Expedition Trailers, maybe not for me.

[PCRover]

We just got back from a 4 day Trek across Northern Nevada and I must say my opinion on Expedition Trailers and my use of one has changed. Here are a few items that were brought out by this trip and my thoughts regarding each.

1) Sealing the trailer from outside elements is essential.
2) Mounting a standard Roof Top Tent on a Trailer may not be a good idea.
3) Having two more wheels on the ground can be detrimental.
4) Locating the water tank on the outside has it's drawbacks.

1) The dust encountered over the 4 days was noting like I have ever seen before. Every day we drove through a section of what I would call "silt" dust and it was brutal. The second day it lasted for over 40 miles with a traveling speed of 10-15mph. At the end of the day I had 1/2" of this stuff on my trailer lid and a nice coating on the inside of the trailer. I thought I had sealed the box fairly well, but this dust was so fine it got in everywhere.

2) The Overland tent mounted on the trailer was covered with this dust also. It got under the cover and coated the outside of the canvas and the bottom of the tent base. It was a filthy mess trying to set up the tent every night with dust getting into everything. There needs to be a better way to protect the tent from sever dust or possibly a different style would have help up against the dust better.

3) One of the trailer tires failed after receiving a nasty gash on the inside sidewall causing a failure and on the trail replacement. I believe this was due to the narrow wheel track of the trailer not fitting in the existing ruts on a rocky section of the trail. It appears matching the trailers wheel track to the tow vehicle may be a good idea. Having two extra wheels means a greater chance of a tire failure.

4) I located my water tank on the trailer tongue as seen on other commercial trailers. This appears to not be a good idea as it was covered with dust/mud every day and the faucet and outlets got contaminated with dirt. I would suggest that maybe a cover of some sort might be in order to help keep the water supply clean.


Right now I am leaning to selling or decommissioning the trailer and going back to a more conventional setup with the Roof Top Tent on top of my DII. Here are some of my reasons.

- The dirt in the trailer mounted tent was unacceptable to me. The Roof Top Tent was really designed to mount on top of a truck. During this trek there was very little dust on the Roof Rack even after 4 days in the dirt.

- Having two extra tires to fail is a very real liability and can not be underestimated in its effect on a trek. I see a need for two spares even if the trailer wheels match the tow vehicle.

- The extra storage when pulling a trailer allowed me to pack all sorts of "stuff" I really didn't need to bring. All of the items I really needed would have easily been carried by the DII and would have been clean when I needed them. Of course sealing the trailer better would have generally eliminated this problem, but not completely. I do not plan on any long term treks where extra supplies would be needed and the trailer space could be invaluable.

- Having the extra water from the trailer mounted tank was nice, but the amount we used could have been stored in one 20L can. An under bed tank is one possible solution to the dirt problem but brings in a new set of issues. The convinience of the tongue mounted trailer tank was offset by the amount of dirt collected on it and it's fixtures making it difficult to use and possibly contaminating it.


Those are my thoughts after the first Trek with a trailer in tow. I did take the trailer on a couple of quickie local overnight trips and it did work well on those. Maybe I expected to much of the trailer, or maybe my design and build were flawed, but right now I am surprised and somewhat disappointed with my experience.

I am curious how a commercially built trailer would hold up against the conditions we encountered. All of the reviews I have read speak to the operational functions of the trailers and not necessarily how they hold up against severe conditions of dust, rain, snow etc. I would enjoy hearing opinions from other trailer owners on how there own experiences compare with mine.

 

[flyingwil]

During testing the Adventure Trailer's Chaser we encountered dusty situations, and a slight repair to the tent mount, which was corrected by some thread lock on the trail.

In regards to the dust, some, but very little dust entered the cargo area. The water tank mounted on the tounge, did not produce any problems similar to your issue. A part of that may be the design. It did not have a hard mounted faucet on the tank, it was removable so I did not experience any contamination to the water.

I did not experience any tire issues with the Chaser, but agree that carrying an additional spare is a good idea when towing a trailer, giving you a buffer of 1 for the trailer and 1 for the towing vehicle.

So I really did not have the same feed back as you.

IMO, a redesign might be good rather than giving up on your current trailer. If you know you are going to encounter dusty conditions rather than doing a complete adjustment would be to tape the lid where dust may enter. As for the water issue, the tounge seems to be the best location for weight management, and you have to account pressure changes with temperature, altitude, and barometric pressure changes. A sealed venting cap might help your trailer, and a removable spigot.

 

[Steve Curren]

I too had a slight problem with the mounting for the tent, as Will said a bit of thread lock took care of the problem. I also had a bit of dust on the water tank but a quick shot of Co2 took care of that. I found the Chaser a perfectly capable vehicle and was glad it followed my tracks, and I had it in a very dusty enviroment and the tent didn't get the dust inside nor did the box. I can imagine the fine dust that PC Rover encountered and I hope never to run into anything that bad. As for the extra room I bought the Chaser so I cold haul extra "stuff" around, I have camped for years on cots and the ground and decided these old tires bones deserve better. Overall I have enjoyed the trailer and I will be using it for many years to come.

 

[PCRover]

I think my expectations and design were somewhat flawed. I am going to re-evaluate things and try to come up with a concept and design that is more usefull and realistic.

 

[flywgn]

This is a good thread. Thanks, Gary, for posting your notes.

Since we have just acquired 'Harry' Horizon (w/Chaser suspension) we've not taken it on any long trek yet. I'll make notes of the tent mount, water outlet, and seals before tackling the silt beds of Baja California--or anywhere else for that matter.

With so many miles of dirt-road travel on our odometers, I'm a big believer in thread-lock and locking nuts. Many of our connections on the trucks have had aviation safety pins installed in place of the OEM ones. In other places I've installed safety wire. I see a couple of places on Harry where I might do the same.

Allen R

 

[elcoyote]

I am sorry to hear that your first serious trip out had problems. I have a few ideas that might help improve your trailers' performance. The first and easiest is to have some good mudflaps on your tow vehicle. Fab up a couple of removeable ones for when you need the clearance. They will go a long way towards keeping the dust down. As far as keeping the water tank clean, our trailers have a nose box in front of the tank which helps to deflect dust and debris away. Our older trailers had a similar problem to yours and we made a bra for the front out that attached with rubber bungees.
Military trailers are notorious for an extremely stiff ride. The stiffnees of the ride means that the trailer will flex. When it is flexing, you will lose the integrity of your weather seals. With a leaf spring set up, I wuld first try to soften the ride, in the case of a military trailer, I might start by removing a leaf. Another way is to reduce tire air pressures. The same cautions must be taken as with the vehicle when you do this.
Good luck!

 

[PCRover]

I had no issues with any loose fasteners as I used Nylocks on everything I could.

One wear item that I was surprised to find was the Pintle hook. It now has a 1/8" deep notch on it's sides from the 4 days on the trail and 4 days on the highway.

 

[PCRover]

Thanks for your comments Mario. I did not consider flexing as a possible source of seal leakage. The terrain was rough and there had to be some serious flexing going on there. I need to rethink the seal and come up with a better solution. Mud flaps would have limited the sand blasting effect on the front but would not have done much for the dust as it was overwelming at times. As far as the water tank, I am thinking a faucet that is either removable or enclosed somehow might be a better option. The tank itself did not have any problems, it was the exposed faucet and other exposed openings that were effected.

This trip was a great learning experiance and I now have some great field testing info that will go a long way in my understanding of what is required to have a rugged, useable, reliable trailer.

 

[elcoyote]

One wear item that I was surprised to find was the Pintle hook. It now has a 1/8" deep notch on it's sides from the 4 days on the trail and 4 days on the highway.

This is why we use the Lock n Roll coupler on all of our trailers. There is too much play in a lunette eye/pintle arrangement. I actually fractured one once which lead to the search for better alternatives. Check out www.locknroll.com for a replacement.

 

[elcoyote]

"The tank itself did not have any problems, it was the exposed faucet and other exposed openings that were effected."

My low buck solution for this is to put saran wrap and a rubber band over mine. Not very elegant I admit but it works.

 

[FortyMileDesert]

As Trail Boss on PCRovers off-road test; a couple of comments:

Trail conditions:
We were off-road for 670 miles.
About 150 miles of the trek was in sand.
Almost 100 miles in VERY FINE sand/silt and brush-fire ashes.
Probably 100 miles in severe washboard tracks.

Gear requirements:
I carried 12 gallons of water - used less than 3.
I carried 10 gallons of extra fuel - used none.
I carried about 50 pounds of tools and spare parts - used none.

I did not have a trailer, but took the second row seats out of my Disco and then filled the whole rear up with gear about 2 feet deep. I probably only used about 20% of all that stuff. I think next trek I'll leave the second row seats in and pack very economically - If it won't fit behind the second row of seats: rethink whether or not I really need it. We were also four guys with four trucks.

The other three of us usually spent about 15 minutes unloading and setting up - Gary spent more like 30 minutes....Gary typically got 2 to 3 miles per gallon worse mileage than I did towing those extra two wheels and 1500 pounds through the sand. On solid dirt or gravel roads he was only about 1 mpg less than me. But his truck with the trailer sure looked cool!

I think the only reason I would ever want an expedition trailer is if I had 2 or 3 other people with me and I was going to spend more than one night at a single campsite. Even a roof rack would have been unnecessary.

 

[DUTCH]

So far, none of the problems mentioned have been experienced with my KimberleyKamper (now called KingKampers in the US). The unit is entirely sealed with a rubber gasket and dust does not get into the sleeping area unless it's with wind when it's set up.

The electric water spigot is inside a gasketed door and the manual pump is covered with a bag tied around the supply line.

The Treg Hitch is pretty much bullet proof, although it's hard to mate up easily when trying to hitch on uneven ground.

(It's for sale. See the items for sale forum.)