Rugged & Reliable

[trashPanda99]

Greetings,

Hopefully, this is a good place to post this question.

I'm looking for recommendations on a small 13-16' fiberglass camper that can stay often on the road and be taken on dirt roads. We plan to do cross-country trips over the next few years that will involve mild dirt road adventures. I'm curious what the general consensus is on rugged and reliable campers, or maybe there is none and you can share your experience. Thank you.

[Iowa Dave]

Go slow and avoid deep dips and Chuck holes. Easy does it. Get a trailer with a lift kit, change out the wheels still fit with clearance inside the wheel wells.
That’s my advice.
Iowa Dave

[Jeep Man]

Take a look in the classifieds section at the 17' Casita I have for sale.
https://www.fiberglassclassifieds.co...-colorado-4415
It has off-road tires and is set up for living full time on the road. You won't get a flat tire with tires like this no matter what kind of rock you hit.

[Jon in AZ]

No molded fiberglass trailers in that size range are true off-road grade. But with a little work and a willingness to fix and improve things as they fail, most any are perfectly serviceable for the use described.

Based on my Scamp experience, weaknesses include cabinet hardware and 12V wiring. Our most spectacular failure was the silverware drawer falling out on a particularly rough side road. The drawer itself was unharmed, just the slides and stop came loose. I put it back together when we got home with stronger hardware, a better stop, and a bit of Loc-tite. No more issues.

Ground clearance can be an issue with many small trailers. We had to very really careful on dips and washes with our stock 13’ Scamp. You may want to swap the stock axle for a taller one. Flexi-ride is a premium choice, and it allows you to adjust the ride height.

Rock chips will quickly pit the lower front shell on gravel roads. Pickup bedliner can be used as a preventative. Some versions are tintable to approximate the shell color.

Oliver is the closest to a true off-road molded trailer with very high build quality, but the smallest model is 19’ and quite expensive. I chanced to meet the owner in the middle of a hunting trip, and his unit showed evidence of heavy off-road use.

[FRED SMAILES]

I think there's too much flex in my trailer(74boler) to consider offroad.

[Mike Magee]

"Mild dirt roads" should be no problem for any of the molded FG trailers. I would not worry about taking my Escape on such roads, or on some short stretches of 2-track (going slow over potholes).

[Bill in Pittsburgh]

Ride'em Rough, Ride'em easy, things break or come apart. You put it back together or repair it. It's all little stuff. The trailer itself will not self destruct. Think: Bouncing your house down the road. Not much can take roads such as Interstate 70 across Indiana, let alone a rough dirt or gravel road.

[13FtofHappiness]

I am a city/county/city camper and I enjoy my 13 ft long Happier Camper HC-1 Studio. It has cuteness on the inside and is able to be rugged

Originally Posted by trashPanda99

Greetings,

Hopefully, this is a good place to post this question.

I'm looking for recommendations on a small 13-16' fiberglass camper that can stay often on the road and be taken on dirt roads. We plan to do cross-country trips over the next few years that will involve mild dirt road adventures. I'm curious what the general consensus is on rugged and reliable campers, or maybe there is none and you can share your experience. Thank you.

[dfandrews]

Szczepan,
We have a 2015 Escape 17, that we explore the Western U.S. mountain states with. We commonly go fishing in the high Sierras, at US Forest Service sites that have gravel or dirt road access. As Iowa Dave stated above, go slow (10-15 mph for us), avoid deep holes or dips, etc. Regarding lift kits: Escape uses Dexter axles, which bolt to the trailer frame, and their lift kit to raise the trailer frame is a bolt-on conversion. We haven't found the need to do that; we have 10 inch clearance at the axle.

The Escape 17 is 17 ft+ long, and the fiberglass shell is 13+ ft. long, making it just right for the two of us, although there's room for 1 or 2 more (think: grandkids!!).

[John LF]

It really depends on what shape the dirt roads are in that you plan on using. My favorite camping spot is on a 17 mile dirt road that is graded every Spring. Passenger cars drive it as do a few Class A motorhomes. I take it slow and when I arrive anything that is not strapped down securely is on the floor. Once the closet door hinges gave way going over a large pothole exiting a dry creek bed at very low speed.

I have a 1985 Scamp 13 with 2" risers and larger wheels which I bought used. It already had a small chunk taken out of the bottom edge on the rear most likely for hitting something.

All of the off road specific camper trailers I've seen are teardrops which were more affordable than Scamps and Casitas and with more durable components including full size wheels and tires.
I haven't seen an Oliver which was mentioned in another response but I know they are expensive.

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by trashPanda99

Greetings,

Hopefully, this is a good place to post this question.

I'm looking for recommendations on a small 13-16' fiberglass camper that can stay often on the road and be taken on dirt roads. We plan to do cross-country trips over the next few years that will involve mild dirt road adventures. I'm curious what the general consensus is on rugged and reliable campers, or maybe there is none and you can share your experience. Thank you.

We have a 17' Casita and take it to lakes in the mountains on dirt roads. We drive very slow and have less problems than on interstates with rough roads going faster. We go about 10mph on the dirt roads. So the way you drive is most important. We have good trailer tires and have the high lift axle on it. Definitely not a 4 wheel drive vehicle though.