Quintrex trailers conquer the torture test

The Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC) in Anglesea, Victoria, is a 100km privately-owned proving ground designed to simulate the harsh on-road realities of driving a vehicle in Australia.

This is also the test track of choice for Telwater, Australia’s largest aluminium-boat manufacturer, which builds up to 10,000 boats a year and, nowadays, a growing fleet of factory-rolled trailers.

As part of its commitment to research and development, Telwater says its banner boat brand Quintrex conducts comprehensive product testing to prove every aspect of performance and reliability. A key component in these tests revolves around the trailer.

In fact, the latest line-up of all-alloy Quintex trailers were given a hiding at the AARC circuit before even hitting the market.

BOOMING TRAILER SALES
As a result of the boatbuilder's ongoing testing, fine tuning and improvement program, Quintrex has enjoyed trailer growth of between 10 and 20 per cent in the last few years.

"There has been a big push from customers to really simplify the boating process. So we are working on developing more trailer features to follow the Quintrex motto of 'Boating Made Easy'," explains Sam Phelan, the head of the booming trailer business.

Both the premium aluminum and galvanised-steel trailers manufactured at Telwater’s Gold Coast factory, where some 6000 trailers were built last year, are evaluated through a ‘100,000km equivalent’ accelerated fatigue test.

ALL-ALLOY QUINTREX TRAILERS
Mr Phelan says there have been some big changes for the Quintrex trailer range in 2016.

"As of this year, our complete range of Quintrex trailers is all-alloy. This was a goal of ours for the last five years. We find it’s much easier to sell an alloy trailer over a steel trailer, the customer can see the difference," Mr Phelan says.

"The new small alloy trailers were built specifically around our Telwater boats. They are lighter than steel trailers and the big thing is there is nothing to rust on the frame. 

"We worked on these trailers for over 18 months in R&D, we understood these were our volume trailers in the 3.5-4.4m range, and we had to make sure we were confident with them. Hence the extremely thorough independent accelerated fatigue tests performed prior to production," Mr Phelan adds.

THE TORTURE TEST
The performance of the trailers was monitored and evaluated throughout the AARC test procedure to ensue their ability to maintain safe function and integrity over an equivalent 100,000km life on Australia’s harsh roads. This is well beyond what even extreme boaters are likely to experience.

Testing is always punishing at the AARC and included running the trailers beyond even their maximum limits, as well as carrying serious internal loads in the boats just in case their owners leave them packed them to the hilt.

Specifically, the three main areas of assessment included:
Second Class Surface Test: Tests general durability, dust entry, traction control, electronic stability, control programs, body damage, stone chipping, and so on.
Corrugation/Pave Tests: Accelerated durability testing and stress analysis. Tests for rattles and squeaks to suspension, new components and accessory items.
Chassis Test: Tests general durability of vehicle cab suspension and chassis systems. Test facilities encompass virtually all driving conditions found in Australia.

MATCHED TO YOUR BOAT
Designed, built and tested for Australian boating conditions by an Australian boatbuilder, Quintrex trailers are available as part of the brand's exceedingly popular boat/motor/trailer packages.

Each trailer is set-up to suit each specific boat and is adjusted to match its undersides, ensuring full hull support, along with easy launch and retrieval, as well as that longevity demanded by Australian boaters on our notorious roads and back-country tracks.

"On top of our big change to the all-alloy range this year, there has been a
huge push from Quintrex buyers for our new Catch N Release system, indicating
customers really want to simplify the boating process," Mr Phelan says.

"With the success
of that unit, and working off that template, we have some new features in
the pipeline for our trailers possibly next year."

Meantime, more from your local Quintrex dealer and www.quintrex.com.au for its new all-alloy trailer range following successful completion of the torture tests.