Full-size Expedition Travel Trailer (Seen any??)

[huntercrose]

I have found a few posts on this forum relative to the question that I have in my head, but nothing that answers it directly. So, I thought I would pose the question here and see if I could get any feedback...

I'm wondering why no one in the United States is producing an off-road rated travel trailer. I'm talking about something that is hard sided (rather than with pop-up or pop-out tents), has full standing head room, interior kitchen and bath. These things are fairly ubiquitous in Australia, but absolutely uncommon here. I have done extensive research and looking and the closest thing I can come up with is the Taxa Mantis (has a pop-top tent) or some of the mass produced units out of Indiana that have larger tires and are branded as "off road," but would clearly disintegrate at the first exposure to a washboard road.

I have really enjoyed watching and learning from all of the builds on this forum. This has led me to begin my own project, which is placing a habitat box on a pull behind aluminum frame. I see lots of builds where people are placing boxes on flat-bed trucks, but none where this strategy is applied to a pull behind trailer. It seems like this is doable, so I am going to begin fabricating the frame shortly. Overall length is going to be less than 20 feet and weight is estimated to be less than 3000 pounds. I will likely purchase a habitat box, as I don't feel comfortable fabricating composite panels. I wouldn't have any problem putting them together, though.

If anyone has any information about this already being done or loves/hates the idea, I would appreciate some feedback.

I will be going to Expo West in May to get more ideas. Thanks in advance.

 

[pennersm]

I am going to assume you looked through the expedition trailer section of the forum?

http://forum.expeditionportal.com/forums/42-Expedition-Trailers

 

[huntercrose]

pennersm--Yes. I have combed this site endlessly. As well, the internet at large. There was something in this realm called the ADAK Outpost, but it disappered around 2014. I am assuming they went out of business.

 

[ericvs]

VMI Offroad does full size offroad trailers. Most of theirs have pop-tops incorporated to reduce the overall height, but they could easily make a full height one for you. Would save the extra work of doing the pop top too.

http://www.vmioffroad.com/

 

[huntercrose]

ericvs--Thanks! I had breezed by their website, but based on the opening page made the incorrect assumption that they were building stout utility trailers. I will take a closer look.

 

[ericvs]

ericvs--Thanks! I had breezed by their website, but based on the opening page made the incorrect assumption that they were building stout utility trailers. I will take a closer look.

For sure! (also, just in case I am breaking any forum rules, I am not associated with VMI other than being a customer.)

The Alpine:
http://www.vmioffroad.com/products/xtender-adventure-offroad-trailers/xtender-alpine.html

and the Compass:
http://www.vmioffroad.com/products/xtender-adventure-offroad-trailers/xtender-compass.html

with no pop top would probably be what you are looking for.

Even the canyon, while smaller, could fit the bill
http://www.vmioffroad.com/products/xtender-adventure-offroad-trailers/xtender-adventure-offroad-trailers-3.html

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

Don't know if this qualifies as what you are looking for but is off road designed and is not a pop up with full standing height inside. Four season off grid camping with full kitchen and bath.
Check out the Black Rock or Creekside classes in any of the 3 trim levels. Their 18 and 20 foot floor plans while larger than typical utility off road campers do offer more creature comforts while being off road rated. Large storage space for extra batteries, an option rear generator shelf, and almost 80 gallon fresh water storage make them ideal for off road off grid camping.
http://outdoorsrvmfg.com/

West coast manufactured and I haven't found any East coast dealers.

 

[huntercrose]

Hillbilly--I had not stumbled across these, so thanks for pointing them out! They seem way beefier than the usual "offroad" editions of standard travel trailers. Still a little heavy. The VMI that was pointed out previously is right on track. I really appreciate the information!

 

[Bushwagon]

Outdoors RV

I own a 2013 25ft Wind River which is made by outdoors RV. I race dirtbikes in the summer up here in Alberta Canada. It's not a true "4-season" trailer but I have done a hell of a lot of Forestry roads, and back country camping with it. Besides a few minor issues the trailer has been great. Good down to about -10C at night. Any colder and the furnace runs 100% of the time and the camper itself is quite chilly.

Fully loaded with Water, food, booze, gear etc. The trailer weighs 7400lbs. Quite a bit if you are really off roading but not bad at all for "rough roads". The addition of shocks on the trailer itself seems to really help out. Even over really rough / washboard gravel roads nothing inside the trailer moves around much.

A cost efficient choice for some serious 3 season camping.

I used to pull it with a 3500 dodge diesel but since have went to a 3.5L ecoboost F-150 and I'm very impressed with the towing capability of the little truck.





Cheers,

 

[Rocky Mountain Rider]

VMI Offroad does full size offroad trailers. Most of theirs have pop-tops incorporated to reduce the overall height, but they could easily make a full height one for you. Would save the extra work of doing the pop top too.

http://www.vmioffroad.com/

huntercrose as ericvs mentioned, VMI makes a great off road trailer. I have traveled (from Denver) to their facility a few times and have crawled all over 6 or 7 different builds. They are very well built and can probably meet your weight limit requirement. I'm not affiliated with them other than as a customer of a current build. These are extreme duty rigs, very high quality and all of the components are either custom fab or domestically made for the marine industry. If you really want trailer that can be dragged across some snarly trails, check them out.

I, like many others have been through numerous setup variations: pull behind pop up; full hardside truck camper, FWC pop-up truck camper; small toyhauler; large toyhauler all to seek that perfect rig. Nothing that I have had in the past approaches the build quality of the VMI product. Not even close. I'm thinking this might be the rig that lasts me the next 25 years, and maybe outlive me?

Bryan

 

[DCGibbs]

Huntercrose, Where in Montana do you live? Which way are you planning to travel to Overland Expo West. Linda & I are headed down from Boise, ID. Our plan is to avoid Salt Lake City going down, taking Nev 93 South, then across to Kingman, onto Flagstaff.

 

[huntercrose]

Elwyn--Thanks for the info and the pics. Looks like fun. I have had a couple of similar travel trailers and they have been great. Comfort level similar to being at home. I am really looking to go smaller and lighter. When I find/build what I am looking for, I will share it here. Thanks again!

 

[huntercrose]

RMR--Thanks for your feedback on VMI. They seem to be building a very nice product. Which model did you settle on and what was the lead time for completion?

 

[huntercrose]

DCG--We are in SW Montana near Missoula. We are actually flying to Vegas and heading over from there in a rental car. Couple or 3 days in each place. Hope to see you there!

 

[Rocky Mountain Rider]

huntercrose- Custom build, truck mounted on a Chevy 3500 Chassis. Lead time has been a bit long, but thats my own fault. I was non committal, bouncing between trailers then between trailer and truck build. Ha, really I changed several times. At this point I'm locked in, which is good. Realized there is a physical limitation to space- I think I wanted to put 5 pounds of cookies into a 1 pound bag. They're keeping me in line though! When you see one up close and personal you get the tactile feel of ultra quality. Marine grade everything.....which if you think about it only pales in comparison to aerospace quality. Can't have failure in the open sea.... Let me know what you choose, I'd be interested in what else you are considering.

Bryan