Ordered a trailer!

[Dickster]

Compared to other options, they are positively cheap.

Rooftop tent set up would have cost somewhere around $4500. Which wouldn’t work for my family. I’m glad we paid a few thousand more for all the benefits of a trailer

Are you buying it bare or out fitted? I've been looking at utility enclosed trailers and making my own.

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[ThatGuyBigNick]

If you’ve got any questions I’d be happy to help answer them.

ours is the midrange. I of course wanted to go for a more “off-road” style but the wife persuaded me otherwise. I’m glad she did. We were able to take the midrange everywhere we wanted to go, no problem.

only things we added were the spare and roof bars

We are looking at the midrange XL 5x10. My biggest concern is how it would handle sand, we are out here in NC and we’d be taking it to OBX a fair amount.

I like the Opus because it’s self sustaining, but it’s also like $20k+ more.

 

[DCPHOENIX]

We are looking at the midrange XL 5x10. My biggest concern is how it would handle sand, we are out here in NC and we’d be taking it to OBX a fair amount.

I like the Opus because it’s self sustaining, but it’s also like $20k+ more.

can’t speak to how it goes with sand but I will say ours is very light. Not slapping $8000 worth of extras on really helps with that!

going for a 5x10 would have been my ideal butI thought we were going to be pushing it for space in the garage. I was wrong but hey, I can still lay down at 6ft and have plenty of room at my feet. Opted to not close off the bottom of the galley which was a good choice

 

[ThatGuyBigNick]

can’t speak to how it goes with sand but I will say ours is very light. Not slapping $8000 worth of extras on really helps with that!

going for a 5x10 would have been my ideal butI thought we were going to be pushing it for space in the garage. I was wrong but hey, I can still lay down at 6ft and have plenty of room at my feet. Opted to not close off the bottom of the galley which was a good choice

I think that’s exactly how much in extras I had spec’ed out!
Do they have a forum like this for their owners or a Facebook group or something?

 

[DCPHOENIX]

I think that’s exactly how much in extras I had spec’ed out!
Do they have a forum like this for their owners or a Facebook group or something?

I think that a Facebook group exists, hiker owners it’s called? Not sure though. I got rid of Facebook years ago.

honestly for what the stuff costs that are available for add-ons, look at doing things yourself.

we added the roof bars from factory but everything I’ve added now, has saved me a bunch of cash

 

[MPMB]

I think that a Facebook group exists, hiker owners it’s called? Not sure though. I got rid of Facebook years ago.

honestly for what the stuff costs that are available for add-ons, look at doing things yourself.

we added the roof bars from factory but everything I’ve added now, has saved me a bunch of cash

We have most of the stuff (like most campers) as it is - kitchen, "bathroom", fridge, RTT, etc.- that we would "install". We'd get one of the diesel heaters as well. So no reason to get anything pre-installed.

Our RTT is 175#, so I might option out a 3rd bar.

I really can't fathom the $30k+ price of a lot of these small trailers. There's no reason why they should cost more than a normal travel trailer.

I showed my wife one of the YT vids on the Hiker and she is interested. We need something for a "base camp" so we're not setting up/tearing down the RTT whenever we want to go someplace (plus the weight). A hardside option for bear country is what this offers.

The only thing we don't have for the trailer is an awning, which is easily solved.

 

[MPMB]

Wife's still on board, so we're ordering a Hiker today.

It's the MR 5x8, with no added options other than double doors with windows and the 3rd rack rail because our RTT is heavy.

We have multiple solar batteries (Lion & EcoFlow), solar panels, and fridge already, so we didn't need to order those items.

The only things we will add, instead of buying "from the factory w/ markup," will be a 270* awning, maybe some walls, and a storage box.

 

[DCPHOENIX]

Wife's still on board, so we're ordering a Hiker today.

It's the MR 5x8, with no added options other than double doors with windows and the 3rd rack rail because our RTT is heavy.

We have multiple solar batteries (Lion & EcoFlow), solar panels, and fridge already, so we didn't need to order those items.

The only things we will add, instead of buying "from the factory w/ markup," will be a 270* awning, maybe some walls, and a storage box.

Congrats!

Yeah I do kind of wish we had gone with the extra door sometimes, not the end of the world though!

Adding an awning is next on my list to do. Way better than pulling out a tarp.

If you find a decent storage box, let me know. I’ve spent ages looking for something. At the moment I’ve got a hitch rack U bolted to the front. It does fine for camp chairs and wood but wanting something waterproof

 

[MPMB]

Congrats!

Yeah I do kind of wish we had gone with the extra door sometimes, not the end of the world though!

Adding an awning is next on my list to do. Way better than pulling out a tarp.

If you find a decent storage box, let me know. I’ve spent ages looking for something. At the moment I’ve got a hitch rack U bolted to the front. It does fine for camp chairs and wood but wanting something waterproof

For the box, I'm thinking just a basic truck box off AMZN or the local Tractor Supply/HD/Lowes. Put a strip of thick weatherstripping to keep out the dust and that should work just fine.

I just need to determine the size.

On the "we spared no expense" side, a Zarges box would be an option, since they come in tons of different sizes. They're water proof and allow padlocks for security.

 

[MPMB]

Well, that was a fun trip. We left Wednesday after work at 3:30pm. Rolled into Indiana at midnight, Thursday/Friday. Slept in the Walmart parking lot in our RTT.

Friday morning got up, grabbed some Ihop and headed to the Hiker HQ for our 9am walkthrough/pickup.

Josh @ Hiker ran through everything and as he was doing so, Bob -production manager or owner, saw our RTT and recommended adding a 4th roof bar, as our RTT is a Thule Tepui Basin, and long at 84” or so. They installed one right there, and as we waited, we picked out some swag and shirts. Jordan was another guy who was really helpful.

As the bar was about installed, they graciously offered to move the RTT from the bed rack of our JT and install it on the trailer. They whipped out the forklift and swapped it over.

We were “wheels up” just before 11am. Everyone there was awesome to deal with and helpful.

Oh, and btw, we were 40mi away from the Indy 500. As we left Columbus, traffic heading North thru Columbus was horrendous.

We took the “scenic” route home, passing thru Louisville, St. Louis, Springfield, MO at Buc-Ees, OKC, Amarillo, Albuquerque, Moab, then home.

I have 37s with the stock 4.10s, so normal mpgs aren’t that great to begin with. It was windy thru OK, TX, MO, and NM. Averaged about 11-12mpg. Coming home Monday (today) from south of Moab, we got almost 13mpg, very little wind. Ran mostly around 67-69mph.

Interesting/cool things on this trip:
Drove the highest interstate and tunnel in the US in CO.
Drove on part of route 66.
Drove past Kansas Speedway, I-70, Gateway Raceway, and Lebanon Speedway.
Saw the Gateway Arch.
Visited the OKC bombing memorial again, this time at 3:30am.
Travelled thru 8 states I’ve never been to.
Experienced the cicada event in MO.
Stopped at some Aztec ruins
Saw tortoises, armadillos
Hit the Four Corners monument
Unfortunately a deer unalived itself less than 2 hours into our trip. Broke the drivers headlight mount.

 

[MPMB]

Since this is all Hiker Trailer related, I'm just going to keep adding posts in here.

Added a Tractor Supply 57" aluminum truck box to the tongue. Mounted it with some u-bolts to the frame. Need to pick up some black silicone to seal the holes. The box carries the following thus far:
Mountainsmith folding table
Kelty shower/bathroom tent
Outdoor rug
Wheel chocks
Air compressor (portable 12V/115v)
Backpack full of recovery gear (easily thrown in the JT when w/o trailer)
Spare shoes
Heavy duty floormat
Cabela's low camp chairs
RTT collapsible ladder

We got a folding mattress for inside for a Plan B sleeping space.

Wife ordered some door magnets so the side doors can stay open when not on level ground. Very handy. She also ordered some curtains for the windows... which don't fit. So we'll come up with something different for window black-outs. Screens are another future project - if we're hanging out and want more fresh air, open both side doors to let the air blow through. But if it's buggy, we need big screes. We're going to try the magnetic screens, with a strip down one side of the door and the floor.

I got all the kitchen stuff in the back, and after 1 trip with it, I want to switch to visible containers/storage. Having things in zippered cases or latched containers is annoying. I did see a post on Pinterest where someone made the back end like a farmhouse kitchen, but it's not practical for cooking in the wild. Maybe at a KOA. Probably going to go the "bath toiletries bag" route for cooking utensils. Hang from the back door, unzip, and everything's there.

I'm also going to look at building a slideout for the stove, to avoid having to bring a folding table. Even though it collapses to about the size of a standard camp chair, it's "1 less thing" to bring. The obstacle I'm faced with is to not have the slider encroach in the sleeping space. Since the trailer is a 5x8, I have roughly 24" to play with. Our stove is the Everest 2X, which is 27" wide. I just might get fancy and do a multi-slide out with a spinner (thinking a spinning chair base) under the stove.

Wife ordered a small table for inside that folds up pretty small. We have a portable Stansport toilet, but it's a little too lightweight for me (it flexes a bit with 250#+), so I'll need to add our other one (normal 2-piece take-apart Camco).

I'll need to work on wiring shortly, so we can have some power and setup charging stations for phones, cameras, etc.

Our current fridge, BougeRV 35L, is too tall to fit in the back kitchen area, so we'll keep it in the JT in the cab or bed, and maybe order a smaller fridge that'll fit in the back.

I have to order a solar panel to install on top of the truck box. They way the RTT hangs forward it blocks the trailer top (plus, holes in a trailer is not something my wife wants me to do, best not to awaken the giant, amiright?) so solar panel is a no go there. I thought about doing a sliding storage space under the tent for the panel. When we get to camp, we can just slide it out from under the tent. Viola! But putting a panel on the top of the box lid is easy and convenient.

I have one 100W solar panel on the bed rack now, and that charged our 256W River in about 4 hours. It's handy to be able to charge things passively, if we're away on a hike or something.

Need to order a 10# or 5# propane tank, mount it to the truck box, and run a hose to the rear for the stove.

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