So – How did the Tasmanian built Beriault Bicycle Camper go?

It was cool overnight. Around 3am I was at the point where you know you are a bit cold but not cold enough to do anything about it. Then the need to pee arrives and you curse that evening Guinness!

Before retiring I had placed my clothing along with other bits and pieces on the shelves (yes, plural) in the camper, so I knew exactly where my “puffer” jacket was without needing to light up the night. Getting out the door, donning the jacket and exiting was much easier than getting out of a tent. The trailer was proving very easy to live in.

The night sky was a picture – if only I could find the camera. No, really it was a bit chill outside so a quick walk up to the ablution block was enough. Once back inside, keeping the jacket on, I was much warmer and soon settled down for some more sleep.

Overall it wasn’t a good night’s sleep but then I never sleep well on the first night in a tent so this was no different in that respect. The narrow sleeping space was OK. There was really plenty of room with the side push-out and the open doorway at shoulder level. I had been concerned that the foot push out might end up on the ground as I turned over during the night. I needn’t have worried, it stayed in place.

I left one window open for airflow and flow it did. There was quite the icy draft blowing in through the door and out the window. It only worried me when I surfaced from under the sleeping bag to check the time and I did sleep in a bit, waking fully at 7am.

Getting up to a light frost there was plenty of condensation on the inside of the vestibule. Robert Beriault has written quite a bit about his camper, its abilities and how it handles the elements. He did say he was unsure as to how Coreflute would go in cold weather. I don’t think I can add anything to the bank of trailer knowledge as yet because, although a bit chill, it’s not really -6°C or even anything near that let alone -20°C!

There was a bit of condensation inside the camper. Not really surprising given the conditions although it was not enough to be a nuisance.

Kicking out time is 10am so I had plenty of time to brew a tea, eat breakfast muesli and then brew a coffee. I hoped the vestibule would dry a bit while I did this but no – the sun wasn’t reaching the camper. I positioned myself and the trike in the sun so we could warm up and it could dry. I had covered the panniers with their waterproof covers last night and was glad I did.

I went over to the camp kitchen to wash a few things up and get some water. I was told last night that there are 17 permanent vans in the camp grounds. This is a record created by the current rental property shortage. I found 3 women in the kitchen, each swathed in numerous layers of woollen shawls and the like to ward off the cold air. All gave a cheery “Hello” before returning to their conversation while enjoying a warming cuppa.

Last night I talked to a guy at the communal fire pit. He told me about his troubles and how he was sorting them out. He was there, not in want of a rental property but from a need to get his act together and reintegrate himself with his family. It was going well and he hopes to return home shortly.

So here are a mix of peoples who are getting on with life and using the park to make time and space to get over their problems. I think the environment helps with this. Quiet, green with nature and away from the hustle and bustle of modern living. That’s why I like it here.

After cleaning my pots and cutlery I returned and began to pack up. I wanted to make sure all the heavy goods were in the foot pullout this time as that sits behind the axle when in travel mode. Maybe that would give a better balance by relieving some weight on the tow bar. I worked out I could fit two boxes in there and loaded up the kitchen and electrical boxes with as much weighty stuff as I could. These then slotted in nicely.

Everything else apart from the sleeping bag went into the remaining boxes which, in turn, fitted into the side pull-out. The bag has to be squeezed into one of the bike panniers as it no longer squashes down into a stuff sack. It did squash better a few years back when I took the Vivente (2 wheel touring bike) along a couple of the Victorian rail trails. On the next outing I hope it will be warm enough overnight to use the sleeping quilt which squashes down to almost nothing.

So. How did the camper trailer go during our stay? Very well I reckon. I need to do some work on the vestibule and the fly screen, that’s all. The fly screen I had mounted to the doorway using velcro but every time I went through the doorway it tangled with me and came off. So I used bug spray to keep the mosquitoes off. Even though it was cold a few did come out to play.

The vestibule needs the front opening in order for the set-up to work properly so another visit to the zip shop is in order (I put the zip opening at the wrong end during the build). Also, Robert used two welding rods, a copper connector and a bread clip to provide a way to pull the vestibule wall away from the trailer a bit more. I will take a look at what he did and implement something similar. It was a bit wet pushing my way out this morning because of the condensation on the inside of the vestibule.

Apart from those two items everything else worked well overnight.

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Packed up by 10am I headed out to start the ride home. I won’t give a blow by blow description because it was very much like the previous day’s ride – sunny and calm except with more downhill and what little wind there was coming in behind. Once again the trailer towed well. Just keep the speed down when descending in case something goes wrong as I suspect with all the weight things could go badly out of shape. Hence the advice of not exceeding 25kph. I did hit 35kph on a straight descent and all tracked OK. However, a big bump in the road or a sudden need to swerve would cause problems at that speed I reckon. So I braked.

Colin fancied a ride so we met at Bracknell and toured back to Longford together. He has had thoughts about his camper and plans to move the wheels to the outside to give more room inside the cabin. Maybe add smaller wheels too in order to lower the centre of gravity. That will take at least a week or two so it will be a little while before we head off on a joint trip.

Here is the trip video :

That’s it for now. Oh yes, sunscreen report: in-date is the way to go so forget about saving money using that old out-of-date stuff. It doesn’t work.

’til next time ……………………