What No One Tells You About Buying an Off-Road Trailer

i get asked often if having an overland trailer is worth it out on the adventures that i'm on and while there are a lot of benefits to having a trailer like this there's definitely some things that you need to consider before deciding whether or not it's right for you and i've been using an overland trailer for about three years now and today i'm going to share my opinion on that very topic stay tuned welcome to trail recon my name is brad and today my wife regina and i are out here doing some exploring in this beautiful mountain location and we've stopped here to cook up a little lunch i'm excited to see what regina's cooking but i thought i would share with you and answer many of the questions that i've been getting about towing an off-road trailer an overland trailer there's a lot of things that i love about the trailer but there's definitely some things that need to be considered before you decide if it's right for you and so i just want to share with you my thoughts on those topics i think the first thing we should talk about is the question i get asked the most often and that is what's my fuel economy when i'm towing so if you're trying to decide whether or not an off-road trailer is right for you fuel economy is one of those things that is top of mind with a lot of folks i know that because i get asked all the time what is my fuel economy when i'm towing and so look in general when you tow a trailer on road or off-road your fuel economy is going to be reduced by quite a bit and so over the years i have towed an overland trailer with a jeep gladiator with a jeep wrangler diesel and now towing with the bronco and the results are pretty much similar i get about three to four miles per gallon less than i normally would when i'm towing the trailer so that's something that you have to consider when you're towing a trailer off-road and that maybe your range is going to be reduced now one great thing about a trailer though is you can carry extra fuel so right here i have 10 gallons of fuel that i can carry with me that more than makes up for that reduced fuel economy plus i can carry more fuel if i need to and so if we're out on a convoy with my buddies we can carry fuel for everybody so everybody doesn't have to put jerry cans and roto packs on their vehicles so there's a lot of advantages to having that extra storage space now there is the part of additional cost and right now gas prices are pretty high and so you need to know that going in that if you're working on a little bit of a budget for your trips that's going to add to your expense of your adventures so just something to consider if you're deciding whether or not you're going to get a trailer your fuel economy is going to be reduced how's lunch coming hon it's coming what do we got for lunch uh we're having some sloppy joes homemade oh yeah it's going to be good okay another thing that needs to be considered when deciding whether or not a trailer is right for you is the added amount of maintenance that you're going to have so it's important to do the maintenance on your vehicle your off-road and over landing vehicle but now if you add a trailer you're going to have additional maintenance things like tire replacement checking shocks just going through and making sure that bolts are tight often you know it's just like inspecting your vehicle after an off-road trip or before you go out on a long adventure you're going to want to have to do the same thing with the trailer so that's something that you're just going to have to take into consideration so not only is that new maintenance that you're going to be doing on the trailer a factor to consider but also the wear and tear that towing off-road is going to cause to your vehicle when you're going down washboard roads or going over obstacles that's going to now add extra stress to your vehicle suspension and your tires are going to wear out much more quickly than they would normally so those are some things that you're going to have to consider you're going to have to do a little bit more maintenance on your vehicle and some more detailed inspections just to make sure that you can handle towing that trailer out on the trails i got to tell you everyone regina just threw some garlic and onions in the pot and the aroma it smells really good okay two more things that you want to consider when you are towing off-road and that is one your pace is going to be a little bit slower than it would without a trailer and that's something that i always have to factor in now when i'm towing is maybe a trip that was going to take us six hours might now take us about six and a half hours you're going to move a little bit slower on road but definitely off-road because you're going to be taking a little bit more time with the trailer the other thing to consider is your turning radius and this is a big one now my vehicle is much much bigger and much much longer and i've got a third axle third set of tires to worry about and so if i need to turn around somewhere i've got to be thinking in my head and pre-planning that something that you don't really have to worry about as often when it's just your vehicle by yourself if you're towing and you're doing a little exploring and you've got to somehow turn around on a mountain you definitely got to factor that in another thing to consider is parking when you are out on your adventures and you're stopping for gas or maybe you're stopping at a restaurant and you need to pull off and park somewhere well you're not going to grab one of those standard parking spots you're going to have to drive around a little bit and find a parking spot that's going to accommodate the trailer so there's just two more things to consider the next thing to consider and this is a big one and that is the cost of an off-road trailer or an overland trailer like this one i'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for and when you buy a premium trailer like this you're gonna get a lot of options that are gonna make this thing one very capable and two have some nice luxuries but there are some other trailers out there that are at a different price point you may not just get some of those amenities that you might be looking for and the other option is a do-it-yourself trailer there are a lot of folks out there that build it themselves and while that's still not cheap you can save a lot of money building it yourself and plus there's just the joy of the fabrication and the design and the fact that you know that you made that with your own hands so that's something to consider the other cost that some folks don't think about is insurance and registration so now i'm paying insurance on this vehicle every month and i got to register it here every year so those are added costs that i didn't have before so just some things to think about all right just two more things to consider and then i want to dive into what i think are some of the great advantages of having an overland trailer so do you have a place to store a trailer that's a question that i think folks must ask themselves thankfully this trailer is compact enough that it fits in my garage but trailers come in all shapes and sizes and that may not be possible depending on what type of trailer you get and so do you have a side yard or a place that you can park it or are you gonna have to pay for storage for the trailer something you need to think about in advance also the other thing to think about is a brake controller on your vehicle now my jeep and my bronco don't come with brake controllers but i do plan on installing a redarc brake controller on both vehicles and while this trailer isn't heavy and you would think you don't need a brake controller with it having brakes off-road can be extremely beneficial when you're going over obstacles and you're trying to navigate things and when you're going down some steep declines having this trailer have its own brakes which it does but being able to control them can be very very important so you're gonna have to think do you need to install a brake controller on your vehicle all right let's go check out lunch and then let's talk about the advantages there's a reason they're called sloppy joes we're gonna need a fork that's all right these are these are homemade sloppy joes these aren't like the ones you get out of a can and uh man what a beautiful spot i mean come on what a great place for lunch [Music] yeah yeah something like a homemade sloppy do so we're not going to put the advantages of the trailer in any kind of special order but i think one of the big ones especially for you is having this kitchen it's so nice you can just pull over to the side of the trail open everything up and you were cooking within 10 minutes yeah i was and i mean i have a sink so i can wash my hands so when i'm chopping jalapenos i don't rub my eyes like i've done before yeah but um yeah i have everything all of my measuring cups spoons knives cutting boards and there wasn't a lot of packing involved and so that's a great thing about a trailer is you know you can just leave everything stored in there you're not moving it in and out of your vehicle all the time we pretty much leave the trailer ready to go we just add food and drinks and water and then we're out here having lunch at a beautiful spot like this speaking of everything we need you want to grab me a fork sure these are good huh thank you you're welcome [Applause] man lunch was good and regina volunteered to do dishes typically if you cook you don't clean but she volunteered which is fine by me so we can continue having this conversation but look i gotta emphasize having a kitchen that's ready to go is super convenient you know i've cooked out of the back of my vehicle before and you're going through boxes and drawers and bags to set everything up the trailer is so plug and play when it comes to using your kitchen plus we can carry a lot more food because we have a bigger fridge than we would normally put in the back of our vehicle and then let's talk about water for a second this trailer holds 40 gallons of water never would i put 40 gallons of water in the back of the bronco that would just be nuts so having that extra storage a larger fridge all that water and a plug and play kitchen man that's a huge benefit a couple other big advantages to having a trailer is now i don't have to build out this bronco if i don't want to i don't need to install a roof rack and a rooftop tent and some kind of power management system to manage a refrigerator and all kinds of storage and shelving in there i can leave it pretty clean and so when i'm disconnected if it's a daily driver it operates just as it should it's not this big heavy vehicle that i'm taking everywhere and that's the other great thing about having a trailer is we can disconnect and so if we're at a beautiful beautiful spot like this and we want to set up base camp and then go take off and explore it's very easy to do just lock up the trailer we can go hit the trails and go check out some of these beautiful mountain places being able to base camp is a big bonus now i mentioned earlier that trailers come in all shapes and sizes and some trailers are better at storing gear than others some are just for sleeping like a teardrop where you're just gonna sleep inside and just have a little bit of storage this one here allows us to bring a lot of gear and truthfully we don't even come close to packing this completely full but it is nice to be able to bring extra stuff especially if you're a family if you're a family of four and you get in a vehicle your vehicle is already going to be pretty close to its gross vehicle weight and then you throw clothing and camping gear sometimes it's pretty easy to exceed the vehicle's gross vehicle waiting well with a trailer you're not going to have that problem because now all that gear is shifted to the trailer and you can bring some nice items with you like a barbecue grill i wouldn't bring a barbecue grill on the back of my jeep also we've got a toilet in here for regina with a privacy tent a little cassette toilet so that makes it very convenient we've got a shower we've got two massive propane bottles and i already mentioned that we've got a ton of water and we've got 200 amp hour batteries so we've got plenty of power for charging things up for running gear you're going to carry a lot more gear on a trailer than you'll be able to put in the back of a vehicle the next big advantage of having a trailer is this now becomes where you sleep and so some trailers like a teardrop you can sleep inside or in our case we have a rooftop tent on top of the trailer and you can see the trailer has a pretty low roof line and so this rooftop tent sits very low which makes getting in and out very easy accessing the latches opening and closing it is much more convenient than trying to do it on the roof of our vehicle where you got to climb up on a tire and reach way up there much easier access plus you know because it's a trailer and the weight is off the vehicle if you wanted to get a little bit larger roof top tip than you normally would want to put on top of your vehicle because maybe you have a family you can do that a little bit more easily now having a rooftop tent and a roof rack on your vehicle that's weight that sits way up high and i've done that for many years and i will probably do it again someday but there are some pros and cons to having a rooftop tent on your vehicle it makes it a little more top heavy and you have to maneuver on the trail just a little bit more differently than you would if it wasn't up there so having that weight of the rooftop tent on the trailer for me has been a big advantage so one more very big advantage to having a trailer to us we're going to share with you here in a moment and then we're going to dive into some things to look for if you're going to buy an off-road trailer things i think that are very important but we love having this trailer and i love having it because you are happier and you come out with me more often why is that well because it has everything i could possibly want to make me comfortable i mean this kitchen is awesome it's got running water which is key when i'm chopping meat i can wash my hands off there's tons of storage because i don't pack lights no matter how hard i try so i can pretty much bring everything in the kitchen sink literally um but yeah i can pack my privacy tent and a commode which just makes camping so much more comfortable yeah 100 i hear a lot from you guys how can i get my wife to go out with me more often and the truth is make it more comfortable for me don't make them rough it guys because look there are women that don't mind it but there are some women that just enjoy some of the creature comfort ladies girls people people that enjoy you're right these are guys there are guys that enjoy some creature comforts and having a trailer like this allows you some of those creature comforts all right now let's talk about some things you should think about before you buy a trailer that you should look for specifically all right so maybe you've decided that an overland trailer is right for you what are some specific things that i think you should look for well i love the patriot campers trailer because there are some things that they have done to this trailer that have made it very capable for me off-road and starting with a 360 degree hitch i love this trailer hitch because it allows me to be very maneuverable on some of those tight sections of trail you know a standard ball and hitch will get it done on the road and maybe on some easy dirt roads but when you start getting into some rough terrain or you're getting over some obstacles maybe going up and down some climbs having something that's 360 degrees is gonna make it much easier for you to get through some of those obstacles another important thing is to make sure your trailer has independent suspension i'm not a fan of solid axle trailers out on the trail when you're out getting in ruts and obstacles having that independent suspension is going to help that trailer stay much more level and give you the confidence that you're not going to roll that thing when you're out there another thing that is very important is the width of the trailer you don't want a trailer that's so narrow and top heavy taller than your vehicle that you're going to have to worry about it falling over but you don't want it so wide that it's wider than your vehicle and now when you're going through an obstacle not only are you thinking about the width of your vehicle but you now you have to think about the width of the trailer there's a lot to think about when you're off-roading and what is happening to that trailer but i will say having the trailer being the same width or a little bit narrower than the vehicle gives you a little bit of peace of mind knowing okay if i'm going to fit through this tight section of trail here i know that the trailer is going to do it as well the last thing that i think is very important is how much that trailer weighs if you have a big heavy steel trailer that you're pulling and then you throw all that gear on there it's gonna put more undue stress on your vehicle so having a trailer that's lightweight that's small it's not this big behemoth of a trailer out on the trail it's just going to make it easy when you're climbing upgrades when you're going through obstacles and it's going to be less strain on your vehicle so those are just some of the key points i would look for if you're in the market for an overland trailer so i've shared with you some of my thoughts about the advantages of an overland trailer and some things you should consider before getting one i hope you have found this very valuable regina and i have had a blast out here today it's a beautiful day and after having that great lunch we've decided we're just going to chill for a little bit and soak in this mountain view before packing up and heading out of here if you haven't checked us out over at trailrecon.com make sure you go visit us we've got all kinds of over landing gear over there and if you visit us over at e3 overland we've created all kinds of beginner courses to help you get started on your next adventure thanks for watching

Channel: TrailRecon

Views: 285,966

Keywords: trailrecon, jeep, wrangler, overlanding, 4x4, adventure, trail, review, lift, tires, overland, crawling, desert, forest, rubicon, California, product, jk, tj, toyota, fj, cruiser, overlander, truck, bronco, four wheel drive, offroad, off-roading, off-road, overland vehicle, news, offroad trailer, off-road trailer, overland trailer, towing a trailer, buying an off-road trailer, buying an offroad trailer, buying an overland trailer, pros and cons to an off-road trailer, buying a trailer, owning an offroad trailer

Id: _LqluuyZmUk

Length: 16min 57sec (1017 seconds)

Published: Sun May 08 2022