Modular offroad trailers are not just about having what you need in remote places. They are about being able to get there in the first place. Sometimes you cannot put overlanding into a box.
Last week’s post about teardrop campers got some folks defensive.
It was not my intention to offend teardroppers. Many folks swear by them and I think we pointed that out.
But whatever your intentions are on the trail there are some facts you can’t get around: when you are remote you don’t exactly know what the trail is going to challenge you with and the equipment you use is going to be the difference between success and failure.
Every kind of trailer has pros and cons. The only time we seem to realize that is when our situation on the trail is beyond the equipment we take.
That is why we embrace the idea of modular offroad trailers.
We encourage every overlander to spend some time on the trail before investing in their dream trailer.
You’re going to go where you want to go and do the stuff you like to do. What you might require is really up to you.
For me, I have a hard time seeing the big, boxy camper trailers with the diamond plate siding and huge footprint out on the trail. Those expedition style trailers look like the apocalypse is coming tomorrow.
Worse is watching folks trying to handle them. Those long wheelbase trailers and all that weight make them beasts to handle in even simple offroad situations. Folks like to be critical of how others drive, especially in challenging terrain, but what you’re taking out there matters as much as your skill in handling it. Those big boys don’t always take to the trail kindly no matter what the suspension is or how big the tires are.
Size matters.
Once you arrive somewhere with that expedition trailer you might be all set to weather whatever comes and to do it in style. If that’s your thing, great.
But off-grid or overlanding trailers do not need to be in a box.
In fact, we much prefer that they are not.
~ Modular Trailers are About More than the Mods ~
A shorter wheelbase trailer with modular components means your rig can be better prepared for whatever you encounter.
They are more maneuverable – by hand, if necessary – and frequently can carry more and do more on the trail than any kind of box trailer.
That, by the way, is the reason the military designs their trailers the way they do.
Under fire, which is a quite literal term for those guys, they cannot waste a lot of time with vehicles that cannot or won’t move or just cannot go into certain places. No kind of trailer is going to serve you if you cannot get around in it.
Maybe that’s why Dan Stirling of Minnesota compromised with his wife. The Stirlings have two rigs – a modular off-road trailer and a traditional RV. His and hers, you could say.
What Dan and Margorie do now on their big overlanding treks in the Southwest every summer is to take both rigs. The RV becomes their base and the modular trailer becomes their roamer.
Yeah, it seems like overkill. But it works for them. And that’s more the point.
Dan and Margorie are business owners in their late 60s now. They are making concessions to age in some ways but push themselves on the trail more than ever. It isn’t about physical endurance for them but rather a greater dependence upon the capabilities of their rig.
“Margorie is sometimes more comfortable in the roof-top tent than in the RV” Dan said. “She’s not crazy about the ladder but she loves the unpredictability of where we end up sometimes. Overlanding means camping where there are no others and at the end of the day that’s more of what it is about for us. Sometimes you want neighbors, sometimes you don’t.”
Dan says their must-have creature comforts when camping with their offroad trailer has nothing to do with shelter. It has more to do with light and water. The modular trailer allows for him to bring fresh water in abundance and to carry multiple sources of light (and even the solar panels needed to power them).
“Everything straps on the trailer,” Dan said. “It took me a while to latch on to that idea. I don’t have to stow things in something necessarily. Tanks of water can strap on in nifty places. Not everything has to be contained.”
At first Dan and Margorie started looking at overland trailers because they were frustrated with overcrowded campgrounds. During the pandemic they found it more difficult to get a reservation. Then, when they’d get there, they found things so crowded that the purpose of their trips seemed to elude them.
Reading about overlanding and “boondocking” – the idea of camping on public lands outside of established campgrounds – appealed to them more and more. Like many others Dan made assumptions about the equipment he would need for overlanding.
As a firearms enthusiast, the off-grid mentality of some vendors and their military style campers held some appeal. But Dan took an adventure with a friend who had one of those expedition-style monsters and decided it wasn’t for him.
“Sometimes less is more,” Dan says. “I don’t need a freezer when I’m out there. I don’t need multiple power systems, and radios, and all the other stuff you see some people take. I need a place to sleep comfortably, a means to cook and a way to stow the stuff I need to play. I’m not invading Mexico or planning to live off mushrooms and roasted mountain goat.”
For Dan it’s about flexibility and spontaneity.
“By taking just what we need in our offroad trailer we explore trails we can easily get to now and see stuff we could never see in the RV. Then, when we have had a few days of that, we come down the mountain and luxuriate in the RV, you know, get a shower and stuff.”
Dan’s a self-made man. He’s used to going his own way. Dan admits to exploring the idea of making his own trailer. He looked at some of the DIY trailer kits on the market and even drew up plans for his own steel trailer frame. In the end, he found a modular trailer he liked and had a great time picking and choosing the options that work for him.
Dan’s idea is not for everyone. It’s just for Dan.
But it’s a good one.
Will that box trailer work for you? Or do you need the flexibility of something modular that puts just the pieces you need on board to take you anywhere?
Watch those rigs out there on the road and on the trail. They are telling you something.
