With reference to the posts that appears on this thread regarding my business in Australia. My name is Peter Spowart and I am the owner of Hannibal Safari Equipment Australia and Remote Travel Products. I have only now become aware of this post and would like the opportunity to prevent any on going confusion. I would also like to say that the original purchaser isignay approached me with the comments that appear here and I responded to his comments and offered to work with him if he wanted to make changes. Obviously he decided to move the product on.
I am going to start with some history which hopefully will give you some perspective. I first met one of the Directors of HSE SA (Hannibal Safari Equipment South Africa) in 2004 and started dealing with them as the Australian Distributor in 2005 and had a number of years of good business with them. Unfortunately over time there were issues that related to the timely supply of product which pushed my business in the direction of making product here in Australia.
The tents and awnings product was first followed by the roof racks and other accessories. We have also developed a range of useful options and accessories to complement our roof top tent and awning product.
The fact is that as I used these premium products myself I realised that I would not be the only one to want product of a high quality that lasts so our goal was to go beyond just selling a product. It was about understanding the science behind it and to do our best to educate people. I am very proud of the fact that we have been able to maintain our Australian build quality using a number of Australian manufacturers and suppliers who provide the canvas, vinyl, foam, metal parts and hardware keeping Aussie's in jobs.
The descriptions used and interpretation of how the awning and annex in this thread has been assembled as well as other comments in this post I feel are somewhat misleading for any consumer that is reviewing it. Unfortunately, this is the way of the internet and its supposed to be quite acceptable that people can pass comment even if it is not there field. I would rather have people approach me if they have issues so that solutions can be found. Rather than assume that the product is of substandard quality.
I will now work through the comments from isignay post:
I responded to an email from isignay on the 25th May 2019 a day after he enter this post shown at the start of this thread. As I have done here I was clear about my history and the origin of the product and confirmed that it had been made in my premise in Brisbane Australia.
He obviously had access to a awning which had come from HSE SA. so there are several references to individual pieces. For example: the clamp bracket on the back of the pivot bracket, he mentioned a machined metal part which I think was used in the spreader bar and retained by a screw.
He also mentioned that the photos or descriptions for awning product on my website needed to be updated. I don't know why they were all taken with the very product on Australian vehicles.
With reference to the clamp hardware at the back of the pivot bracket. We have both. The clamp is used when attaching to Hannibal roof racks. I have found that the majority of our sales are with the flat bracket because that is easier to work with when retro fitting to different roof rack systems.
The metal plug that he spoke about would have been something that the owner or previous owner of the awning that he was comparing with would have made if the polyurethane bush that Hannibal used failed.
Don't forget, I have had a relationship with this product since 2004 and never seen a metal bush except for a customer of mine who has a special awning with 2.5m outriggers with walls he uses in the outback welding for oil and gas companies in the field.
I will now work through the comments from badfysh:
I will start with point 2. concerning the photos and information on the website. Please what gives you the idea that they are South African? There are 4 photos all Australian. The Defender 110 was a gentleman who lived in Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory the 90 Defender was a gentleman who lived on the Gold Coast and the other two images are from a 200 Series Landcrusier job from my workshop in Brisbane.
Point 3 from badfysh. The issue of the boxes. I'm sorry that I don't have a box with a Hannibal Australia logo. However, we do use a range of generic boxes as well and in an attempt to be a little green if the box is in good condition that has come from another supplier it could also be used and save a few trees. As was the case here. Yes we do tpms under the SensaTyre brand and the factory we work with is in Taiwan. They do not build awnings, roof top tents or roof racks.
Now I will deal with points at point of opening:
1. With reference to zips for the walls of the annexe. Pre 2004 HSE SA awning annexe product was zipped. We do zips as an option which isignay confirmed in his post above.
2. Logo, my apologies that there was no logo on the walls. this would have been an oversight by my staff.
3. Carry bag. no comment. the walls were supplied with a bag.
4. We have been using more black in our build. this would be a small rolling change that we have done to ensure a point of difference.
Point 2 of second group of comparisons regarding old logo. at that time we were still working with the traditional HSE logo as this was the logo that we had Trade Marked for the Australian Market. a new logo has now been made which also shows the "Australian Made" accreditation for our tent and awning build. see image below.
Point 3. buckles were plastic. Yes, we had a rolling change from the cam lock buckles to a military grade side release buckle. We made this move as a request from Rio Tinto who uses our awnings in the Pilbara region of the North West Australia. This was done to have less issues with sand/dust and operation with the small springs with the camlocks.
Point 5. re mounting bracket. maybe isignay should have follow me up I would have happily sent them. In your case badfysh if you still have it contact me. which you could have done back then. However, there is nothing stopping you from drilling and bolting the pivot bracket. Which I have found is a popular option for most retro fits.
Point 6. The bushes are not rubber or plastic. The Bush used in the spreader bar that attaches to the pivot bracket is teflon and the bushes used in the other spreader bar is polyurethane. The same grade of product that would be used in automotive suspension applications. We also used a "T" nut for the bolt to screw into and this would lock the bush up in the tube.
By the way HSE SA used polyurethane on both spreader bars and the bolt would only be screwed into the polyurethane.
Point 7. There was a comment regarding strange markings on bolts. Sorry, we use 304 grade stainless steel on all product. (you can get a magnet and check if you like) With reference to having a bolt strip. If you did, it could have been what is called Galling -Thread
galling occurs during installation when pressure and friction cause
bolt threads to seize to the threads of a
nut or tapped hole. It is also known as "cold welding". Once a fastener has seized up from
galling it is typically impossible to remove without cutting the
bolt or splitting the
nut.
In summary: I am confused as to how you guys can make comments about inferior product if you don't know what the product was to start off with. You also have not had any dealings with HSE SA. The photos on my Australia site are my photos. I can assure you that HSE SA did very little to provide photos. You will also find a number of my images on any Google Image search. By the way the video of the awning opening was done at a venue outside of Sydney. You will also find a video of me opening a tent in the tent pages of the website as well as YouTube.
The last comment I will make is that other than the clamp bracket which is attached to the pivot bracket and could have been ordered with it. The supply of the Australian canvas which has excellent waterproofness and qualities to prevent abrasion and our tweak with the bushes and T nuts the Australian made awning would be almost identical to what HSE SA would have supplied.
I have attached a number of file photos for your review.
badfysh, if you still have the awning in the box you can contact me to discuss installation as you should have done 10 months ago.
My contact details for anyone who wishes to discuss further this or any other issue or product from HSE Australia is
peter@hannibalsafari.com.au Ph: +61 408 887 442.
For additional comment you could follow my business on Facebook "Hannibal Safari Equipment Australia"
