...I'm on my second Fit. I sold my beloved 2010 and own a 2015. I have often thought and have looked at smaller campers and found these guys.

I am not vouching for them, but the discussion has come up a few times over the past five or so years...

https://www.facebook.com/takeahiketrailers

I emailed them about weight and was told "Hiker 4x8 weight starts out at 640 pounds and are 5x8 740 pounds. "

Hmmm.....

 

Not bad at all, and the price is not as outrageous as the Little Guy trailers which basic packages start at $5k and up!!


My 5x8 is 875 pounds empty, and not a problem for the 2015 GK at all. Their 5x8 weighs much less,


Their website leaves something to be desired.There is no ecommerce platform to easily buy a trailer off their website like Little Guy has. Its not much of a catalog site either, not very organized.

Another point to mention is they make no mention of dealers, so I assume they are strictly B2C, not B2B with a dealer network.

 

Based on my emails back and forth, I think you are correct. They didn't try to refer me to someone local.

 

Agreed, though that's not terrible. If one had a good website where it was easy for the customer to buy, that company can do quite well in a B2C business model. The harder business model to support is B2B. trust me, its a bitch to manage.


I emailed them too to see what they can do. I do like the idea of a camping trailer Flatbed partial freight from Indiana to CT (or even NH) will be stupid expensive unless a bunch of northeast customers were buying trailers making the cost more palpable.


The alternative is one of those pickup bed tents on a much cheaper utility trailer. They look pretty cool actually. price is right too.











Some food for thought.

 

I agree they're pretty decent looking trailers and not priced outrageously when compared to some other options. There's plenty to like.

It's perhaps a tiny bit of a stretch to call these "campers"; obviously they're patterned after the traditional little teardrop camping trailers, and have about the level of frills that the very simplest of them offer—an enclosed sleeping space, and a little cargo room. There's no standard cooking facilities (though you could easily carry a camp stove etc.), no heater, no plumbing or toilet, no real electrical system (12V or 120V), etc. I suspect you couldn't register one as an RV, though truthfully for a trailer of this size that is likely of no practical consequence whatsoever. (You'd just register it as a normal utility trailer, of course. For larger campers, an RV registration often has advantages for tax, insurance, and/or driver licensing needs.)

It does look like it could be a lot of fun for travel and camping trips and so forth, and rather easier to set up and often more comfortable than a tent.

 

I'm just wondering wether the wind drag would be more than the weight drag. Especially at freeway speeds.

 

This is a neat idea...

 

That it is! I think I may just buy one of them for my utility trailer. Throw an inflatable mattress in there, and rig a small 5500 BTU AC on a generator with its output vents snaked through a hose to keep the tent cool...hmm, the DIY wheels in my head are spinning!!!


Curiosity has me though, I'll be chatting with Hikers today at some point. Been chatting back and forth on email with them. Turns out they do have a dealer network but it is all west coast based. It is a small family owned business and all trailers are made to order. They intentionally make them bare bones so they do not jack the price up. I'm really curious to see what they can offer in a 5x8. If I get the bare bones trailer with all the compartments but none of the extras like sound system, TV, power converter, etc, I have much of that stuff already I can simply install myself. They also said their website will be updated by spring hopefully to be more robust and ecommerce capable.

What may kill it for me is the insane flatbed cost to get this thing back to CT potentially. It wouldn't be so bad if there was an east coast dealer that ships a bunch of trailers in bulk it wouldn't be as bad.

 

Make it a trip.

Motel it on the way out, camp a bit on the way back. Not a full-out, bring everything camping trip, but you can easily pack the basics in the Fit. The right camping rig is worth some cost and inconvenience, and an oddball trip isn't out of line when you're looking at trailering with a Fit.

 

I agree Fit Charlie. i emailed Rob/Wes @ Hikertrailer to price out some options see what they can do. I really like the bare bones approach. I think of it as a blank canvas to add what I want. If I am provided a decent canvas to work from (shelving, storage space, lighting, etc) then adding the smaller incidental stuff is a snap for me.

You are right, its more exciting to pick it up than to have it delivered. Seems these types of small camping trailer the market in the Northeast is much smaller than out west for some reason. Indianapolis is a 12 hr drive for me from Connecticut. Indianapolis 500 is May 24th...

 

I've seen these for years at motorcycle rallies and found them to be one of the best combinations of lightest and largest once set up.
http://www.timeouttrailers.org/Pages...utCampers.aspx

 

We've had a pop-up for 7 or 8 years, and almost immediately after getting it we decided that most of the plumbing whatnots just aren't worth using unless you've got full hookups. And we hate places with full hookups. Electric only is great, but no hookups isn't a problem. Every time we load the camper I look wistfully at all the space wasted by "features."

 

100%. The less features the better. Sure would it be nice to have a full galley kitchen at a camp site? Yeah sure, if you were cooking for a small army. Electric is all that is really needed. Running water can be replaced with jugs of water, etc. I'm all for roughing it, but some creature comforts I could not live without.

 

That's why we have a trailer: I slept on the ground more than enough, and a dry floor helps everyone's mood.