Beriault Bicycle Camper Changes – a short post

The beginnings of the bicycle camper back in May, it’s come quite a way.

We are now into modifications of the finished product.

Colin modified his bicycle camper and I’ve worked on mine since the trip to Quamby, so let’s see how we’ve done.

Collins changes were significant. He moved the wheels from inside the cabin to outside to give hime more room inside. He also reduced the wheel size to 16″ to lower the centre of gravity. He then re-purposed a Vango tent awning to work as his trailer awning.

My changes were minor to make things work better for the Tasmanian Beriault Bicycle Camper (BBC) now designated with No 5. Yes, it’s the 4th to be registered with the designer and the 5th built including the original. Surprise, surprise; BBC No 5 is the only one in the southern hemisphere.

We needed to test all our changes before we head out on another trip and to do that we needed a nice piece of grass to give us space to check out the awning setups. We found such a space in a local park on the way to the Longford boat ramp.

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Colin set out his awning and it worked. It moved about less than mine in the breeze. Moving the wheels to the outside of the “teardrop” has given him more room inside but changing to smaller wheels has caused a bit of grounding. Compromises, compromises.

I tried to set up my “tent” in the awning option but I soon gave up – it caught too much wind. In the vestibule position it worked OK and, when properly pegged out, stands out well from the body of the camper. Winner !!

At Quamby Corner I could not peg out the middle guy rope – attached to the middle of the vestibule. This test showed it does pull out the middle – keeping it well away from the camper body. Good.

As we had some kitchen gear with us we brewed up after setting up. It was so relaxing in the sun once we found all the changes worked. We just sat and chatted, while drinking tea and making minor mods. I could have sat there all day! Then again, maybe it was the covid booster I had the day before making me tired. Whatever, the day felt good.

When finally packing up I realised I was using the tops of the pull-outs as tables while getting things together to go in the boxes. A much easier way to work for older legs and backs compared to working on the ground. Yes, I think there will be a number of ways BBC No 5 will make camping life easier.

The remaining test is, of course, to find out what No 5 will do in real Tassie wind blowing in horizontal rain. I am sure sometime this Spring we will find out and I just hope it doesn’t tip over onto the side of the door with me in it at 3am. That could be irritating!!

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That’s it for this post. We are looking forward to a trip and, if the Spring keeps on like it is, we won’t have to wait too long. Maybe we will go first to Deloraine and use a powered site for battery recharging while we are assessing how far Colin’s battery can take him and his camper.

’til next time ………………….