<<<< Sure, we could rough it, but we’re not into endurance tests. We like our comfort. A trailer was the answer for our needs and has served us well.>>>>

Floodrunner, I am really interested in the structural details of your trailer and what you carry in it. What is it like towing a trailer? Do you think it is a liability? Trailboss treated me to a picture of his trailer. Wow! It's got my mind spinning!
Outlawd

 

Your experience with towing a trailer with anything will be greatly effected by the weight distribution of your load. This is vastly more important when your pulling vehicle is as small and lightweight as a quad. And just like your quad, the trailer design has to be appropriate for the terrain you put in front of it or you’ll be making the best of a bad situation in a hurry.

The trailer we currently use for camping is one I designed and had custom built. After three years of use I have “refined” the design and plan to have a new one built this winter. Our current one was modeled after a typical garden tractor trailer. The box measures 60” long x 34” wide. The track is about 45” outside to outside so the box sits down between the wheels. With 12” 6 ply tires on hubs and spindles with high speed bearings this gives me about 9” of ground clearance. There are fenders above the tires to cut down on thrown debris and a “swing down” tongue jack to level out the rig when not hooked up. The box is enclosed, with two “lid” doors on top that form a pitched “roof.” These doors are hinged on the sides of the box so when opened they can be supported horizontally by a board between the fenders and the lids and be used as tables. These work great for preparing food, cooking, putting our collapsible water bags on, whatever you need a clean horizontal surface for. When the doors are closed forming the roof they have hasps that can be locked together at the peak for security.

This design has work well but not flawlessly. With the trailer’s four closed sides, our huge 120 quart cooler, once in the trailer and filled, almost requires a crane to be lifted in and out. Nine inches of ground clearance may sound like plenty but the relatively small 12” tires have a difficult time climbing over big rocks and large diameter logs. On a flat trail it’s fine but it suffers in wilderness travel.

My new design is based on a trailer on High Lifter’s site called the Trail Buggy (I think). It’s a deck-over style with 20” tires. This design will be far more capable in the rough stuff. If it wasn’t for my specific requirements I’d buy it from High Lifter but the mods I’d have to do on the box would almost have me starting from scratch anyway. First, I want a 48” x 60” box. Our quads are over 48” wide so why not? Next I want and enclosed box, not only for protection from the elements but for security. When we ride from our campsite on a 4-5 hour trip I want to be able to lock up the majority of our valuables and gear. Let’s face it, camping equipment is portable by definition, and expensive. I lock the hitch and lock the box when we leave. The new box will have removable end panels (front and rear) as well as the hinged roof design for use as tables. The lids will overlap the end panels once they’re slid down into their “slots” so that the lids have to be unlocked and open to remove the ends. With an end removed I’ll be able to slide the heavier gear out instead of lifting it. I also have it in mind to provide some kind of horizontal “shelf” on the tongue (permanent or removable?) so that our cooler can sit there and be more accessible when parked.

As yet I’ve only committed this design to paper. I’d be more than happy to consider the ideas of anyone else.

 

Floodrunner,
You really can carry a giant ice chest in your trailer? Wow! That answers my concerns about having cold goods available on an atv trip.Your new trailer design sounds like it addresses the learning curve. About how many pounds could a 500 HO easily tow in the backcountry? Trailboss, how many pounds do you tow roughly?
Outlawd

 

I guess I really can't say how much I carry. I have never weighed it when loaded for camping. I would estimate 300 or maybe 350 pounds fully loaded. That includes 3 five gallon jerry cans strapped to the cover. Most of the time we just keep loading it until it is stuffed and it weighs what it weighs. Weight has never been a concern for the trailer to handle. And with 25 inch atv tires it has almost 11 inches of ground clearance. The only restriction being how much is comfortable to tow. Of course lighter is better, but so is having everything you want with you. The heavier it is the more problems you will have. What is more the determining factor for me is the type of terrain we will be riding. If it is unfamiliar area I learned the hard way to take extra precautions in precarious places. Once while making a sharp turn on a side hill the trailer tire rode up on a small hidden stump and before I realized it started tipping. Before I could even hit the brake it flipped on its side and took me and my quad with it. Luckily it only went on its side and my buddies were right there to help. If we are traveling hardpack or less hilly areas then the weight is less of a problem. If we are going through swampy, hilly or rocky areas I try to keep it as light as possible. As I said I prefer to use the trailer when we have a predetermined destination that we are going to. Pulling a trailer around when trying to explore is cumbersome, so its nice to get to the site and drop it, lock it up, then go play.
As for the cold goods in the desert. Have you tried on of the 12 volt coolers they make? I have a small coleman one that plugs into an accessory outlet on my quad and it cools or heats the contents as you choose. We use it almost every time we go and it works great. Don't leave it plugged in too long without the quad running though. A few hours and the battery will be dead.
Good luck once again!

 

It’s a giant ice chest alright, we call it the White Whale. We partition off a corner for food, the rest is reserved for “beverages.”

A wild guess is all I can offer for what kind of weight we carry and pull. I stack 3 fuel/ water packs on my front rack (2 fuel, 1 water). We’ve been using these for about 3 years and I highly recommend them. I never ride without a fuel pack on my front rack, but we’re long distance riders. The front rack of my wife’s SP carries the folding camp chairs, stools and chain saw bag (easily accessible for widening the trail for the rig pulling the trailer if necessary). Everything else that we don’t normally carry in our rear hard boxes on a day ride is in the trailer. The trailer itself probably weighs 200#. The gear inside probably weighs 500#, give or take 150#. I’ve dragged that rig through some god-awful terrain. It performs worst on muddy, rutty inclines, the kind of riding we’d normally do slow and technical. But pulling the trailer there’s the need for speed and momentum to climb so I have to nail the throttle and hope for the best. My new design should remedy this.

You have to keep in mind, we don’t “gypsy” camp traveling this heavily. We take the most direct route to our camping destination and don’t break camp for four days. Pulling that trailer is not “riding” in my opinion, it’s more like just gettin’ a job done. Once we get where we’re going, by virtue of its “tables”, the trailer functions as both storage and as a work station, much like your kitchen counter at home. If we were traversing a mountain trail, camping in a new spot every night, our priorities and gear would change drastically. I’d go with a lighter trailer, smaller tent and fewer creature comforts. In my opinion I’d rather pull a trailer than ride a quad with the racks loaded to maximum capacity.

 

"If we were traversing a mountain trail, camping in a new spot every night, our priorities and gear would change drastically. I’d go with a lighter trailer, smaller tent and fewer creature comforts.

Floodrunner,
While we are on the subject then, would you go into some detail about these changes you mention if camping in a new place everynight? Also, what creature comforts would you eliminate? I call this style of trip "nomad" camping. We have done quite a bit of this sort of thing using fourwheel drive vehicles, though never on (off of I mean<G>) an ATV.

" In my opinion I’d rather pull a trailer than ride a quad with the racks loaded to maximum capacity."

With the racks loaded to capacity, then, would one expect a considerable change in "feel" on the trail?
Outlawd

 

"If we were traversing a mountain trail, camping in a new spot every night, our priorities and gear would change drastically. I’d go with a lighter trailer, smaller tent and fewer creature comforts.

Floodrunner,
While we are on the subject then, would you go into some detail about these changes you mention if camping in a new place everynight? Also, what creature comforts would you eliminate? I call this style of trip "nomad" camping. We have done quite a bit of this sort of thing using fourwheel drive vehicles, though never on (off of I mean<G>) an ATV.

" In my opinion I’d rather pull a trailer than ride a quad with the racks loaded to maximum capacity."

With the racks loaded to capacity, then, would one expect a considerable change in "feel" on the trail?
Outlawd

 

"If we are traveling hardpack or less hilly areas then the weight is less of a problem. If we are going through swampy, hilly or rocky areas I try to keep it as light as possible."

Trailboss,

Any experience to share from towing through soft sand like in a desert wash?

"As for the cold goods in the desert. Have you tried on of the 12 volt coolers they make? I have a small coleman one that plugs into an accessory outlet on my quad and it cools or heats the contents as you choose. We use it almost every time we go and it works great. Don't leave it plugged in too long without the quad running though. A few hours and the battery will be dead"


Yes, we have considered these. Possibly carrying one of those power packs for jumpstarting car batteries; it could be charged up during the day and possibly run the fridge most of the night? I have an Australian made fridge, but it could not stand up to the punishment of our fourwheel drive trips. I went back to carrying the giant marine ice chest. I hear ARB has a new fridge model they say is very tough.
Outlawd

 

Well you got me on that question! I have done some sand riding but it was on sport quads never on my 4x4 and never pulling my trailer. In Minnesota (and Wisconsin) where I ride the most, sandy conditions are rare. The greater part of both states are forested and swampy to some degree. I would suspect that riding in sandy conditions would require some different preparations. Aftermarket tires and such. I also would think that the widest possible tire on the trailer would help for floatation on the sand making for easier pulling.
I also am a long distance rider (like Floodrunner) so I carry a lot of stuff ALL the time. The picture I sent you of my rig is how I ride it all the time. (Minus trailer) Yes, it is a little less maneuverable in some situations with the racks loaded but you tend to adjust and get used to it. Your best bet is to prepare as best you can for your camp out and try it for a short trip. Then see what you might need to add and refine your "packology."
Another suggestion for your cooler! DRY ice. On one of our camping trips that lasted three days, my birthday being the last, my buddy surprized me. (Knowing my fondness for ice cream he opened his cooler and pulled out ice cream bars for all five of us. After three days in the woods riding, ice cream bars for all and still frozen! It was a good day!
Floodrunner .....nice pictures! Looks a lot like where I ride ....but then trail alzheimers is starting to set in on me. They are all starting to look alike to me.

 

I don’t want to avoid your question, but to know what equipment I’d “change” to “nomad camp” you’d have to know what I started out with in the first place. Unfortunately this morning’s schedule doesn’t allow me the time to get that detailed.

Loading the racks to capacity drastically changes the feel of the way a quad handles, unless you’re always loaded to capacity, then you’re used to it. This isn’t that much of a problem on flat trails but flat trail is something we try to avoid. I’d want to know the terrain I was heading into first hand, or at the very least know it on good authority of someone else before dragging a trailer through it or navigating it with a fully loaded quad. This may take some of the spontaneity and excitement out of the experience but you’ll be a lot less likely to get into trouble somewhere. Exploration can be done from camp once the gear is unloaded.

Like I said, at some point I’ll take the time to detail our camping lists and post them on the page at the link below. It’s a long list.