Nobo 10.6 vs InTech explore

dreadlocks

Well-known member
people make bigger deal over wood floors than they should.. shrug, they are completely sealed off from the bottom and I can go around and screw anchors down wherever I want on the inside.. wood is still a fine building material, and the aluminum/wood construction is still going to be leaps and bounds better than anything like Nobo's full wood frame construction on stamped steel frame.

Composite Flooring is heavy, like several times the weight.

I notice the InTech prices keep creeping up and up every year, glad I got mine when they were still cheap and I could outfit it to my spec.. if floors ever became an issue, and I doubt that.. mebe in 30 years they could use a new floor, I think I could do it in a weekend since there's no rooms to demolish.

Ive had a few trailers, and my dad has trailers still from when I was a kid that did decades of duty as landscape trailers or harley davidson haulers.. all had wood floors, none ever let us down.. yeah his trailers that are as old as I am are probably on second or third floors, but they were fully exposed and more needed it from damage hauling material more than rot.. but unless you build a ton of stuff ontop of em they are pretty easy to refurb if/when the time comes.
 
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calicamper

Expedition Leader
people make bigger deal over wood floors than they should.. shrug, they are completely sealed off from the bottom and I can go around and screw anchors down wherever I want on the inside.. wood is still a fine building material, and the aluminum/wood construction is still going to be leaps and bounds better than anything like Nobo's full wood frame construction on stamped steel frame.

Composite Flooring is heavy, like several times the weight.

I notice the InTech prices keep creeping up and up every year, glad I got mine when they were still cheap and I could outfit it to my spec.. if floors ever became an issue, and I doubt that.. mebe in 30 years they could use a new floor, I think I could do it in a weekend since there's no rooms to demolish.

Ive had a few trailers, and my dad has trailers still from when I was a kid that did decades of duty as landscape trailers or harley davidson haulers.. all had wood floors, none ever let us down.. yeah his trailers that are as old as I am are probably on second or third floors, but they were fully exposed and more needed it from damage hauling material more than rot.. but unless you build a ton of stuff ontop of em they are pretty easy to refurb if/when the time comes.
Raw exposed wood dries out easy enough I’ve had several of those. When they get “covered” and don’t dry out is when they go soft. I would bet the edges are exposed unsealed ply add the sealed bottom and top and its just a matter of time. Especially if parked out in the elements. I felt that Intechs price was high but in a good place with no competition given what you get. However many owners end up essentially rebuilding the add ons to their needs. Which case I have come to the conclusion just getting a trailer with doors, windows, fans etc done, then I adding the slide kitchen and mods will be cheaper approach and I get what I want in the end.

In my case I’ll be getting one of my local sail makers to build soft sided popup section too. Because the trailer builder will be doing a short box like the intech but with a popup roof?
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
I thought about building a trailer, but I decided to take my kids camping before they moved out.. You'd be surprised how quickly all that crap adds up, a CargoCraft "Offroad" Trailer w/torsion axles on steel frame and wood floors runs 16-17k somewhat sized like mine.. you can buy a basic road trailer from em for ~$7k, by the time you put torsion axles on em, a composite floor, vents, aircons, kitchen, bedding/interior, awnings, roof racks, ladders, windows, insulation, lighting, gas, etc on em your gonna be approaching another $10k in stuff.. once you start putting custom one off fabrication into it your paying someone else for you can get past that number pretty fast.. in the end you might save a couple grand off getting one pre-built, but if I charged my self the same hourly rate I do my employer it would be much much higher and not come out the other end near as good, since I cant weld aluminum.

for reference, I paid $22k for my trailer.. I cant take a loaded cargocraft trailer and turn it into equivalent of my Intech for a mere $5k, just having someone cut away the framing and weld in support for the popouts and then buying the popouts would cost most of that.. last I looked they were about a grand each + shipping the big things.

If you got a free chassis, had mad fabrication skills and plenty of time.. you could kick the ******** out of whats on the market easy peasy for your self, as long as your own time is cheap.
 

maveriks

New member
How much would y'all pay for lightly used explore?
From what I've seen of the Explore in the last several weeks and past sales - sounds like somewhere b/w 12k-15k

I've been dreaming of a camper/toy hauler combo for family w 2 kids, needing to park inside 2-car garage...and take my ADV ride 1200 gs...Explore is the best I've come across...IF I could decide b/w 1 or 2 tip-outs...:confused:....Problems......any advise 1 vs 2 anyone?
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
a family with 2 kids, is there really any other choice? 2 tip outs.. the thing becomes wider than it is long, its dramatic how much more room they give.

an A-Liner was the first on my list, but my wife asked me where our 120lb Pyrenees was gonna sleep and that was the end of the Aliner as an option.
 

maveriks

New member
more space: yes, definitely agree and I like the dual doors; the 2nd tip out does get in the outdoor space, awning utilization. Toy hauling - will have to arrange for ramps in this option and then lesser interior space on how many toys/stuff can be inside.

for the 1 tip-out option - like the window, door on side for a more typical space utilization at camp site on passenger side; wide door as ramp is handy to load toys (my 1200 gs) and also more stuff to put MTB bikes etc....of course cramped when door is closed and 2 of us will have to hit the floor for sleeping...


I'm debating myself for and against on both; just need to prioritize what I need more I guess.
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
you dont have to fold the sides down, the room they take internally is minimal.. for true winter camping I just leave the beds up and sleep on cots in cargo hold.. having an awning over your bed is super duper nice and keeps at least that bunk nice and cool.. and the bunks let far more light and air flow through the box than a tiny lil window ever will.. I'm not a huge fan of awnings typically (I grew up in midwest and wind destroyed all of em), but now that it covers my bed and provides it with shade and rain protection I almost want an awning on the other side.. FYI the Intech Awnings dont cover the kitchen, so ur still cooking w/an umbrella regardless how many tip outs you have.

never had issues making room for the bunks.. at worst we might have to trim a small branch or something but its all down to where you park it.. your going to have to keep that in mind if its single or dual tipout when you pick your spot.

If you make the kiddos sleep on the floor, where are you putting that matress and bedding durring the day or traveling? that seems like its gonna be something you tear down every day and setup back up every night, and in the meantime you need to keep it all dry.. so its gonna be taking up space where as a tipout provides you space.

Last easter weekend we got snowed on and spent about 30h trapped in the trailer.. man I'm glad we had the room
IMG_20190421_173516.jpg
 
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maveriks

New member
Dreadlocks - you probably helped me decide towards the dual tip-out....ignored the part of daily wrap and spread-out for floor in a single.

just for my perspective - your pic...is a Discover right?
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
another thing, putting up the beds is not that much effort.. especially if your doing it temporarily because you wanna sit under the awning.. just zip and lift, or yank the mattress to the floor and lift.. you dont gotta go through all the trouble of packing and folding it up all nicely for travel if you just need a spot to sit out of the sun.. Ive only done it a few times but I've gotten so quick at folding up I can go from deployed to ready to roll in 5-10mins with teamwork.. compared to the 30-45mins to tear down and fold everything perfectly so it'd fit when car camping its amazing.

yeah I managed to score one of the few discovers they made.. i think they use slightly smaller bunks on the explore, they were different color bunks when they made em both at the same time.. so mine probably take up more room internally.

here we are all packed up for our last vacation, the bunk on the left is our master bed.. its fully made w/an extra thick foam addon.. the one on the right is the kiddos bed and it just had sheets on it so its consuming like half the space.
IMG_20191009_115107 (1).jpg

edit: If there's any downside to dual tipouts, its there's quite a bit of motion in the ocean, if the trailer is rockin don't come knockin.. if you catch my drift.. the trick is to wear the kids out so they sleep like rocks and zip em up.. when they get old enough to wise up I'll kick em out into a tent.. just like my parents did, and their parents too I suspect.
 
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maveriks

New member
another thing, putting up the beds is not that much effort.. especially if your doing it temporarily because you wanna sit under the awning.. just zip and lift, or yank the mattress to the floor and lift.. you dont gotta go through all the trouble of packing and folding it up all nicely for travel if you just need a spot to sit out of the sun.. Ive only done it a few times but I've gotten so quick at folding up I can go from deployed to ready to roll in 5-10mins with teamwork.. compared to the 30-45mins to tear down and fold everything perfectly so it'd fit when car camping its amazing.

yeah I managed to score one of the few discovers they made.. i think they use slightly smaller bunks on the explore, they were different color bunks when they made em both at the same time.. so mine probably take up more room internally.

here we are all packed up for our last vacation, the bunk on the left is our master bed.. its fully made w/an extra thick foam addon.. the one on the right is the kiddos bed and it just had sheets on it so its consuming like half the space.
View attachment 582368

edit: If there's any downside to dual tipouts, its there's quite a bit of motion in the ocean, if the trailer is rockin don't come knockin.. if you catch my drift.. the trick is to wear the kids out so they sleep like rocks and zip em up.. when they get old enough to wise up I'll kick em out into a tent.. just like my parents did, and their parents too I suspect.
Really appreciate the input...dual tip-out does make sense considering the alternatives....now full blow shopping for a double tip-out used....hope to get in one soon.
 

Flycast

New member
I know this is an old thread but with so few information out about both of these trailers someone (like me when I was searching) might find this via a search, so I'll add my two cents.

I looked hard at both of these trailers, side by side in the same lot. I went to look at the Nobo first, which is what drew me to the lot. I have a JL Wrangler Rubicon, which only has a 3500 lb towing capacity, so my options for trailers is extremely limited. Still, I wanted something that I could camp in with the wife and two small kids, and though that the Nobo 10.6 was a cool solution. It didn't have enough room to sleep all of us, but I was - like you - planning on throwing an RTT on it and letting the kids sleep up there. I'm sue they would have loved it.

Negatives Re: The NoBo

When I pawed around the Nobo I noticed a few things immediately. The first is the small size of the rear door. It's only a 50" opening, so that drastically limits what "toys" you can put in it if you plan on doing that. I've got a Yamaha Grizzly on 27" tires and it measures 52" at the tallest part of the handlebars. I also have a cargo carrier on the back for storing helmets and things, and that's right around 58". I would have to remove my carrier and air the tires way down every time I wanted to put the quad in the Nobo... that is, if I could even get it in. The rear entry ramp is STEEP since the trailer is so high off the ground and the ramp is so short. It was like a 40 degree angle to the ground when the trailer was sitting level. Since there's literally 0" to spare, forget riding the quad up in to the trailer. Not gonna happen. I'm sure 2 or 3 good sized guys could manually shove it up in there, but if you wanted to do it alone... not gonna happen. If you have a dirt bike, forget it... unless it's something really small like a Yamaha TW200. A WR450, for example, won't fit. Considering they market it as a "toy hauler" this was a big negative to me.

The second issue I had with it was the build quality. I immediately noticed when the sales person put the rear ramp down that the opening around the rear door were somewhat crushed (for lack of better term) where the mechanisms used to keep the door closed were located. I wish I would have taken a picture since it's kinda hard to explain what I mean, but because of this issue I questioned the water tightness of the door... especially over time, given the fact that the engineered tolerances weren't great at all. I also noticed that one of the handles that closes to lock the rear door in to place was broken and it was obvious that the handle was made of pot metal. All of the handles and closing mechanisms on the rear door and tip-out of the Flyer are steel and are very strong.

The third thing that I thought was a pretty big oversight was the floor storage compartment, which is in front of the "couch" when it's folded up. It's cool that the Nobo has floor storage, even though it's not very big, but the cover that covers it is not fixed in place or on any sort of hinges and is just supposed to lay over the storage compartment. When we were looking around in the trailer this cover was constantly sliding around and coming out of place and it seemed like an afterthought design-wise. I can see getting pissed/frustrated over time and either ditching the cover completely, losing it, or having to come up with some other solution.

Adding to the cheapness in build quality, there are two vents on the road-side of the 10.6 that are supposed to pop out. These are very cheap plastic and when the sales guy was showing them to us he was being overly cautious with them because I could tell he thought he was going to break them trying to pop them open. If you go and look at one, check these and the floor storage cover out and you'll see what I mean.

The under-side of the NoBo is "finished" with what can only be described as a plastic cardboard type of material. Think the same thing that political yard signs are made of. Because of this you can't see anything under the trailer when you look up at it from the bottom. If you tap on this material though you will see that it moves a lot and makes a lot of noise when it moves. I can't imagine that this doesn't flap around when you're going down the road, making all sorts of noise. I also question the long term reliability of it. It just felt cheap.

Fit and finish of the interior was extremely cheap as well. There were little trim pieces that were screwed in to the wall above each of the side exit doors. I backed in to one and hit it with my elbow when we were looking around inside and it literally fell off the wall. The screws that held it on were only protruding about 5mm from the board, which isn't much, and it was immediately obvious that it wasn't screwed in to anything of substance, just the thin wall board material. I would have preferred that they just left these things off, since they serve no real purpose, don't look that nice, and it's obvious that they are just going to fall off anyway, leaving two or three holes in the wall.
 

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RogueWon

Active member
Really appreciate the input...dual tip-out does make sense considering the alternatives....now full blow shopping for a double tip-out used....hope to get in one soon.
My thoughts on this --- I'm pretty much sold on the Explore ... but regarding one vs two tip outs, keep in mind that @dreadlocks' Discover still has the side door / window. You have to give that up on the Explore. Changes access options as well as the air exchange on every entrance/exit.
Also, I want to be able to bring my GS and such as well... but I'm liking the double back door instead of ramp for when I'm not toy hauling. And Harbor Freight ramps are sub $100 for when needed.
 

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