It’s been a while since I’ve posted—work, kids, life will do that. Thought I’d give an update on how things were going with the Patriot. We spent this past week living out of it in the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. Bottom line—it’s an amazing trailer. There’s a caveat, but I’ll cover that below.
We were base camping with the whole family, wife, two kids (15 and 11), and two dogs. First, living quarters. The bed, main tent, and annex/kids room provided a really roomy and, most important, easy to live in space. Coming from a RTT with my Xventure the extra room, ability to have a standing/living room type area, was awesome and especially appreciated by my wife, who loved having the space, and dogs, who used to have to sleep in the back of the truck. Within that space you have access to the storage compartments on the right side of the trailer, which is super convenient to access clothes, toiletries, and whatever else you have stored there. There are also numerous charging points and the 1,000 watt inverter within that space. With the shower tent set up you are able to hop out of it and into the standing area of the tent to get dressed, etc. The annex room, while not difficult, is a bit time consuming to set up. On future trips when we are moving every day I will definitely leave it attached and fold it up with the rest of the tent under the cover. The king size bed and mattress are really comfortable. Kids enjoyed having their own space with two cots. It’s just a very livable space. Nights dipped to low 40’s and the Webasto heater, coupled with our Enlightened Equipment down quilts (awesome products that I highly recommend), kept us plenty warm.
The awning provides great coverage, which was very much appreciated when a few storms rolled through. I’d like to see them do a redesign to simplify it and make it more sturdy, along the lines of the Alu-Cab Shadow Awning, but it does the job and is made well.
The kitchen is simply awesome. Having the grill in addition to the stove is great. Burgers, pork loin—just pull the grill out, hit the igniter, and your on your way. The layout is really intuitive and just makes meal prep and cooking fun.
Speaking of intuitive, the Redarc TVMS, which controls all your electronics and manages the batteries is also awesome. The added ability to control all the lights and other electronics, as well as monitor your batteries via Bluetooth with your phone makes it even better. Seems silly, I know, but it’s one of those things that once you have and use it it’s really nice to have.
The trailer really is incredibly and impressively well engineered and built. The whole “it’s on another level” seems cliche, but it really is. Don’t just take my word. There was a couple where we were in a Black Series HQ19 (great folks) who we befriended and hung out with while there. They both commented that while they thought their trailer was well made the Patriot was just, here it is again, on another level. There was also a couple in a Mercedes/Airstream, the husband being an aerospace engineer, who commented multiple times on how impressed they were with the engineering and build quality.
Lastly, but important, it tows really well.
The caveat mentioned above—we did run into an issue. I don’t want to give any details yet because I just let the folks at Exploration Outfitters (dealer) know and I want to give both them and Patriot a few days to see how it’s handled. I will say it’s a Patriot Campers issue and not an Exploration Outfitters issue because the cause is build/assembly related.
That’s about it for now. Happy to answer any questions.
