Auburn SA Winter Gathering

[MickinOz]

Went to my first teardrop puddle last Saturday.
Auburn South Australia. $15 for a campsite for the night. Showers, toilets, fire pit.

Can't get my laptop to talk to my phone, so these photos have been borrowed from another attendee's posts on the event's FB page
I don't think he will mind.

Bens Rustic drop.JPG (119 KiB) Viewed 5131 times

[MickinOz]

The rustic one was very interesting.
He found an old pop-up camper on the side of the road, and bought it for $100.
The walls are 7mm structural ply, with an outer layer of timber from old shipping pallets that has been through the thicknesser and is only about 10mm thick.
Roof is some sort of ply, with a layer of corrugated galvanised iron over the top.
Total outlay was $1500 with refurbishment of frame, paint, hardware, registration, etc.
He did complain it was quite cold though. He has only one layer in the roof, no internal skin or insulation.

Edit: I reckon part of the problem would be that the camper is unfinished.
He basically got it just campable in time for the gathering, which is why the ceiling isn't in it.
The other thing he didn't have time for was sealing the timber cladding. Water saturated timber would have very little insulating properties, I'd think.

I survived OK in my trailer, the double skinned roof with 6 inch foam mattress and plenty of blankets kept me warm enough.

The ladies with the purple camper came equipped for everything.
They every accessory known to man, even a playpen to keep their dogs in so they wouldn't roam.

Rainbow Trailer.JPG (56.38 KiB) Viewed 5126 times

[MickinOz]

The 14 foot Coleman tent/sunshade is a popular addition.
One of the ladies from the purple trailer said her missus gets back spasms sometimes, so she has practiced erecting and taking the tent down by herself and its quite easy.
She said the tent isn't fully waterproof, you do get the odd trickle of water in trough seams and things (there was a lot of rain on the Friday before I got there), but it really does remove any worries about whether your camper is water tight or not.
Being the shape it is, the water runs down the inside more than anything.

[MickinOz]

Auburn Puddle 0821.JPG (123.25 KiB) Viewed 5122 times

[MickinOz]

The purple camper was interesting for other reasons too.
The lady I was speaking to is an engineer.
They had a list of must haves when they went shopping for the trailer.
Full queen mattress, 2 doors, etc.

Regrets:
Built on a Carlex Easy Trailer. (Looks like a Northern Tools Ironton type of thing.)
She says the thickness of the steel offends her engineering sensibilities, and the drawbar is too short, which makes the 'drop much harder to reverse than her boat trailer.
Homemade doors - she much prefers the ones I used in mine.

[MickinOz]

In all, I think there were 4 DIY trailers including mine.
Mine is quite large, it seems. Most of the trailers were 5 x 8 max. So my 5' 2" x 9' is a fair bit bigger. I perhaps could have utilised the space better, but I certainly have quite a bit of closet space compared to others.
Everyone let me photograph their galleys. I want to add some shelving for cups and plates, condiments, utensils and things so I wanted to see how others have done it.

The lady in the funny aluminium and canvas camper had a kitchen in the front, a bed across the rear (she isn't super tall), and reverse cycle air conditioner under the bed.