Black Series fire hazard

[calicamper]

Not a lot due to space. 20 gallon fresh, 30 gal gray with cassette toilet. I have a Ford Transit with rhino rack. I have an ironman 4x4 13.5 gallon tank on rack. Plus several rotopax with gets me up to 40 gals of fresh. Picked up a kick ass pump in a box to pump water into 20 gal onboard tank. I will only have 1,000 pounds of cargo capacity which will limit any heavy toys one might want to haul. I have attached a pick of what mine will look like. Sort of. Trail Marker will start taking orders in June and will likely be a 12 month wait if you get in on this June round. I know not ideal. I hope to have mine in June.

Definitely post some picts and trip review reports of the setup.
My wife after literally going through every idea from screw it let’s build something to looking at the stupid Black Series and Opus stuff. She says lets just buy the cheapest best built little toy hauler and just fix the junky stuff, save a pile of money maybe get a bigger sailboat lol. Pretty hard to argue with that logic. If you see some guy with teens in a Geo Pro don’t knock him?. His other rig might be this.
Yeah crossing the South Pacific would totally be in my wheel house. Hopefully I can get my kids on a SF to Oahu race some day. Really enjoyed that one.

 

[Obsessed2findARuggedHybid]

The difference in my trailer from the pic

Mine will have a ramp door not awining. Hinges will be on bottom and rhino coated black, ladder will be on drivers side, mad max beefy fenders rhino coated black, ostrich 270 free standing awining, 10 lb propane mounted were ladder is in pic, custom tables that will mount over fender for out door kitchen. Two more removable stab jacks to set ramp in deck mode, custom screen wall with windows, screens and blackout shades. When not in bear country like to leave deck set up at night. Three battle born batteries, victron inverter, charger and dc-dc charger set up in trailer. Three 100 watt zamp obdesian portables, Propex furnace, truma aqua go water heater. Heated and insulated gray tank. Let me know if you have questions. They are reasonably priced compared to other off road craft builders.

Forgot to mention I sent them an EcoMaster wired backup camera that runs to a new 11" Alpine floating head stereo in my van. So I can toggle between van backup camera and the EcoMaster trailer camera on my Alpine.

The rear hitch receiver is rated to 250 pounds. I have a 4 bike Recon hanging bike rack.

 

[calicamper]

Forgot to mention I sent them an EcoMaster wired backup camera that runs to a new 11" Alpine floating head stereo in my van. So I can toggle between van backup camera and the EcoMaster trailer camera on my Alpine.

The rear hitch receiver is rated to 250 pounds. I have a 4 bike Recon hanging bike rack.

Bike thing is a challenge for sure. My LOLO rack is freaking heavy as hell. I foam noodle it and tie it down on the 4x6 ??. But once in camp we look like pros with that beast on the truck lol

 

[calicamper]

This wasn’t even a camping trip. Just a friends place with a private doc on Tahoe for a week. 4 bikes, two boats and an outboard. A regatta would have a second sailboat racked on the truck. 10ft air floor rib with an electric start 9.9 is in the trailer with 4 full-size bikes. Chase boat for the kids sailing. Rib is also our tender tour big boat and has been running chase to my brothers kite surfing in recent yrs. We have lots of crap but manage to use it all a bunch.

 

[DRAX]

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

A lot of that is why we ended up going with the Off Grid Trailers Pando 2.0, we considered something like a 4WD ambulance conversion but that was also pretty large and still meant we had to pack up camp if we wanted to drive anywhere. Looked into various off-road trailers/teardrops (Boreas, Bean, OGT) and settled on the OGT. Saw some videos showing it being towed places I never would've tried taking my current truck but would've gone with my past JKUR and that sold us along with the layout/features and community of owners. Definitely have to plan ahead more in terms of going down unknown trails, but at least I know we can still go everyplace we want to go and have an awesome setup when we get there.

 

[Todd780]

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.

How old are the kids? We're getting to the point now where our have outgrown the single size bunks.

Something to plan ahead for maybe so you don't have to deal with it down the road? Nip it in the bud now so you have a solution that will work for you for years to come.

 

[calicamper]

How old are the kids? We're getting to the point now where our have outgrown the single size bunks.

Something to plan ahead for maybe so you don't have to deal with it down the road? Nip it in the bud now so you have a solution that will work for you for years to come.

We are moving from a 55 x70 queen ish bunk shared, to two single bunks. I’ll need to tap my racing sailboat background to build a second top bunk for one kid. Not a big deal as long as there is wall space. Pre teens boy and girl shared bunk space is definitely a no go at this point. Even hotel stays we haul our own cot for one kid.

 

[Todd780]

We are moving from a 55 x70 queen ish bunk shared, to two single bunks. I’ll need to tap my racing sailboat background to build a second top bunk for one kid. Not a big deal as long as there is wall space. Pre teens boy and girl shared bunk space is definitely a no go at this point. Even hotel stays we haul our own cot for one kid.

Single bunks may only work for a short time as well. This is what we are facing now as our kids grow up.

For the top bunk maybe a folding unit that can sit flush against the wall when not in use to open up the inside of the trailer?

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Not really on-topic for the quality concerns, more of a question for those of you that were/are considering BS trailers that live here in North America. More specifically the dual-axle trailers like the HQ19.

Where do you plan on towing those monsters off-pavement? I can see Africa, Australia, etc...but...outside of the desert/southwest, where would you be able to tow these that would justify their cost/capabilities? All of the places I've gone and plan to go overlanding there's no way trailers of this size or weight would be viable options. And by weight I'm referring to the tow vehicle's low-speed/4LO ability to drag these up trails without roasting the transmission.

What am I missing?

IMO 99.9% of the time such trailers will stay on pavement. That said, I've been to places where I'd be happy to drag a 25-27' trailer, provided it had decent clearance, decent suspension, and a good build quality. Our favourite camping spot is 3hrs away on the highway, plus another hour on a FSR. I can get a large trailer there no problem. Then you've got places like Saline Springs in Death Valley - an easy road, but miles and miles of horrible washboard, or the Dempster highway in Yukon.

The vast, vast majority of travel trailers built/sold in North America will disintegrate after a few trip to Saline Springs or a speed of more than 60kph on the Dempster.

 

[calicamper]

Single bunks may only work for a short time as well. This is what we are facing now as our kids grow up.

For the top bunk maybe a folding unit that can sit flush against the wall when not in use to open up the inside of the trailer?

Bunks we use on boats easily accommodate 250lb grinders. Its not an issue.

 

[calicamper]

IMO 99.9% of the time such trailers will stay on pavement. That said, I've been to places where I'd be happy to drag a 25-27' trailer, provided it had decent clearance, decent suspension, and a good build quality. Our favourite camping spot is 3hrs away on the highway, plus another hour on a FSR. I can get a large trailer there no problem. Then you've got places like Saline Springs in Death Valley - an easy road, but miles and miles of horrible washboard, or the Dempster highway in Yukon.

The vast, vast majority of travel trailers built/sold in North America will disintegrate after a few trip to Saline Springs or a speed of more than 60kph on the Dempster.

True
Except even my 4x6 I wouldn’t drag back into those areas. Hell only thing I’d take back into those areas is a clapped out 4x4 or dirt bike.

 

[Todd780]

IMO 99.9% of the time such trailers will stay on pavement. That said, I've been to places where I'd be happy to drag a 25-27' trailer, provided it had decent clearance, decent suspension, and a good build quality. Our favourite camping spot is 3hrs away on the highway, plus another hour on a FSR. I can get a large trailer there no problem. Then you've got places like Saline Springs in Death Valley - an easy road, but miles and miles of horrible washboard, or the Dempster highway in Yukon.

The vast, vast majority of travel trailers built/sold in North America will disintegrate after a few trip to Saline Springs or a speed of more than 60kph on the Dempster.

So true. Even dragging ours down gravel roads sometime we find screws on the floor....
The place we're going to for May long has about 45 minutes / hour of washboard. But, it's supposed to rain a lot so it might just be a muddy trail too..... ?

 

[Grassland]

So true. Even dragging ours down gravel roads sometime we find screws on the floor....
The place we're going to for May long has about 45 minutes / hour of washboard. But, it's supposed to rain a lot so it might just be a muddy trail too..... ?

This exactly.
Why proper, dampened suspensions aren't available on more domestic trailers.
The stove heat shield and lid fell apart, a cupboard door opened, and various other things bounced around on a trip to Tulabi Falls MB, I don't recall how many KM of washboard it was, but a similar length of time.
I like that we measure distance in time in the prairies.

 

[Todd780]

This exactly.
Why proper, dampened suspensions aren't available on more domestic trailers.
The stove heat shield and lid fell apart, a cupboard door opened, and various other things bounced around on a trip to Tulabi Falls MB, I don't recall how many KM of washboard it was, but a similar length of time.
I like that we measure distance in time in the prairies.

Makes sense. Could only be a kilometer. But if it takes an hour that's a more accurate description, lol

Are you referring to the Escape 19 you just bought? I think last year the trim on the bottom of our fridge freezer door fell off and the veneer cover slid off and hit the floor.

I wonder if a Tibren style setup could work somehow?

 

[Grassland]

Makes sense. Could only be a kilometer. But if it takes an hour that's a more accurate description, lol

Are you referring to the Escape 19 you just bought? I think last year the trim on the bottom of our fridge freezer door fell off and the veneer cover slid off and hit the floor.

I wonder if a Tibren style setup could work somehow?

Yeah the escape.
The frame is welded rectangular tube, and it's not framed with particle board inside. Both i consider improvements over the R-POD which I also looked at. But still a torflex axle.
I don't have the money to swap a pair of axles on a brand new trailer right now.