Trackmaster c'Vans any feedback please?

Gone Bush used to have one Bungarra; maybe send him an MM.

No first hand knowledge but i find it interesting to note that the Davidsons who pioneered rough roads vans with the Phoenix are moving back into manufacturing after years in the caravan repair business. They would be worth a look.

The other one to look into is Sunland. They have only been around for a few years, and i haven't heard any negatives. They have four models, with a bitumen road model, two dirt road models and one top of the range. Last year someone with one of the middle range ones asked on the caravaners forum about taking it on the Tanami. Roy from Sunland replied he would honour the warranty even if they did. They took it and had no problems. Considering a number of manufacturers use the term 'off road' for a model and have taking it onto a rough or corrugated road invalidate warranty, I was impressed by Roy's statement on the internet forum.

Motherhen

G'day Bungarra,
I have a Trakmaster Nullarbor van 16,6" full height with shower and vacuum toilet. Bought it 18 months ago and it is made in Melbourne. I have had it seriously bush, and it handles offroad without a problem. It depends what you want to do with it, which model you go for. Look on Trakmaster website and you will see the models. The sugar glider suspension is pretty good and the fitout is generally good. A couple of items they could improve on.

Cheers,
Bill

Hullo Bungarra,

we need to sit down over a drink and have a serious discussion, including my construction photos, if you are thinking of a Trakmaster.

Needless to say I now have a Bushtracker (a nod is as good as a wink etc) and you are very welcome to come up and have a good look over it.

All four major Off Road van manufacturers are over east. However, one local WA manufacturer poking its head above the rest is ExplorEx.

Explorex Caravans

The caravan show is coming up in March and might be worth a visit. They will be exhibiting.

We will be down in Walpole from March 3 to 10 for a mini Bushtracker muster. Might be worth a drive to have a look over at least a dozen different ages and layouts.

I've sent you an email with my new email address. Keep in touch.

cheers

I've had a new 18' Trackmaster Nullabor since May 09 (our first van - has the usual appliances and 3 x water, 4 x jerries, 2 x solar, 3 x batteries, air suspension) - I joined the Owner's Club about 18 months back too, to get up to speed with any technical issues that they discuss. We also talked to quite a few owners on our travels, prior to pickup. Though it's relatively 'early days' for us yet on this traveling hardware plan, we have done some gravel road travel and intend to do a whole lot more. Have found no significant issues of concern yet - in fact, we're very happy with the van :-o). If I can help with any info, a MM might be best.

Hi Bungarra. I have not owned a Trackmaster (have a Kedron). Have a good friend with a Trackmaster about 18 months old. He is generally very happy, but has had a few problems. On the plus side, Trackmaster have been very good in their after sales service. On the bad side, he is currently in Melbourne (from Qld) having some repairs done under warranty. But to finish on a positive, Trackmaster have agreed to pay part of his fuel costs for the trip down for the repairs.

Not much detail here, but it does suggest Trackmaster back their product after the sale is made, as do Kedron and I'm sure the other 'top end' off road builders.

Norm C

G'day Bungarra,
As Norm said Trakmaster have backed their van up with a good warranty as I am sure all the other offroader vans do. Their Melbourne workshop is very restricted for room, and when I took it in for the 1st free service after 5,000 km they need you to drop it off early and remove it the same day. I had to wait 18 months for mine to be built, so they are flat out at the factory.
The Trakmaster is a wooden construction, and the Bushtracker is steel construction would be one main difference. The pros and cons are that steel is heavier but probably stronger. Again it's horses for courses and depends where you would like to take it. I haven't heard of any structural problems on Trakmaster after speaking to a lot of owners. I know the airbag suspension has ripped a few connectors off, but this was an option I didn't go for. You would need to carry some spare hose and a repair kit.

Cheers,
Bill

We seriously looked at a few trackmasters before finally deciding on an evernew.

We could not see anything wrong with them we just heard really good things about evernew so went that way.

I bought a second hand 1998 Trakmaster Perentie last year and I must say for a caravan that's obviously done quite a few kms, it's held together extremely well.

The interior fittings still look like they've had little use. The outside has the expected stone chips.

I would say longevity appears to be pretty good.

Graeme

Maybe some "beneath the skin" pictures would help:

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No broken, snapped off insulation giving inadequate coverage.

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You know exactly where the wiring is with the BT. It runs just below the windows then to each outlet.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

We had our Trakmaster built in 1997 - one of their early ones. Ours is very basic - our choice at the time - on the principle that we wanted to minimize things that could go wrong in tough conditions. We were reluctant converts from tent camping to towing, due to health issues. It is 14 foot inside. No bathroom. We do have a porta-potti. No hot water service or inbuilt sound system. The original Vitrifrigo fridge is still going fine. Have a Heron AC built in, oven, 4 burner stove top. We have 2 batteries, solar panels on pop top roof. We toured and lived in it full time 1997-2000. Since then it has done trips most years of 4-9 months at a time. We have towed it some 110,000km. Probably a bit more than a third of that has been off bitumen. It has been on tracks that are not on many maps. Our tow limitations relate to what our vehicle can do - or what freaks out The Driver (read Navigator!!) - rather than van issues. We have had to replace brake magnets a few times, and The Driver puts in new wheel bearings every so often "in case". Our biggest issue (trivial in terms of offroad problems) has been that the plastic cupboard door fasteners that were state of the art in 1997 are no longer so and thus replacements are unavailable. The "profile" of the door mouldings did not suit the newer push button fasteners - Trakmaster was great at supplying my craftsman husband with the needed new mouldings and matching veneer panels and fastenings; they had no issues with him wanting to build a heap of new cupboard doors himeself, rather than get them to do it. We found Trakmaster superb to deal with when building the van - we got what we wanted. Their servicing has been excellent. Our van is currently there - they have an extra storage facility now, which lessens the pressure to pick van up straight away. If we won a lottery, now that we are that bit older, The Driver would go to a 16 foot model, so he could have a bigger seat to lounge on. I would probably go for a microwave rather than an oven. Apart from that, we would definitely go Trakmaster again.

Thanks to all who responded to my query

Very interesting the feedback....as usual a wealth of helpful people and info on here