitted as standard!

The only thing really missing was a park brake; hence the Fred Flintstone wheel chocks in place of the real ones we left behind at the factory. A hand-brake would impede operation of the slide-out and intrude into the under bed space to enable routing any cables.

But overall, full marks for quality and innovation in a reasonably priced and eye-catching trailer that looks like it’s from a bygone era but offers everything for the modern age.

GIDGET RETRO TEARDROP CAMPER NOOSA

Overall length: 4130mm

External body width (including wheels): 2180mm

Internal slide-out head height: 950mm

Travel height: 1675mm

Tare: 755kg

ATM: 1200kg

Ball weight (Tare): 80kg

Body/frame: Aluminium plastic sandwich panel on waterproof ply, foam moulded fibreglass roof and kitchen lid

Chassis: 100 x 50/75 and 50 x 50 Australian steel, hot dip galvanised

Wheels: 15 x 7 inch steel rims

Brakes: Electric

Stability control: No

Cooking: Custom two burner

Microwave: No

Fridge/freezer: Standard ice box 86L/ optional Waeco 80L fridge/freezer

Toilet: Portable and removable

Water: 105L (fresh), 40 litre (grey)

Shower: Pop up privacy screen (not supplied) with gas hot water system and 3m external hose

Air-con: No

Central heating: No

Gas: 4kg bottle

Lighting: LED

Batteries: 100Ah with 5A charger & 1000W/2000W sine wave inverter

Solar: 110W mono-crystalline

Price: RRP $33,950

Supplied by: Gidget Retro Teardrop Camper, Brendale, Qld

Gidget Noosa

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