TRAYON REVIEW – MY STORY
Last year a mate convinced me to take a holiday to traverse some of the most unforgiving tracks in Australia. The route list was like a who’s who, including;
- Anne Bedwell Hwy
- Canning Stock Route
- Karranjini
- Cape Levique
- Gibb River Road
- Mitchell Falls/Kalumburu Road
- Savannah Way
In preparation for the trip, we decided that we needed a relatively sturdy 4wd vehicle and a camper unit that would make the journey intact. Another key consideration was that the camper was comfortable enough for the wife to not think that we were trying to emulate a Neanderthal lifestyle.
After a lot of research, I decided to go down the “ute with slide on camper” configuration.
WHY A SLIDE ON CAMPER?
Well, both of us did not want to tow in the first place, and it turned out that it was prohibited on many of routes anyway.
Other factors we considered were:
- Ability to separate the vehicle from the camper
- Needed to be super lightweight to reduce strain on the vehicle
- Needed to be very robust
- Needed to be easy to use
- Needed to be compact, yet have plenty of room for storage
- And as dictated by my wife, no damn dust inside
Our choice of slide on, was a “Trayon, dual cab, diesel deluxe“.
THE UTES
I chose a Mazda BT50 Freestyle with beefed up everything and my mate went hard core with a 79 series Landcruiser with the lot.
So, after four months, 15,000 + k’s with at least 6,000 plus kilometres of bull dust, corrugations, water crossings, ruts, washouts and sand dunes what was the result?
Well, we could not have chosen better. The campers took everything we threw at them. Built like proverbial brick.
“I cannot overstate how well built these things are built.”
Both Utes suffered from the journey with quite a few pieces of equipment needing replacement or repair, (even had to be towed out of one section), however, the Campers came through it all virtually unscathed, (a little polish and it was like brand new).
“I suppose the greatest accolade I can give is the fact that my wife now calls going in the Trayon Glamping.”
(I’m sure that the hot shower at the end of a day and the heater for those cold nights must take a lot of the credit for the statement), she loved the Trayon.
It isn’t just that, it’s the ease of setup, it’s the fact that if the weather turns or the mozzies become extreme, we were able to retire inside, make a cuppa and be perfectly comfortable.
“We were watching people forced to brave the elements because they had no option other than to be outside”
And yes, NO DUST went inside the camper. Wish I could say the same for the ute! Finally, when I got back to real life, the camper stores in a quiet corner of the garage, (no rego), awaiting the next adventure.
It doesn’t get better than that.
Thanks Trayon.