West Gosford manufacturer, Marlin Campers, has kicked off 2020 on a high after winning the Australian Camper Trailer of the Year Award in the under $25,000 category, for its Escape Deluxe model.
Testing and adjudication for Camper magazine’s signature REDARC Camper Trailer of the Year 2020 event took place in the Gold Coast hinterland between November 20 and 27, 2019.
Marlin makes basic, simple, millennium-generation camper trailers: Uncomplicated sidefold softfloor campers that are ideal launching pads for those who have a hankering to get into this pastime but do not have a budget for anything fancier, or who feel intimidated by the complexity of some campers they see, or who feel they don’t yet know what it is that they do want and so feel reluctant to be paying for stuff that they might feel they can live without.
There’s nothing fancy about these Marlin Campers, except that they are cheap and well made, which is really what’s so good about them. They’re simply a box trailer with a tent on top, a gas bottle ring and jerry can holder. They can be optioned with a kitchen and a few other things to make them a little more off-road ready, but otherwise, they’re just simple accomodation. Interestingly, the trailer’s Australian made, although the Oztrail tent’s from China.
One of the most affordable little campers on the market, the Cruiser combines a simple, Australian-made trailer with the smallest of Oztrail’s soft-floor camper tents. It’s literally the easiest soft-floor to set up, because there’s barely anything to it. Weighing just 280kg, it can be towed by just about anything.
It’s refreshing to see a simple, lightweight and affordable model in a market increasingly populated by more blinged out, heavier and pricier hard-floor and hybrid camper trailers. While Marlin Campers isn’t the only Aussie company offering affordable soft-floor campers, it’s one of very few that can accurately claim a high local content.
They’re simple, inexpensive and so easy to use, and such good value, you’d be crazy not to at least have a look at one, even if your budget is much higher than $13,000.
