Small full-featured hard-sided stock trailers modified for slow off-pavement trips: surprisingly rare

[calicamper]

Yeah 21ft for their smallest trailer misses a big market. I find the folks in my area with the most purchase power also don’t like paying storage fees on toys used a a week or two a yr. So smaller package for home storage ability, multi use capability vs strictly RV use also a big deal.

 

[S4railroader]

they have shorter ones... just not bunks.
i actually dont see many RVs/TTs/ect in storage around here. i think thats more of a west coast thing. the vast majority are in peoples driveways year round. right now i could park a 30ft trailer my 22ft long truck and my wifes cherokee in the single lane driveway we have. (and i live in the city)

i dont understand people buying a camper and only using it a week a year. may as well just rent one.

 

[snowgroomer]

Another one to look at is the Winnebago micro minnie they are 7ft wide tandem axle at 18ft with decent clearance

 

[Bayou Boy]

ORVs are expensive. There is very little market for an $30,000+ 18ft box bunkhouse camper.

The real difference in fitting places and towing on rough roads is very small between an 18ft box and a 21ft box. It would still have tandem axles due to the tanks and general build weight of being an ORV.

Frankly, now having towed mine for a few months, I'll be upgrading to the 28 bunkhouse next year. The reality is if I'm willing to tow a 28ft long 9000# camper there, I'd tow a 32ft long 10,000# camper there too.

We ripped out the dinette on our 23dbs and replaced it with two chairs but we would like something with the dinette and a seating spot.

One thing to be aware of is the hitch height on these things. It's extremely tall. My tailgate hits the trailer coupler. Also, you need to carry a platform to ensure you can use the outdoor kitchen. That crazy amount of clearance comes at a price.

Overall I'm extremely happy with my ORV. Even down to how the sewer connection is tucked up high so it won't drag. They really are built for getting into the woods.

 

[Buddha.]

ORVs are expensive. There is very little market for an $30,000+ 18ft box bunkhouse camper.

The real difference in fitting places and towing on rough roads is very small between an 18ft box and a 21ft box. It would still have tandem axles due to the tanks and general build weight of being an ORV.

Frankly, now having towed mine for a few months, I'll be upgrading to the 28 bunkhouse next year. The reality is if I'm willing to tow a 28ft long 9000# camper there, I'd tow a 32ft long 10,000# camper there too.

We ripped out the dinette on our 23dbs and replaced it with two chairs but we would like something with the dinette and a seating spot.

One thing to be aware of is the hitch height on these things. It's extremely tall. My tailgate hits the trailer coupler. Also, you need to carry a platform to ensure you can use the outdoor kitchen. That crazy amount of clearance comes at a price.

Overall I'm extremely happy with my ORV. Even down to how the sewer connection is tucked up high so it won't drag. They really are built for getting into the woods.

Do you think the high profile causes more wind drag when there’s a headwind? My current trailer is over 11’ tall and having 25mph headwind for 9 hours was noisy with the gas engine at 4k rpms. Looking into downsizing.

 

[Bayou Boy]

Do you think the high profile causes more wind drag when there’s a headwind? My current trailer is over 11’ tall and having 25mph headwind for 9 hours was noisy with the gas engine at 4k rpms. Looking into downsizing.

I have no idea. Once you get that tall it's just going to suck with a head wind. This camper is almost the same height as my Lance 811 was on this truck at over 12ft and neither had any wind noise at all. That said, my Cummins does not really care what the wind does and sits at the same rpm regardless. I would look into upgrading your truck rather than downsizing the camper. The 6.0 is kind of a dog pulling a load.

 

[snowgroomer]

The wind drag is definitely there. Behind the van which is a V10 with 4.56 gears it spends alot of time at 3200 rpm on windy days or gradual grades.My other truck is a Ford dually with a 6.7 diesel it does not even know the trailer is behind it. I run a longer draw bar on the van for clearance on the spare tire that might work if you have tailgate issues

 

[S4railroader]

ORVs are expensive. There is very little market for an $30,000+ 18ft box bunkhouse camper.

The real difference in fitting places and towing on rough roads is very small between an 18ft box and a 21ft box. It would still have tandem axles due to the tanks and general build weight of being an ORV.

One thing to be aware of is the hitch height on these things. It's extremely tall. My tailgate hits the trailer coupler. Also, you need to carry a platform to ensure you can use the outdoor kitchen. That crazy amount of clearance comes at a price.

Overall I'm extremely happy with my ORV. Even down to how the sewer connection is tucked up high so it won't drag. They really are built for getting into the woods.

sure its 30k but look at its competition... 15-25k cheaply built stuff and the 40-80k niche (black series) or luxury trailers. i think ORV has a good balance of offroad capability, build quality, price, ect.

yeah, single axle would end up with a ton of tongue weight.

how high is your reciever from the ground? looks to be about level with mine from the pics/vids (haven't been able to go drive and look in person lol)

everything being tucked under and insulated is big selling point to me. and it does seem like they build a substantial trailer for modest offroading...




as for high profile and head winds, ive never really noticed a difference with my 6.7 Cummins well, besides at the fuel pump. just cant coast as much as i normally would. i tow more heavy loads than tall loads... and the only time i have a tall and heavy load im not going over 30mph so it doesn't really matter (grain bins)

 

[Buddha.]

A 20' tandem axle trailer with the axles flipped would be perfect. I can just drop it for more adventurous tails.

Nobo 19.5:

Last weekend we looked at some of the NOBO's competitors and I noticed things like a bathroom door handle falling off, and loose panels already coming apart in compartment interiors. At one point I tried to open a drawer and it jammed because the cabinets were not square. I tried to force it and the slide busted apart and jammed in place. I said "these things are built like ********" and the sales guy was just like "yep". He showed me a few of the bigger NOBO's and I didn't notice problems like that with them. My wife liked the 19.5.
They have torsion axle not leaf spring like most of the competition. I'm not sure which is better I tried to find online which is better but didn't come to a conclusion.

 

[dreadlocks]

Yeah the bigger ones will end up the same way after you put some miles on em.. the mass market builds really are garbage builds, they hardly stay together for people who use em once or twice every few years.. I hadda live full time out of a mass market camper once (tornado took our house out), was a pretty nice one we took out twice a year before we lived full time in it.. after 6mo of living in it, everything was falling apart.

I like torsion axles, there's a bunch of fud out there about em failing in the baha races due to sand contamination and stuff, but seriously you taking yours out for dune racing? I think if you have any kinda cargo hauler type design they are super nice since they ride great if the trailer is both empty and loaded.. Tandem Torsions are really nice offroad and on washboards with 4 indy wheels, single torsions the dampening is not used as much since it pivots on the hitch but still having shock absorbing is a very nice thing to have when towing on rough terrain, I would put Single Torsion and Leafs + Shocks about on equal playing field.. Torsion has the clearance advantage, but the leafs would be winning in simplicity, field repairability and cost.. and only since small trailers CAN go places big tandems simply cannot.

Nobo's seem like they were designed more for pulling behind mall crawlers than actual ExPo/Overlanding use.. I'm sure they are quite fine if you just take em to RV parks a few times a year, and the price reflects that.

 

[Buddha.]

Yeah the bigger ones will end up the same way after you put some miles on em.. the mass market builds really are garbage builds, they hardly stay together for people who use em once or twice every few years.. I hadda live full time out of a mass market camper once (tornado took our house out), was a pretty nice one we took out twice a year before we lived full time in it.. after 6mo of living in it, everything was falling apart.

I like torsion axles, there's a bunch of fud out there about em failing in the baha races due to sand contamination and stuff, but seriously you taking yours out for dune racing? I think if you have any kinda cargo hauler type design they are super nice since they ride great if the trailer is both empty and loaded.. Tandem Torsions are really nice offroad and on washboards with 4 indy wheels, single torsions the dampening is not used as much since it pivots on the hitch but still having shock absorbing is a very nice thinelessg to have when towing on rough terrain, I would put Single Torsion and Leafs + Shocks about on equal playing field.. Torsion has the clearance advantage, but the leafs would be winning in simplicity, field repairability and cost.. and only since small trailers CAN go places big tandems simply cannot.

Nobo's seem like they were designed more for pulling behind mall crawlers than actual ExPo/Overlanding use.. I'm sure they are quite fine if you just take em to RV parks a few times a year, and the price reflects that.

The NOBO may fall apart and become just like the crappier ones I looked at but at least they were put together "right" the first time. What does it say about a company that can't even get a product out the door that functions as designed? Some of these things are falling apart on day one. I've got 6-7 years of experience working in factories and recognize the rushed, careless assembly. No quality control to speak of.

We semi full-time(part-time?) out of our rig as work campers. We've stayed in it over 6 months straight at one point and the interior cabinets/ doors/ slides etc still work like it's a regular house. This one was built 15 years ago though, I think things have gone downhill in the industry since then.
We'd keep ours but the size (~34') makes it difficult to do the kind of traveling we like to do between seasons.

 

[LimaMikeMike]

Forest River (manufacturer of the NoBo) and Thor RV were the no go brands when we were deciding on a trailer. Cruise some RV forums for horror stories, you won’t have to dig too deep.

 

[dasadab]

Interesting thread. Any current thoughts.

 

[vintageracer]

Interesting thread. Any current thoughts.

Holiday Inn Express?

 

[Grassland]

Seems to be either tiny tear drop, expo with RTT, or a giant heavy job.
I've been looking for years.
We're back to looking at Escape 17 and 19 models. Maybe a Trailmarker but hard sell to my wife. Would like to see one in person, but I live far away from everything.