china does it again! well we knew it was coming.....

[evolution]

found this on ebay...
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Off-road-4-x-4-camper-trailer-/251274253734?pt=AU_Caravans_RVs&hash=item3a811cd5a6

apparently its not a trak shak its a trekker?
I mean really? its bloody identical visually. No way to tell what its like in detail with out looking at it, but WTF??
surely trak shaks copyrights would be able to prevent them from being sold here? I dunno but its pretty obvious that it is a direct copy.


Cheers
Evo

[Marschy]

Hello Evo, What leads you to believe this trailer is made in China. From observation Australian manufacturers are not above stealing ideas from one another either.

Cheers, Marschy

[kylarama]

Haven't the genuine Trak Shak's been made in China for the last 10 years???

[Mandrake]

With genuine Coopers on it probably not Chinese --
However there could be a minor problem with the 20 Amp solar reg with 420 Watts of panels = 23.33 Amps ..Unless they are the 36V jobbies ...
Looks like a nice rig though and this is the only sale for this e-bayer ever ...
Mandrake 

[Jason B]

Haven't the genuine Trak Shak's been made in China for the last 10 years???

Yep and having recently bought one from the current company owners and sending back for a refund because it was a $30k POS, I would imagine the Chinese builders have probably found another outlet for their product.

Alternately because of the recent issues associated with the current company they may be selling the product under a different name.

Shame really as they are a great design, just very poorly executed at the moment, hopefully someone who know what they are doing will pick up the pieces and once again provide the service and quality that was always associated with the Trak Shak name.

[evolution]

Hello Evo, What leads you to believe this trailer is made in China. From observation Australian manufacturers are not above stealing ideas from one another either.

Cheers, Marschy

Valid point mate, I will say that is based on the following:
1) listed and new and the price is much lower than an Aussie could make and sell for.
2) they have been made in china for a fair few years now.
3) cheap poly block and other fittings.

I guess I was more just surprised to see it to be honest.
I knew they were made in china but didn't expect to see a copy.

Cheers
Evo

[Jason B]

Valid point mate, I will say that is based on the following:
1) listed and new and the price is much lower than an Aussie could make and sell for.
2) they have been made in china for a fair few years now.
3) cheap poly block and other fittings.

I guess I was more just surprised to see it to be honest.
I knew they were made in china but didn't expect to see a copy.

Cheers
Evo

It's not cheap when compared to a current model,  they sell for $30k with the solar option and $26k without. The current one have the cheap treg/trigg Copy also not the real thing. This trailer appears to be identical to the trailers sold in Aus and I would suggest they are in fact out of the same factory in china. When I was having a few issues with the company I did a fair bit of research and found the factory in china and saw photos confirming that they are fully assembled and painted over there, this was contrary to what I was told by the company and what they had printed in a camper trailer mag. When presented with my research, they couldn't give me my money back quick enought to go away.

If the paint and finish is done to a high standard these could actually be better than the real thing.

Jas

[evolution]

True, But that is based on the "sticker" price.
At 13k its pretty cheap.
On the other hand it doesn't sound like its worth avoiding.
 If I was closer I think it'd be worth a look over.
I didn't know the legit ones run the cheap poly block, I can't understand how they do that on something they are asking 30k for

Cheers
Evo

[Mandrake]

Evo - 13K is the starting bid price ... the price to buy is ticketed on the pic at $32990 drive away   

[Jason B]

True, But that is based on the "sticker" price.
At 13k its pretty cheap.
On the other hand it doesn't sound like its worth avoiding.
 If I was closer I think it'd be worth a look over.
I didn't know the legit ones run the cheap poly block, I can't understand how they do that on something they are asking 30k for

Cheers
Evo

The poly block was one of my list of issues with them mate. We had been shown (and borrowed, because they couldn't supply ours as required at the time) their show unit. It was immaculate and strangely was a 2007 model (current owners took over in 2008). The show model has the real deal fitted, all of the fittings were stainless steel (the long scissor hinge down the lid for example) all of the seals were pinch weld rubber automotive types etc etc etc.

When we got our unit all of the stainless had been replaced with mild Steel painted silver (not even gal) the hitch was the cheap Chinese version, the seals were flat foam just double sided taped in place, and the paint finish was atrocious, with about 4 different shades of the same colour applied and obvious repairs in about 4 places. (We waited 18 month for this by the way)

When I raised all of these issues initially the owners didn't even realise the seals had been changed by the men in china, secondly they claimed they had the right to change the spec as they liked based on the availability of parts (even though I had paid a $6k deposit) When I indicated they substituted quality parts for crap after showing me and selling me a particular product they became pretty belligerent. At this stage I was aware of 5 other guys also pulling out of deals because of similar issues. In the end I contacted fair trading and cc'd them into all of my email correspondence. We really wanted one of their trailers but they couldn't provide a quality unit.

For $13k or even $20k one of these ones would make a good base, for about $3 - $5k you could have fixed all of my issues (quality hitch, re spray, stainless or alloy armouring, and a rewire).

I would look at one. The tents were made in china too but they used Aussie WCT canvas and the canvas work appeared good to me.

Jas

[evolution]

Good points mate. 
Honestly, I'd probably try and pick up one of the original ones second hand if I were seriously looking to buy at the moment. I think you were right to pull out of the sale based on that. Its a pity it was such a pita for you though.
My logic is if they scrimped on all those things what else did they scrimp on? Is the structural engineering of the trailer weakened by lowering costs, are they going to fail on you in a major way down the track?

Although at 13k its pretty cheap...... lol

Cheers
Evo

[Mandrake]

Evo - 13K is the starting bid price ... the price to buy is ticketed on the pic at $32990 drive away   

[evolution]

Lol yeah I saw that, but no reserve.
I have lost count on how many times I have seen that on eBay...... lol
It'll be interesting to see if it does sell and then how much for.

Cheers
Evo

[dazzler]

I read somewhere that in general no business can maintain the status quo but must keep on adapting.  I wonder if a lot of ma and pa companies that built good gear are falling foul of this 'rule' now.

Dont understand the economics, maybe an accountant could explain it.

[prodigyrf]

Interesting to note the extra rod stiffening under the drawbar while pic 5 in their ad shows an obvious rough seam on the RHS which you wouldn't see on quality RHS tube here. Can't say I've seen rod stiffening of drawbars on name brand campers and caras here either.

[Jason B]

The main TS brand has this also, although theirs is steel straps under the drawbar which are claimed to hold the drawbar in tension? Whatever advantage that is I don't understand.

Jas

[prodigyrf]

The main TS brand has this also, although theirs is steel straps under the drawbar which are claimed to hold the drawbar in tension? Whatever advantage that is I don't understand.

What that means is as the drawbar wants to bend downwards with shock loading it's resisted by the tension rods held in place by the welded spacers. ie to bend the drawbar must try and stretch that tension rod, which if it's strong enough it can't and hence the drawbar can't bend. ie it acts like an articulated web truss because the RHS itself isn't presumably strong enough on its own. That's OK because a lesser RHS and tension brace may be lighter for towing and hence the added cost of fabrication over a simple RHS selection is warranted and besides China labour is cheap.

Now the download force may be adequately resisted but the question remains as to whether the rebound force will be. ie the drawbar wanting to curve upwards on rebound in which case you'd want a similar tension brace setup on top of the drawbar. Hmmm... we don't know the answer as consumers but one thing we do notice is most name brand rvs and trailers don't go that route for some reason.

Tension and compression in simple beams are described here-
 http://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/civil/bridge2.htm
and that's what your drawbar is essentially although there are other forces eg stretch for pulling, compression under braking and twist of the A frame and its members over undulating surfaces

[Jason B]

Thanks for the explanation mate, makes sense. I remember that the Early TS has a couple of issues with draw bar strength, the straps must have been the engineering fix. Would have probably been easier than a complete redesign of the drawbar.

Jas

[briann532]

Unfortunately, as much as I would love to comment, I'm ineligible 

I perpetuate the whole cheap import thing by buying the products the sell us.
I want to buy aussie made, but it gets harder and harder and now its almost impossible.

I buy a lot of stuff online because its so cheap and I'm guessing thats what everyone else is doing and so the cycle continues.

Total restructure is needed, but we all know it aint going to happen.

Sorry
Brian
 

[Jason B]

Unfortunately, as much as I would love to comment, I'm ineligible 

I perpetuate the whole cheap import thing by buying the products the sell us.
I want to buy aussie made, but it gets harder and harder and now its almost impossible.

I buy a lot of stuff online because its so cheap and I'm guessing thats what everyone else is doing and so the cycle continues.

Total restructure is needed, but we all know it aint going to happen.

Sorry
Brian

Lol.............don't worry mate there is plenty of Chinese gear in my shed, and I initially bought a TS which I was comfortable about except the fact the company couldn't get it together (Aussie mob).

Jas

[evolution]

Brian, I completely agree with you on buying chinese.
Personally I don't have a problem with buying what you can afford. At the end of the day everyone has to work within budgets and buys what they can afford and suits them.
I guess the point was when I posted the original post was that even though I knew track sharks were made in china, I hadn't seen a knockoff/rebadged one before. Surprised me to be honest.

Cheers
Evo

[michael h]

I had a 96 model Trak Shak up until about 2 years ago and I remember researching before I bought and found there was a similar if not identical model under the name of Deluxe Camper or something like that
From memory there where originally two business owners/partners that split up
I still rate the design of the Trak Shak for a small family 5 but ended up with a pop top for a quick setup

Cheers Michael