Caravan Show from February 21-23 at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand

[Mad Manny]

Caravan Show from February 21-23 at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand.

Who's going?,

[PsyPhin]

Went last year. Realised how little money I have.
I wont put salt on the wound a 2nd time.

[jotto]

We will be there. Was hoping on exhibiting our trailers and products. Next year....

[Bogaards]

For me the price is not worth it. Especially since I went last year. I would rather contact places direct. Anyway you walk through a lot of the stands without anyone reaching out (there are exceptions).

[Gustav]

Going Sat morning!

[Mad Manny]

Entrance is R140, which isn't too bad.

[Mad Manny]

Going
1. Gustav Saturday
2. Manny ~ maybe
3. Johan Swift ~ maybe

[Anthony Forgey]

Adele and I are going on Friday

[Bugjuic]

So I went on Sunday, here were some findings:

Pro's:
- The venue, organisation and layout was one of the best I have ever seen! It had a logical order of movement, food stalls were efficient and well priced.
- There were a lot of exhibitions with a fairly large variety, ranging from vehicle setups, caravans, trailers and motorhomes etc.

Cons:
- Nothing to complain about, except some of the 'sellers' attitude, more of that now.


So having gone there for some very specific reasons on a new build that I started, I wanted to get some pricing, ideas and layouts checked out. One of the most shocking things were some of the stalls attitudes, especially in the caravans and motorhomes division. Upon asking about the workings of some items (Lets argue aircons), whether they run on 12V, 220V, battery capacity etc., you get thrown to the curb or they do not have the answer to the question. Now don't get me wrong, I understand you don't want to give away trade 'secrets', such as that you buy at Alibaba, but some of the items that they import are very very nice, and they do not offer any such service as to purchase an item (argue an aircon) directly from them, even at a markup.

The one gentleman outright told me, "listen young man, we are new in the business, and don't deal with these 200-300 thousand Rand items, we only purchase the best" (most ranging over 1Mil for a caravan), upon googling for 1minute, fount that item on TEMU...

Ok so finished ranting now, point being, that there are only a FEW trailers/caravans/motorhomes I even found remotely sensible, in terms of being durable and bush proof, most of them are more complicated and fancy than the vehicle you will be towing with, I believe that glamping era is currently at its peak, and they have out prices / outwitted themselves. There is a massive gap, just to "plain" camping setups.

On the positive end, the stalls selling PRODUCTS were absolutely amazing and know their products front to back, gave you their time and really had a passion for camping and equipment still. There were also not 100 stalls selling the same items, which I really appreciated!

All in all a very good show, and I will go again. But left a sour taste and made me feel uncomfortably poor walking through the caravan/motorhome sections!

[jotto]

Thanks Peet. Was there on Friday, much the same experience. The product suppliers/manufacturers were great, even got their pricing catalogues emailed to me. Found a supplier of compression locks with central locking module at a very reasonable price - kit of six locks and can be expanded.

Below my opinion of what we found:
Very little in the form of any new innovation, saw two items that I thought were smart design to solving a specific problem.
Some of the expensive trailers/caravans were not very well finished ito small detail, maybe it was a rush to be at the show. We found that some small offroad caravans were trying to get too much into the small space, making it feel very cramped - there were some with great layout and design ideas.

One item that stood out was a clever way of using the standard caravan perspex bubble window - they flipped it backwards and glued a glass window to it on the outside - made the window look very high-end. It will also be far less prone to scratching and will make it more secure.

Like you mentioned, the overall flow and layout of the show was good.

[PsyPhin]

I usually liked the smaller vendors for ideas and thinking "wow that is a cool product"

Nothing of that this year for me. Specials weren't specials, caravans and trailers pretty much all the same thing for different costs. Out of my range.

With the amount of products that are just clones of each other makes it a blur.

My last year going unless it's free next time. I can Google myself and go to the product if I get really interested.

[PsyPhin]

I also posted on the other place that kids weren't allowed in many options. I was pointed out to that kids break stuff in demo units. Agreed.

But I still maintain that if the kid can break stuff in my caravan/trailer, it ain't for me. I can also break flimsy stuff.

Many exhibitors said let the kids go mad and check it out. Those will stick with me.

[Bugjuic]

Very good point, Kevin! I had my two kids with me, and when looking at the motorhomes specifically, No kids were allowed. I know some units were of clients, but it was like, WHAT IS THE POINT if I can't see if it will be accommodating/crowded as a family setup...

Also, what should I do, go in and leave my kids outside? Sound like a recipe for disaster...