When did <span class="highlight">Trak</span> <span class="highlight">Shak</span> start building in China ?

Willie, with Trak Shak being made in China yes t has affected prices of the Aussie ones.

The Aussie ones are dearer, how old is you Trak Shak.

We paid $10500 for ours and it is a 1991 model, we have done heaps of work on it and it owes us about $30000 now but we wolud proberly get around $15000.

I think they started make the Chinesse ones in 2004/0.

Regards Richard

Slightly OT....what is the build quality of the current models compared to the aussie built ones? Is there any noticable quality difference?

Andrew

Now exactly what year they were imported, I have no Idea, but I have heard 2004 bandied around.

Love our Trak Shak !

Ours is Aussie made, but I know they are made in China,,and assembled here.

Cheers Mate
Bucky

Willie as you are probally aware i brought a 91 mod Trak Shak just on 2 mths ago and payed $2.500 for it it's the last of the soft tops and folds out to the side,we have painted it in enamel trak shak gold and i'm tryin to chace up a stone guard for it,talk about a nightmare trak shak in Adelaide could'nt bee bothered looking for me as i've been back there 3 time's but got the negative attitude as they could'nt be bothered and that's from the shella not Peter as he has now retired? and did'nt leave any follow up notes with her,Now that they are made in China i reckon i have buckleys in getting a new one,and just be fore i go i allso got the extra room never been used i put it up yesterday and looks great i just wounder how mush i'd get for it when all done up,cheer's GREENDOG

Willie ours is a 2002 model in excellent condition and we paid $16,000 for it. It has the optional room underneath, boat rack, stainless steel kitchen fully enclosed and smart charger. We looked around for a while and were happy with the price.

Cheers,

Mark.

Willie,

Chinese ones seem to have started early in 2005. There's more detailed info on the campertrailers.org site (in the Yahoo Group posts which you will have to join). There's even a photo of about a dozen complete units lined up in the Chinese factory.

We bought a May 2001 Midway earlier this year in excellent condition with the second room, full mesh gazebo, electric brakes and finch fridge etc for $15k. No boat rack nor solar panels which was what we were looking for as we needed neither. I guess that the new price in 2001 with all of the accessories would have been around 19-20k so it's held it's value pretty well.

We looked at the Chinese made new ones before we bought secondhand and with a diferent perspective at the Sandown Leisurefest last weekend in Melbourne. Visually amazingly similar from a distance of a metre- an almost exact copy. But, close up the detail is very different. The welds in particular were ordinary. Blown through on the thin stuff (eg where the poles are attached to the bed bases in the centre), corners on the kitchen had gaps and thicker welds had a fair amount of spatter. All probably solid enough but just not like the Aussie one. The look-a-like Treg hitch had the sides of the U where the poly block sits not parallel. The canvas felt stiff (but seemed thicker than say a cheap tent)

All subjective things but I'm sick of buying things twice. We've had a bad run recently of appliances/gadgets and they all were made in China. And the thing is they weren't particularly cheap. The Trak Shak falls into the same categorty - if because it was made in China it had suddenly become 30% cheaper then it would be a factor. But it hasn't. The frustrating part is that the Chinese ARE able to make good products. We have some that are manufactured for the Chinese domestic market and although not as pretty or well finished as what we expect, they work for ever and do a good job. It's the spec that companies trying to make a larger profit margin by going offshore set that is the compromise.

On the campertrailers group there was a post from one of the first owners of a Chinese model that had lots of problems (another owner had very few). The "new" Trak Shak company was dreadful to deal with when the porblems arose. HOWEVER, in his recent post he advised that Peter (forgotten his surname) who had semi-retired had come back online and "fired the bogons". All the problems with his TS were rectified. What this means for the longterm is anyones guess but it's a step in the right direction.

Good luck wih the sale.

Adrian