Campground Superstars: Recreational Truckers

You don’t need the school holidays or a long weekend as an excuse to pack your bags and hit the road to visit one of the many beautiful locations around Australia.

No matter the time of year this wide country has something to offer the intrepid traveller, which also makes the iconic grey nomad lifestyle very appealing.

With this in mind, there is a new demographic of truck buyers in town, and you might be surprised at who they are.

Light trucks specified to suit to a range of trades and applications are popular as ever on the worksite and now are now proving to be a hit—with vacationers, grey nomads, and campers.

Now that recreational truckers are entering the market in earnest, light-duty trucks are making waves as platform for a camper build, or to everything from caravans to boats and trailers.   

Happy campers

Grahame and Robyn Butler decided to keep on trucking by planning their retirement around it. After starting a career as a truckie in the late 80s, Grahame didn’t want to part ways with the lifestyle.

In the past, the couple would tow their caravan behind a ute but quickly found that because the 26-foot-long caravan weighed 3-tonnes when empty, they would be well above the towing limit for their already loaded ute.

Swapping to a light-duty truck meant that Grahame and Robyn could add a canopy on to the back of the truck and have all the space needed to carry camping gear, BBQ’s, clothes, and food.

Making the swap to a light-duty truck has been a breeze for Robyn and Grahame, with their caravan hooked on the back of their truck there are no concerns about being over the loading limit.

Grey nomads

After retiring from managing motels and caravan parks in Queensland's Scenic Rim, Helen and Greg Gault decided to purchase a light-duty truck for towing their New Age Big Red 22-foot caravan and carry everything they need to operate self-sufficiently on the road. 

The couple used to rely on passenger 4WDs to tow their previous caravan but when they upgraded to their dream caravan to celebrate retirement, Greg began to be concerned that his standard 4WD vehicle just wouldn’t cut it. Towing over the limit would create a lot of problems, not to mention the possibility of fines.

Greg and Helen customised their light-duty truck with a solar panel that powers their fridge, and an airsafe tow hitch which stops any damage to the caravan while towing.

And with over 12,000 kilometres of highway travelled, the couple can’t wait to hit the road again with their light-duty truck (and their Cavoodle puppy) to take in the sights.

How much can you tow

Over recent years Chain of Responsibility (CoR) legislation has meant that many ute and truck owners are keenly aware of how close they are to towing overloaded. Many are making the trade up to a light-duty truck to leave those worries behind.

With more Australians looking to explore the great outdoors on their own doorstep, upgrading to a light-duty truck when travelling with a caravan in tow can be a game changer, making the journey that much smoother—and with no risk of overloading.

Planning your next road trip? Take a look at these intrepid travellers and their recreational trucks.