Trakmaster Kimberley

Words and pics: Lloyd Junor

Solar Survivor

In its decade or so of existence, Bayswater-based Trakmaster has earned a strong reputation for building robust offroad vans. The Vic company pursues quality and reliability for a market that demands quality, value-for-dollar products.

This approach appears to have paid off. At the time of the review of the Kimberley, Trakmaster's order books were filled 12 months out, and a small but steady trickle of prospective customers were keeping staff busy.

TRAKMASTER TRADITION
Trakmaster has outgrown several factories in its short life, and appears to be pushing the
current one to its limit. Nonetheless, co-founder Russell Seebach (his son-in-law, Craig Miles, is the other) says they maintain a personal contact with clients and deliver to high standards.

Models in Trakmaster's caravan range include the Perentie, a lightweight, alloy-based rear entry camper stopping at 12ft 6in (3.8m); the compact Sturt, with a maximum size of 13ft (4m); the Kimberley, which goes to 15ft 6in (4.7m); the Nullarbor, which goes to 17ft 6in (5.3m); and the Simpson - at around 20ft (6.1m), this one is the largest. An addition to the line-up is the Tanami, which has a full fibreglass body.

For most models (except the Perentie) a Cross-Country version is available with an upswept rear that gives a higher departure angle for extreme travel through creeks and rough terrain. All models up to 16ft 6in (5m) are also available as pop-tops.

Like all of Trakmaster's aluminium-clad models, the Kimberley's walls comprise three layers. The interior ply is pinned and glued to the selected premium meranti frame, and another 3mm ply sheet is pinned and glued to the  outside of the frame.

Onto this outer sheet the aluminium cladding sheet is glued and stapled. The resulting wall is amazingly rigid. Because the walls are glued together all wiring, plumbing and insulation must be installed before the outer two skins are set in place, as access after construction is difficult.

Each Trakmaster van is built to the client's order, and a watchful eye is kept on clients' demands to ensure that the end product will be practical and reliable. With Trakmaster's demanding test program (see "In Unforgiving Terrain", CW December 07) plus decades of outback travel experience, the company has a lot of hands-on knowledge.

RAIN, HAIL OR SHINE
The Kimberley model reviewed was a solar-equipped pop-top shower van with cassette toilet, island double-bed, gas/electric hot water, twin water tanks and independent coil suspension.

Trakmaster builds its own one-piece 150mm reinforced hot-dipped galvanised chassis to ensure a rigid foundation for the cabin. The chassis has cyclone tie-down points included as standard for the benefit of travellers who may be in the tropics when the weather takes a sudden turn. The 50mm, 3500kg capacity Hyland offroad ball coupling is also standard.

Mounted on the A-frame, behind a serious stoneguard, are two 9kg gas cylinders with a change-over tap and one jerry can holder.

In this case, the Kimberley was using a trailing arm Sugar Glider coil suspension with its own twin-shocker specification that prevents overheating on heavily corrugated roads.

A suspension option is Trakmaster's Trakair airbag suspension. Parallel bearings are fitted to the stub axles, and 12in electric brakes provide braking. The wheels are 15in x 7in six-stud alloys with 235/75 R15 Wrangler-style tyres. There's one spare secured to the rear heavy duty bumper.

LUXURIES FOR THE LONG HAUL
This is not a large caravan, but it nevertheless has a feeling of spaciousness. Access to each side of the island bed is better than expected. The bed has an innerspring mattress as standard on a slide-out posture-adjustable base to cope with varying heights and weights of users. As is the case with any pop-top van, the amount of cupboard space is limited by the height of the solid wall.

In a van of this calibre one might have expected a "trinket shelf" across the head of the bed in view of the cupboard space limitation imposed by the pop-top configuration.

A cavernous storage space with a fully lined floor is discovered by lifting the strut-assisted bed frame. Lots of bulky items, such as chairs, a card table and a TV/DVD set would easily fit here. With a few giant plastic tubs to keep goods in place, all the blankets, wet weather gear and the like that you could need on a long trip could be stowed - with space to spare. The inclusion of a pull-out drawer for easier access to smaller items such as footwear would have been a nice enhancement.

The elevated Dometic three-way 104L refrigerator is well positioned with room on top to place a TV set, and there's storage room underneath the refrigerator for smaller, less-used gear. A TV antenna point is provided, as are a dual 240V outlet and a 12V socket. The work area to the left of the refrigerator has a dual 240V outlet, is well lit by an energy-saving LED strip, and has a good-sized pantry cupboard. The Swift stove - four-burner cooktop with griller and oven - sits at the rear wall with a stainless rangehood above and cupboards on either side. The chrome slide-out pantry baskets within reach of the table are ideal places to put spreads, sauces, teabags, sugar and the like. Altogether, the kitchen and food preparation area appears functional.

Trakmaster supplies a handy laminated sink cover to provide additional benchtop space if needed.

THE BOTTOM LINE
One of the pleaant surprises is that this smaller van, and a pop-top at that, has an onboard bathroom. The shower/toilet cubicle is as roomy as it needs to be, with a side window, overhead fan, and a downlight.

The Kimberley is a van for couples and has table seating just for two. It has plenty of capacity for extended trips, though, especially when you consider the storage space under the seats, under the bed and the huge front boot capacity. What's more, this van will go fairly much anywhere the towing vehicle can go, so there is little limitation on where you could travel.

A fitted mains pressure hose, drainage hose, wheel brace and quality hydraulic jack are supplied and fitted in the boot. Admittedly it's not the cheapest van about, but there is that old saying along the lines of "you get what you pay for".

How many Trakmasters do you see on the used market? Not many. They usually sell by word of mouth. That's probably the greatest testament to this marque's status.

I WOULD HAVE LIKED

Trakmaster Caravans
874 Mountain Highway
Bayswater, Vic 3153
For more information, visit www.trakmaster.com.au or phone (03) 9720 0822.