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Overland Trailer - should I go crazy and buy one? Overland Trailer - should I go crazy and buy one?
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Equipping the Overland Vehicle Vehicle accessories - Making your home away from home comfortable, safe and reliable.
Photo by Andy Miller, UK, Taking a rest, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Andy Miller, UK,
Taking a rest,
Jokulsarlon, Iceland



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  #46  
Old 3 Sep 2008
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Location: Vanderbijl Park, South Africa
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Pulling an off road trailer
Graham,

it wasn't a problem in most sand. It runs 265 BFG AT's that we deflate in sand. In Egypt we drove from Bahariya Oasis to Siwa, going up the dunes wasn't a problem but going down the slipface of the dunes were a bit scary.

You feel the trailer in the mountain passes, it takes 150 litres of water in belly tanks and when they are filled you feel the difference but living on the road with kids it makes all the difference, I don't regret for one second bringing it along
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  #47  
Old 3 Sep 2008
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Hi Jean, thanks for the reply.
We are planning a trip in our 2005 land Cruiser 120 series.
It would just be me and the wife.
I stuck whether to take a good size roof rack, or take a trailer.
They both have good points and bad points.
I will just look to what we could cram into the Land Cruiser, and what we could stash up on the roof, all making for a very heavy vehicle.
or pull a trailer, removing all the weight and clutter from in the Land cruiser, but have an inconvienience of pulling a trailer that could give you any number of problems.
Still undecided !
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  #48  
Old 4 Sep 2008
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If there is only two of you, surely you should have enough room in the 120 series - if you don't I would have thought that you are probably taking too much :-)

The standard configuration for two people in an LC is to have a roof tent and probably spare wheel and gas cylinder on the roof rack and then strip out the 3rd row of seats and have some sort of racking arrangement in the boot for most kit.

You can then strip out one part of the 2nd row of seats for (keeping at least one seat for guides/friends) and have the fridge and a few other goodies in it's place.
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  #49  
Old 7 Sep 2008
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Hello all,

I've been lurking for a while but wanted to post about this. It seems that trailers may be more popular in the UK, Europe and AUS than here in the states as most RV's here are more strictly for "road use" but there are a few designs used quite often here when goining off road.

I have a Jeep Wrangler used for exploring and camping and with two kids and the wife there is only about half a cubic meter left for storage in the entire vehicle, so a trailer is mandatory. Many Jeepers use surplus WWII cargo trailers like the Bantam or M416. I built a modern copy of the M416 using a Torflex axle for extra ground clearance with the stock Jeep wheels (same bolt pattern as the vehicle):



Another type of trailer gaining popularity again here (due probably to rising fuel costs) are the "teardrop" style trailers. Here's a link to a good build up article.

Outback Teardrop Trailer

-C
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  #50  
Old 7 Sep 2008
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Hi, in South Africa, the Venter seems to be the number 1 trailer year after year.

Venter Trailers

I am not sure how good they are on a serious "off road" trip.

Their "off-road " trailer looks reasonable
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  #51  
Old 15 Sep 2008
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Update
Well, thanks to all who have given us some ideas to consider. We have reached a conclusion, although as those who might know me will tell you it might not be a permenant one

we are going to drive to Oz with our current set up of 110 land rover and rooftent. plenty of room for everything and not too much in the set up to upset us overlanding novices. In Australia we will then consider going onwards with any of the following 4:

1. Current set up
2. Current set up + trailer
3. Some sort of live inside (big!!!!) truck
4. In a boat

Recently going onwards by pushbike has been ruled out. When we get to Oz we will have a lot more experience, and if we do decide to continue onwards it will take us a year or two to replenish our funds and we can spend this time familiarising ourselves with the next form of ransport.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Cheers

Ollie
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Land's End to Sydney 2009
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  #52  
Old 2 Dec 2009
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Update
We're nearly in Oz now, well India! And the current plan is to take some time in Oz and pop out our first pup, conceived somewhere in central Asia, but under no circumstances going to be called Stan!

So, we will probably look again at a trailer at some point. One new one to the market is from MyWay - the people who kindly helped us with our roof tent. I haven't seen the trailer, but it looks like a nice half way house between building your own, or splashing out the cash. When Paul, the MyWay UK man came down to help fit our tent, we discussed at great length this, and it seems it has come to fruition.

More can be seen here:

MyWay Roof Tents (UK)
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  #53  
Old 2 Dec 2009
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Why don't you see if there's any decent Australian-made ones when you get there?

Would cost a fortune to ship a MyWay out to Oz, no?
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  #54  
Old 7 Dec 2009
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Hello Mark!

Was only really posting as a way to update the thread .... will have a look in Oz, but not sure whether we will buy there or UK - depending how long we stay etc. All up in the air at the moment, as I am sure you can imagine
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  #55  
Old 7 Dec 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CornishDeity View Post
We're nearly in Oz now, well India! And the current plan is to take some time in Oz and pop out our first pup, conceived somewhere in central Asia, but under no circumstances going to be called Stan!

Hey, well done folks
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  #56  
Old 8 Dec 2009
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tHANKS
Thanks for that - our greatest achievement - done without trying
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  #57  
Old 8 Dec 2009
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  #58  
Old 11 Dec 2009
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Hi Ollie,

I travelled around Morocco with a Nissan pick up pulling a trailer. They had endless problems with it - the towbar on the truck sheared bolts, and various bits of the trailer body were regularly cracking under the stress requiring regular and prolonged repairs. The owner was in tears at one point and vowed never again !

Andrew.
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  #59  
Old 16 Dec 2009
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Trailers
Andrew, with all due respect then it must have been a crap trailer

Ollie, have a look at Conqueror off-road Campers - the original off-road camper for a list of their Australian agents. Don't know what prices will look like in Aus but for GBP 4300 you can get a fully kitted one here, including fridge/freezer!

We are now back in South Africa via the west side, the trailer still working fine. We broke the shock mountings on the road to Timbouctou and the chassis crossing from Nigeria to Cameroon both times a local welding job sorted the problem. The trip was in excess of 70 000 km and the trailer kept up remarkably well. Although the trailer was a bit of extra work here and there on the balance it just made living on the road so much easier.

A few pics:



Near Atar, Mauritania



Bushcamp on the Niger river, Mali



Grand Mosque du Djenne, Mali



Camoroon mud



Crossing the equator again



Congo bushcamp



Namibia rivers
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Last edited by JeanVisser; 16 Dec 2009 at 17:23.
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  #60  
Old 18 Dec 2009
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We met up with Jean in Morocco and he doesn't drive slow, not even on piste! if the trailer can put up with that kind of abuse, it says something about its quality and construction. I agree with the above also, that if your not taking 4 people/kids then a standard vehicle should suffice.

Jean - When is Pete likely to reach you in South Africa? He is Egypt at the moment. Hope all is well.

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