Offline revives premium hard-floor camper

Premium Australian-built, hard-floor rear-fold camper trailers were all the rage a few years ago, with a number of local manufacturers fighting for market share including Complete Campsite, Rhinomax, Australian Off-Road, Aussie Swag, Kimberley and Mountain Trail.

However, the market for $60,000-plus hard-floor tent trailers has shrunk considerably in recent times, with many manufacturers either stopping production, closing their doors, or changing their focus to more popular hard-shell hybrid campers and off-road caravans.

But that hasn't stopped Adelaide mechanical engineer, Sam Reynolds from 're-inventing the wheel' and coming up with his version of the ultimate rear-fold camper for cashed-up, off-road adventurers.

“We’ve been camping and touring Australia for years, but we couldn’t find a (hard-floor model) that ticked all the boxes so I decided to build one myself,” explained Reynolds, who has also designed and built a soft-floor camper.

The end result is the Offline Campers' Raker hard-floor model, which went on sale in late-2019 after two years' research and development and a shakedown run across the Simpson Desert.

Priced from $55,000 and boasting an auto-opening roof, Reynolds says the Raker's main point of difference is a compact design that still offers good storage and interior living space.

“(The Raker) is really compact but I think the storage is what sets it apart as we store everything at the point of use so you don’t get to camp and have to unpack everything,” Reynolds explains.

“It has introduced some complications into the design but it means basically that when you package everything together you have to try and use every little bit of spare space within the volume of the trailer itself and not have dead cavities... which is our criticism of some of the other designs.”

He claims the Raker's design delivers a longer (2950mm) floor length than many rivals', along with  a much shorter (4670mm) towing length “which means on a tight track it follows behind the car significantly better”.

He says this was achieved by using a more compact drawbar design and having the floor fold further forward over the fridge area, where some other models have bulky firewood racks.

“We’ve incorporated the wood rack into the front box, all into one compact design and basically the floor covers the whole length of the trailer when it’s packed away."

“We’ve also tried to integrate a lot of technology into the trailer and reduce set-up time, including integrating solar panels into the (canvas) roof itself so the solar panels come out after setting up the awning.”

As well as being more compact, Reynolds claims the 1.8m wide Raker is up to 200kg lighter than some of its rivals, with a Tare of around 1200kg and 700kg payload.

Standard features on the Raker include a galvanised chassis and aluminium/stainless steel body, 12in electric brakes, Cruisemaster DO-35 coupling and XT coil suspension, ARK jockey wheel, slide-out stainless kitchen with sink and two-burner cooker, fridge slide, two 4kg gas bottles, awning, LED lighting, coil spring mattress, shower tent, 105L freshwater tank, and two 105Ah AGM batteries with battery chargers and monitor.

A number of options are available including airbag suspension, lithium batteries, rooftop solar panels, inverter, awning, boat rack and diesel hot water/air heater.

Enclosed storage areas on the Raker include a kitchen pantry, two external lockers, and two large under-bed pull-out drawers.

With the coronavirus pandemic limiting interaction with buyers, Reynolds says he doesn't expect sales and production of the Raker to ramp up until he can display one at a caravan show, hopefully in early-2021.

He also has plans to release a Tvan-style hard-shell camper in late-2020.

“We’re also working on a concept for a well kitted out toy hauler... a base camper that you could tow across the Simpson Desert and allow you to carry some bikes..."

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