MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Fun Police on February 15, 2012, 07:57:28 PM
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Just a general question before we head off for round two of camper trailer shopping.
Does a stone guard primarily protect the trailer or the rear of the tow vehicle??
And if you are only going to be black top rolling (initially) then is it really necessary??
Just looking at ways to save a few $$'s initially
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Depending on the stone guard, it does all of the things you mention.
I have a StoneStomper (www.stonestomper.com.au (http://www.stonestomper.com.au)) and it protects the front of the camper and the tailgate and rear window of the Cruiser, by keeping 99% of all gravel, stones & rocks underneath the car & camper. Watching the detritus spin out the sides of the camper (in the rear view mirror) is quite something.
If you're worried about $$, a mate has eschewed the stone stomper and gone for an angled traditional stone guard on the front of his camper, and has still suffered two broken rear windows, which cost more than a StoneStomper, not to mention the inconvenience of dust ingress, because Murphy's Law says the window will be broken as far from home and repairs, as is possible.
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Hey Fun Police,
My answer, as TOPNDR has already said, is "it does both". The most important job it does is to help keep the back window intact. But the side effect is that it protects the camper itself from the worst of the crap, and is cheap and easy to refurbish when it does get wrecked itself. Lastly, it keeps the camper cleaner - the amount of mud that ends up on our stone guard at times means I get less filthy when setting up camp.
Do you absolutely need one? Of course not. My father-in-law has dragged his camper everywhere we've been, with no stone guard. He's had just as much fun as we have had.
THAT SAID, we're going to build one for him soon, because his drawbar and front-facing bits of the camper all need a re-paint, 6 months after we painted it last. On a brand new camper, this would break your heart (especially if you had a powder-coated trailer). When we bought our camper we were considering getting JT to strip it right down to save the $$$s. In the end though we figured we would be better off saving up for longer, and getting it right from Day 1. If it's a cost thing, I would forgo some of the bling (like a 12v setup), and put the stone guard on instead. In fact, that's exactly what we did do.
Good luck!
Matto :)
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I run my StoneStomper all the time, never know when you'll venture off the black top down a side road for sight seeing or to find a camp, many a window as been broken from on the blacktop.
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Hey Fun Police,
Definitely agree with all other comments. It helps protect everything. Saving a little now will cost you at the worst time.
Even the long black top throws alot of awful surprises and tar can be a real bugger to clean off your brand new CT :'(
Good luck with your decision.
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This is my plan
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Hey Speewa
You do know that the flaps touching the ground flicks up more rocks?
Regards