Is this Australia's most stylish camper trailer?
New Melbourne-built family camper boasts smart looks and clever designNot that far from the Melbourne factory of the unique Geotrek, another cleverly-designed, cutting-edge new family camper trailer is taking shape.
Like the Geotrek, the Kerfton four-berth camper has been years in the making and came about after Melbourne engineer and experienced camper Barry Trippit spotted a gap in the market for a lightweight family tent trailer that complements a modern tow vehicle in both its design and finish.
"I've never understood why some people will go out and spend $100,000 or more on a nice four-wheel-drive and then tow around something that looks like a tradesman's trailer," Trippit explained.
"With a couple of exceptions most (camper trailers) on the market are square boxes, and yet they're getting towed behind beautiful four-wheel-drives, but there is very little choice in the market (for something more stylish)."
Along with its aesthetically pleasing, clean automotive-style finish, which Trippit said took "hundreds of high quality computer renders" to perfect, the Kerfton Camper delivers a relatively spacious family-friendly internal living area, despite its compact 4.28m long by 1.89m wide by 1.68m high travel dimensions.
"It's very compact for the size that it opens up... one of the tricks to that is the kitchen and the fridge get stored in the living area when you're in transit mode," he explained.
"Most other campers will have a separate box for the kitchen and the fridge, which is wasted space when you're set up in camping mode."
According to Trippit the camper is quick and easy to set up, taking less than five minutes to drop down the rear tailgate steps, pull out the kitchen and flip open the two side bed areas, fold over the front main bed section and tighten some internal spreader poles that help support the canvas roof.
"There's no adjustment of the spreader bars, they all just clip into place to hold the poles up," he said.
To aid set-up the beds remain made up in transit, and storage drawers and cupboards are located under the two bench seats alongside the single beds.
The camper also comes with a portable picnic table for indoor or outdoor dining, and there's room for a small BBQ and portable toilet in the front external lockers.
"When set up for use (the pull-out kitchen and fridge) leave the large living area totally free of rails or tracks," he said.
The body of the Kerfton camper is a composite construction with a high-gloss gelcoat finish, while the galvanised steel chassis incorporates a Cruisemaster D0-35 coupling, independent coil suspension and an underslung spare tyre.
Trippit said the camper had been tested in harsh off-road conditions including the Gibb River Rd and Oodnadatta Track.
Pricing starts at $49,800, with the base model weighing around 1000kg (Tare), with an ATM of 1600kg.
Standard features include a basic battery system, water tank, gas bottles and the rear kitchen, while more up-spec versions will get a twin 120Ah AGM battery system and diesel hot water/air heater among other extras.
The first production batch of Kerfton campers is currently being assembled in a factory in Oakleigh, Victoria. They'll all be finished in white but buyers will have the option to colour-match the camper to their tow vehicle for additional cost.
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