Ultimate Campers

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Ultimate Campers 25th Anniversary

Aussie icon celebrates 25 years in business with a Monster Muster and a brand-new model

NSW-based Ultimate Campers celebrated 25 years in business by unveiling a new model, the X25, and hosting its biggest ever muster on home soil on the South Coast of New South Wales.

More than 150 of the iconic off-road camper trailers have come together at Merry Beach, Kioloa, to celebrate the company’s quarter century manufacturing the distinctive camper. The muster took place from 12 – 14 March. The muster became even more special for the company’s legion of fans due to it coinciding with the unveiling of the latest model in the range, the aptly named X25.

Company owners, David and Bronwyn Rodgers said, “It has been a difficult year for everybody here on the South Coast, between the bush fires and the COVID-19 pandemic, but like our camper trailers, we’re very resilient.

“We’re so proud of the team and what they have achieved over the year. This is a great new addition to our range, it’s lighter, quicker to set up and includes more innovations than ever, inside and out.”

New manufacturing processes have allowed 65kg to be removed from the fiberglass composite, making the already market-leading low tare weight even lower. There are new stabiliser legs on the X25, and the already quick set-up time has been halved. There is a new clear coat finish that will allow metallic colours to be used for the first time, whilst high-capacity batteries will deliver 4x the previous capacity. There is an updated interior design with more storage and a luxurious finish, including mood lighting.

The X25 comes with a wider range of options including air conditioning, air suspension, off-grid electronics and high-capacity solar systems.

Eurobodalla Mayor Liz Innes got a sneak peek at the new X25 during a visit to the company’s head office and manufacturing facility in Moruya where Ultimate Campers employs more than 40 local people.

“It’s wonderful to see a homegrown Eurobodalla business thriving and bringing new products to the market. David and Bronwyn and the whole local team are to be congratulated,” Mayor Innes said.

Ultimate Campers was bought by David and Bronwyn Rodgers in late 2018 and is a part of their Eagle Outdoors Group, a large, well-known and respected outdoor and camping manufacturing family business that has been in operation since 1978. The Group’s headquarters is in Melbourne.

Ultimate GT 360 Review

Check out the review by Heiman Habitat on our Ultimate GT 360.

G’Day Team, as reviewers of gear that will get you out bush and stay there longer; in this video we take a quick look into Ultimate Campers GT 360 as we put her through its paces in the Duea National Park. – Heiman Habitat

February/March Promotion

For any valid new camper trailer order placed during February and March 2021 you can receive up to 25% off added canvas products.

Only valid on current model variants (XTRK, XPLOR, GT & NEXUS)

Why weight matters

You can have a camper trailer loaded with features, but all those bells and whistles are pointless if you can’t tow it!

Unlike a campervan or motorhome RVs, unless you have a vehicle, you can’t tow a camper trailer. But even with a vehicle you may not be able to tow a camper trailer!

Your vehicle and its towing rate or capacity is a major influence on your purchasing decision. For safety and legality, you must tow within your car’s towing capacity. So, what does towing capacity mean? In simple terms, it is the manufacturer’s maximum recommended weight your vehicle is able to tow, based on their engineering specifications and testing.

That information is usually listed as two separate figures:
• Unbraked towing, and;
• Braked towing.

Refer to your vehicle owner’s manual for these specification sheets.

To give you an indication, below is a table of some popular vehicles and if they can be towed by an Ultimate vs. the average camper trailer.

SUVTowing (kg)UltimateCamper Avg
Audi Q52000
BMW X33500
BMW X53500
Ford Escape1500*Vehicle can tow, but with limited storage capacity.
(See notes below)
Holden Equinox2000
Honda CR-V1500*Vehicle can tow, but with limited storage capacity.
(See notes below)
Hyundai Kona1300
Hyundai Santa Fe2000
Hyundai Tucson1600
Kia Sportage1900
Mazda CX-31200
Mazda CX-51800
Mitsubishi ASX1300
Mitsubishi Outlander1600
Nissan X-Trail1500*Vehicle can tow, but with limited storage capacity.
(See notes below)
Subaru Forester1500*Vehicle can tow, but with limited storage capacity.
(See notes below)
Toyota Kluger2000
Toyota RAV 41500*Vehicle can tow, but with limited storage capacity.
(See notes below)
Volvo XC602400
Volvo XC902400
VW Tiguan2500

TABLE NOTES: Our average camper trailer TARE weight (1333kg) was based on the specs of six popular campers – Patriot X1-H, Cub Escape, Opus OP2, Black Series Phoenix, Mars Ranger X and the Jayco Eagle. We’ve also assumed you’ll need at least 200kg of additional storage for water, clothing and extra equipment. Where a vehicle doesn’t allow for this, we’ve marked it as a ‘Warning’. These figures are an indication only and accurate at the time of writing. However, please check your specific vehicle towing capacity before making a decision.

But weight is not just about towing capacity… that’s just the beginning.

When it comes to understanding the weight of a camper trailer and your vehicle’s towing capacity there are a number of acronyms used that may seem foreign to you. Below we have explained all the key terms you will need to know or hear while searching for your camper trailer.

TARE
The weight of the camper trailer without any items, including water, gas and added accessories.

AGGREGATE TRAILER MASS (ATM)
The total weight of your camper trailer with all items, including water, gas and added accessories before it is hitched to your vehicle.

GROSS TRAILER MASS (GTM)
The total weight of the camper trailer with all items and when it is hitched onto the vehicle.

BALLWEIGHT (BW)
The weight the camper trailer puts on the vehicles hitch without any items, including water, gas and added accessories.

KERB WEIGHT (KW)
The weight of your vehicle with only a full tank of fuel, nothing else.

GROSS VEHICLE MASS (GVM)
The maximum weight your vehicle can carry including tow ball weight of the camper trailer, the KW of the vehicle, all passengers, vehicle accessories and luggage within the vehicle.

GROSS COMBINED MASS (GCM)
The maximum weight allowed of all components, trailer, vehicle, accessories and items.

Fuel Efficiency

One of the joys of owning a camper trailer is being able to travel to far away locations, being self-contained and without the major costs of accommodation. However, towing a camper or caravan does come with increased fuel costs.

A Canadian study in 2014 showed that for every 100kg you add to your vehicles weight, your fuel costs go up by more than $1000 over the life of the vehicle.

Some camper trailers may be cheaper to buy, but at over 500kg heavier than an Ultimate Camper, the fuel costs could make getting away a more expensive exercise.

Drivability (Handling)

Having a camper trailer that handles well makes the driving experience more enjoyable, but is also far safer. Sadly, we’ve all seen news footage of upturned caravans scattered over highways, with holiday dreams ruined, or worse lives lost.

The weight and weight distribution of the camper plays a significant role in the drivability of the towing vehicle.

In a recent survey over 40% of RV owners said that road handling was the most important aspect of their purchase, with only 1 in 7 willing to economise this feature for a lower purchase price.

Source: Carvan camping association australia

One of the main factors that influences road handling on any camper trailer setup is the suspension. If both on and off-road handling is important to you then you must consider the suspension on each camper trailer you are looking at. Does the camper trailer have leaf spring suspension, or does it come with independent suspension? Are the brakes upgraded? Is there increased ground clearance? Does the camper trailer have good quality wheels and tyres? Selecting the right camper and suspension setup really comes back to your usage intensions.

All of these questions may or may not be relevant to you, depending on what sort of tracks your plan to tackle. If you plan to do mainly on road driving the biggest points that influence road
handling are suspension, tyres and brakes. However, If you are planning to do more off road
adventures the previous factors come into play but so do the ground clearance of the camper and weight distribution loaded and unloaded.

If in doubt, ask to hook the camper trailer up to your vehicle and go for a test drive. Test around corners, driving at higher speeds. Although you won’t be able to, in most cases, test the camper trailer off-road you should get a feel for how the camper trailer handles.

Ultimate Off-Road Campers: So what’s new?

Chatting with Ultimate Off-Road Campers’ owner David Rodgers should come with a warning. A warning that your brain will be subjected to overload by a man whose attention to detail and quest for perfection is now legendary at the company’s head office and showroom in Moruya on the Far South Coast of New South Wales.

We followed David around the production facility after a simple “Hi David, what’s new?” greeting and emerged an hour later with a whole list of production process improvements and tweaks to the iconic off-road camper trailer that’s been made here in Australia for more than 25 years.

Not content with a gong at the Camper Trailer of the Year awards, which Ultimate Off-Road Campers won for being “The Most Comfortable Camper Trailer”, David has set himself the unenviable task of making Australia’s most iconic off-road camper trailer even better in record time.

Our whistle-stop tour of the manufacturing facility started at where the lids are being made. David tells us that the lids are being strengthened and at the same time made lighter by around 3kgs, something to do with carbon he tells us. We nodded knowingly and asked the silly questions — how much stronger? David tells us it will be 3x stiffer and 50% stronger. Ultimate Off-Road Campers models have always had the lowest tare weight of any brand in its niche. Looks like we’re going to put even more daylight between us and the rest!

We’ve barely had time to digest this news   and we’re off to the gull-wings area. They are now reinforced. David opens and closes, and opens and closes. We’re looking up and down as he does it like a game of gull-wing tennis. Game, set and match to the reinforced gull wings.

They do say that as one door closes another opens. And true to form David shuts the gull-wing door and takes us to the area where the main body is being built. He points out the new door. 25mm thicker than previously plus there is one handle with a lock and key and one insider lock too. No more sleeping with one eye open! David also points out that the step into the camper trailer at the door has been made smaller. This was mentioned by the judges at the Camper Trailer of the Year awards. And he listened. But not only listened, acted.

What the hell? We look inside the body and there is a large steel contraption seems to be holding at all together. It’s square. David says, “perfectly square”. It’s a jig. This will further improve the manufacturing process and build quality. We nod. This is just the marketing team. We are not terribly tech minded and really, what started 45 minutes ago with a “Hi David, what’s new?” has us all scribbling notes and taking photos. We haven’t even had a coffee yet.

But the stuff that gets us all hot under the collar is the little things. The logos on hinges. David love hinges and brackets and screws. He loves attention to detail. He shows us that a simple change of nuts and bolts in the lockers leaves a neater fit. We say “yeah, great”….because we’re still looking at the Ultimate Off-Road Campers logo on the shiny hinge.