Off road-ability and survivability of $20k teardrops

[JimmyTheT]

We are in the market for an off-road teardrop. We prefer a hard-sided, sleep inside vs a RTT.

Our primary 3 requirements are:

1) Price. I'm not spending $35,000 on a mattress with wheels. We're looking for <$25,000
2) Height. Our garage height is 81"
3) Off-road-ability.

I know you get what you pay for but I just can't justify spending more than 25k. But that being said, I don't want something that isn't going to last because it's built to a low price point. I've read about exposed wood and other things that concern me since we have pretty significant water crossings, not to mention regular rain and snow. Coming from a boating background I am super paranoid of leaks and wood-rot.

We only camp in remote, disbursed, camping areas and have to push it further than everyone else in order to find great sites. I don't rock-crawl on purpose but many of the trails are at least "moderate" rated, this means rock fields with boulders that bang up my Tacoma's under armor, significant ruts and off-camber sections, and generally pretty rough terrain. Most of the reviews I read are from people who generally consider gravel forest roads to be off-roading. I definitely need something that stands up to much more than that.

In this price range, I've basically been looking at Hiker Extreme Off Road, Vintage Trailer Works XTR, Oregon Terradrop Alpha, and Escapade Backcountry.

I found a few YouTube videos with people that seem to put there's through the paces but most have much pricier campers. Does anyone have experience with any trailers in my price range and can speak to a) their off-road performance and b) long-term survivability?

Any other manufacturers I should be looking at?

 

[Arailt]

$35K for a teardrop!? I remember when they used to be like 10 grand fully loaded. I'd put a cap on the Tacoma and throw a mattress in the back.

 

[JimmyTheT]

$35K for a teardrop!? I remember when they used to be like 10 grand fully loaded. I'd put a cap on the Tacoma and throw a mattress in the back.

I agree. 35 is on the low end for many of the ones built for off-road. I have no doubt they're incredible but I'm not willing to spend that much.

 

[smritte]

This is why I build mine.
Let me tell you what the cheaper guys do then what you actually don't need that you will pay for on a high end trailer.

In case you dont know, this is how a normal trailer is built.
Lets say you want a trailer that can haul 5000 pounds.
1. 5k axle
2. Springs that can support 5k.

What you have here is a trailer that can haul 5000 pounds but has way too much spring rate if you put less. This wont be an issue unless your bouncing down a dirt road. One of my buddies bought an expensive (but used) tear drop. The spring rate is so high the vehicle bounces side to side with the wheels actually leaving the ground. This is on a moderate dirt road at about 15 mph. Street is fine.

What we have seen in the last several years is trailer manufactures making trailers the way they always have, to haul weight. They throw on, off road tires and call it an off road trailer.

When I build my off road trailer, the springs not only match the weight but I factor in travel. You could say I model them off of my desert tucks.
Some of the better manufactures build this way and the others build "trailers".

First don't buy into independent suspension. You don't need it. Leaf springs are progressive, you can tune them easily and you can get diffrent spring rates. One of the independent manufactures uses a rubber spring and another uses torsions. You have a choice of this rate or that rate. If the spring rate is not what you want you have no other choice.
The one I mentioned that bounce sideways? His has torsions. The next set lower is too soft.

I can build any suspension there is. I use leaf's because their simple and easy. But, with a solid axle I don't have all that clearance an independent does. How hard core are you going? I ran a skinny 35" on my M-100 and dragged it over Rubicon and Dusy as well as most of the big trails out here. Has the solid axle given me any issues? No, It had more ground clearance than my diffs.

Bottom line. Find what you want, swap out the springs and add in a good set of shocks. Make sure the frame can handle another set of spring hangers if you want to go to a longer spring. The "trailer" companies use short stiff springs. you can get softer short ones if you need. I use CJ7 rear leaf's with 4-5 inch lift. If your too stiff, pull out a leaf. KYB shocks from an early lowered VW.
If you drove behind any of my trailers, you would see the wheels moving up and down and the trailer not.

 

[OTH Overland]

I agree. 35 is on the low end for many of the ones built for off-road. I have no doubt they're incredible but I'm not willing to spend that much.

40-50k and up for some of the Turtleback / Patriot trailers and you are still sleeping in a tent on top....

 

[Crfracer47]

@JimmyTheT, a buddy of mine picked up a Vintage Trailers XTR. Unfortunately, he was not quite as into the backcountry/dispersed camping as I am (often too cold for he and his wife), and so he didn't really push it very hard/far. It was a nice trailer, but looking at it up close, I would be afraid of bending/breaking something with what you have described above. I can't recall exactly, but I have a recollection of the floor being plywood and exposed to the elements (not good for your water crossings or deep snow), though I could be wrong about that, and that it was just a thin sheet of metal. Their biggest complaint about the floor was that it transferred a lot of cold air through it, and so we were looking at ways to insulate it, with the primary thought being to add a layer of foam board insulation, and then weld a thin (probably 10ga or 16ga) sheet of metal on to trap the foam and add some rock protection (part of why I'm remembering exposed wood underneath.)

All in all, nice trailer for stuff a little more aggressive than gravel fire roads, but not much more than that.

 

[JimmyTheT]

We rented an XTR and took it up some trails to test it out. It handled the off road stuff just fine. I have some reservations about the build quality though. They're built to a 20k price point so I can't expect high end fit and finish but I think we might have ruled them out for now.

 

[shansonpac]

40-50k and up for some of the Turtleback / Patriot trailers and you are still sleeping in a tent on top....

That maybe true, and I get the price points. However, a Turtleback trailer is much more than just a trailer with a tent on the top. When I was shopping for trailers I actually flew out to Phoenix to go to their manufacturing facility and put my hands on the trailer at every step of production. There is just no comparison from a quality of build standpoint. I could tell immediately that this trailer was going to hold up to the most demanding conditions and bring along a high level of comfort that makes overlanding much more enjoyable. They built the trailer out to my specifications, and after a season on the road, I’m very happy with my decision. I feel blessed that I was able to afford it. I deserve it after 67 years….

 

[OTH Overland]

That maybe true, and I get the price points. However, a Turtleback trailer is much more than just a trailer with a tent on the top. When I was shopping for trailers I actually flew out to Phoenix to go to their manufacturing facility and put my hands on the trailer at every step of production. There is just no comparison from a quality of build standpoint. I could tell immediately that this trailer was going to hold up to the most demanding conditions and bring along a high level of comfort that makes overlanding much more enjoyable. They built the trailer out to my specifications, and after a season on the road, I’m very happy with my decision. I feel blessed that I was able to afford it. I deserve it after 67 years….

I have no doubt on the quality of both Turtleback and Patriot, have looked hard at both of them, Just hard to justify that they equal the cost of a new well equipped vehicle. Wonder how much of the total cost is Overland Tax? of course that is the case with any popular hobby. I love the idea of an off road trailer, but in the area we live so much time would be spent turning it around on tight washed out trails that I think when added to the cost in our case the added camp comfort would be negated. I do still get a bit jealous watching folks on the you tubes playing with theirs. It was interesting to see Lifestyle Overland sell their fully equipped TB and then go to a trailer that is basically just a container, losing the kitchen and camp features. Glad that you love yours, that is the best thing about overlanding is everyone gets to do it their own way.

 

[shansonpac]

I have no doubt on the quality of both Turtleback and Patriot, have looked hard at both of them, Just hard to justify that they equal the cost of a new well equipped vehicle. Wonder how much of the total cost is Overland Tax? of course that is the case with any popular hobby. I love the idea of an off road trailer, but in the area we live so much time would be spent turning it around on tight washed out trails that I think when added to the cost in our case the added camp comfort would be negated. I do still get a bit jealous watching folks on the you tubes playing with theirs. It was interesting to see Lifestyle Overland sell their fully equipped TB and then go to a trailer that is basically just a container, losing the kitchen and camp features. Glad that you love yours, that is the best thing about overlanding is everyone gets to do it their own way.

"Overland Tax". I love it. I paid that for my Rubicon too....

There were a number of facets to my decision-making process.

• I looked long and hard at tricking out my jeep with a RTT, etc., but then realized that every time I wanted to go for a ride from camp, I would have to pack the tent. I would also be limited to the "comfort" items I could pack in the Jeep. Not a lot. I like to get to a nice place and base camp, then explore the surrounding area with the Jeep. I do have to be careful to ensure that the trails traveled are appropriate for an expedition trailer (I do a lot of planning, which is half the fun for me). The trailer will go just about anywhere a stock Rubicon can go, with the exception of super tight switch backs. Even then the rig's turning radius with a long tongue is pretty impressive. The Turtleback is just over 13 feet nose-to-tail.
• The second facet is the advice that I got talking to a variety of seasoned overlanders. If you want your spouse to go with you, you have to make camping comfortable for them. Having hot water, a shower, cassette toilet, roomy tent with an adequate mattress, and a good kitchen are deal makers for my spouse.
• Now, as to the nuances of trailers, on a recent five day trip with my friends with Off Grid Trailers, I was envious at how quick that they can pack up and button up on a travel day. I had to get up extra early (and pack up some stuff the night before) to be ready at departure time as I was traveling solo.

Anyway, one thing that I love about overlanding is learning from everyone, which has helped me to streamline my experience.

 

[SBU25]

I would look for a used Boreas, at least several years old, and see if you can find something down at your price range. Their earlier AT model was fairly bare bones, but still shared the same lifetime guarantee (first owner) chassis and frame that is probably one of the best built, at least that I could find, on the market. An older XT might be close to your budget as well, and will have a lot more capability such as solar, kitchen, heat, etc., so you won't need to add anything. One look at the chassis and frame and you'll see what I'm talking about. So much more stout than the majority of boxes out there, and no wood anywhere. We've had an XT and will be moving up to the EOS, and we looked at lots of others, and couldn't find anything else with the same build quality or warranties. Even though the warranty won't carry over to a second owner, it shows the kind of quality that's involved.

 

[orange01z28]

Why buy something that limits what you can do offroad?

 

[UgotWheelz]

We are in the market for an off-road teardrop. We prefer a hard-sided, sleep inside vs a RTT.

Our primary 3 requirements are:

1) Price. I'm not spending $35,000 on a mattress with wheels. We're looking for <$25,000
2) Height. Our garage height is 81"
3) Off-road-ability.

I know you get what you pay for but I just can't justify spending more than 25k. But that being said, I don't want something that isn't going to last because it's built to a low price point. I've read about exposed wood and other things that concern me since we have pretty significant water crossings, not to mention regular rain and snow. Coming from a boating background I am super paranoid of leaks and wood-rot.

We only camp in remote, disbursed, camping areas and have to push it further than everyone else in order to find great sites. I don't rock-crawl on purpose but many of the trails are at least "moderate" rated, this means rock fields with boulders that bang up my Tacoma's under armor, significant ruts and off-camber sections, and generally pretty rough terrain. Most of the reviews I read are from people who generally consider gravel forest roads to be off-roading. I definitely need something that stands up to much more than that.

In this price range, I've basically been looking at Hiker Extreme Off Road, Vintage Trailer Works XTR, Oregon Terradrop Alpha, and Escapade Backcountry.

I found a few YouTube videos with people that seem to put there's through the paces but most have much pricier campers. Does anyone have experience with any trailers in my price range and can speak to a) their off-road performance and b) long-term survivability?

Any other manufacturers I should be looking at?

I bought three different teardrops and a micro travel trailer all which were claimed by the manufactures to be Offroad capable all our major brand names none of them were Offroad capable and simply bounce down off road tracks shaking everything in the trailer to the floor. All of these would have been below $20,000 years ago but now they go for well over that. For the price of a trailer nowadays I can sell my jeep and just get a fully equipped van with a pop top have more capability more storage capacity or use ability. If you simply must have a trailer to fit your particular type of camping I would look at building at yourself or contracting an off-road fabrication shop to do it for you.

 

[JimmyTheT]

I bought three different teardrops and a micro travel trailer all which were claimed by the manufactures to be Offroad capable all our major brand names none of them were Offroad capable and simply bounce down off road tracks shaking everything in the trailer to the floor. All of these would have been below $20,000 years ago but now they go for well over that. For the price of a trailer nowadays I can sell my jeep and just get a fully equipped van with a pop top have more capability more storage capacity or use ability. If you simply must have a trailer to fit your particular type of camping I would look at building at yourself or contracting an off-road fabrication shop to do it for you.

Were yours "off-road" models made by the large RV manufacturers? Or where they purpose built off road campers? The large manufacturers add some bigger tires and a different suspension and call it off road capable. It's still the same cheaply built camper though. We're interested in the more purpose built ones. But I agree, the prices are crazy. For the same price, I could buy a second truck, or tow a van, and leave it at the site like a camper.

 

[UgotWheelz]

I bought three different teardrops and a micro travel trailer all which were claimed by the manufactures to be Offroad capable all our major brand names none of them were Offroad capable and simply bounce down off road tracks shaking everything in the trailer to the floor. All of these would have been below $20,000 years ago but now they go for well over that. For the price of a trailer nowadays I can sell my jeep and just get a fully equipped van with a pop top have more capability more storage capacity or use ability. If you simply must have a trailer to fit your particular type of camping I would look at building at yourself or contracting an off-road fabrication shop to do it for you.

Were yours "off-road" models made by the large RV manufacturers? Or where they purpose built off road campers? The large manufacturers add some bigger tires and a different suspension and call it off road capable. It's still the same cheaply built camper though. We're interested in the more purpose built ones. But I agree, the prices are crazy. For the same price, I could buy a second truck, or tow a van, and leave it at the site like a camper.

One was manufactured by an RV company but quoted as being off-road capable including an actual off-road independent suspension system. The others were from small teardrop manufacturers who touted their off-road capability. Surprisingly the one teardrop that I bought used as a temporary solution, that I didn’t think would hold up or would self-destruct on the first trail actually held up the best, but it suspension bounced down the trail and that was a nucamp t@g Boondock; the only exception was the latches for the rear kitchen hatch which I replaced with aftermarket Jeep hood latches. I would say there is a surprising amount of low quality plywood and particleboard in many of these, even ones that advertise their aluminum or composite skins still have some significant wood that was untreated for water intrusion. I would look into the composite trailers if that’s the direction you’re going. Take a careful look to make sure they’re still isn’t any unsealed wood surfaces within the trailer. If you do find a trailer that works for you I’d appreciate hearing more about what trailer it was, as I’m still on the lookout but likely just gonna stick with the jeep wk2 and moving everything in and out of the jeep WK2 when I break down and set up camp.

 

[HaVeeBear]

...it seem like a lot of people are coming to similar conclusions....I think if you can give it a year or so, prices will come down or you'll be able to find good used ones on the market. When you start considering the higher prices, looking at changing vehicles becomes an option (as pointed out earlier), or you just get something like a Hiker Trailer and modify the suspension a bit as @smritte pointed out. No doubt some of the overland specific trailers are well built for purpose, but I have to remind myself that "Better" is the enemy of "Good Enough." What's good enough for your purpose? ....

 

[UgotWheelz]

We are in the market for an off-road teardrop. We prefer a hard-sided, sleep inside vs a RTT.

Our primary 3 requirements are:

1) Price. I'm not spending $35,000 on a mattress with wheels. We're looking for <$25,000
2) Height. Our garage height is 81"
3) Off-road-ability.

I know you get what you pay for but I just can't justify spending more than 25k. But that being said, I don't want something that isn't going to last because it's built to a low price point. I've read about exposed wood and other things that concern me since we have pretty significant water crossings, not to mention regular rain and snow. Coming from a boating background I am super paranoid of leaks and wood-rot.

We only camp in remote, disbursed, camping areas and have to push it further than everyone else in order to find great sites. I don't rock-crawl on purpose but many of the trails are at least "moderate" rated, this means rock fields with boulders that bang up my Tacoma's under armor, significant ruts and off-camber sections, and generally pretty rough terrain. Most of the reviews I read are from people who generally consider gravel forest roads to be off-roading. I definitely need something that stands up to much more than that.

In this price range, I've basically been looking at Hiker Extreme Off Road, Vintage Trailer Works XTR, Oregon Terradrop Alpha, and Escapade Backcountry.

I found a few YouTube videos with people that seem to put there's through the paces but most have much pricier campers. Does anyone have experience with any trailers in my price range and can speak to a) their off-road performance and b) long-term survivability?

Any other manufacturers I should be looking at?

I bought three different teardrops and a micro travel trailer all which were claimed by the manufactures to be Offroad capable all our major brand names none of them were Offroad capable and simply bounce down off road tracks shaking everything in the trailer to the floor. All of these would have been below $20,000 years ago but now they go for well over that. For the price of a trailer nowadays I can sell my jeep and just get a fully equipped van with a pop top have more capability more storage capacity or use ability. If you simply must have a trailer to fit your particular type of camping I would look at building at yourself or contracting an off-road fabrication shop to do it for you.

I’m actually looking at a Ford Airstream B190 van or the Falcon clone of that be B190 with a four-wheel-drive conversion. Over towing. For “me” it’s just enough extra storage capacity and an off the floor space sleeping area that it would suit my needs. and Those be 190 Airstream vans are plentiful a pop up all the times on classified adds. And a full size E-series van is about as big as you want to go and still be able to handle off grid tracks and trails.

 

[TSL]

Another one to consider might be High Camp trailers ( High Camp Trailers | Teardrop Trailers ) I was getting close to ordering one of those when "competing financial priorities" got in the way !
His trailers are not ridiculously priced, you could add on a number of options to his base price and stay under $25k. The trailers don't immediately look like "hard core off road" trailers, but he claims they will handle any logging road / fire road / wash boarded / washed out road you can throw at it.
It does look like his fit and finish is very good.
I haven't yet had a chance to visit his shop ( I live within an hour of him ) so I can't speak from first hand experience but his trailers certainly caught my eye.
My biggest issue actually is convincing my wife that a tear drop with an RTT will work for a family of 4. She loves the galley / kitchen at the back, loves the sleeping cabin, but her point is "where do we all go to spend a wet afternoon at camp ?" We can't gather round and play cards or something while waiting for the weather to clear, we have to hunker down, two in the cabin and two in the RTT. I do see her point, but still much prefer a teardrop over some big badly made box on wheels or even a popup camper., which has a lot of moving parts to contend with.

 

[JimmyTheT]

Those High Camp Trailers look nice. Not sure if they'd hold up to some of the terrain we have to cover but I haven't looked too closely at them.

My wife's concerns are the same as your wife's. We rented a teardrop this past fall during some cold weather and once the sun went down it was too cold to hang out out side but the camper itself was too small to hang out inside. Our large tent actually has more room than the teardrop.

I think the secret will be getting an enclosed annex to protect from the rain, sun, and to heat up with a buddy heater if it's cold.

 

[JimmyTheT]

...it seem like a lot of people are coming to similar conclusions....I think if you can give it a year or so, prices will come down or you'll be able to find good used ones on the market. When you start considering the higher prices, looking at changing vehicles becomes an option (as pointed out earlier), or you just get something like a Hiker Trailer and modify the suspension a bit as @smritte pointed out. No doubt some of the overland specific trailers are well built for purpose, but I have to remind myself that "Better" is the enemy of "Good Enough." What's good enough for your purpose? ....

I'm definitely seeing prices on used ones come down, and they're sitting unsold on the market. I don't know how much of this is due to it being winter though.