tend to agree with you on all the trailers longer than 15 feet, and maybe even longer than 12. I think the shorter trailers have their place. My dad has a 17 or 18 foot lance which he pulls all over fire roads through the American west. When camping with him we’d often end up staying in less than ideal spots because he couldn’t make it in any farther . Used to drive me crazy since I had a slide in on my truck and could easily have made it to the better spot a few miles down the road. That’s the niche I’m looking for one of these 12 or 15 ft “off road” trailers to fill. Would probably have just stuck with a slide in pop top but now we’re a family of four and there’s just not enough space
Family of 4 here also. When we take the trailer its to go explore a region or body of water. Only time we are in camp is the morning breakfast and evening dinner. If I ever find my self just sitting around in camp then its time time to go somewhere else or find a new country to travel.
So rarely ever would we park our gear in a random place and leave it unattended all day. We are most definitely NOT RV lot types either. Private campgrounds, city, county, state, lake and National campgrounds yeah we’ll park our crap there.
Size does matter given all the places we have taken our 4x6 rig the small say 17-19ft trailers can get shoe horned into most of the spots. The tiny spot we had inside Yellowstone a 20ft would have been pushing it pretty sure too big. So yeah keeping it compact even for that type of use really pays dividends in site availability.
There is a growing trend especially with active families where a hybrid style trailer is really a better fit than the more traditional single side door trailer. My family for sure fits this trend. Our 4x6 spends way more miles hauling gear than it does in camp mode. He’ll even road trips to Air Bnb places we have gear. Some lake trips we are packing 4 mountain bikes, and anywhere from 2-3 boats, outboard motor, SUP etc. We’ll spend mornings trail riding and afternoons on the water, or some remote hidden beach etc. Or be racing in a regatta. Trips we aren’t fooling with boats we’re bike touring a National Park and hiking etc.
As such the new “hybrid” style trailers are really the only trailer thats even remotely an option. These aren’t ATV or side by side Full blown toy haulers. These are more compact trailers with rear hatch or doors that let you load said gear into the trailer for both secure outa site camp storage when your outa camp, but also gets your gear outa sight/mind and weather while in transit. Something my 4x6 is the complete opposite of. My 4x6 makes me look like a mobile REI/Boat salesman/Cabellas store going down the highway which I really hate when traveling thru regions I’m not familiar with.
The Opus 15 would never work for me. The Taxa Mantis was a workable idea but the kids bunks are horrible I’d have to totally rebuild that mess. Add the stupid prices of them and the axle and frame issues it looses positions fast on the possibles list.
The new really “hybrid” idea lifting rear hatch idea KZ trailers is getting there but they botched the hatch advantage by packing in cabinets everywhere so even two bicycles is a stretch to fit.
So that leaves the small 19ft front bed Toy haulers of which Geo pro and E pro are aluminum walled and roof construction and the newer model even runs adjustable air ride suspension. Lots of research on owners groups they all pretty much return the same mileage with my Rig so thats not a factor.
Couple of dad buddies picked up the small bunk house rigs pick your brand pretty much all of them are accounted for. Even a Mantis made it into our dads group. Every single one of tge bunk bed trailer guys have sold, are selling or moving fast in that direction. Number 1 issue is no place good to toss the bikes!! The Mantis dad has the youngest kid only one kid. In his case the Mantis has been great. His Sup fits in, his bikes fit etc.
So!! I’m eyeing the e pro/geo pro 19FBTH really will want it for next 2-3 yrs so we can hit upper latitudes and windy southern deserts for a few places before the kids say hell no and ditch the old people. Yeah we’ll use it as a Regatta base, boat hauler for 2-4 yrs nearly yr around potential use.
So thats where I’m at. No way in hell am I spending 30-90k on a trailer. I’d rather upgrade my big sailboat for that much $.
Remote stuff? Yeah we hike that, bike it and drive it but only camp that sort of terrain if we’re back packing which case no trailers anyway?
