Top-5 teardrop campers

If you hadn’t noticed old-school teardrop campers are making a comeback in Australia.

The tiny bed-on-wheels concept dates back to the 1930s, but it seems a lot of people still like the idea of a super-lightweight, super-compact hard-walled camper, judging by the  number of new locally-built examples hitting the market, from small West Australian start-ups to industry leaders like Jayco.

Here are some of our favourites..

Cool Beans camper

Cool Beans Campers launched its new range of on- and off-road trailers at the 2019 Perth Caravan & Camping Show in Western Australia.

Built in Fremantle, Western Australia by a two-man team with extensive experience in the trades and construction industries, the Cool Beans campers feature all the typical teardrop features, including cosy queen bed interior, rear lift-up kitchen and egg-shaped profile with exposed wheels and guards.

However, to set them apart from rivals the Cool Beans trailers feature plenty of hand-crafted bespoke touches including D-shaped entry doors with glass porthole windows, and a polished aluminium finish for the one-piece roof section and wheel spats.

Customers can also personalize their campers with the option of any exterior colour for the side walls and steel wheels.

Full story: Funky new Aussie teardrop camper arrives

Suncamper Smidge

Motorhome specialist Suncamper is the latest Australian RV manufacturer to introduce a retro-style teardrop camper.

Unveiled at this year’s NSW Caravan, Camping and Holiday Supershow alongside the company's new range-topping Santa Cruz motorhome, the new Smidge campers deliver minimalist camping with just enough room inside the 2.8m long x 1.7m wide body for two adults to sleep or kick back and relax.

Tare weight is around 580kg depending on options fitted, with the ball weight as low as 30kg and a payload of 420kg.

Full story: Smidge joins tiny teardrop brigade

Jayco JPod Outback

Jayco has given its smallest and lightest towable RV the ‘Outback’ treatment, with the release of a new range-topping off-road version of its JPod teardrop camper at this year’s NSW Caravan, Camping and Holiday Supershow.

Instead of leaf springs fitted to the JPod touring models, the new jacked-up Outback version rides on a hot dipped galvanized chassis with the same JTECH 2.0 independent trailing arm coil suspension as fitted to the recently released CrossTrak hybrid camper and JTrek tent trailer.

The JPod Outback also gets bigger 15in black alloy wheels with 235/75 all terrain tyres, an off-road swivel coupling and a front toolbox with room for up to two 9kg gas bottles.

Also part of the JPod Outback package are two gas bayonets, a slide-out kitchen with sink and two-burner cooktop, and front and side checkerplate protection for the fibreglass walls.

Full story: Jayco JPod hits the dirt

Roadstar Colt

Roadstar Caravans is best known for a range of high quality larger caravans, but the Somerton, Victoria-based manufacturer snuck its very own mini-van onto the market in early-2017.

Roadstar Caravans’ boss Ken Nizam was quick to point out that the Colt was no ‘cheap-and-cheerful’ model, sharing many of the features of Roadstar’s ‘big’ caravan range, including the latest fibreglass sandwich panel construction using high-strength European-sourced MS22 sealant and clean exterior and interior styling, right down to handle-less cabinetry and ‘hidden’ internal wiring.

Full story: Roadstar Colt reviewed

Riptide Campers

Bridging the gap between the smallest caravan and a tiny teardrop camper, the Riptide touring and off-road models are being promoted as the largest Oz-built production teardrop camper, offering up to 30 per cent more interior space and more usable storage than many of its rivals.

Overall, the Riptide Breeze measures 4450mm long, 2020mm wide and 1840mm high and with a Tare weight of 860kg, unloaded ball weight of 35kg and up to 500kg payload, it’s towable by many small cars.

Riptide Camper boss David Ede worked in the boat and trailer manufacturing industries, before spotting a gap in the market for a slightly bigger, premium teardrop camper that offers more storage and interior room.

Full story: Riptide expands teardrop market