We are from Hervey Bay and have been procrastinating far too long in buying a CT. I've been trawling through the forums trying to ascertain if we should should go local (Austrack Campers) or buy all Aussie made. While Austrack seem to have a good rating among other fellow CT users in the forums, my biggest concern is the imported canvas they use.
Now, it seems (in here at least, reading various posts) that everyone seems to be happy with their canvas but what I'm trying to find out how it's going to perform 5 -6 -7 years down the track. Our plan is to buy a decent solid, well built trailer that is going to last the long haul as we don't plan to be doing anything other than camping , until the kids leave home at least. That won't be for a long time to come yet.
We are heading to Brisbane this weekend to look at a few different manufactures. Customline, Trackabout, Vacation Campers, Johnnos (Brisbane Bayside) and a couple of others. It seems the Dyanproof Wax Converters canvas is the bees knees and the canvas to us is as important as the trailer quality. I don't want to Shit on Austrack by any means but do you think for longevity we should really look at the Aussie canvas or would the Austrack canvas suffice.
We would really like to support someone local but at the end of the day, we are forking out a swag of cash and want to do it right the first time. As for camper trailer requirements, we would be happy to have a basic functioning kitchen, water tank, tent with annex summer/winter walls & the trailer to have electric brakes. As long as everything is solid it doesn't need to be super stainless 316 grade steel imported from Japan or recessed stoves etc... For us, practicability is the key.
The Austrack trailers come standard with 12' tent with full annex walls, so I'm hoping someone who has used their canvas products extensively for a period of time might be able to shed some light on the quality and longevity component of their canvas.
Thanks for your help,