Trailer recommendation with great outdoor kitchen?

[potfish]

I have read loads of great threads on here, so many my head is now spinning, so I'm hoping this thread will narrow the search.

Quite a few wants and needs:

• Want a trailer ready to go so that we can just hitch up, pack food and go away for last minute weekend trips.
• Want the accommodation to be more like camping than trailering. So roof top tent is more our style than a trailer you sleep inside.
• Family is me plus wife, both ~50, and 6 year old son. For now he is loving having his own tent but having enough space for him to join us could be useful.
• We intend to do one week or two week trips most years, but starting to formulate plans for a 2 month sabbatical road tripping out west for 2022.
• Want a great outdoor kitchen that can easily be accessed without having to set up everything else. Slide outs for stove, sink and fridge would be ideal.
• For now, we will be towing with a Chrysler Pacifica minivan with OEM hitch, rated 3600lb towing capacity, 260lb tongue, 8600lb GCVR. Even if we change the towing vehicle, the offroad sections will be campsites and well groomed dirt roads at most.
• We will want to carry 3 bikes, which I don't want to be on the roof of the towing vehicle.
• I want something that will last, hence looking at overland trailers rather than traditional pop-ups.
• Needs to fit in the garage through a 7' door.
• Budget - want to spend $20k or less if I can but will go higher for a quality vehicle that will keep a good resale value.
• Most important: it needs to be ready to go out of the box, other than customizations or accessories I may choose to add. I have too many unfinished projects, I don't want this to be another one.
• Location near Boston, MA.

What I've looked at so far:
Taxa Woolly Bear plus roof top tent - looked ideal until I started reading the user groups on Facebook where it's all griping about build quality and poor support and nobody seems to be out there having fun. My phone call with them did not instil confidence either.
Schutt XV2 - kitchen too much work to deploy and too low down in use.
Patriot X1-N - looks great, but spendy. It's on the table as an option but I would love to spend $10-15k less if I can.
Opus - the Lite maybe? Not sure how to carry bikes. OP2 could work. Starting to get a bit heavier though.
Turtleback - the Getaway is on the list. Don't like that there's no fridge slider but nothing is perfect. Expedition may be a little too tall? Not sure.

Any others I should be looking at, or wildly different ideas?

Many thanks
Martin

 

[potfish]

(and yes I am aware that I have just raised the possibility of towing a Patriot Camper with a minivan - a perfect illustration of where my life is and where I want it to be )

 

[Uncle Jeffy]

This idea doesn't quite fit the "turn key" objective, but usually the perfect trailer does not exist, so there may need to be a compromise somewhere... Hiker Trailer's square-back trailers are value-priced (in my opinion; I'm a satisfied owner of a Mid-Range 5x8). Using a bare-bones trailer as a place to carry the bikes and equipping it with slide-outs for a kitchen and fridge, rather than for sleeping in (install an RTT for that) might be a solution... It would fit the budget, weight and likely the height criteria (depending on the trailer model and height of the RTT). Lead time is a big issue though, but I bet Hiker (or Randy Clary, their dealer) could customize one for you.

 

[potfish]

Thank you, I will check them out. As far as lead time is concerned, that's not really a big deal. Unless I get something in a very few weeks then it won't get used until at least April anyway. It's my own time that is scarce, and I can take a little time to make a decision.

 

[blacklbzbeauty]

Seem's like Patriot fits the bill. A little pricey but you get what you pay for.

 

[alia176]

The subject of "great kitchen" caught my eye, so I'll mention couple of things that are important to me. This is not camper centric by any means.

There's a trend among vendors to supply complete stove+sink combo, Dometic is one such example. While this sounds great, I think it's an awful use of space. If I had my druthers, I'd prefer to have a stove with ample work space on either side while the sink located a little further away. I haven't perused all camper offerings since I'm not in the market, the Overkill camper pullout kitchen with pass through galley caught my eye at the expo I attended couple of years back.

The other point that's near/dear to me is the ability to carry crap on top and to that end, having a trailer that's already 7' tall makes zero sense to me. IMHO, a heavy trailer isn't much of a drag on an engine but the air drag is a constant load on your trans+engine. Additionally, I don't like using a ladder to put bikes and boats on top of a tall ANYTHING. I'm 5'10", average height fellar, with decent upper body strength but hauling crap up/down annoys the ******** out of me. Being that we are into "overlanding", I tend to shoehorn my camper in the tightest of spaces and having gear way up there only means they're going to be damaged by branches, or worse, get yanked down.

In an ideal world, having toys on top of the camper, then backing it into the garage after a trip is ideal so that she's pretty much "locked and loaded" for the next outing. While the bikes will need to be offloaded so that the kids can ride around the house, boats can stay on top.

Good luck with your hunt, that's the fun part!

 

[1Louder]

Off Grid Trailers Switchback. New model coming out soon. You can choose from a rear kitchen or side kitchen. Base price is $19,900 for the US. Tent, awnings, and delivery not included in that price. I own the Expedition 2.0 model and love it. After many years of owning a variety of trailers we prefer to sleep indoors.

Everyone has different wants and needs. Not sure if Turtleback hits that price point anymore. They are very nice trailers, I used to own one and have a great kitchen. Patriot in the thirties and above I believe. None are cheap but the higher tier are built to last.

Switchback R & S | All Metal Overland Trailer

The Switchback R and S variations are all-metal overlanding trailers with many options for customization. Explore the Switchback today.

offgridtrailers.com

 

[jscherb]

This may be a little smaller than you're looking for, but have you considered the Tentrax? Quick and easy "roof top tent" setup and kitchen that can be set up without setting up the rest of the trailer. They posted a video of the kitchen setup on their website, which includes stove, sink and fridge: https://www.tentrax.com/

BTW their Trax Kitchen can be installed across the tongue of pretty much any trailer.

 

[potfish]

Thanks for the continued suggestions. I am probably more than half way towards deciding on the Patriot. The Off Grid is nearly there but I particularly valued Ali's comments about sink next to stove. I hadn't thought of that but now you've mentioned it I totally agree. The Opus is probably the best kitchen of all, but I only just realized how much longer those trailers are.

As for the bikes, I've seen photos with three bikes on the back of the Patriot but I still wonder how that affects the tongue weight. I don't think any trailer has a perfect solution here so I think I will have to accept that that will need some experimentation - may be fine on the back with just some strategic packing, may add some ballast to the tongue, or may want to look at a dual hitch adapter to have the bikes' weight on the back of the towing vehicle. Or a combination of some on the back, some on the front.

 

[Pnwfullsize]

Look at the boreas xt. The at can be had under 20k the xt is around 30k. 2 bikes can go on top of tongue box and you can use another rack on the back. Or get the mxt.

 

[Pshesters]

I just posted my turtleback getaway trail for sale if you are interested.

 

[Hilldweller]

inTech | All Aluminum RV Manufacturer

Travel Trailers, Off-Road Adventure Toy Haulers, Microlite Campers, & Teardrop Trailers.

www.intechrv.com

 

[potfish]

The inTech is too tall if you add a roof tent (as mentioned, we want to be in a tent rather than inside a trailer). Thanks for the suggestion though.

As for the Turtlebacks, they look fantastic but I am still struggling with them having no fridge slider. The fridge is an expensive item to leave lying around so I could see there being a lot of carrying to and from the tow vehicle whenever we leave camp.

I've pretty much decided that the Patriot X1-N is the way for us to go. All options have their down sides but for Patriot it looks to me like theirs is only the price. I'm looking for used ones but they are very rare, and consequently they hold their value.

 

[Hilldweller]

The inTech is too tall if you add a roof tent (as mentioned, we want to be in a tent rather than inside a trailer). Thanks for the suggestion though.
...

I started with a Conqueror Compact (South African military trailer) which is essentially a RTT on a big box. Fits your bill perfectly.

BUT

I live in the east too and camping in the east means wet. Often. And when you get home you have to dry that RTT in your standard garage. Which means a variety of props and wedges and fans for 3 days. It's a hassle. It always rains on the last day and wet tents become fungus factories if left to dry on their own.

We evolved to a teardrop. Hard walls, 4 season camping. We even camped up by you in November a few years ago for my Nephew's wedding in Worcester.
Wall = cozy and easy.

 

[potfish]

It always rains on the last day

Definitely food for thought there, thanks.