In March of this year I ordered the Symmetry Nomad trailer with minor modifications from Symmetry Trailers in Casper, WY. Ordering was easy. I chose to keep it simple as I wanted to add my own customizations down the road (battery, onboard water). I opted for larger tires, a fold down table on the back door, and the Tuff Stuff Elite 5p RTT. Adam, the owner, was fine to work with and kept me in the loop about the progress of the build. Near the end of May he sent me some photos of the build with the tent on top. The photos made it clear that this was not a new tent. Lots of dust on the black cover and scuffs were noticeable in the photos. This was a red flag for me. When I brought it up to Adam he explained to me that the tent had been in his warehouse for approximately 2 years and he had mounted it on trailers for photographs. He assured me that no one had spent the night in it. When I reviewed my order form the MSRP Adam charged me was the same I could get it from Tuff Stuff- $2499. The implication was that this was a brand new tent. My mistake- should not have made this assumption.
I received the trailer at the beginning of June and immediately noticed some things that were off:
A month in I am beginning to notice rust buildup on the bolts holding the doors in place. Paint is beginning to flake off areas where the removable stabilizer jacks attach to the frame of the trailer.
Some positives: The color I chose, it's fun to camp off the ground, faster to get going for trips (less set up time, trailer can just be loaded/ready to go), my girls love it and it's already provided a couple quality experiences out in the Pike and Roosevelt NF. We're taking it up to WY next week to check out Medicine Bow. The vestibule for the tent is a luxury, keeps our dogs safe at night, and gives us additional shelter/place to keep our clothes. I just put an awning on it and am looking forward to using that and am beginning to design a basic 12v system for small-scale lighting/USB charging. The trailer will provide a good foundation, despite missed details, for long-term quality experiences.
There are people in this world who are struggling beyond imagine- who cannot afford food or don't even have shelter in the first place. I'm lucky. My quality/luxury/first world problem is that I ordered a cheap trailer and got a cheap trailer. I'll fix what should have been done correctly.
I'm sharing this experience so others who are considering getting a trailer might learn from my mistake from lack of due diligence and being comfortable with assumptions. I should have confirmed a lot more with Adam prior to ordering the trailer- especially the part about whether or not the tent would be new.
I received the trailer at the beginning of June and immediately noticed some things that were off:
- Doors are not plumb
- It was in need of touch up paint (not provided)
- Wire loom tubing connecting brake controllers not attached to the bottom frame of the trailer- hung loosely off the frame
- Spring pins for one of the ladders was bent rendering the ladder inoperable
- Gasketing around door frames adhered to door because they were applied without letting the paint dry. Essentially the gasketing adhered to the doors- pulling off whenever the doors were opened.
A month in I am beginning to notice rust buildup on the bolts holding the doors in place. Paint is beginning to flake off areas where the removable stabilizer jacks attach to the frame of the trailer.
Some positives: The color I chose, it's fun to camp off the ground, faster to get going for trips (less set up time, trailer can just be loaded/ready to go), my girls love it and it's already provided a couple quality experiences out in the Pike and Roosevelt NF. We're taking it up to WY next week to check out Medicine Bow. The vestibule for the tent is a luxury, keeps our dogs safe at night, and gives us additional shelter/place to keep our clothes. I just put an awning on it and am looking forward to using that and am beginning to design a basic 12v system for small-scale lighting/USB charging. The trailer will provide a good foundation, despite missed details, for long-term quality experiences.
There are people in this world who are struggling beyond imagine- who cannot afford food or don't even have shelter in the first place. I'm lucky. My quality/luxury/first world problem is that I ordered a cheap trailer and got a cheap trailer. I'll fix what should have been done correctly.
I'm sharing this experience so others who are considering getting a trailer might learn from my mistake from lack of due diligence and being comfortable with assumptions. I should have confirmed a lot more with Adam prior to ordering the trailer- especially the part about whether or not the tent would be new.
