Bright Ideas: Essential Camping Tips and Tricks

Tip #1: WATER WEIGHT

When Troy Burley of Twelve Mile Creek, NSW, started building his camper he expected it to double as a box trailer and so he positioned the axle to balance the weight as an empty box trailer. When he decided to keep the trailer as a camper, always ready to roll, he found that the toolbox and battery system on the drawbar were putting too much weight on the ball. To compensate he has made his own water tank from 100mm pipe, with a T junction and cap at the top for filling and a quarter turn gravity fed brass tap at the bottom. When the tailgate is open the tap is conveniently located near the end of the kitchen and, best of all, the 40kg of extra weight nicely balances the weight on the drawbar.

Tip #2: BROOM BRACKET

Having a place for everything when you go camping is the key to having a good time. So Dean Church from Kambah, NSW, has mounted brackets and some plastic tubes (that he had lying around the house) beneath his camper trailer's bed base, giving him an easily accessible place to store his broom, shovel, axe splitter and umbrella. They are not only easy to find, but out of the way and secure.

Tip #3: HAPPY ORGANISATION

Sick of misplacing his car keys and headlamp around the campsite, Douglas Buchanan from Walkley Heights, SA, picked up this pocket organiser from Bunnings for $12. He then tek screwed it to the metal frame of his camper's bed base. It gives him a place to keep all his little bits and pieces, and he simply folds it up onto the bed when packing up the camper.

Tip #4: STORAGE HOOK

Sick of crawling into your trailer to retrieve those tubs or other items right at the back? Malcolm Fuller, from Castle Hill, NSW was, so he flattened the end of the metal handle on a broom he carries and fitted a simple metal hook that has saved him a lot of grief over the years.

Tip #5: TIGHT TINNIE

Sick of having to strap his tinny to his swing-over boat loader, a fiddly and difficult process that took a lot of time, Mike Aitken came up with this clever solution. He welded some aluminium plates to the inside of the boat's gunwales and some spring loaded sliding pins to the boat loader. Now all he has to do is slide the boat under the rack and secure the pins. As the hull is secure, the only straps he needs are to stop it rattling.

Tip #6: QUICK SHADE

Adam Craze from Mordialloc, Vic, has fitted pop-up 240V power points to his camper trailer benchtop. When not in use the points drop flush with the bench. Handles raise the points when required. The 240V sockets are powered through the inverter.