Height? Width? or both?

[rebar]

Hello folks.

What has prevented you from traveling to your most remote offgrid campsites? The height of your rig, or the width? I seem to be stuck on the width being a bigger factor and I cant find the correct size cargo trailer from my needs. Simply put, I don't want external fenders, or a trailer that's eight feet wide.. That right there puts me in a pickle, and I usually stop searching because I'm frustrated I can't find a 7 x 16 narrow track trailer.. But then it seemed the gods had listened to me and sent me the Imperial Outdoors XR22. OK it's not exactly 7 feet wide, but wow, until I saw the price of $142K. That's 10 times what I sold my featherlight toy hauler for..  

Anyway, how do people feel about height vs width? Many people have suggested a pop top camper, which would be much narrower than my 97 CTD, but I need to have a toy hauler and I really like having a deck when I set the ramp level.  

Thanks 

[sandsys]

1 hour ago, rebar said:

What has prevented you from traveling to your most remote offgrid campsites? The height of your rig, or the width?

The weight and low clearance.

[rebar]

19 minutes ago, sandsys said:

The weight and low clearance.

Thanks.  I guess I should have searched my old threads.. 🤣  Four years later I miss my featherlite more than ever, and still haven't replaced it.  😂

[Kirk W]

39 minutes ago, rebar said:

Four years later I miss my featherlite more than ever, and still haven't replaced it.

We did our boondocking early on, having started with a tent and backpack, then a family tent, a popup towed with a 4WD and so on, working our way up to where we really did very little dry camping and none in what we think of as the boondocks. Even so, I would advise that you figure it out and get something that you can manage with to go to the places most important to you. The years fly past much too quickly for you to be wasting them figuring things out! The only thing that you have which can never be replaced or recovered is your time. Don't waste it! 

[2gypsies]

There are many different ways to boondock... narrow, not-heavily used national forests roads, wider, more used national forest roads and BLM roads.  It also depends where you mostly go.... east or west of the Mississippi.  East and you'll have narrow and west can be wide open.

We mainly boondocked on public lands in the West with our 33' 5th wheel and a big ole' diesel and a 40' motorhome.  We had absolutely no issues with either. We never scraped the sides, bottom or top of the RV.  We found information as best we could on road condition, steepness and what size of RV was able to go there.... a lot by word of mouth because our friends traveled the same way. We were also 4-wheelers with our Jeep so places we sought out were scenic.  We didn't like deep forest spots and I think you'd find the narrow roads there.  

We'd drive up to 20 mi or so off pavement.  We found the motorhome a lot easier because we could disconnect the Jeep and scout ahead, if necessary and it could lead the way in and watch for oncoming vehicles to let them know a motorhome was coming through.  Folks were very kind to pull over and wait until we passed.

It sounds like you would have a truck, toy-hauler and a cargo trailer.  That's a lot to maneuver on narrow roads.

This guy has the setup that you'd probably like .. a toy-hauler motorhome with a patio. He's made many posts (on another forum) of gorgeous spots he's parked.  These are the kind of spots we sought out.

https://www.irv2.com/forums/f61/in-search-of-solitude-603104.html

 

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by 2gypsies

[rebar]

I enjoy cool alpine settings. Not wide open deserts.  And the roads to my favorite places are narrow dirt roads like cumberland pass road. 

I was unaware that forest river builds a 7' wide toyhauler called the IBEX 19QTH.   Without slides, good..  But it is on the long side when going around the hairpins on cumberland pass.

Edited July 28, 2023 by rebar

[sandsys]

57 minutes ago, rebar said:

I enjoy cool alpine settings. Not wide open deserts.  And the roads to my favorite places are narrow dirt roads like cumberland pass road. 

I was unaware that forest river builds a 7' wide toyhauler called the IBEX 19QTH.  Yay, without slides, but it is on the long side when going around the hairpins on cumberland pass.

If 19' is too long, I doubt you will ever find anything that works for you. But, now that I think of it, you never said it needed living quarters. I would think it would be easy to find a shorter toy hauler if it didn't need living quarters.

Linda

[rebar]

25 minutes ago, sandsys said:

If 19' is too long, I doubt you will ever find anything that works for you. But, now that I think of it, you never said it needed living quarters. I would think it would be easy to find a shorter toy hauler if it didn't need living quarters.

Linda

It's actually 25' total length.  Whats odd is I cant find any difference between it and the nobo 19.1

[sandsys]

15 hours ago, rebar said:

It's actually 25' total length.  Whats odd is I cant find any difference between it and the nobo 19.1

My error. I thought 19QTH stood for 19', queen bed, toy hauler.

Linda

[rebar]

1 hour ago, sandsys said:

My error. I thought 19QTH stood for 19', queen bed, toy hauler.

Linda

Me too and I wish..  My last toyhauler was 31' total and 6 less feet doesn't sound much shorter.  This guy with a 19QTH says he would take it up cumberland pass.

[Vladimir]

On 7/27/2023 at 3:16 PM, rebar said:

I enjoy cool alpine settings. Not wide open deserts.  And the roads to my favorite places are narrow dirt roads like cumberland pass road. 

I was unaware that forest river builds a 7' wide toyhauler called the IBEX 19QTH.   Without slides, good..  But it is on the long side when going around the hairpins on cumberland pass.

That is a really good road.  You could haul anything up there!!

I watched the video, and the road could use a couple more inter-visible turnouts.  The lack of inter-visible turnouts while towing could make towing a interesting experience, if you meet another person towing.

But as Sandsys says it is the weight and ground clearance in most cases.

I worked as a forester for over 50 years.  I HATED everybody I worked with that stuck vehicles.  My favorite folks to work with were people that drove in with 2wd drive and when they had to put it into 4wd they turned around.

However, I managed Jeep trails where I puckered up just sitting in the Jeep.  So it all depends on where you want to go and if you find sticking a vehicle and trailer a "recreational activity".

Remember National Forest roads were built with timber dollars and most were built so a logging truck could travel on it.  Unfortunately, Colorado has a long history of "user" built mining roads, which do provide a interesting experience.

As a forester, I find it pretty easy to tell the difference between a logging road and a mining road.  Don't tow on user built mining roads.