The typical tent camper is the shape of a flat cigar box and of less height than the towing vehicle when closed up for traveling. The aluminum box then opens up and outward, forming beds with foam mattresses on opposite sides of a living or camping space a foot or more above the ground. The earliest models were tents on wheels and nothing more, with no facilities at all built into the box which was the tent carrier. Erecting the tent was not always easy, nor done very quickly, but it had its advantages for campers who wanted to be up off the ground and who wanted to dispense with tent stakes.
The change from the first units has been great and for the better. The initial step was to offer huge screened windows all around so that in good weather campers could actually live in open shade while still protected from insects. Gradually some units were enlarged and in roughly this order the following refinements have been added: plastic tops, screen doors instead of zippered flaps, built-in kitchens and refrigerators, built-in wardrobes, toilets and lighting systems. Some of the completely equipped tent campers now rival the interiors of travel trailers. The most welcome improvement, however, has been in ease of erection. Some of the tents rise neatly in place by manually turning a crank. A few are pushbutton, battery operated.
The Chuckwagon tent trailer has a pull-out cooking unit and pantry which permits preparing meals in the open. Storage compartment at right is a good place to keep fishing tackle and waders.
The body length (which is also the floor length when opened up on most models) ranges from 6 to 13 feet. The width is a near standard 6V2 or 7 feet. The smallest trailers weigh in at 500 pounds while the largest will scale about 1500 pounds, or a ton when fully loaded. But the statistic which is of much more interest to prospective buyers is that costs for new units begin under $500 and range to about $1800 for a large, fully equipped camper. These are much lower figures than for travel trailers of similar capacity. In addition, some extremely fine bargains (maybe half the prices quoted above) are available in used tent campers at many recreational vehicle and rental dealers. It is common practice to rent campers for one season and then to sell them during the winter or early spring. Timing is therefore an important factor when buying.