I have had the same sort of problems with mobile accomodation, so I looked around and ended up with a Chinese CKD hard floor C/T, I paid $5200 for it new, I couldn't have built one for that price.Quote:
Originally Posted by LandyAndy
Over the last couple of years I have noticed some Australian camper trailer builders have been selling MY exact same C/T under THEIR names and as Australian built adding some frivolous luxury items and flogging them off for over $20K.
A friend of mine bought one of these Aussie made Chinese Campers, so it gave me the opportunity to compare mine with his.
Other than suspension (independent his, mine 7 leaf military wrap HD springs, shocks and axle), nice paint job and alloy wheels, better electric system and a price tag of $26K, it is identical to mine.
I have got rid of the crappy tasting plastic water tank and electrical system and replaced with stainlees steel water tank and a good quality elec/charging setup and some HD Optima deep Cycle batteries.
The workmanship on the chassis and drawbar is good to excellent, not a crap weld in sight, 10" drum brakes work well, camper rides well, everything is hot dipped gal.
The body outer skin is alloy plate with a material between it and plastic interior, comes with a Queen size innerspring mattress that weighs 50kgs, got rid of that and had a Dunlopillow 6" mattress made to suit, the ply floor under the bed is crap and I'm in the process of changing that out for quality Marine Ply. A couple of water leaks till the Rip-Stop canvas seasoned up. The body when closed up had a leak which allowed a little water in, found the spot and repaired, this CT weighs 760kg with the 50kg mattress, so it is down to around 700kg. now.
This C/T is good value for money and easily modified to suit, easy to setup and pack away, more so with 2 people, packing away is fiddly cause you need to tuck the canvas in along the sides while you wind the floor over, not hard just fiddly.
If you could get one of these CT's for 8 to 10K you would have the basis for a good strong Camper, I have a Post in here somewhere with a good description, see if I can find it, Regards Frank.
Previous post, description and pics of C/T.
I purchased an off-road hard floor camper, new for under $6K just over a year ago, it is a Chinese import and assembled here in Australia.
Now all the purists (who have probably never looked at my camper will say it is a POS).
It has a fully Galvanised chassis, electric brakes, LED tail lights, handbrake, solid axle/shocks, Leaf (7) springs with military wrap on shackles, springs sit on top of axle for more ground clearance. 70 L water tank w/electric pump, slide out kitchen with 4 burner gas stove, sink with tap, all stainless steel, 3 new 15" Sunraysia rims and tyres w/Toyota bolt pattern.
All of the chassis/drawbar welds look good to me, a mate who was a boilermaker could find no faults with the construction, the draw bar is bolt on which extends almost back to the axle with 6x 1/2" bolts.
the body panels are alloy/foam/alloy plating with alloy checkerplate on corners and edges, slide out compartment on drivers side (opposite) the kitchen has a battery, a charger and some switches.
All of the rubber seals are auto style (double pinch) with seals on the body and doors, never leaked the seal between the hard floor and the camper body is a triple lipped rubber seal.
A large alloy checkerplate tool/storage box sits on the draw bar, along with 9Kg. gas bottle holder and Jerry can holder, Spare tyre, rock shield and winch for winding the hard floor back.
Canvas is Ripstop type and is adequate, nothing too fancy, comes with a full annex, walls and wind breaks and floor, full set of poles (very heavy).
It is exactly the same body width as my Disco and the wheel track is the same, only weighs 760kgs.
The bed is a 6" spring type mattress, Queen size, this mattress weighs around 40kg and is too wide, very hard to fit sheets and bedding, we gave ours to Vinnies and replaced it with a Dunlopillo 6" foam which much more comfortable and only weighs about 15kgs. and about 6" narrower.
This Chinese manufactured trailer is imported with all the camper bodies in 1 container and all the drawbars, axles and tyres in another, I'd estimate they (importer) could bring in 40 camper trailers in 2 contaniers.
A mate of mine bought the exact same trailer as mine except for, nice alloy wheels, some fancy good looking transfers on the sides and a better battery/charging setup. This bloke has confirmed that his "OZZIE" built trailer is identical to mine except for the shiny items mentioned above.
He paid $26,000 for his, now I have seen many, many ads hawking my trailer as Australian made and charging over $20,000 for something that was imported from China in BULK for about $3K each, Tarting them up and making a horrendous profit on them.
So if you want a good trailer assembled here in OZ for around < $10K,have a look at a hard floor Chinese camper, sleeps 2 to 4 adults in the bed (if your kinky) 2 kids (or more) on the hard floor section and God knows how many in the annex, Good Luck, Regards Frank.
http://www.aulro.com/app/data/1367/medium/IMG_3003.JPG
http://www.aulro.com/app/data/1367/medium/IMG_3005.JPG
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