Comparing Trak Shak & Camprite?

G'day Gajm,
just wondering how the Trak Shak goes with uneven or a sloping site? I have had a look at the Shak and like the look of it, however a lot of my camping is on anything but level ground.

The design of these style campers seems to indicate that to set it up on this sort of terrain means that it will need to follow the contour. What have you or others found?

Cheers

Peter

G'day Peter, I don't know how much of a slope you are talking about. I have no trouble on slight slopes, but I always manage to find a camp spot thats flat enough to set up nicely.

We don't use caravan parks, just bush camps, and if its uneven we can ususaly level it enough to get the bed flat...I have a hand pick in the toolbox that i use to dig a hole for a wheel to sit in if needed, between that and the leveling legs and using the jockey wheel I can get it pretty flat.

So we have done mild slopes, probably worse than you would want to set a tent up on, but I would rather spend a bit longer driving around and finding a better spot.

The tent part will of course follow the contours,which is no big deal, as long as the bloods not rushing to my skull while I sleep I am happy.

I agree with Gajm here.

We have had a Trak Shak for 9 years now. We have 3 kids and our oldest is now 17. We still love the Trak Shak.

Camping on uneven ground has never been a problem. I have always managed to find a near level site. The wors case was in the Blue Mountains when we camped on a slope. By parking the Shak so the slope was along the trailer rather than across it we were able to make everyone comfortable. The is the only occasion we have had to dig a hole for one of the wheels.

Our Trak Shak has been around and I am very pleased with it in every aspect. It tows well, is easy to set up, provides comfortable roomy accomodation, has heaps of storage and both trailer and cavas have proven to be very well built and reliable.

Don't know anything about the Camprite so can't offer a comparison. On our recent gallop around the Flinders our travelling companions had a shockie mount fail on their camper, a cheaper brand which has done no where near the work ours has. This reinforced the value of buying quality and pointed out the quality of the Trak Shak

Duncs

Thanks for your replies.

It is certainly food for thought. I currently have a cub "offroad" camper, though I think the reference to offroad means just off the bitumen.

I like the design and layout and it's ability to be parked tail into a steep slope so all the beds etc are level then set the annexe up as best it will fit.

The downside is when it pours down, there is sometimes massive runoff through the annexe.

The Trak shak looks strong, is high off the ground and can be totally sealed to the elements. The only thing I see wrong is that I would probably need to review the places I like to set up camp. There are a number of places where the prime spots, away from the madding crowd, are up on the slopes. Better views, cool breezes as well as sometimes great entertainment value as you get to see the carry ons of others from a distance.I think I'll hold off till I see one in real operation. Again thanks for your assistance.

Cheers

Peter

Hi guys

If you are still considering options - sorry for this late post! - some further thoughts:

The trak shak takes up a very large "footprint" - so large that stopovers in caravan parks will find you sometimes overlap into other's spaces. Something to be aware of.

We have a Camprite, never used a trak shak but have camped near them from time to time. My observations (FWIW) are that the trakshak takes longer to erect and collapse, but provides more living space. The camprite's living space comes closer to the trakshak if you set up the camprite's annex - and then the total setup time evens up a bit.

We found that for short overnight stopover's the camprite is way ahead of most other family-size campers; but for longer stays the camprite is only comparable if the annex is set up too. But that's OK by us!!!

We have two small kids who love the camper. I love not having to use pages unless we set up the annex. We have conmfortably set up the basic unit on rock, and watched while others bent their pegs and lost their tempers on hard ground...

Putting bunks into the camprite would certainly make it a "togetherness" experience... Maybe the extra room of the trakshak would be worth the extra fuss it brings???

Finally, note that in either case you are adding a large dead weight to your vehicle, and that perfiormance, fuel economy and all that stuff will suffer. We tow ours up very steep and rough inclines and decents to get to our favourite camping spot, and the dead weight factor is significant. Without the camper the truck does it easily; with the camper it can be "interesting".

cheers and good luck

Rob

hi Rob, [& suz&juz]

I felt I had to comment from a TS owner's perspective: when it comes to it's "footprint" it's no wider than our van and annex was, and the caravan parks we've stayed at we've had no hassles, set up, for overnighters takes about 15mins, if we're staying then about 40 mins, that's with all the gear out and set up - ie kitchen stuff etc, packing up of all gear about an hour, but, for quick stopovers about 30mins, quicker if we're super organised....and that's the key I think to any set up - being organised.

The TS is fantastic for us - 2 kids, as it does provide the space, it's not uncommon for me to walk into ours and have 6 kids on the floor playing a game - great for when it rains the kids are happy to play inside, when it comes to the bottom line it's down to what type of comfort level you want when camping, I love the TS, but I"ve seen other camper trailers that are just as great.

cheers

Lyn