Johnno's Camper Trailers In-Tura review
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Time to read 3 min
Over the last 13 years, Johnno's Camper Trailers has been subjected to the kind of real world testing regime that the CSIRO can only dream about. With several thousand individual hires going out every year, there are a lot of opportunities for things to break. After all, you don't slow down for speed humps in a hire car.
The new In-Tura, sister to the Evolution introduced this year, provides the same level of durability and creature comforts with the addition of a walk up, improving bed accessibility for everyone.
Just a couple of days before going to print, I was standing on the beach with Craig McGown, one of the owners of Johnno's, and I asked him why he added the walk up to an already awesome trailer.
"Well," he said, pulling on his long forked beard, "I personally enjoy the prospect of having to make the journey over my wife at least once a night, and the adrenalin rush of the gamble I take each time. I know you should never wake a sleeping dragon but sometimes, like kissing frogs, the gamble pays off. But not everyone wants to go through life with self-esteem damaging knockbacks all the time, and this is the rig for them."
We were on the beach to shoot a cover shot at the last possible minute, waiting for a brutal thunderstorm to pass in the final desperate moments of dusk, hoping the light would come good. There was a bit of tense laughter.
The In-Tura has the same tried and tested leaf spring, solid axle design that every other Johnno's camper employs. Looking over at my 60 Series, I can understand why. I've driven all over Australia with my family, and never, while towing a camper trailer with independent suspension, have I driven over a bump in the road, looked over at my wife and said, that is the best $2k we ever spent. I have, however, said that while pulling a beer out of an 80L fridge on my camper. It's all about value for money, and real world performance.
Typical of Johnno's, this trailer has storage galore. Built with families in mind, it has a massive storage space in the camper body. A locker runs all the way through the camper as well, big enough for a swag and all your poles, with a drawer so you can get to everything easily. Some people put a fridge here too. Right at the front is the walk up section on the nearside and a long locker on the offside that is big enough for two sets of golf clubs. And the whole bed base lifts up for easy access anywhere.
Up front is a big aluminium checkerplate toolbox good for the grubby stuff. Behind that is a separate box that can be an 80L water tank, 80L diesel tank or just more storage, depending upon your needs.
The kitchen is a tailgate design, incorporating good bench space and, on our review model, the optional Sovereign barbecue. These things are brilliant. You can cook a roast without starting a fire, fry up eggs or take off the hotplate and cook over the open flame.
They will no doubt become much more common on campers soon.
The kitchen sink comprises a slide-out rail system, stainless tub that stores behind the barbecue and shower rose on a lead. This is handy because you can do the dishes and wash the sand off your feet with one outlet.
The kitchen is actually quite expandable. You can add a fold-out bench, fold-down spice rack, wok burner and heaps of little extras like vinyl paper towel holders and even a rubbish bin rack.
The tent on the In-Tura still comes ready for the Johnno's Sleepout for the kids, but with the length of the walk up, the extra space under canvas means you can fit the kids in the main tent more easily, without setting up an extra room.
Wiring and three 12V outlets are included, with the choice of optional batteries up to the buyer. Lighting around the camper is all LED for durability and efficiency.
SUMMING UP
At $25,785 as photographed ($24,990 + Sovereign barbecue, $795), the In-Tura is one of the better all around tourers on the market for the money.
Everything is rock solid and does what it says it does. And if you can break one of these things, without doing something very stupid, I'd be impressed. I've seen Craig do some stupid things with them and even he can't break them.
Source: Camper Trailer Australia #49
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