Hiker trailer question from a new guy

[cornishrooster]

Hi all - After an exhausting amount of google research I've ended up deciding on a Hiker offroad trailer loaded to the gills. I built a my own expedition trailer from scratch awhile back and it's been great, but now we're ready to have something we can sleep in and use for more of the year. Actually I'm fine tent camping but my wife is not outdoorsy at all so I have to compromise for her sake. Anyhow before I put the down payment I'm curious if there's any known issues with Hiker trailers or another brand I should be considering? We're at $20k all in with the Hiker right now but I do have an awning and a lot of gear already.
Things we need.

Cabin we can sleep in with ac/heat option
water tank for showers and sink
able to have an RTT for the kids to sleep up top
solar option for remote areas
smaller form factor so we can fit it in our tiny driveway
Off roading is not much of a concern for me atm, I would love to truly overland but I have a highlander and until my kids are out of the house its not likely I'm going down that road.
We basically need something that will get us to great fishing/hiking locations and we can sleep in.

Appreciate and feed back at all.
Thanks
Mike

 

[OmegaMan73]

I have been a happy Hiker trailer Extreme Off road model owner for over a year now and have nothing but good things to say about it. I’ve been through southern Utah on two 9 day trips and multiple outings throughout Arizona and Colorado. Probably over 60 nights in it so far. There are only a couple small things I would change or modify if I had the chance. I have the “basement” storage on mine and it gets a little dusty in there, I’ve since sealed it up with foam weather stripping. While I don’t have the water tank on mine I do wish that I had got it. For some reason the doors on my trailer are really squeaky when you open and close them. I’ve tried multiple dry lube sprays but I haven’t found a way to permanently get rid of that noise.
You will be very happy with that trailer as I know I’ve been with mine. It tows great, is nice and quiet when you’re inside of it and just does everything I could have asked for and it does it at a great price point.

 

[cornishrooster]

That's a sexy setup there. I used to have an SR5 when i was younger and I've wanted to get a tacoma trd pro since they've been out... some day maybe. Thanks for the trailer info. Right now we have the quote for the shower, the 21 gallon tank, ac/heater unit, solar setup you name it. I didn't get anything done to the galley at all because I'm going to build a pull out kitchen myself. Similar to one I'll post below. When I built my expedition trailer box I used custom Champion doors and they're squeaky as well. I've found if you pop off the cap inside the curled metal hinge and squirt some bearing hub lube in there it doesn't squeak at all. Haven't had any issues with it leaking out either. Appreciate the info thanks a lot.
Mike

Side note. I can't open the kitchen all the way in my driveway because the driveway isn't wide enough, under that black lid on the right is a two burner stove. Going to design and build something similar for the Hiker once we get it. That black counter top is a skate-lite material that you can use as a cutting board.

 

[Airmapper]

Shameless promotion I know but if your looking for one currently a friend of mine has this one for sale (@jgatliff ) : https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/for-sale-hiker-6x10-deluxe-with-lots-of-upgrades.207208/

I don't recall him complaining about it over anything, he just wanted to upgrade.

 

[jgatliff]

Thanks @Airmapper !

yes I have one for sale it isn’t the off-road version but it is loaded to the gills with options. Shoot me a message if you have any questions.

 

[cornishrooster]

Thanks @Airmapper !

yes I have one for sale it isn’t the off-road version but it is loaded to the gills with options. Shoot me a message if you have any questions.

Thanks for the heads up. Unfortunately I'm not ready to buy yet but I'll give you a shout if that changes.
Cheers
Mike

 

[Over the hill]

That's a nice set up...I'm thinking about an off road version but looks like you could handle some pretty tough trails. What size tire are on it?
Thanks
Hill

 

[jgatliff]

That's a nice set up...I'm thinking about an off road version but looks like you could handle some pretty tough trails. What size tire are on it?
Thanks
Hill

Yeah it would easily handle anything I would want to drag a trailer down. The wheels are standard 15” trailer wheels and the tires are just radial trailer tires, they are 27-28” tall.