Is it time to step back and accept imported products.

[02-SR5]

I agree 100%, but show me an Australian made camper with some fruit for less than 10k.

Customline do one for just under 9k, but it is tent on trailer only. By the time you add the basics like a water tank, basic kitchen, tropical roof and some walls for the annex, your still looking at nearly 13-14k for a basic package.

To be completely, I personally believe Customline make the best sub 15k camper in Australia. This would be my choice.

[UIZ733]

Famous last words.......................................... some say there is no such thing!
Might be interesting to know your neighbours though BD. 

[Bird]

I agree 100%, but show me an Australian made camper with some fruit for less than 10k.

Show me a Australian made car for under $10k.

Quality isn't cheap.. you can buy campers from $2000 at the shows... dozens and I mean dozens lined up to buy the rubbish when we went few years ago...

[speewa158]

The Black Pearl is fully Aussie made in Dandenong . The tent is made in Bayswater , & its been dragged around by my Pajeros which l think arnt Aussie made . Price $5000 PM for details 

[KingBilly]

Gee, I remember when it was a sin to buy from interstate    There were even billboards.  Used to piss the mexicans off no end 

KB

[Bird]

Gee, I remember when it was a sin to buy from interstate    There were even billboards.  Used to piss the mexicans off no end 

KB

problem is even those stickers would be made in china these days...

It doesn't help when even the Gov dept's outsource stuff to overseas companies..

[Bird]

Best idea ever

Supermarkets should have a designated Australian-only aisle, or aisles, according to a farmer who says the scheme would generate an ''absolutely huge'' boost in sales of locally grown or made goods, protect local jobs and stimulate the economy.

Kathy Dudley, a cattle farmer and spring water producer from Yolla in Tasmania's north-west, said the establishment of Australian-only aisles would sidestep the confusion created by ''weak'' labelling laws that have allowed confusing country-of-origin labels on products.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/call-for-aussie-supermarkets-aisles-20131027-2w9r0.html#ixzz2ixnEhWbh

[duggie]

When I bought my camp trailer I chose a Trackabout, Australian made, local dealer and suited my needs. The Trackabout is a bloody great unit and I believe I got value for my money spent.

At that time there was very little in the way of imports and I could afford the Trackabout.

If I was to have that time again with what is out there today, would I buy a Trackabout ?

Probably not.

There are some very good imported camp trailers on the market with everything that I would need for my set up.

When I first bought my camper I honestly believed that I would be using the thing a hell of a lot more than I am, so in saying this a imported trailer would do everything I want to do, go to the places I want to go, last for as long as I need and have change in my pocket to cover some travel expenses.

Would I sell my Trackabout and go and buy a imported trailer ?


NO. I have what I have, and I am very happy with my Trackabout.

cheers duggie

[Bird]

When I first bought my camper I honestly believed that I would be using the thing a hell of a lot more than I am

I reckon a huge majority of people would be in that boat too.. me included.

[Spada]

I own an imported trailer that was built overseas and assembled in Australia, and I have not had any quality issues at all. It has stood up to every bit of abuse I'm capable of putting it through, and I'm rarely able to go camping without people want to have a good look at it.

It was by no means cheap, but I got what I paid for.

It's not weather or not the product is imported. No matter where it is made, it's the quality of the build that matters, and weather the price fits within your budget.

If I could have bought a comparable product, at near the same price, that was fully made in Austrilia, I would.

But I couldnt, so I bought a product that was built in South Africa, and assembled in Brisbane, by a company that stands behind it's product, and activily promotes the products heritage.

[cm4x4nut]

all,

There has been a fair bit of cleaning up in this thread. Must admit, as soon as I read the title, I knew it was coming.

Is it so hard to just be respectful of each other and be a little bit aware of what you are writing down.

Please try and keep it all where it should be or another topic will be shut down and more people will be taking forced holidays. If you object greatly to what someone is saying / has said, report it and let us deal with it properly.

Cheers, Craig

[Mace]

.time for a

[MDCowners]

Hi Campers
I purchased an MDC camper and at no time did they try to hide the fact that they were made in China. I purchased the semi offroad v3 version for $3999 plus a $399 mattress plus a couple of stretcher poles and went up to coopers plains to pick it up in April 2013.It has now travelled over 9000ks and I have camped in it 6 times now, the latest being at Echuca in Vic. in really horrendous winds with the full annexe up and although I was in panic mode it survived better than me. We have camped in the high country in wind and rain and travelled up to the Flinders and on to Farina, Marree onto the Oodnadatta track and down the borefield track to Roxby Downs and back home to Riverton camping on the way. The only problem was the pop rivets popped out on a gas strut used to assist opening the lid on the trailer. I dont know about the longevity with this trailer but I suspect that it will do many more trips.
Bill

[Hairs]

I buy want I can afford.
Having said that I spend many hours researching product/price/quality, then I try to buy local.
Sometimes it's local, other times it's not and if it is online I try to buy from Aussie stores.
What more can ya do? 
 

[Swannie]

I don't care care what you drive or what you camp in, everyones is welcome for a beer with me anytime
swannie

[D4D]

I don't care care what you drive or what you camp in, everyones is welcome for a beer with me anytime, as long as you don't drink XXXX

 

[Bird]

.time for a

I still say its time to add these...  index.php?topic=16958.0

[Murph]

Kumbya ma lord kumbya! 

[Brutus]

I have a mate who works in the fruit n veg department at the local supermarket and he reckons the amount of fruit n veg wasted is amazing. People pick through looking for unblemished products and don't care if it's from the local farm five mins down the road or from some foreign country.

I try my best at the deli to pick products made in Oz over the imported but when it's $5 a kilo less for the imported and most of the rest of the groceries are foreign owned, well it's hard to buy local.

Try and get twenty years out of a fridge now days, not going to happen whether it's made in this great country or overseas. Things are made to wear out just past there warranty now and if we are all really honest with ourselves the wallet rules our heart most of the time.

Time to accept imported products guys n gals, they are here to stay and unfortunately at the cost of Aussie jobs

[_Gecko_]

Fresh fruit and Veg i will only buy aussie grown.
I used to be self sufficient throught the warmer months in melb for all our fruit and veggies, so much so i was supplying my neighbours and they would supply me with slaughtered meat fresh from the farm.

My Van and trailer are both Aussie made
Van in Melb same with the trailer just in my back yard.
I dont care what you got, how much you paid for it or what it does better than others, i just care that you are out enjoying this country of ours.
heck i am doing it in a Panelvan that reverses back into my tent and a homebuilt trailer, over 10 000kms and 4 states and counting!

Gecko

[Garfish]

The whole import or not question is so strange

As a generalization of the Australian public ( not necessarily this forum) most people will buy the cheaper product or utilise that as a negotiating tool for larger items, 
But then there is an up cry when a any fracturing plant closes, whether that is Heinz or Electrolux , ford, etc. but most people wont support these because they either don't make the right product or it's too dear or combination of both,  in reality these companies are going broke due to high input costs, read labour in Australia,  I am not saying everyone needs a payout or work for $5 an hour but that is what we are competing against, over time there costs will increase but what too do.  Ive had a plant color down and relocate to Brazil taking 350 jobs.    Not fun, but it's the modern reality, the customer wants this product for $5, we can make it in oz at a cost of $4.99 or overseas for $4 landed , I know what I would do.   Even some batteries are dry imports.

[Alan Loy]

This question always seems to actually be two questions

Is this camper "good" quality?
How much of it is made in Australia?

The Conquerors are a good case in point.  There are few people that complain about people buying South African campers.  I suspect because they are a good product and not cheap.  I assume that some of the top end campertrailer manufacturers are not happy about then though.

[muzza01]

For our CT purchase it was a hard decision. Me and the Mrs wanted a hard floor camper. We were looking for something second hand for .$20k max. This proved to be quite difficult to find one in Cairns. We searched for about 6 months trolling the Internet for trailers in North QLD all the way down to Mackay. We did find quite a few for sale in Brisbane but the 3500km return journey didn't appeal to us. I even had a friend of ours who used to own Cape York Trailers. No luck.

We decided not to get a China CT as I had heard and read all of the horror stories about Chinese trailers like bird sh!t welds, holes blown through steel with on oxy, wires just twisted together not soldered, wiring not fused or colour coded, wiring thru steel without rubber grommets, canvas so thin you can see through it, rubber seals not lining up, crappy Treg copy hitches, the list goes on.

In the end I decided to have another look at the imports.
I liked the look of the MDC and Leisure Matters hard floor range and price but realised they were from China even though MDC stated to me that they were made in OZ.  leisure matters were upfront and honest in saying theirs was from China.

I guess MDC think by exporting Australian iron ore to China and getting it back in the form of a CT equates to Australian made.

I found another company whom just imports the trailers and on sells them without checks or warranty for $10k.  That was going to save us $5k straight up.

We ordered the CT from the importer and waited a couple of months. We knew that there would be a good chance that with a close inspection on arrival that we could be selling it on Gumtree the next day if it wasn't worth fixing up. I was pretty confident that we would at least get our money back. Nothing to loose.

The CT turned up and exceeded our expectations in a big way. I am not a welder but I have been welding for 30 years and own my own gear. I cannot fault the welding. The structure is solid and well built. I am sure it has been copied from something engineered here in OZ.

Wiring neat, colour coded, joined correctly and protected with grommets. The Canvas is great, stitched well and not thin. All openings and closing a worked as they should with good seals.

There were problems, cheap bearings, hubs, shockies, crappy Chinese copy hitch and the rear swing away carrier wasn't strong enough.  I have fixed all of these issues, modded quite a few more things for personal choice and improved the gas bottle and jerry can holders.

The cost is bugger all.  A lot of hours though but I don't mind spending time in the shed.
We are really happy with what we have bought and more importantly what we have saved. The CT still doesn't even owe us $14k. I got a mate who is a boiler maker in the Army to check it out. He was impressed and found one weld on the whole CT that he wanted to fix.

I know it is not a KK or CYT but it is not $40k either. We have a hard floor CT with annexe, lights, slide out kitchen with 4 burner stove and sink. 100 lt water tank with pump. 2 fridge slide/storage areas, tool box and ind suspension.

Now i have modified it, I am confident it will make it through Cape York. Will it get damaged? Probably but that would be expected with any CT. I have travelled throughout the Cape for over 30 years and I have seen major changes making it more accessible.  A.J. Has just returned from his big trip up the Cape and informed me he saw quite a few CT's like mine (without suspension mods) in some real interesting and challenging areas.

It does give me the sh!ts when people tell me my CT is a piece of crap that will fall apart on its first trip. These comments come not from owners of Chinese campers but from someone whose mates fathers uncle had one. It also gives me the Shits with hypocrites who think there is a difference between an imported car and imported CT.

At the end of the day my family is out camping and having a great time while being able to save quite a few $$$. Lets cut the crap. If others can afford $40-50k on a CT, good on you. I am not jealous. Just don't tell me what I own is crap without coming up here and having a look at it.
Muz.

[Pipeliner]

What we have to bear in mind is that there is absolutely no way that any industry in Australia where more than 30%-40% of the final price is a labour cost can compete at the bottom end of the market with Asian imports: at the top end of the market where quality and service are the drivers rather than price the Australian suppliers are doing fine.  So AORC and KK have full order books stretching months into the future because they make a high quality product, offer a good service and have a warranty that they will stick to.

Buy what you want at the price you can afford, but be aware that you will never get BMW quality for a Holden price.

I used to buy a lot of GMC power tools on the basis that I would use them until they wore out, then if they had proved useful I would replace them with a quality brand.  Most of them have gone to the tip by now: some were only marginally useful and have not been replaced, some have been replaced with quality brands, and some are still working perfectly after many years (how long ago did GMC go bust?).  The point is I knew I was buying a cheap import and I was prepared to take the risk - and in many cases that paid off - but for stuff that I used constantly I was happy to pay the extra for quality (OK, none of my tools are made in Australia but that isn't the point, it's knowing what you're paying for that matters).

[macca]

What we have to bear in mind is that there is absolutely no way that any industry in Australia where more than 30%-40% of the final price is a labour cost can compete at the bottom end of the market with Asian imports: at the top end of the market where quality and service are the drivers rather than price the Australian suppliers are doing fine.  So AORC and KK have full order books stretching months into the future because they make a high quality product, offer a good service and have a warranty that they will stick to.

Buy what you want at the price you can afford, but be aware that you will never get BMW quality for a Holden price.

I used to buy a lot of GMC power tools on the basis that I would use them until they wore out, then if they had proved useful I would replace them with a quality brand.  Most of them have gone to the tip by now: some were only marginally useful and have not been replaced, some have been replaced with quality brands, and some are still working perfectly after many years (how long ago did GMC go bust?).  The point is I knew I was buying a cheap import and I was prepared to take the risk - and in many cases that paid off - but for stuff that I used constantly I was happy to pay the extra for quality (OK, none of my tools are made in Australia but that isn't the point, it's knowing what you're paying for that matters).

Well said Pipeliner, about what I do too