Trackabout camper trailer's - opinion's please
Submitted: Friday, Jun 08, 2007 at 21:37
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rock-man
Hi , we are looking at buying a trailer , keep going back to the Trackabout trailers .
Has anyone got any opinion's on them that they would share , good or bad .
They seem to be a good mid-range trailer to start with .
Cheers , Jim
Reply By: Member - Robyn J (QLD) - Friday, Jun 08, 2007 at 22:04
Friday, Jun 08, 2007 at 22:04
Have owned one since 2004. Great trailer no problems as such. We have a tilting boat rack on top of the trailer with the tool box turned sideways to hold the boat motor across the front. When fully loaded we had to rearrange the trailer to keep the weight down but then we are carrying a large aluminium tool box on the front as
well as the boat motor and fuel tank for the boat.
In fact have just been down there this week to pick up new canvas sides for the annex to enclose when we are in one place for a week and you have bad or windy weather.
We have taken our one to Fraser Island a couple of times and its third time in two weeks, from
Brisbane to WA and back on a lot of dirt roads and really cant complain. The trip to Wa involved many many nearly every night, one night stands, so the fact the boat tilted on the trailer was a blessing.
Really love the Drifta kitchen set up. We carry real glasses and coffee cups and have never broken one glass.
We now leave the awning on at all times, just fold it back aross the trailer to pack up. Wish we did that on the big trip as there was a number of times it would have been benificial and made cooking tea easier.
One more trick a fellow camper told us was to lift the bed up on struts before pulling out the tent section. Certainly makes it easier when gravity is on yourside.
Hope this helps Jim
Cheers Jenkie
AnswerID:
245715
Follow Up By: ev700 - Friday, Jun 08, 2007 at 23:18
Friday, Jun 08, 2007 at 23:18
Jenkie
Any idea what your trailer weighs when laden?
I assume you lower tyre presure on the trailer and the vehicle and my question is how much trouble do you encounter dragging it around Fraser?
With thanks
EV
FollowupID:
506725
Follow Up By: Member - Brian (Gold Coast) - Saturday, Jun 09, 2007 at 06:54
Saturday, Jun 09, 2007 at 06:54
EV
Although not a Trackabout, and we don't carry a boat, our Cavalier is rated at 1000kgs full, and I can assure you, it's every bit of that! We have towed it to Fraser 3 times now, twice via Teewah Beach and Leisha Track. I have experimented with tyre pressures on the trailer and as a result now run the trailer at 18psi on sand the same as the truck tyres.... it behaves itself quite
well. I haven't ever tackled
Indian Head with the trailer on, but I have towed it on the soft tracks behind Happy Valley with no problems.
Hope this helps.
Cheers
Brian
FollowupID:
506736
Follow Up By: Member - Robyn J (QLD) - Wednesday, Jun 13, 2007 at 19:06
Wednesday, Jun 13, 2007 at 19:06
Ev700
Sorry for the late reply been away camping for the long weekend and havent been on the computer.
Not certain of the weight but do know when boat etc on close or over the ball weight of the GU.
Have never taken the boat to Fraser only the trailer. Havent had a problem but you have to drive to the conditions. Always try to drive on low tide and drop the tyre pressures down. Will admit we havent taken the trailer via Nossa North Shore yet. Tides and times have been against us to do the normal trip but it may be happening next trip.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - Brian (Gold Coast) - Saturday, Jun 09, 2007 at 06:49
Saturday, Jun 09, 2007 at 06:49
Before buying our trailer, we hired one from a
Brisbane hire firm. It was a Trackabout Safari, and for us first-timers, very impressive! Easy to put up, and easy to pack up.
Couldn't afford to buy one back then, and didn't want to wait, so we bought a second-hand Cavalier and have been extremely happy with it since. But if I had to upgrade to something later, i reckon my first port-of-call would be the Trackabout
shop!!
Great trailer.
Cheers
Brian
AnswerID:
245727
Reply By: Member - Duncs - Saturday, Jun 09, 2007 at 08:06
Saturday, Jun 09, 2007 at 08:06
Jim,
I don't own a Trackabout but I have owned a camper trailer for over 10 years. At this stage the brand is not important. If you want to know ask and I'll tell you.
I first saw the one I eventually bought 6 years before I bought it. In that time I continued to look. I kept going back to the same one. I liked everything about it and it has proved to be everything I expected.
From what I know now I would ask these questions.
Does it give me the accomodation I want?
Is the setup and pack up time and system acceptable?
What are the things I don't like about it and can I live with them day in and day out? Remember it is possible that you will live in this thing for months at a time, if your lucky.
How does the build quality compare to others? Look carefully at this consider how could it possibly break?
A friend of
mine has a camper which had a shock absorber mount fail while on what I thought was a fairly easy trip. When we looked at it we could easily work out the stresses that caused the failure and how they were imparted. His trailer is only a couple of years old,
mine is much older and has only had problems with items which are considered disposable.
If all the answers to these questions come up good then buy it. What works for me may not work for you. Just because someone else loves how a particular camper works doesn't mean you will.
Duncs
AnswerID:
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Reply By: cackles - Saturday, Jun 09, 2007 at 09:44
Saturday, Jun 09, 2007 at 09:44
we have trackabout deluxe tourer and love it.
We wanted a queensland trailer for ease of service, although
john offers australia wide assistance. We also went for tough over bells and whistles although you can get them too if you want.
The whole show is top quality and the setup is a piece of pish, first time took 30 minutes (yes we were timed). now it takes about ten minutes and is easy to do when changing
camp every night.
John, the owner of trackabout is great, if you want to do some of the work yourself he'll gladly advise you of how to go about it.
if your near mackay give me a pm and you can come have a look
cackles
AnswerID:
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Reply By: 62 cruiser - Saturday, Jun 09, 2007 at 20:15
Saturday, Jun 09, 2007 at 20:15
Hi Jim,
We used to be the proud owners of 3 Trackabout Safari's and 1 on-roader, we had these for a couple of years in our
camper trailer hire business.
We sent them all over the country from
Sydney to
Darwin,
Cape York to
Birdsville, and everywhere inbetween. Not once did we ever have a failure, cracked weld or structural breakage of any kind. Our clients would return and tell us how some of the less engineered trailers that accompanied them on their trip had problems such as bent draw-bars, broken springs and cracked welds. The canvas design was easy to use and quick to erect (my wife and I could open one up for an overnight stop and close it up again in about 12 minutes). The guys at Trackabout were always there to help with the small problems such as the odd worn out zip and would fix them on
the spot while we waited.
Value for money I think their product has to be one of the best on the market.
They are also more than willing to make any modifications to a trailer that you may require.
When people hire anything they tend not to look after it quite as
well as if it were their own - but in the 2 years that we had the Trackabouts no one could ever break one.
I remember reading in a magazine recently that Johnny Trackabout hooked one of his Safari's to the back of his competition 4WD and drove it so hard that he broke the car in more than one way but the trailer only had a few scratches.
regards, Johnno
AnswerID:
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