Top-5 hardcore hybrid campers
Looking for the toughest, most off-road capable camper in Australia? Read on...We recently listed our pick of the best hybrid campers, for those keen to blend some of the comforts of a caravan with the off-roadability of a lightweight camper trailer.
However, for the most serious adventurers looking to drag a trailer well off the beaten track – say to Cape York or even sections of the Canning Stock Route – you need the lightest, most compact and ruggedly built camper available.
Luckily, Australia is home to some of the best designed and engineered, hardcore hybrids around. Here are some of our favourites…
Track Trailer Tvan
In a market swamped with cheap Chinese knock-offs, Track Trailer’s trend-setting Tvan continues to defy the odds, selling in good numbers despite pricing than can easily reach $80,000.
The Melbourne-built Tvan, with its distinctive clamshell profile, has been the envy of campers for the past 20 years, but it’s appeal is far more than skin deep.
While not messing with the original formula, the Tvan has been continually updated over the years, to the point where the latest MKV versions offers an enticing mix of latest technology and user-friendly features.
It also remains one of the toughest bush bashers out there, thanks to Tvan’s patented MC2 asymmetrical multi-link, trailing arm independent suspension, teamed with solid aluminium sandwich panel construction.
Ellis F220
Light weight, ground clearance and rugged underpinnings are essential elements of any hardcore camper, like the compact, lightweight fibreglass Force 220 from Queensland’s Ellis Campers.
With a Tare weight from just 510kg, it's light enough to go anywhere that any compact 4WD will take it, especially with a huge 350mm ground clearance and a wading depth up to 950mm.
Throw in cutting-edge one-piece fibreglass body construction, military-grade suspension engineering, and user-friendly Foxwing awning and roof-top tent, and the Ellis camper is as easy to tow off-road as it is to set up when you stop for the night.
Terra Trek TT-E
Built by a South Australian manufacturer with extensive experience in remote overland travel, the compact and lightweight Terra Trek Expedition is another bullet-proof minimalist camper that can be optioned up to various glamping levels as required.
Essentially a high-tech platform for a cleverly engineered rooftop tent, the Terra Trek rides on Tvan-inspired long travel, swing arm independent suspension.. bolted to a hot-dipped galvanised fabricated steel backbone chassis.
You can keep it basic or opt for latest tech like Redarc’s Red Vision command centre and invertor. It also comes with truckloads of storage, with more than 3000 litres of space in the main body of the camper alone.
BRS Sherpa
The BRS Sherpa is another tough, superbly built mini-hybrid camper from South Australia that like the Tvan, is hard to miss in the campground.
Also like the Tvan, there's attention to detail in every aspect, including the laser-cut body shell that includes a fibreglass/honeycomb composite roof cone, marine grade alloy lower panels and marine alloy sub-chassis.
The pod shape borrows from traditional teardrop camper design, but there's noting old-fashioned about the aviation-like entry doors, marine-style windows, cleverly-designed outside kitchen and very modern sleeping compartment.
It will also function as a family camper with the optional roof-top tent, while the extreme departure angle and ground clearance make it almost unstoppable off-road.
Patriot X1
Queensland’s Patriot Campers has taken a popular South African trailer design and turned it into an industrial work of art, in the form of the compact, lightweight and very capable X1 camper.
The original, boxy and tough-as-nails X1 trailer has had countless updates and refinements over the years. It now delivesr one of the strongest chassis designs on the market, together with a multi-purpose camper body with numerous storage options and as much technology as the bank balance permits.
Like all good hardcore campers, the X1 clears most obstacles in its path with an impressive 52 degrees departure angle and 550mm ground clearance.
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