A hardfloor that will stand up to an OZ trip?

[AUTO..]

Hey guys, first post here but been lurking and searching for a while.
I haven't really found what I wanted so thought I would start a thread.  Plus most of the stuff I have searched is from 5 plus years ago or from sources that are not 100% credible.

So lets get to it:
The missus and I are taking 6-12 months off work to see OZ.  I am towing with a newish Patrol and looking at a hardfloor camper that is going to be able to handle corrugated tracks.  We expect to take the trailer on roads similar to the PDR but not things like the Tele.
Ideally we would cart the trailer up the PDR, leave it and come back down with the swag to do the tele.  This gives you an idea of what we would be doing on our trip around using Cape York as the example.

Just need the basics.  good bed, fridge slide, good kitchen, good construction and suspension.  The rest is a bonus.

It seems that the Ezytrail Albany Z meets my requirements perfectly and budget is perfect.  However I am yet to have time to inspect the unit personally.

What I am searching for is first of all, people who have one of these campers and actually used it to travel remote/long distance.  Not just weekenders.   I want your feedback!!!  Not your mates, sisters brother in law had one and it blew a tyre.
I want real world feedback from people who have toured the country with it.

If not this camper, one in this price range such as the MDC trailers etc.
I know people will say buy a second hand cub but I can't fathom sinking 15-25k into a 10 year old camper!!  I will probably eat my words in 2 years time but thats my problem isnt it?

While my plan may warrant spending money on a 40-50k Patriot or Ultimate etc.  again I can't fathom spending that sort of money or even making anything when I go to sell it in 3-4 years time.

Realistic suggestions are welcome, but please keep in mind I want first hand experiences, if I wanted third hand info theres plenty of that available.  Oh and can we please keep it accurate and realistic.  If you blew a tyre who cares.  If you blew a shock after doing 10000kms of nasty corrugations.. who cares... I am asking for things like cracked welds, etc.

TIA


What

[Hewy54]

We had a Kimberley Kamper that we took down the GRR twice and up to the Cape (not Tele track)
Bought it new for $43K, sold it 3 years later for $38k
Caused us no problems at all.
Only sold it to get a Vista Crossover as my wife has crook fingers and cannot do zips anymore.

[AUTO..]

How long did it take you to sell it at that price?
And how much extra $$ did you put into it?

[Hewy54]

How long did it take you to sell it at that price?
And how much extra $$ did you put into it?

Was on the market for 6 weeks. We are in Adelaide and a buyer came over from NSW.
When we got it I did a swap around of tyres to gain new ones on the tug.
We sold it with the 50l Waeco and a 100w solar panel as extras from when we bought it.
If I was to act in hindsight I would have bought a second hand KK in the first place.

[marvellous_matt]

Cubs hold their value, but some good value can be found if your are quick. We are in the process of purchasing a few year old Cub daintree LE, it has done 2 trips, (4 weeks then 2) and canvas is perfect, everything looks new, except for some stone chips outside where you would expect them. It is 18,000, was 26,000 new.

2 months ago I saw a few similarly priced, though slightly more, then last week everything on gumtree similar was 5000 more.

This is our second cub, the first was a 2001, and we are upgrading for more comfort and ease, however there is plenty of miles left in the one we just sold.

Of course there are other great brands that will do you well, but I would keep Cub on your list.

[Rumpig]

We've had our Kimberley 7 years now, the corrugations it copped up in the NT late in the dry season were the worst we've encountered anywhere, never had an issue on that trip other then stone chips and a nice dent in the bottom corner of the front box from the fist sized rocks my fourby was throwing up along the way.

[Fathom]

Most brands have a user facewastebook page.
You will undoubtedly get real life user experience there.
There’s also forward fold and rear fold pages.
Although I notice when anyone asks about brands on the FF Page. Everyone recommends their own brand. Which technically is a good thing. Means they’re happy with it.

I don’t think you’d go wrong with the Ezytrail.
Everyone values different things in a camper. Best to look at as many as you can in the flesh in the coin you want to spend. On paper they often look the same, so it’s little things that probably make up a buyers mind.
Look at ease of set up/layout/warranty/feedback on after sales etc.
I have a Broadwater FF.
it’s done a fair bit of county. The shocks were rubbish I changed them. Otherwise I can’t fault the camper.
Goes where I need it to go. Does what it’s suppose to do.
I’d have no hesitation towing it around Oz tomorrow. (I wish)

You’ll find a dozen brands you can buy new that’ll do the job you want in the money you want to spend.
Other than brands already mentioned have a look at..
Wild boar
Jawa
Skamper
Ecomate
To name a few.

Have fun hunting.

[speewa158]

Lets chuck in the  " Preloved  " range as there is way more bang for your buck .
l have a Cub Supermatic Escape its been to
Central Aus , 4 weeks including Cambers Pillar , Lamberts
The Cape  4 weeks
Kimberly via the Tanami , GBR & Mitchel falls   8 weeks
Hi country in Vic weekenders
Do your service , take your time its no race . Just because you spend the Big $ dosent mean its going to be trouble free  .     
                                                                Enjoy     

[Bird]

We have a bloke in the club (who bought Blackstump's old trailer off here few yrs back and updated to Kimberley) who bought a brand new Kimberley with his inheritance Nov last yr from memory(or  Nov year before) - every bell, and whistle + more... I admit I was a little jealous when the **** showed up at Beachport with it straight from picking it up.

But the smile came back recently when he told me he had nothing but issues with it to the point he gave up and sold it 6 weeks ago. Even small things like draw handles falling off, Kimberley has an updated version but wouldn't fit them unless he paid for em. But they replaced the older ones twice.  No support from the mothership apparently.
From what he told me there have been a few people he had found with really recent models with issues and unsatisfactory support - specially for the price he paid which you pay.

Hes now bought a van similar to Xcvator's.

[tryagain]

With any brand both local and import you will find people who are happy and those who aren't. I think peoples expectation is the main issue when it comes to imported Chinese campers, if you realise there are not going to be built to the same standard as something built locally at a much higher price, expect that there will likely be a few niggly issues along the way then you should overall be happy.
The big importers have been at it for a while now and have refined their product to a better standard, but that doesn't mean it will be perfect. I think a lot of the bad experiences with imported Chinese campers are from people who think that they can buy something for a much cheaper price and expect it to be perfect. If you are the kind of person who expects everything to work flawlessly the don't go for a Chinese import, if you are happy to tinker and refine a few things as you go along and be happy with some functional but not spectacular workmanship in the trade for a significant $$$ saving then you will more than likely be happy. 

[GBC]

We have toured pretty extensively with our MDC Cape York edition over the past 18 months we have had it. You can see any mods we have made by searching my name here. Their quality keeps increasing all the time so in the case of MDC I'd probably recommend going new. The new Cape York is $5k more now, but the inclusions would be worth it in my opinion. I'd still allow an extra maybe $2k to 'adjust' to your preference for touring once you have it. Again, see the mods we have done.

[Rumpig]

We have a bloke in the club (who bought Blackstump's old trailer off here few yrs back and updated to Kimberley) who bought a brand new Kimberley with his inheritance Nov last yr from memory(or  Nov year before) - every bell, and whistle + more... I admit I was a little jealous when the **** showed up at Beachport with it straight from picking it up.

But the smile came back recently when he told me he had nothing but issues with it to the point he gave up and sold it 6 weeks ago. Even small things like draw handles falling off, Kimberley has an updated version but wouldn't fit them unless he paid for em. But they replaced the older ones twice.  No support from the mothership apparently.
From what he told me there have been a few people he had found with really recent models with issues and unsatisfactory support - specially for the price he paid which you pay.

Hes now bought a van similar to Xcvator's.

and yet we have only had one issue with ours in the first 6 months of owning it, and the store that sold it to us went out of their way to remedy that issue...they drove to my house and picked the trailer up and returned it back to my house after the repair was done at head office.  I have no idea what the latest trailers are like quality wise being we bought ours 7 years ago (we don't have handles on any draws on ours for a start, there are some latches though that have worked flawlessly for 7 years).... you can't blame lack of support on the brand, it comes down to the agent at the store that sold it to them going out of their way to help the customer. I rang Kimberley HQ about a year ago chasing a stove part that had broken (a solid gas pipe in the burner had cracked from all the corrugations the trailer travelled over the years), they didn't sell the part but happily gave me the number of the supplier in Sydney they buy from, he then sold me the part I needed. I've had nothing but good dealings with both my agent and head office.

[WilSurf]

I am voting for the KK.
We have ours since 2010 and the only issue was the jockey wheel.
We have taken it off road on tracks without any problems.

[Gryphen]

If you can get hold of a FollowMe Camper - Argyle Explorer, I got mine with dual tanks, is very solid, queen size innerspring bed, massive fridge slide, cost me $35k, we've done a few trips North to Karrajini and along the west coast, is perfect, hard wearing, just not ready to sell it just yet, lol

[moeite]

We got a Balance Trailers forward fold camper in March. Since then it's been along the Old Strzelecki Track, the Birdsville Track, Walkers Crossing, Oodnadatta track, etc.

Good Stuff.

The thing is built like a brick outhouse.
Canvas is Bradmill Kordux which is NOT light weight by any stretch of the imagination.
Apart from a couple of defects has been brilliant and the defects were fixed by Jian and the boys at Balance. The defects were a couple of small water leaks in the canvass (resewn around the leaks) and a water tank that had a seam failure (replaced no questions asked).
Cost us $15k - in our view bloody good value for money.
Customer service is about as good as you could possibly wish for. On the Birdsville Track we shredded a tyre which was replaced at a VERY low cost - something I didn't ask for. When we picked it up there was a delay of about 15mins and fr that small inconvenience Jian gave us another spare wheel.
Quick to set up - pull up to kettle on is about 10mins.
No dust, and I do mean NO dust, gets in anywhere.

Not so good stuff.

Heavy. 1.8t fully loaded but tows well behind a 2000 manual Td5 Discovery 2 without messing up fuel consumption too much - I get around 12 to 13l/100km. Needed to fit air helper springs to the tug.
Stupid lift to turn on water tap at the sink. Easily fixed with another pump switch near the sink.
About 10,000 poles and spreaders for the annex and using them all takes about 30mins. We don't use the spreaders and it only takes 5 poles and 10 minutes for the annex roof and the stove end.

My wife and I are extremely pleased with it and have no hesitation in recommending Balance Trailers.

[latestarter]

Mate, I was in exactly your position earlier this year. My wife, 8 year old boy and I have just returned from 16 weeks on the road. We did from Sydney to port Augusta , up the centre through the Kimberley, all the WA coast across the bottom and home via Broken hill. Heaps of rough roads and tracks GRR, into the Bungles and the like.

Prior to the trip when considering what to buy, my wife insisted on a hard floor. Considering g budget, it was either an import or second hand. I opted to go the second hand path. I was looking at Aussie Swags and KImberleys. I came across a Cape York trailer, which was manufactured out of Cairns. I ended up flying to Melbourne to look at both a KK and a CYT. I took the CYT.
It is built very strong, the frame being 100x50x 4mm.... Not sure anything these days uses 4mm steel. It has exceptional load caring capacity. A tare of about 965kg and Gross of 1660kg. I'm not aware of anything that comes close to that. In addition, under the bed just swallows gear....almost as good as a soft floor. When comparing to the KK and ASwags, this was a massive plus as they have a drawer that in comparison doesn't come close.
The body is aluminium which is how the weight is kept down.

The reason I mention this is there was a guy selling one on here recently, which was dropped in price from 18 to 14. That's a bargain in my mind. I paid over 20 for mine and have no regrets. I was planning on selling mine, but based on this one on the market I'd probably drop more coin than I'm prepared to..

Anyway, ours never missed a beat on our lap, tows like a dream and is up and down in 5 minutes. It's a cracker. If you come across one, don't discount it.

Is there a down side....well.... I like the kitchen setup on Aussie Swags better, where the kitchen swings around to the Side of the camper. That is just my preference but obviously not a show stopper for me as I still bought it. Good luck with what ever you do.

[Bird]

I am voting for the KK.
We have ours since 2010 and the only issue was the jockey wheel.
We have taken it off road on tracks without any problems.

that's what Mick said - the older ones are the pick of the bunch.. something to do with where the parts come from now.

[DrewXT]

Have you considered a second hand Tvan?  If you're doing a big trip, then they're an easy setup for an overnight stop, and not much more to put the annex on.

Got mates with them who love them, and all have done the Tele Track towing

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[GBC]

Mate, I was in exactly your position earlier this year. My wife, 8 year old boy and I have just returned from 16 weeks on the road. We did from Sydney to port Augusta , up the centre through the Kimberley, all the WA coast across the bottom and home via Broken hill. Heaps of rough roads and tracks GRR, into the Bungles and the like.

Prior to the trip when considering what to buy, my wife insisted on a hard floor. Considering g budget, it was either an import or second hand. I opted to go the second hand path. I was looking at Aussie Swags and KImberleys. I came across a Cape York trailer, which was manufactured out of Cairns. I ended up flying to Melbourne to look at both a KK and a CYT. I took the CYT.
It is built very strong, the frame being 100x50x 4mm.... Not sure anything these days uses 4mm steel. It has exceptional load caring capacity. A tare of about 965kg and Gross of 1660kg. I'm not aware of anything that comes close to that. In addition, under the bed just swallows gear....almost as good as a soft floor. When comparing to the KK and ASwags, this was a massive plus as they have a drawer that in comparison doesn't come close.
The body is aluminium which is how the weight is kept down.

The reason I mention this is there was a guy selling one on here recently, which was dropped in price from 18 to 14. That's a bargain in my mind. I paid over 20 for mine and have no regrets. I was planning on selling mine, but based on this one on the market I'd probably drop more coin than I'm prepared to..

Anyway, ours never missed a beat on our lap, tows like a dream and is up and down in 5 minutes. It's a cracker. If you come across one, don't discount it.

Is there a down side....well.... I like the kitchen setup on Aussie Swags better, where the kitchen swings around to the Side of the camper. That is just my preference but obviously not a show stopper for me as I still bought it. Good luck with what ever you do.

Ours has 750 k.g. payload. The cheaper venturer has even more because it doesn't come with internal drawers or the boat rack. I know Kimberlies can be optioned up to carry whatever you want with air suspension and sway bars - there is an option to carry a RZR buggy on top. That is some serious weight.

[Traveller]

I am another one pushing the KK. We picked up ours brand new 15 years ago when there wasn't a lot of choice, and we have been really happy with it. Dragged it up and down some truly horrible roads, and the poor old thing has just followed faithfully. We have just returned from a couple of months doing some of the Savannah Way and the Cape and again it was a gem.

The only things that I have done to it in the 15 years has been the usual tyres, brake pads, bearings, batteries, but also seals on the two outside 'doors', two of the little tensioners on the rear poles, one zip slide, and I put on a ratchet jockey wheel (an absolute must). We don't use the electric water pump due to the racket it makes, and as a result the hand pump needs some seals that I will get around to.

I would have trouble buying one of the new ones as I figure they are getting too complicated (ours is about as basic as you can get), but I would certainly look at a second hand one as I figure ours has still a lot left in it.

We don't use a side awning much at all, so setup time in the bush takes about a couple of minutes, check for level, drop the jockey wheel, flip the top and extend the front awning (no pegs involved). Pack up is about the same time.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

[speewa158]

Pull up , Park up Chairs & Drink up    For a 1 night set that's got to be under 10 Mins or your wasting drinking time             
 Go the Pre loved  market & spend the rest on side trips   

[Hodgies]

Another vote for the KK. Ours is a 2011 model.
 We bought ours 3 years ago second hand, we are the 3rd owners. It has always been used off road.
We have taken it on some great dirt tracks and it has faithfully followed.
Just got back from Uluru, we went via the Plenty and did the Merinee Loop.
The only issue we have had was a jockey wheel.
Good luck with your search.
P.S I think the older KKs are great.