Philip Lord•24 May 2017

REVIEW

Skamper Kampers Dingo Ultimate

It may be Chinese-built but this latest, forward-fold camper looks the goods

What we liked:

>> Plenty of storage compartments

>> On-demand hot water/shower

>> Clever hinged stone guard sides

Not so much:

>> Kitchen access with fridge slide out

>> No standard storage on top for bulky gear

Between the basic, 800kg camper trailer with a rooftop tent and the 2000kg-plus off-road hybrids, there are the fold-out, hard floor campers.

They generally have ample interior space, but are lighter than the hybrids and more comfortable at camp than your basic off-road tent trailer.

Skamper Kampers has been offering both soft-floor and hard-floor campers for eight years now, and have just introduced their premium hard-floor model, the Dingo Ultimate. The Ultimate builds on the Dingo model with a larger kitchen and more storage in its longer body, and at an introductory $25,550 (on-road, NSW) it’s priced pretty sharply...

More changes to come

The Ultimate we looked at is a pre-production unit, so it’s not entirely representative as the production model to come promises a number of improvements.

For example on production examples, the front nearside storage hatch will be hinged at the bottom instead of the side, the canvas will come up to clear the doorway, there will be internal zip-up blinds on the canvas and the water filler on the rear will be mounted higher, so that the internal plumbing as seen in the rear offside compartment is at a less acute angle.

What’s more, the door steps will be wider and the fridge secured with two vertical latches; not one vertical and one horizontal as seen in this pre-production version.

All Skamper Kampers models are built in China and are about 70 per cent complete when shipped to the company’s Emu Plans, NSW headquarters, where the electrics, gas and suspension is installed.

While some Chinese campers might not be well put together, this doesn’t appear to be one of them. We can’t vouch for its long-term durability, but it’s reassuring to see that even this pre-production camper was well screwed together with no obvious flaws to fit or finish. In fact, it looks better than some Aussie campers we've looked at in the past...

Easy set-up

Hard-floor

campers must be the easiest of all canvas campers to set up, and this Skamper Campers is no different. It takes all of 10 minutes to drop down the stabiliser legs, unlatch the camper top and pull the top over, either by hand or by using the winch. A quick tensioning of internal bows and poles and you’re done.

The camper’s canvas is 15oz heavy duty with a tropical roof and there’s an ensuite room that attaches to the standard annexe on the nearside front. The camper can be optioned with a kids’ room that attaches to annex at the nearside rear.

Hard-floor campers with deep sides (most of them) accordingly have a big step-up to the bed. There are different ways of dealing with this, and in the Dingo Ultimate it’s a wide, rubber-topped. fold-down step to make the crawl in and out of bed easier.

The bed itself is a 1900mm x 1520mm (queen-size) inner-spring mattress, surrounded by meshed windows on three sides and an LED strip light above.

The U-shaped dining area, in the tub of the camper, has plenty of room for the family to sit around the folding table. Turning this area into another double bed is just a matter of dropping down the folding table (which then acts as a bed base) and fitting the back rest cushions in place.

Light-filled ambience

There’s another LED strip light housed in the rear top section of the canvas, and with the nearside canvas side rolled up, you get a good view out of the camper and plenty of breeze flowing in.

Alternatively, the side can be rolled down and you can crack open the meshed window. There are also meshed windows on the back and offside of the dining area.

A bonus is a heap of storage space for lighter gear behind the dinette. The downfall of many hard floors is a lack of access to internal storage when the camper is folded up. Here Skamper Kampers has thought it through, with two hatches under the rear seat revealing a storage compartment – which can also be accessed outside, from a rear nearside slide-out. A hatch under the offside lounge opens to reveal the two 100A/h batteries.

Now you’re cooking

The slide-out kitchen, just ahead of the internal access door, is a stainless steel job that’s light enough to not need its support legs for a quick cuppa stop.

Then there’s the sink, three-burner cooker and a slide-out extension that gives you a bit of bench space. What I like about this kitchen is its storage space – a deep pot drawer plus two smaller drawers will store the basics for cooking.

The fridge slide-out is right next to the kitchen, so if you want to use the sink with the fridge out you’ll have to get at it from the back. The fridge also blocks access to some of the kitchen drawers. At least you can still use the cooker easily with the fridge-slide out.

While the kitchen slide might be a touch short on food-prep space, the front nearside slide-out pantry compensates for this – not only do you get three fairly deep drawers for storage, but there’s also a stainless steel benchtop on the bottom drawer.

Keeping clean

Although we didn’t set up the ensuite tent, we did try the on-demand hot water system and it’s a pearler. There’s hot water for the shower and for the sink tap, with temperature that you can dial in at a panel at the kitchen slide recess.

There’s nothing worse than not having enough space to store your gear in a camper, or having the space but not being able to easily get at your stuff with the camper folded up. So it was good to see the Ultimate has its storage options well sorted.

Aside from the storage compartments already mentioned, there’s a large compartment at the front offside and two small ones further down the camper, plus a rear compartment.

Up front, the stone guard has hinged doors on both sides, giving access to the gas bottles and jerry holders when the camper’s open.

The A-frame features a swing-up jockey wheel and a McHitch coupling.

The only other storage option this camper could do with is perhaps an open tray for bulky items (although a boat rack is a $550 option).

The checker plate covers over the camper lid and front section look strong enough to handle carry lighter gear, but you’d need to find a way of tying it down – and also protecting the checker plate itself.

Underneath the Ultimate there’s a layer of sheet steel to protect the camper body and checker plate at the rear underside, protecting the 140 litre stainless steel water tank.

There’s no wiring plumbed under here that’ll be exposed to potential damage, with most of it routed through the chassis rails. The spare wheel is slung under the rear of the camper and the suspension is independent with coils and twin shocks.

Electrics covered

There’s plenty of power onboard with the two 100Ah batteries and ample charging options which include a CTEK MXS10 charger and D250A DC-DC five-stage 20amp charger and a Sinergex sinewave inverter, housed in a compartment on the offside of the camper.

There are also two Anderson plugs on the A-frame, for vehicle charging or solar charging.

Inside, there’s a 12 volt socket and two USB charging ports, while outside there’s a 12V fridge socket and another 12V socket for lighting and so on.

In the kitchen slide recess on the nearside there’s a switch panel to activate 12V power and the water pump plus a state-of-charge panel (as well as the hot water control panel).

Verdict

Keenly priced and solidly built, the Dingo Ultimate offers plenty of water and power for long bush camp stays plus the clearance and underbody protection to get the camper out there in one piece to start with.

There’s plenty of room for four inside and some nice bonus features such as the hot shower. Definitely worth consideration…

Skamper Kampers Dingo Ultimate

Travel length: 5660mm

Body length (open length): 4600mm

External body width: 1900mm

Travel height: 1420mm

Interior height: 2210mm

Tare weight: 1680kg

ATM: 2200kg

Ball weight: n/a

Body: Zinc aluminium sheet over galvanised steel frame

Chassis: 100mm x 50mm galvanised steel

Suspension: Independent, coil springs, twin shocks per side

Brakes: 12in electric

Stability Control: n/a

Wheels: 16in steel with 265/75R16 Goodride Radial MT tyres

Fresh water: 140L

Battery: 2x 100Ah

Solar: n/a

Air-conditioner: n/a

Gas: 2x4kg holders (bottles optional)

Hot water: Instantaneous gas

Cooking: Dometic three-burner gas stovetop

Fridge: Waeco CFX50 (optional)

Microwave: n/a

Toilet: n/a

Shower: Yes

Lighting: 12v LED

TV: n/a

Price (as tested): $26,950 (on-road, NSW)

Options fitted: Waeco CFX50 ($1400)

Supplied by:

Skamper Kampers, Emu Plains NSW

Skamper Kampers Dingo Ultimate

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