Roughest Road You've Been On?

[ColoradoSooner]

We currently have a Chalet Arrowhead hard-sided pop-up and are probably going to be upgrading to a Passport Elite 23RB soon.

We do a lot of boondocking and I'm just wondering how larger travel trailers are for going down forest service roads, etc. With the Chalet, we typically avoid roads that are TOO rough because we don't have a ton of clearance. But we have been down some pretty, um, rustic ones.

I feel like a travel trailer might actually handle rough roads better but I'm not sure.

My guess is that our main concern will be giving ourselves enough space to turn around if we need to.

Thoughts? Comments?

[sourdough]

When you say forest service roads you might be a little more specific. They range from flat gravel, almost highways, to 2 tracks that require a lifted, modified 4x4.

As far as pulling a trailer anywhere, a pop up is nothing like towing a full size trailer; particularly on forest roads. If you are going to try to take the roads that are rutted, twisty and full of trees it comes down to common sense. The trailer behind you takes up a lot of space; horizontally and vertically. How much money are you willing to spend patching up the trailer after every trip? How much stuff do you want to break?

I've pulled a pop up into some pretty rough stuff. Places a TT couldn't hope to go. I pulled a 27' (ball to bumper) TT into the forest as well but had to be very careful and watch for the trees. If you don't know the area well you could easily end up trying to back thru the trees to get out because there is no place to try to turn around. The bigger the trailer the less you need to be in the "rugged" areas IMO. Bigger trailer = more $.

As an example: over the years I took my son to some very rugged mountains. He went with me in a pop up and in a TT. That was many years ago. A few years back he came down with a 4x4 truck and small TT. He told me he was going back to some of our old favorite haunts and told me where he intended to go. I told him not to do it. What seemed really cool back then with a pop up would not bode well for the TT. He insisted on going. When he returned both the truck and TT had large creases down both sides from the trees. He had gotten in where there was no place to get out.............

[ColoradoSooner]

Very wise advice, Sourdough! And I agree! We really don't just wander down a FSR unless we have scoped it out beforehand. For just the reasons you described. Having to back down a road with either a pop-up or a TT does NOT sound fun to me.

Like you said, common sense should prevail.

I guess I was just wondering if TT's are more sturdy overall when going down a rougher road than a small little pop-up.

[Hercules1978]

I live in Michigan, so the roughest road is "all of them"

[Ken / Claudia]

You will find if you travel faster than walk speed on rough roads the trailer will start falling apart. The movement rips the seams, cracks floors, walls. All the stuff you packed breaks thru the cabinets or pushing them open. Cabinets pull away from walls. sewer lines break. Be there done that with my or fathers TTs elk hunting. Then here there is always problems with trees. Limbs over the roads or growing too close to the road to move a 30 ft trailer thru them. I park the RV on or next to a nice road and take the truck into the rough stuff.

[JRTJH]

Travel trailers are longer and taller as well as wider than most pop-up campers, so, there's more "stuff" to twist, bend, flex, crack and fall apart. I would think that the "short, compact pop-up" would have a more rigid frame (based on length) and would be sturdier (based on sheer size} than the "longer, more flexible travel trailer."

Based on that, I'd suspect that you'd probably do more damage to a travel trailer than to a smaller, more rigid pop-up trailer if you pulled both of them at the same speed over the same rough terrain. That's just an opinion, I have never heard of any tests to measure that kind of damage and I wouldn't volunteer my trailer to try to see how much "more or less" damage I'd do....

Overall, travel trailers are remarkably well built considering that they are "houses travelling in hurricane strength winds" every time we pull them, but I wouldn't think they are "invincible"..... They do break, twist, bend and fall apart if pushed past their limit (whatever that limit may be)......

That said, we do regularly travel down some pretty rough dirt/gravel roads to go camping in remote areas where the fishing is simply awesome. So far, we've had no damage although I do go slow, not "attack bumps or ruts" and avoid any low hanging branches.

[GmaPaTime]

Agree with everything stated above but would like to had one more thing. I've dragged a popup through mud up to the frame (not wise but had to do it) but would not even try it with a TT or 5ver. Way to much weight!!!

[koko]

We've taken all our trailers down rough roads - most are that way in Wyoming back country. We don't go into any areas that we don't already scope out by truck first. The only difference with our Aliner was that we could really squeeze into some tight, off-road areas with very sharp turn-arounds and low trees. Not nearly the versatility with our present camper, and lots more rocking.

[ColoradoSooner]

This has been super helpful, everyone. Thanks!

[T3/T4 Hybrid]

There is no way I would take my VR-1 into a rough country area. There is just to much to get damaged and it would happen in a hurry. I have an older converted M101 military trailer I use for rough road traveling. It has the pintle hitch setup plus lots of ground clearence with the 305/85 16 tires I have on it. You can put all the supplies one would need in it along with a bed tent. It works pretty good.

[koko]

I would also like to add that we would never go down a road that has big jutting rocks or large erosion areas - we like our camper too much to do that (not even in our Aliner).

[sourdough]

To the question posed by the OP if the TT was sturdier than the pop up for off highway use the answer is no.

The TT is simply too big and too heavy to get into very rough terrain. It is tall and has all kinds of stuff in it that a pop up doesn't. It's much taller and every overarching tree limb wants to take something off the roof. With a pop up if your truck can get thru so can it. With a TT that's not so.

I pulled my pop up thru mud holes, rocks etc. to get to my hunting and fishing spots. I had it buried in a mud hole and since they are so small and compact I just put the truck in 4 wheel and drug it out...it wouldn't have happened with a TT without some severe damage. Same goes for going over rock ledges etc.

The best advice is what one poster said earlier; find a cool place to put the big TT and either use the truck, jeep, RZR or your feet with a tent and hit the backcountry knowing you've got a nice bed and hot shower when you get back

[koko]

Wish we would have kept our Aliner as a second. Is that possible for you?

[Western Traveler]

CS
We purchased our trailer to travel FS and other back roads as well as less developed camp grounds.
As stated above a few things to watch out for are tall overhanging trees, large rocks and sharp curves. Taking it very slow helps a lot along with a pillow in the fridge and closets emptied (or knowing stuff is going to be in disarray on arrival).
I kept a couple of large storage tubs in my TV for packing up the kitchen on a couple of excursions last fall and just stored them on the TT floor while underway.
My plan was to add a 2" receiver to the front of my TV so I could push it out of a tight spot but haven't done it yet.
What I am finding is that as I get older I don't have the ambition to fill in eroded two tracks with rocks and logs to cross anymore (also my Dear Bride fell in love with the trailer and I don't ever want to have to say 'Honey I'm OK but about your trailer'...but still glad we went with the smaller trailer.

There were a few times last year we wouldn't have had a campsite if it had been larger including of all places Sedona and the Grand Canyon. Also I had gusting crosswinds of 50mph+ last November crossing from Grand Junction CO to Beaver UT and was able to stay ahead of the storm.
Still want to add the 2" receiver maybe for campsites that are too tight to back into.