Smittybilt Scout Trailer Reviews?

RacerAV

Active member
I've been lurking around for a while and have thought about building my own trailer, I've even started drawing it up in CAD. But I've got a 2 and 4 year old that I want to take camping more and I've decided that it would take me years to complete it. So, I've been eyeing the trailers in the for sale section and trying to sell my Harley to fund a trailer. Then I remembered the Scout trailer and it's got a pretty good price point.

Does anyone have one or had their hands on one? I like that its got the front side doors and pull out drawers vs. the general 416 design with just the rear door/gate. But it looks like the axle is too far back because of this. It seems like it would be hard to get a 60/40 distribution.

Forgive me if there is already a review of one on here, I searched but didn't find any.
Dude, my 5 month old made me realize real quick that my hand built trailer dream would never work out. I'm STILL working on the house! If the trailer is supposed to be for vacations away from all the work I need to do at home, what good is it if I spend the next 3 years MAKING the damn thing?!?!?! lol... I bought mine a few weeks ago, and couldn't be happier! Just wrote a post about it!
 

ebrabaek

Adventurer
Dude, my 5 month old made me realize real quick that my hand built trailer dream would never work out. I'm STILL working on the house! If the trailer is supposed to be for vacations away from all the work I need to do at home, what good is it if I spend the next 3 years MAKING the damn thing?!?!?! lol... I bought mine a few weeks ago, and couldn't be happier! Just wrote a post about it!

So very true. Welcome to the bon fire. Glad your here. :)
 

mspenc45

Member
I wonder if there is a nice white bedliner, all that work it would have been nice to go black on white to match
U-Pol Raptor Liner comes in a tintable formula as well! The trick to any liner is proper preparation. The powder coat on these babies is rather hydrophobic, and the only way to lower its surface tension, thus increasing adhesion, is a good sanding with 160 grit or better, and scotch bright where you cannot get through the glossy surface for whatever reason. Also all bare metal then must be acid etched primed, U-pol sells this as well. I did not use adhesion promoter, but washed all surfaces with a good strong water/degreasing detergent. Application is easy, but air pressure plays a big par of what surface you end up with. I had my gun, the one that came with the kit, set at 80PSI at the regulator at the base of the gun, this provided 60PSI at the nozzle, with trigger fully depressed.
 
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So a follow up is deserved on my comment that the paint stinks. I had mentioned in an earlier post that my trailer had pretty poor paint. I decided I'd redo most of my Scout in a bed liner to remedy this, Raptor Coat to be specific. When I began to prep the Scout for the Raptor coat, I started with the fender that I first noticed the bad paint, but as I began to prep other areas, I found the paint to be much better, and quite adequate, so basically I had one fender that had bad powder coat. Unfortunately, I had already started down the path of re-coating the trailer, and there was no turning back. It was quite a bit of work, preparation is everything, but I love how it turned out! FYI, I used windshield black polyurethane to fill all the seems, like at the fender/wall joints. Also, since I don't need a spare, having the same wheels on both Jeep and Scout, I am thinking about moving the front box back against the main body to reduce tongue weight.View attachment 443890View attachment 443891View attachment 443894View attachment 443895View attachment 443891View attachment 443894View attachment 443895View attachment 443896View attachment 443896


That looks fantastic!
 

mspenc45

Member
Where do you guys take your vehicle power from for charging an additional battery in the trailer? I am assuming off of the pin 4 wire in the 7 pin, or at the electronic break away battery terminal that I believe pin 4 is wired to in the Scout?
 

john61ct

Adventurer
No, dedicated wires back to the alt circuit, connection via high-current Andersons.

If not using an appropriate DCDC charger unit, very heavy duty gauge is required to minimize voltage drop.

Only worth doing if alternator charging is an overall significant source for you vs a genny or solar.
 

ebrabaek

Adventurer
Where do you guys take your vehicle power from for charging an additional battery in the trailer? I am assuming off of the pin 4 wire in the 7 pin, or at the electronic break away battery terminal that I believe pin 4 is wired to in the Scout?

I used the pin that was used to charge the breakaway battery. I then ditched the breakaway battery box, and wired in the 27 amp hr trailer battery instead. No reason for me, to have two batteries.
 

mspenc45

Member
No, dedicated wires back to the alt circuit, connection via high-current Andersons.

If not using an appropriate DCDC charger unit, very heavy duty gauge is required to minimize voltage drop.

Only worth doing if alternator charging is an overall significant source for you vs a genny or solar.

Thanks! Yes, I plan on using solar, but a nice trickle charge while driving is not a bad idea. I was thinking, since it's charging the breakaway battery, it could also charge a larger 12V ship battery, but without some sort of regulation I can see where it might draw more current than the harness wiring can handle.
 

mspenc45

Member
I used the pin that was used to charge the breakaway battery. I then ditched the breakaway battery box, and wired in the 27 amp hr trailer battery instead. No reason for me, to have two batteries.

Kind of what I was thinking, but as in my response to John61ct, I am concerned about the current draw possible through the 7 way harness wiring of my JK. I know you are using a charging system at the battery, this, I believe, would provide the necessary current limit to the system if the charger is sized correctly.
 
I wanted to add exterior LED lights to the trailer to light my kitchen and surrounding campsite. Initially I was going to mount spots on the exterior at different points of the trailer, instead, I went with a more flexible approach. I purchased three lightbars, a dimmer switch, and all the wiring to plug into my 12 volt plug (in my panel)
It turned out really great! I spent less than $80, and each light bar has a magnetic back and i can move them around the trailer depending on where I want the light. When i pack up, they stow away so i dont worry about theft or damaging them on the trail. Maybe not ideal for everyone, but this solution works perfectly for me...
Here is a link to the site, spoke to Chris.. he's pretty helpful
https://www.hardkorrlighting.com/
 

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ebrabaek

Adventurer
Kind of what I was thinking, but as in my response to John61ct, I am concerned about the current draw possible through the 7 way harness wiring of my JK. I know you are using a charging system at the battery, this, I believe, would provide the necessary current limit to the system if the charger is sized correctly.

On the dc tow vehicle charging, there is no regulator. In reality the dc from the suv will honor current requested by the battery all the way up to 15 amps, and then pop the fuse on the tow vehicle. I replaced the wire from the trailer plug with 12 gauge. For lengths of 7 feet, i think the voltage drop will be ok. I am still considering installing a current limiter circuit as there was in the small battery box for the break away, but have not found one yet. I would love a 5 amp limit on the system.
 

blare

New member
Thinking about throwing some L-Track on top of trailer and using it to hold down my spare and other gear. Anyone seen a setup like that or any issues?
 

OregonJKU

Active member
I wanted to add exterior LED lights to the trailer to light my kitchen and surrounding campsite. Initially I was going to mount spots on the exterior at different points of the trailer, instead, I went with a more flexible approach. I purchased three lightbars, a dimmer switch, and all the wiring to plug into my 12 volt plug (in my panel)
It turned out really great! I spent less than $80, and each light bar has a magnetic back and i can move them around the trailer depending on where I want the light. When i pack up, they stow away so i dont worry about theft or damaging them on the trail. Maybe not ideal for everyone, but this solution works perfectly for me...
Here is a link to the site, spoke to Chris.. he's pretty helpful
https://www.hardkorrlighting.com/
The lights look really nice, and I'm also a fan of the flexibility that magnets provides
 

mspenc45

Member
Thinking about throwing some L-Track on top of trailer and using it to hold down my spare and other gear. Anyone seen a setup like that or any issues?
The roof rack would easily handle the spare, and then some. Seems to me that some L-Track placed along the outside edges, and load bearing points near the roof rack verticle tubes, where the side walls are basically reinforced by the roof rack verticals, would handle a pretty good load.
 
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Wynn

Wanderer
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Finally took the trailer out for the first time. Happy with the results so far but looking forward to more upgrades.
 

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