Welcome to BlackSeries! My name is Jack, and today, my wife Regina and I are out here exploring this beautiful mountain location. We’ve stopped here to cook up a little lunch. I’m excited to see what Regina’s cooking, but I wanted to share with you and answer many of the questions I’ve been getting about towing an off-road or overland trailer.
I think the first thing we should talk about is the question I get asked the most often: “What’s my fuel economy when I’m towing?” 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 always get asked, “What is my fuel economy when I’m towing?”
Look, in general, when you tow a trailer on-road or off-road, your fuel economy will be reduced by quite a bit. Over the years, I have towed an overland trailer with a Jeep Gladiator and a Jeep Wrangler Diesel, and now I am towing with the Bronco, and the results are similar. I get about three to four miles per gallon less than I normally would when towing the trailer. That’s something you must consider when towing a trailer off-road, and your range willmay be reduced.
One great thing about a trailer, though, is that you can carry extra fuel. So right here, I have 10 gallons of fuel I can take with me, which more than makes up for that reduced fuel economy. Plus, I can carry more fuel if I need to. So if we’re out on a convoy with my buddies, we can carry fuel so everybody doesn’t have to put jerry cans and rotopacks on their vehicles. So there are many advantages to having that extra storage space.
Now, there is the additional cost, and gas prices are high. 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 the expense of your adventures. So, it’s just something to consider if you’re deciding whether you’ll get a trailer. Your fuel economy is going to be reduced.
Another thing that needs to be considered when deciding whether or not a trailer is right for you is the added amount of maintenance you will have. It’s important to do the maintenance on your vehicle, your off-road and overlanding vehicle. Still, if you add a trailer, you’ll have additional maintenance—things like tyre replacement, checking shocks, just going through and making sure that bolts are tight often. 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 you’re just going to have to consider.
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 will cause your vehicle. When you’re going down washboard roads or going over obstacles, that will add extra stress to your vehicle’s suspension, and your tyres will wear out much more quickly than they would normally. So those are some things that you’re going to have to consider. You’ll have to do a little bit more maintenance on your vehicle and more detailed inspections to ensure that you can tow that trailer out on the trails.
I have to tell you, everyone, Regina just threw some garlic and onions in the pot, and the aroma is really good. Okay, two more things that you want to consider when you are towing off-road: 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. Maybe a trip that would take us six hours might now take about six and a half hours. You’ll move a little bit slower on-road but off-road because you’ll take a little more time with the trailer.
The other thing to consider is your turning radius, which is a big one. Now, my vehicle is much bigger and much longer, and I’ve got a third axle, a third set of tyres to worry about. So if I need to turn around somewhere, I’ve got to be thinking and pre-planning that—something you don’t have to worry about as often when it’s just your vehicle. If you’re towing and doing a little exploring, and you’ve got to somehow turn around on a mountain, you have 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’ll have to drive around and find a parking spot to accommodate the trailer. So, there are just two more things to consider.
The next thing to consider, and this is a big one, is the cost of an off-road or overland trailer like this one. I firmly believe
you get what you pay for, and when you buy a premium trailer like this, you’ll get many options that will make this thing 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 get some of those amenities you are looking for; the other option is a do-it-yourself trailer. There are a lot of folks out there who build it themselves, and while that’s still not cheap, you can save much money building it yourself. 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.
Some folks don’t think about insurance and registration. Now, I’m paying insurance on this vehicle every month, and I have to register it here every year. So, those are added costs that I didn’t have before. So, here are 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 to fit in my garage, but trailers come in all shapes and sizes, which may not be possible, depending on what type of trailer you get. So, do you have a side yard or a place to park it, or will you 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. My Jeep and my Bronco don’t come with brake controllers, but I plan to install a Redarc brake controller on both cars. While this trailer isn’t heavy, and you don’t need a brake controller, having brakes off-road can be extremely beneficial when going over obstacles and navigating 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 important. So, 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 will need a fork. That’s all right; these are homemade sloppy joes; these aren’t like the ones you get out of a can. And, man, what a beautiful spot. I mean, come on, what a great place for lunch.
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 I have everything— all of my measuring cups, spoons, knives, cutting boards—and there wasn’t much packing involved. And so, that’s a great thing about a trailer; you can leave everything stored there. You’re not always moving it in and out of your vehicle. We leave the trailer ready to go; we add food, drinks, and water, and then have lunch at a beautiful spot.
Man, lunch was good, and Regina volunteered to do the 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, 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, drawers, and bags to set everything up; the trailer is so plug-and-play when 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 be nuts. So, having that extra storage, a larger fridge, all that water, and a plug-and-play kitchen is a huge benefit.
A couple other advantages to having a trailer are that I don’t have to build out this Bronco if I don’t want to. I don’t need to install a roof rack, a rooftop tent, or power management system to manage a refrigerator and all kinds of storage and shelving there. I can leave it pretty clean, so when I’m disconnected, it operates just as it should if it’s a daily driver. It’s not this big, heavy vehicle that I’m taking everywhere. And that’s the other great thing about having a trailer: we can disconnect. So if we’re at a beautiful spot like this and want to set up base camp and then go take off and explore, it’s very easy to do. Just lock up the trailer, and we can hit the trails and check out some of these beautiful mountain places. Being able to base camp is a big bonus.
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 going to sleep inside and have a little storage. This one here allows us to bring much gear; truthfully, we don’t even come close to packing this full. But it is nice to carry extra stuff, especially if you’re a family. If you’re a family of four and get in a vehicle, your vehicle will already be 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 weight. Well, with a trailer, you do not have that problem because now all that gear is shifted to the trailer, and you can bring some nice items, like a barbecue grill. I wouldn’t bring a barbecue grill on the back of my Jeep. Also, we’ve got a toilet here for Regina with a privacy tent and a little cassette toilet, which makes it very convenient. We’ve got a shower, two massive propane bottles, and I already mentioned that we’ve got a ton of water and 200 amp-hour batteries, so we’ve got plenty of power for charging things up, for running gear. You’ll carry much more gear on a trailer than you can put in the back of a vehicle.
The next big advantage of having a trailer is that it becomes where you sleep. And so, you can sleep inside some trailers, like a teardrop, or in our case, we have a rooftop tent on top of the trailer. TheThe trailer has a pretty low roofline, 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’ve got to climb up on a tyre 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 rooftop tent than you normally would like to put on top of your car 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 the 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 more top-heavy, and you must manoeuvre on the trail differently than you would if it wasn’t up there. So, having that weight of the rooftop tent on the trailer has been a big advantage.
So, one more very big advantage to having a trailer 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 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 want to make me comfortable. I mean, this kitchen is awesome. It’s got running water, which is key when chopping meat—I can wash my hands off. There’s tons of storage because I don’t pack light, no matter how hard I try so that I can bring everything, including the kitchen sink. But yeah, I can pack my privacy tent and a commode, which makes camping much more comfortable.
Yeah, 100%. You guys often hear, “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 some women don’t mind it, but some enjoy some of the creature comforts. Ladies, girls, people—people that want… you’re right, these are guys. Some guys 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, maybe you’ve decided an overland trailer is right for you. What are some specific things that you should look for? Well, I love the Patriot Campers trailer because some things they’ve done to this trailer have made it very capable for me off-road, starting with a 360-degree hitch. I love this trailer hitch because it allows me to be very manoeuvrable on some of those tight sections of the 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 going to 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 will help that trailer stay much more level and give you the confidence that you won’t roll that thing when you’re out there.
Another very important thing is the width of the trailer. You don’t want a trailer so narrow and top-heavy, taller than your vehicle, that you’ll have to worry about it falling over. But you don’t like it so wide that it’s wider than your vehicle, and now, when you’re going through an obstacle, not only do you think about the width of your car, but now you have to think about the width of the trailer. When you’re off-roading, there’s much to consider and what is happening to that trailer. But I will say having the trailer 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 very important thing is how much that trailer weighs. If you have a big, heavy steel trailer that you’re pulling, throwing all that gear on there will put more undue stress on your vehicle. So, having a lightweight trailer, that’s small, and not this big behemoth of a trailer out on the trail is just going to make it easier when climbing upgrades when you’re going through obstacles, and it’s going to be less strain on your vehicle.
Those are some key points I would look for if you’re in the market for an overland trailer.
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.
