Question:
The wife and I are considering some fairly long trips in the future to
make up for all the vacations we did not take in the past. In spite of the
title of this post we don't really plan any serious bush busting but we
wanted to be able to do a little if the muse struck. A pickup camper and
an F-250 HD Diesel 4x4 to carry it would have been ideal but my wife insists
wasting money on stuff like eating and mortgage payments so here I am
looking at the tent trailers.
I managed to pick up a Ranger v6 4.0 4x4 that claims a towing ability of
5600 lbs so I think I am all set in that department but picking out the
trailer is a problem. As I mentioned we want to be able to go "off-road" but
none of the trailers we see don't look like they can do it.
There are two I have come across. http://www.extremetents.com/ looks
pretty good but they seem to be just starting out and so are of unknown
quality. They also have no distributors here in Virginia so I cannot look
them over.
The other "off-road" trailer http://www.kamparoo.com/index.htm looks
like it can be taken up Everest but the accommodations appear a little too
primitive.
Answer:
Since you provided a link for a "tent on a trailer" as well as a
pop-up trailer, can I assume that a spacious tent would be acceptable?
If not, then you have very few purchase options indeed.
There are all sorts of capable off-road tent trailers available in
Australia, partly due to the mild climate, small vehicles and narrow
roads. The problem is that here in the USA folks want bigger and
fancier with lots of amenities. There are not too many choices.
The A-liner Expedition is one. Chalet makes a similar model. Neither
is really a true off-road capable trailer because of their size and
limited ground clearance, and marginal approach and departure angles,
even with the bigger 14 inch wheels.
If money were no object I would attempt to import an Australian Trak
Trailers TVAN 16. It costs about US$13,000 in Austraila. You could
literally take it anywhere your unmodified 4x4 could go. I have
emailed them to ask about US availablility and they replied that they
are "working on finding a distributor". Please email them to encourage
this process!!! Check out their link to their superior long-travel
independent suspension design.
http://www.tracktrailer.com/
Here is a magasine review of that trailer:
http://www.overlander.com.au/gear_tests.cfm?uuid=82AE372F-5ED1-4819-B...
I too wanted an off-road pop-up trailer. Then I thought long and hard
about the narrowness of those forest roads, and the need to be able to
get turned around at dead ends,and navigate wash-outs, and I finally
decided to go to the Dark Side (the other one) and bought a big tent
and a custom lifted aluminum 4'x6' off-road utility trailer with
brakes, 15 inch wheels and 30 inch AT tires.
http://www.expresstrailer.com/
Here are a mess of other links to off-road trailers. Most are either
unavailable here or too small for your needs, so the links are for
entertainment mostly....
http://4x4trailers.com/
http://www.aussieswag.com.au/
http://www.rv.com.au/build/campers.htm
http://www.backcountrytrailers.com/Trailers/BackCountryTrailers/detai...
http://www.bushmantrailers.com/
http://www.cavaliercampertrailers.com.au/
http://www.loftyshelters.com/IdeaFrame.htm
http://www.twooffrd.iwarp.com/photo5.html
http://www.stalkeratt.com/
http://www.off-roadinternational.com/toughterrain.html
