Best Tent Trailer To Mod

[Uticon]

Im in the market for a tent trailer to modify for better off highway handling.
I want somthing as narrow as possible to match the width of my Jeep.
Needs to have a hard top, the wife wants AC for camping in southern UT in the Summer.
Id like to have 2 queen beds.

I have seen some write ups on a smaller tent trailer with only a single bed and no cooking area.

Thanks in advance for the help.
:victory::victory:

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I'm not sure you're going to find what you're looking for. The size you're talking about precludes double queens. It's also pretty hard to find narrow tent trailers these days. I can think of the Neon and... that's all I've seen.

 

[Root Moose]

All the "modern" stuff makes the trailer box as wide as the bed. There are older tent trailers that have the beds fold out from the sides instead of the front and rear of the box. The problem with these is that they are just plain old. I have a few of them holding down the concrete in my tractor shed. I was going to modify one but the "modern" stuff is sooooooo much nicer I gave up on that idea and will put up with the extra width.

 

[jagular7]

There is really nothing in today's market that will work with your double queens, hardtop, and cooking inside for a pop-up camping trailer at the width of your Jeep.

Fleetwood's Neon (2-3 yrs only) had a small width pop-up with a hard roof that had an almost queen slide forward, but the box was nothing but a box with a bench. Quicksilver has several all aluminum soft-top campers that may come close to your wants but again all soft-top.

Most campers sleep side to side and not front to back. Queen size beds are 5.5' wide and 7' long. That is why those pop-ups with double queens or queen/king have a 12-14' box that is 84" wide. Once you start enlarging your base box, you gain weight because the mfr's add all kinds of conveniences, ie showers, toilets, cabinets, tvs,

You could always look at building your own. There are several forums out there that hold information to those that build their own camping trailer. Tiny Travel Trailers and Teardrops is one that is basically is the right title for the forum.

 

[zjrog]

Mason, I showed Scott this link a couple weeks ago. http://www.livinlite.com/ Maybe one of these will fit what you need or at least give some ideas.

They sure seem rugged.

 

[Root Moose]

All the "modern" stuff makes the trailer box as wide as the bed. There are older tent trailers that have the beds fold out from the sides instead of the front and rear of the box. The problem with these is that they are just plain old. I have a few of them holding down the concrete in my tractor shed. I was going to modify one but the "modern" stuff is sooooooo much nicer I gave up on that idea and will put up with the extra width.

I've done a little more digging and it appears that the Coleman Cobalt may be about a foot narrower than the rest of the tent trailers. You give up a long bunk though - the bunks at each end are only 6' long. No good for me but others may not care.

 

[4x4junky]

We have a neighborhood Jeep group and I personally have modified a Fleetwood Colbalt and my buddy has a Fleetwood Neon(no longer manufactured) The Neon makes a true offroad trailer, but not much room for more than 2 people. I sleep 4 and a dog in my Colbalt comfortably and have been able to go anywhere the Neon can so far in Colorado (Twin Cone, Grizzly Lake, Engineer Pass, Loch Lemond back trail, etc). Heading up to Holy Cross, Colorado this weekend which will be the toughest trail to date and will update with some pics. There will be lots of winching for sure. If you are not familiar with any of these trails look them up on TrailDamage.com.

The Coblat is about 12'-10" long (with tongue) and 6'-6" wide and weighs 1250 lbs unloaded which is the smallest popup out there with two pull out beds . The Neon is of course much smaller at 11'-5" long and weighing only 950lbs but only has one pull out bed. It also has the wheels on the outside of the box for truly limitless sized tires. The axel length is the same size for the Cobalt and Neon and both pull very well behind something small like a Jeep even on extreme rock crawling trails. Have thought about switching from the ball to a Pintle style hitch, but have conquered some of the toughest trails in Colorado and Utah so far with out problems so will keep going until I break something I guess!

Here are some pics (the Neon has fenders mounted back on now about 3 inches higher on the trailer).

http://s657.photobucket.com/albums/uu295/4x4Junky/Jeep/

 

[James86004]

The Starcraft 10RT is one I would take a look at, although it, like all the others, is too wide for your Jeep. It is the same width as a full sized pickup. It is the shortest in length of the tent trailers with the beds you want and big tires and decent suspension, mainly because it lacks the huge front deck that so many of them are saddled with. 13'3" - all the others I have seen are at least 18 feet long.

You do know if you want Air Conditioning, you need AC power, which means you have to camp in an RV park or a more expensive campground.

 

[twblanset]

This is the smallest one I've routinely seen around. It's the Coleman Columbia and one ad said the box was 7"3" long and a little over 6' wide. My neighbor has one and it looks pretty small. They are pretty basic, no toilet, some have heaters, most don't. But they are around 800lbs empty, which is pretty light. They show up on craiglsist regularly under $2K. I'm thinking of getting one and building a proper frame with larger tires. We'll see.
Todd
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/rvs/1351548271.html

 

[Root Moose]

We have a neighborhood Jeep group and I personally have modified a Fleetwood Colbalt and my buddy has a Fleetwood Neon(no longer manufactured) The Neon makes a true offroad trailer, but not much room for more than 2 people. I sleep 4 and a dog in my Colbalt comfortably and have been able to go anywhere the Neon can so far in Colorado (Twin Cone, Grizzly Lake, Engineer Pass, Loch Lemond back trail, etc). Heading up to Holy Cross, Colorado this weekend which will be the toughest trail to date and will update with some pics. There will be lots of winching for sure. If you are not familiar with any of these trails look them up on TrailDamage.com.

The Coblat is about 12'-10" long (with tongue) and 6'-6" wide and weighs 1250 lbs unloaded which is the smallest popup out there with two pull out beds . The Neon is of course much smaller at 11'-5" long and weighing only 950lbs but only has one pull out bed. It also has the wheels on the outside of the box for truly limitless sized tires. The axel length is the same size for the Cobalt and Neon and both pull very well behind something small like a Jeep even on extreme rock crawling trails. Have thought about switching from the ball to a Pintle style hitch, but have conquered some of the toughest trails in Colorado and Utah so far with out problems so will keep going until I break something I guess!

Here are some pics (the Neon has fenders mounted back on now about 3 inches higher on the trailer).

http://s657.photobucket.com/albums/uu295/4x4Junky/Jeep/

How tall are you? Are you able to sleep in the bunks when you are fully stretched out?

 

[4x4junky]

Bed size

Root,

The Neon actually has a longer and narrower bed (6'-6" long). The Cobalt sleeps across the width of the camper so the beds are maybe 6'-1"ish. I am 6'-0" and its sleeps great, but anyone much taller than that would be cramped. Price you pay for true offroad size trailer. The table makes into a bed as well and it is maybe an inch or so longer. Something like the Starcraft 10RT will give you a normal length bed, but the trailer ends up 7'-2" wide and makes tough going on switchbacks and trees. Plus the 10RT is like 2000 lbs unloaded and too heavy for smaller vehicles like a Jeep Wrangler, especially in the mountains. Just depends on how extreme you plan to get. Good luck and happy camping!

 

[Root Moose]

Thanks for the info.

I guess I'll have to try one on. I am exactly 6' tall so I could conceivably fit but my wife is concerned that once our boys get to be teenagers there will be problems. Realistically though, will the boys still be coming with us at that point or they may have their own vehicles? I dunno.

I guess I gotta do some "test sleeps" and go from there. LOL

 

[Runt]

Take a look at these:

http://www.chaletrv.com/

Several models to chose from and no annoying wet tent to deal with.