Monday, Aug 29, 2005 at 17:34
G'day Big Red
We have an Adventurer with TJM 2000
suspension, heavy duty brakes,
water tank, awning, toolbox and stone guard on front. This is a seriously
well built trailer. Extra heavy duty and pretty
well bomb proof. We live in Central Oz and nothing we have been over, or have been game to go over, is a problem for it. Really, and I mean really, solid.
Some design issues however. The locking system on the back swing out tailgate is strong, but the twin bolt action is a pain to use, especially as the door almost always fouls on the tent covering and you are trying to slide upper and lower bolts in(against spring resistance) while pushing tent cover up clear of the door. Needs three hands.
I reckon the stone guard at the front is too vertical plus the tool box and spare carrier need a rethink as the wind resistance is considerable.
The plastic cover over the tent top when travelling billows too much. I'm going to copy another owner who I saw who had a piece of shadecloth cut to size of folded down tent top with eyelets in each corner and half way along each edge. They pulled this down tight with big OKKIE straps and reckon that solved the problem.
The lifter springs that assist in raising the camper top to access storage work very
well and I think are essential.
The tregg coupling on ours requires the pin to be pushed down though a poly block and this can be very hard to push though. Must be kept clean and lightly greased.
Check the metal protection around the tail lights on the model you are getting. I wouldn't have minded some protection below the lights as
well as above.
The weight on the front draw seems a bit high. I could be wrong about this, but i feel the
water tank underneath should be a fraction further back. More on the
water tank, we got a lot of stones and mud lodged between the plastic
tank and the steel bash protector. We gave sealed the gaps up and that seems to work. There is no way of telling just how much
water is left in the
tank. This is an issue because for H/way running you probably want to minimize weight by not carrying more
water than you want.
Be aware of the weight of these units. This thing is heavy. If you need that sort of strength, it delivers. If you don't, it's a lot to drag around. Get a decent sized Jockey wheel on the front, it helps when manouvering by hand, especially on uneven ground
It tows, reverses and brakes beautifully. Stabilty on really rough stuff and corrugations is outstanding. Things just don't get shaken up inside.
The canvas quality seems excellent (we have had ours 4 years. Waterproofing, ventilation are excellent.
I have looked at many campers and I haven't seen another model that is stronger.
We'd get another, but I think it will outlast me.
AnswerID:
127329
Follow Up By: big red car - Monday, Aug 29, 2005 at 18:42
Monday, Aug 29, 2005 at 18:42
Dear mfewster,
Thanks for the reply, we are looking at the extremem explorer- which is a hard floor rear folder - so we should not have the tail-
gate issues nor will we have the plastic cover over the tent problem. Our spare tyre is on swinging carrier on the back of the trailer, that should take some weight off of the draw bar.
On the front of the kitchen unit is a
water tank level indicator so we should know how much
water is on board. I will have a look at the angle of the front stone shield as you mentioned. It is fitted with the large size 10inch swing away jockey wheel. The over all weight of the camper trailer is approximately 920kg plus gear. That should not be a problem because we are towing it with a 62 series cruiser fitted with a 6.5lt V8 diesel motor.
Thank you very much for your valuable feedback. As I said it is alot of money so the more information I can gather the better. Regards Big Red Car.
FollowupID:
381847