I'll be taking a road trip from Washington state to Colorado and am looking into buying some sort of travel trailer as opposed to renting one for four weeks.

I have a few questions about the "toy hauler" above.  I can't help but wonder if reality will meet the fantasy with a trailer like this.  I don't care about the rugged off road nature as much as I do about the cargo deck up front.  I am tired of pushing heavy dirt bikes into the back of a truck when riding/camping is done.  This type of trailer appears perfect for what I am after.

If anyone here has one or has used one I would love some feedback on the following questions.

1)  The cargo deck on most of these is eight feet wide by whatever length the particular manufacturer offers.  In the case of the trailer above I believe 84" x 60".  That is seven feet long which may be just short of most modern dirt bikes.  Could you fit two bikes side by side?  Did you have to remove one of the side rails to make that happen?  Did you end up just loading the cargo deck with other items and keep the bikes in the truck?

2)  Most travel trailers, let alone pop ups aren't known for build quality.  What are your thoughts on how well the trailer was made?

3)  What brand did/do you own.  I believe this is a Forest River Flagstaff.

4)  How long does the battery last between charges assuming summer camping in the mountains where you might need a little bit of furnace time in the early morning.

5)  How mosquito proof are the popups like this?

Any other feedback in addition to the questions above is welcome.

Thanks.

NC

Now I have a Weekend warrior towhauler so it is not the exact same thing....... Are you the only one that will be camping in it or will you have other people with you. The battery does not last long at all... In our toy hauler we would have to keep the heat on 58 for the heater to not kill the battery... ours is insulated...(You can get a solar panel) I would recommend adding a second unless you are going to be hooking up at a camp site. Also water goes quick.... We have a 100 gallon tank and can only dry camp for a max of 4 days.. I would bet that the one pictured has 30 gallons.. As far as hauling machines I think it would be great though for shorter trips.....

Never used a pop up like that but I'm familiar with pop ups and somewhat familiar with travel trailers.

1- You'll have plenty of room. We can get a quad and a bike on a pickup with a 6ft bed with the tailgate up.

2- Fleetwood makes good stuff. I can't speak for others. The quality can really vary from manufacturer to manufacturer

3-Just a regular pop up- Coleman(fleetwood) Mesa it's a '98 and still in great shape.

4-You can easily get a weekend out of it using lights as needed and furnace sparingly. If your wasteful you will be left in the dark. If your just turning the furnace on for a little in the morning you'll be fine. Just don't leave your lights running all night and you'll be fine.

5- Ours is pretty much bug proof the only way the make it in is when you open the door. The same goes with water.

4 weeks in a pop up is a long time and I really don't think you should make that your first trip. Maybe your third. Your first trip should be close to home so you can get things you forgot and buy things you need at a store your familiar with.

Yeah the water capacity of that thing is kinda important if your going to be away from water sources for more than two days. I can definitely see going through 30 gallons of water a day if you have 4-5 people washing themselves from a day of riding.

Edited by 79yamdt, 25 April 2012 - 06:46 PM.

Thanks for the reply.  It will be either myself traveling solo or maybe with Dad.  I also don't think I'll spend more than 3 nights between stops for supplies.

My road trip to Colorado will likely last about three weeks and I'll test whatever trailer I buy on shorter trips before I commit to the big one.  Also, I am sure I'll grab a hotel for a few nights so it won't be three weeks straight by any means.

I really like the idea of being able to load bikes on the cargo deck and NOT have to load them into the truck.  But this type of travel trailer isn't much less expensive than a smaller "regular" travel trailer which would likely be quieter at night and a little more secure/bear proof.  Then again I really like the low profile for towing as it won't be as susceptible to wind.

NC

Edited by NumberCruncher, 25 April 2012 - 07:02 PM.

Yeah it seems as soon as you slap the label toy hauler on something the price jumps another 50%. I actually prefer sleeping in pop ups providing the area is quite. The feeling of canvas and openness of a pop up makes you feel your actually outdoors instead of in one of these houses on wheels they call campers. I get kinda claustrophobic in some small travel trailers sometimes. That's just me though.  If it's just two of you 30 gallons should hopefully make it that long. It definitely wouldn't hurt to bring some extra water though. Your trip sounds like a lot of fun. I'd like to try something like that sometime.

I have a hybrid camper, a Bantam Trail Lite (hard side walls and stationary roof, the front and rear open like a tent trailer).

The bugs-as long as everything is snapped properly, no bugs get in.

As for rain, I haven't spent any time in mine during any heavy rains, just a few showers here and there.

Battery-mine was pathetic.  One good cold night in the 30's and it was roached before sunup.  It was a cute little thing, about the size of something that belongs in a lawnmower.  Replaced it with two 12V deep cycle monsters that are 4x's as big as the original.  Had to modify the battery mounting location (it was on the tongue, so no biggie).  Two nights of hard furnace running, fridge on 12V and still plenty of juice in the morning.  Best upgrade by far.

That deck is 7'x5', should fit two bikes side by side without issue.  Should be able to fit a third bike in between if you put it on backwards also.  I see guys with three bikes on a 4x8 trailer all the time.

We only have a 30 gallon fresh water tank, and if you plan ahead, think, and use it sparingly, our family of 5 can go two days with everyone taking a very, very short shower every day.

That seems like a lot of water for that trailer. Is that on the spec sheet? What is the tongue weight of the trailer and cap of the deck? What is tow rating of you truck? I would be a little nervous about leaving my stuff out over night while traveling but would need a real bed and shower every 3-4 nights.

 SMarquez, on 26 April 2012 - 05:55 AM, said:

IIRC, this particular model weighs about 2,500 pounds unloaded.  Tongue weight is right around 250 pounds.  Add two bikes on the deck, 600 pounds, and probably half of that will be on the tongue.  It makes sense if the cargo deck is halfway between the hitch and axle that half that weight would be on the tongue but if I am wrong please correct me.   So you have at most a 3,500 pound trailer, 550 tonque weight being pulled by an F-150.  This trailer has electric brakes and an external washing station.  I guess they don't call it a shower since the water wont' go into a holding tank.  Whatever I end up with, a comfortable bed and hot shower are mandatory.  If this trailer did not have the external washing station I would not consider it.  I like to camp but need to clean up at night before hitting the sack.

I don't think this model holds more than 20 gallons of water.  I'll likely bring bottled water to drink and use on board water for showering, and clean up.

I agree 100% with the comment about the open feeling of a tent trailer.  The soft sides and mulitple screen windows allow a lot of light in and really add to the camping experience.  I have looked at a couple smaller enclosed travel trailers and agree they are a little claustrophobic.

This should be a fun trip and I'll have it fully planned out over the next several weeks.  I'll either leave in mid July if the mountains might be snow free or mid August if necessary.

I have left bikes in the back of a truck overnight without issue but is much harder to unload from a tall truck than a trailer like this.  I'll cable lock the bikes to the trailer if I am sleeping in a hotel and lock them to the frame of the trailer at night while camping.  If someone tries to take them they had better not let me catch them doing so . . .

NC

Edited by NumberCruncher, 26 April 2012 - 07:46 AM.

Rented on of these.  Addition of a lot on the front deck can easily top out or exceed your tongue weight.  Look up the Fleetwood Scorpion 2.  It is a different configuration that overcomes problem.  Also, on the Scorpion 2, you do not have to unload the deck to open the sleeping sides.

I considered one but bought a regular travel trailer.  If you are at a quiet campground, a pop up should be good, but at our races somebody is always up half the night drinking and yakking.  But we live way out in the country, so any noise will wake us up.  That is what happened on our last tent trip and everyone was bitchy the next day.  It takes a couple nights to get used to a tent.

Pop-ups are the "cadillac of tents"

A lot of mornings in race season are pretty chilly in PA, so I thought the solid trailer should hold heat better.

I am dreading loading the bikes and crap in the truck and then pulling the trailer, especially after I race a HS.  The wife better not be yapping to hurry up.  And we had to get a flipping generator so she can watch TV and run her coffee pot - she thinks.  I bought the cheapest, loudest one I could find.

 Sundog, on 26 April 2012 - 07:32 AM, said:

That Scorpion 2 looks very cool... i did a quick search and only 2006 came up... do they still make these trailers??

 DirtRiderDad, on 02 May 2012 - 07:52 AM, said:

No, unfortunately not.  I have found quite a few clean units for sale though.  A bigger S1 in MT and a mid-sized S2 in Boise, ID caught my eye.

 Sundog, on 02 May 2012 - 07:57 AM, said:

I wonder if we culd just plop a tent trailer (without the axles of course) on a flat bed and achieve the same results?  something small enough to be towed by a 1/2ton truck.  has anyone seen that done b4?

Just bought a 2007 Jayco Baja 10Y a couple of weeks ago.  My wife and I decided on it as a step up from tent camping and I wanted something that could haul the bikes.  As for the cargo deck- funny story on that one- I spent the better part of a day and a couple of trips to the hardware store to get what I needed to install some e-track on the cargo deck.  So after getting everything buttoned up, we are ready to load bikes and head out.  I put the ramps on and wheel my DRZ up onto the cargo deck and that's when it hits me- the cargo deck is about a foot too SHORT with the ramps installed in their stow away position!  It's not the end of the world, but it will take some extra effort to be able to load two bikes up in the future.  Luckily I have a wheel chock that I use when I transport my street bikes, so I bolted that to the cargo deck and just threw my wife's bike in the bed of the truck.

Other than that little setback, we LOVE the trailer.  I've gone camping in everything from cheapo, old-school pop-ups with no air conditioning to super expensive fifth-wheels with 4 slide outs that are bigger than my house and I love the compromise of a nice pop up.  We took it out last weekend for it's first trip and I think we'll be very happy using this trailer, especially once we iron out all the details.

The main reasons that I bought this trailer are that I think it will tow better than a comparable enclosed toyhauler, stores easier, and seems more like camping than sleeping in a box.  We don't plan on camping when the weather is extremely hot or cold, so the pop-up should work out for us.

Like I said, we've only taken it out the one time so far, so I can't really answer your questions about battery usage (I plan on being able to plug in most of the time, and considering a small generator for when we can't), but we did have some severe thunderstorms roll through on Sunday- the kind where we got several inches of rain in just a couple of hours and the camper did surprisingly well.  Luckily, we didn't get the high winds or hail that they were saying were possible or else it could have turned out much worse.

If you think you can live with the compromises that a pop-up includes I'd say go for it.

Yep, I liked it too.  Just wish you didn't have to unload the deck to lay the bed out.

 DirtRiderDad, on 02 May 2012 - 08:43 AM, said:

I've seen it done a few times, a couple for toyhaulers, once to make a hillbilly mud truck hauler/camper.

Just what I am looking to do . . .

It looks like you have confirmed one of my fears.  Simply loading two bikes side by side probably won't work.  Do you have a photo you can post of what it looks like behind the DRZ?

If I can at least get my DR650 on the deck I can put my TXC250 in the truck.  It is the big heavy DR I really hate to load up.

Also, which engine in your F-150?  I assume it tows quite easily.  Do you use a weight distributing hitch?  If not, how much does your truck sag in back with one bike on the cargo deck and one in the bed?

Thanks.

NC

 kendall_smith, on 02 May 2012 - 09:57 AM, said:

 NumberCruncher, on 03 May 2012 - 10:21 AM, said:

Two bikes side by side will definitely work, the only downside is that you can't leave the ramps/cargo gates on.  The only reason that I have my wife's KLX in the bed of the truck is that I only have one wheel chock currently.  I need to run to Harbor Freight and pick up another one and then I will probably mount them permanently so that they are always ready to haul one or two bikes.  I figure I'll come up with some way to mount the ramps/cargo gates underneath the deck for when we are hauling bikes.

As for the truck- it's a 2010 with the 3V 4.6 in it and 3.55 rear end and it seems to do a excellent job of pulling the trailer.  I averaged around 16mpg for the whole trip and coming home I was doing around 75mph the whole time.  When I put the truck's specs into the towing calculator, it came up with a 9500 lb towing capacity, which I thought seemed kind of high, but I will never come close to pulling that much weight.  I haven't used a weight distributing hitch and from what I can tell, it shouldn't really be necessary for this rig.  The truck is probably sagging maybe 1.5" or so, but I expect that to be even less of an issue when I am able to get both bikes on the trailer.

 NumberCruncher, on 03 May 2012 - 10:21 AM, said:

From those pics, I don't see why two bikes wouldn't fit.

One back facing left, one bike facing right.

 Chickenhauler, on 03 May 2012 - 09:25 PM, said:

That's the plan. I just need another wheel chock to make it happen. I'll post pics when I get it all figured out so anyone who is considering one of these campers can see how it works.

It's kind of obvious to me that these campers kind of cater to someone hauling one quad, but I think with a few simple mods it will work pretty well for us dirtbikers too.