World’s first fold-out camper coming

North America is best known in the RV world for its super-sized fifth-wheelers and coach-based motorhomes, but the Land of the Free also throws up the occasional lightweight oddball, like the Firefly.

The latest trick towable camper to hit the American market is the Camp365 – on the road it looks a bit like one of those narrow advertising billboard trailers, but roll into camp and it magically expands into a fully-equipped hard-walled camper with room for six.

Dubbed the “world’s first fold-out cabin’ by the Camp365's creators, the trickery starts at the patented Adjustable Wheelbase, which can expand from 120cm to 180cm depending on the situation.

At 200cm high by 120cm wide by 460cm long when folded up, it's designed to squeeze into garages and sheds that other camper trailers can't fit in.

It’s also ‘Grandma Certified’, with a patented mechanical lift assist system making it easy to open or pack down in around 10 minutes, according to the company.

Set up it delivers around 20 cubic metres inside and sleeps six. Interior floorspace is 180cm by 360cm, with an interior height of 225cm.

Built with a combination of steel and aluminium, it's also got summer and winter camping covered “thanks to seven-window cross-ventilation, proprietary R7 insulation, and electric air conditioner and electric or propane heater”.

The Camp365's “seven point variable terrain levelling system” also means you can get  it level on most types of terrain. As far as creature comforts go, an inside kitchen and bathroom are options, as are fresh and grey water tanks.

It's also relatively light with a Tare weight of 1480kg and 520kg payload. There's around 2.5 cubic metres of dry storage available, and optional racks to carry things like bikes, paddle boards or kayaks, are also available.

The Camp365's designers reckon they developed nine prototypes which were tested over nine years before the final production version was decided on. The Camp365 will be built in Minnesota and the plan is to start delivering them to customers later this year, at prices starting around US$20,000.