Printable View
Weakestlink
Thanks for the heads up on the Mars. Are you saying the hard floor van is holding up. In terms of the welds are they spot? Importantly how is it holding up with the rust. I'm looking to buy a unit and the price of these units is more than competitive.
How do you think it would handle the Kimberley’s'.
Hard floor is back from Darwin with only minor issue being the kitchen draw lock broke and the gas strust broke of the lid of the box on front= metal is too light! . About $20 and 20 minutes to fix the lock and i have welded a bit of metal to reattach the struts. I think it would handle the Kimberleys well. you might be tempted to toss a new pair of shock absorbers in but that is just a guess on the one on it still looking fine. The 70 year old had no trouble settting up or pulling it down and want to borrow it again soon:)Quote:
Originally Posted by scott oz
The Softfloor has more rust and in now going to VCAT to get a refund :D Consumer affairs Vic suggested about 5 other softfloor trailers are at VCAT for the same reason.
They MARS - look great- the issues with mine are the non sealed top, weld is way out of place and the 100% aussie built and the pain of the set up. The camper is a good price, if not taking it off road, your prepared to gamble that the metal preperation pre galvanising was a LOT better than mine or you camp indoors then it could be a bargin :eek: Be interested if your uncle can find a few issues, as per my other post a lot of them are going back- with a very skinny profit margin I wonder if the company will handling very well. About 5 online sellers are selling the same trailer with just a few options diferent. You might be lucky. If VCAT doesn't order them to take mine back it will be for sale but I would feel bad for the person who brought it:(Quote:
Originally Posted by tomisawesome
The hard floor did darwin via blackstuff and now Oonadatta track with easy. The issuesQuote:
Originally Posted by weakestlink
Exposed wiring on water pump got ripped off as did one of the hoses (time only fix)
Jockey wheel- Cheap and nasty- needed a better quality one ( about $60) Replace it if you value your feet!
Box Hinge pin on the box fell out somewhere, ($10 and 30 minutes to replace hinge)
Water tank has a breather hole top front RHS. It is just a hole! Put the trailer on a 30 degree angle RHS side down and I can drain 70% of the water out. I am taking tank off to add a snorkel to the breather hole, re-plumb it and put a drain bung to allow me to easily empty the tank.
Electrical bits I have already added were a battery, sine wave inverter, anderson plug to the car to charge the battery while driving. I am going to add battery monitor, fixed LED lighting, 240 volt inlet hooked to a charger for the battery. The water pump has a pressure switch which works but I will add a isolator switch to stop it turning on from time to time as the pressure drops off – wakes me up!
Tent up it easily handled 120kph wind gust at Wilpena Pound and at least a dump of 4 inches of rain over night with only one minor wet patch.
Trailer is in good shape after 1000 plus km of dirt roads and at least 350km of off road bits and over 10,000km travelled to date.
Product Range> will be added to secure the canvas to the trailer when up. The little bit of water came in when a flap which should be outside diverting water off the trailer blew in and allowed water to pool in side. Easy fix and will make the tent first rate. Boat Winch could be better but I lift it so not an issue for me. I might add a bit more lift to the springs or bigger rims/tires before I take it into my favourite 4wd trip in the Victorian High country over summer. Yet to see how well it swims:)
Over all- very cheap hardfloor camper trailer option which looks like it will survive off road. Needs some modifications which I am happy to do. It is not perfect but neither am I.
Just wondering how your hardfloor camper is going.
I was wondering if it was something like this from ebay-
7x5ft Off Road Hard Floor Camper Trailer wit 15x13ft Tent caravan 4X4 4WD CTHH01 | eBay
As I am thinking of getting one.
Want be used for much off-road. But may make a trip or two to the high country. So not leaking would be nice.
That is the same seller I am taking to VCAT for the bad soft floor tailer. The trailer is exactly the same in two photos and only cosmetic diferances in the others. The paint and the poor stone guard are the diferances I can see. There is about four ebay sellers of that trailer.Quote:
Originally Posted by turps
It would be fixable!
Noted a few problems with mine after a xmas trip into Wonnangatta. Coming up Zeka spur I broke off the RHS shock absorber mount. It was welded to the plate holding the axel to the springs. The weld is at a right angle and not braced at all. A small brace now added to both sides has added a lot of strength to this weak point.
Lashed the shocky up and of again. Going up a nice goat track AKA as Hearn Spur ( great drive and views) the plate was weakened by the broken bit near a bolt hole and it let go leaving the axel attached to nothing on the RHS. Whoops. Lashed up the lot and camped at the top.
A bracing bit of steel welded to the right angle joint holding the lower shocky mount bolt is a must do if you have one of these imported trailers. About 30 minutes if your hand with a welder or about $50 for a nice engineer would massively strengthen this weak point.
I am upgrading the shock absorbers and also lowering the axel 2-3 inches as I did drag the back of the trailer a fair bit.
Water tank took another battering and I will also add a protection plate to the front edge and bottom. The stone hits on it have to be seen to explain this fully
Cool sounds good. Bugger about the soft floor. But the hardfloor sounds like a winner for a budget light duty hardfloor camper. Just what I am after.
Going to Ballarat in a couple of weeks and will have a look at one hopefully. As I am keen to see how much bed space there is. As the CUB I have borrowed a couple of times has a small cupboard at the head end which I really like.
Also just wondering how much room there is when the hardfloor is folded up. As on the current CUB we borrow its possible to leave the annex zipped on. Plus still leave bedding and tables ontop of the bed.
Bed is huge above Queen size sheets needed. Access under the bed is similar to most hard floors. I usualy put the better half and two kids on the bed and swag it myself or a camp bed on the hard floor if my elder son pinches my swag. There is no cupboards. Your welcome to have a look at mine if near Doncaster vic. A Defender driver I met in Wonnagatta with a very nifty roof top tent on his truck mentioned he had a CUB. He liked mine mentioning it might be a bit more solid in some points. Not sure myself as the CUBs I have seen look pretty good.Quote:
Originally Posted by turps
Forgot to mention I am raising the axel and putting better shock absorbers on as mine sits a bit head down for the mattress. Not just to get more off road clearance. I was told some blocks used to lower cars can be used under the axel to raise the trailer. The axel is above the springs. I am moving it under the springs and then will add some blocks if needed.
The jockey wheel is another weak point. Replace the one it comes with ASAP or do not move the trailer on the jockey wheel unless it is fully lowered! Get a good one as the weight on front is heavy. I replaced the orgaional one with one from Autobarn which broke as well! I can easily lift the front of the softfloor. I would strugle lifting the hard floor at all. When my jockey wheel broke when I was pushing the trailer to one side the draw bar dropped onto my foot. If my foot had been a bit further forward and in a fairly good boot, it would have broken it, was my big toe nail is still black. Mum and dads needed load leveling bars due to the draw bar weight. Not a issue on my D3.
I bought my soft floor camper from a Brisbane company and know it was made he as I saw them make mine as they are to order. I got all the accessories that you could get for it. I paid on $8000 for it. I then lived in it for 8 months whilst doing 45,000ks around Australia.
So look around and you can find Aussie made ones locally
If your going to Ballarat give Pinnacle campers a call , I have a Pinnacle and am very happy with it and the service i got.Quote:
Originally Posted by turps
Mine is a soft floor the bed is king size , I had to buy a king size sheet just for the camper bed ;)
A trap that all should be aware of is there is no such thing as Australian canvas anymore it is all imported now :eek: Most will tell you its Australian built but i bet 80% of the thing is imported as is your Ve commordore ,It boils down that they are all made for profit and the gains in imported parts are very high , Not saying your build quality is bad maybe with certain brands ! But the parts quality could differ alot