Family Business

[ Trailer Review ] Skipper Oyster Family

- Richard Van Ryneveld

Skipper Tent Trailer. Three simple words that in my estimation seem inadequate to describe this compact home on wheels. Simple, easy to put up, comfortable, and with the side tent it is also very spacious.

The Skipper range of tent trailers is the brainchild of the Kerkhof family. Robbie Kerkhof and his wife Jenny have been in the caravan game all their lives. Perhaps you remember the Gazelle or Kerkhof Gazelle? Hand-built, it was considered the Rolls Royce of caravans in its time.

Robbie and Jenny finally decided to retire to Pennington on the south coast of KZN. But you can’t keep an old ‘gypsy’ like Robbie down: caravanning is in his DNA. Teaming up with his son Reinhart and daughter in-law Charmaine (who makes all the tent accessories), the first Skipper Tent Trailer rolled off the small factory floor in Park Rynie in 2006.

I like the Skipper, finish en klaar. I have camped in both the Model T and top-of-the-range Oyster models. The last time I towed a Skipper was a Model T that I took up from St Lucia through the thick sand tracks of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park 4x4 trail to Mbibi near Lake Sabiya, on to Bhanga Neck, and finally ending up at Kosi Bay. Thank goodness these tent trailers are so light that you can unhitch and turn the little trailer around on your ace… otherwise I would still be at the blocked entrance to Rock Tail Bay in thick dune forest.

I was also hit by a storm while camping on the edge of the lake at Kosi Bay. I discovered that the 100% pure cotton canvas swells to keep you warm, snug and comfortable in your cosy little home.

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