4WD with a trailer?
 

Ok, we used to ride with the bikes around the world and now we are changing to a 4WD, bought a Nissan Pathfinder and we will ship it from Belgium to Canada in June. Idea is to go from Canada to Argentina and then we'll see (South Africa etc).
BUT, since we want to sleep in the car (we took all the seats out in the rear and made a new floor) we are left with a few options for all our stuff:

- either work with a roofrack (which I personally don't want)
- or taking a small trailer with us to put our stuff in it (water, diesel, clothing, chairs, table, tents etc)

I've seen a Landy with a trailer in Mongolia last year, but I don't have the guys details and I'm looking for people who are/did travel with a "stuff trailer" if they were happy with it and would do it again.

We will be gone for a few years (inch allah) and we don't fancy moving boxes every day from one place to another, read to move everything from in the car to the roof or outside the car to be able to sleep in the car. And thus we are seriously thinking of putting a not to big trailer behind the 4WD just with all our stuff in it, so we can keep the 'bed' as a 'bed' inside the car.

Yes I know that we can avoid this by buying a bigger vehicle or a 'proper' overlander, but we choose the Pathfinder as we like the car. So please no salestalk for a landy or bigass iveco truck... :innocent:

Any thoughts?
:helpsmilie:

I think the LR you saw maybe Grif?, he's on here.

We used a Sankey trailer through Morocco, just about everyone told us we were mad. That is apart from some people who had actually used one on a regular basis in Southern Africa. It seems pretty normal for them there.

There were 6 of us in a lwb G Wagen (similar in size to a Pathfinder) so we had few options. I really dislike roof racks, comes from using overloaded and top heavy Defenders! so after a lot of pondering options we went with the Sankey.

They can be pretty cheap to buy and although heavy you can strip them down and fit say a plastic tub (see HGV under chassis storage boxes for an idea). Best bit is the size of the wheels and running gear. I found it very stable, some say they can weave but my problem was forgetting it was there!

Anyway if I had the choice I wouldn't do it, they make life difficult in cities, turning around, parking etc. They will cause huge drag through soft stuff, you need to keep in a straight line and be quite brutal with the throttle in say soft sand. Not ideal. Normal off road piste type stuff was no issue though. Anything fragile will get trashed with the bouncy ride though.Having said that it worked for us but our situation was a little unique.

I'm sure the vast majority will be against the idea.

Thank you for the insight.

In the meantime we're back to our original idea to buy a Thule Roofbox, type Motion 800 or event the 900.

The max loading capacity of these is 75kg, which is more than enough for our clothes and food and cooking equipment. The chairs and table we would put inside the Pathfinder and the 20l water canister also. Those we can move to the front when we go to sleep.

We have been divided for some time now between the trailer and the roofbox, but we found out that prices for a decent off road trailer are way above what we want to pay (for just some storage space) and that the thule roofbox can carry all our clothes and cooking equipment so our "storage" problem can be fixed easily with this solution.

As with you, our situation is quite non conformist, as we want to sleep as much as we can in the pathfinder, only when it will be too hot pitch up the tent. And we think that we will hate it to have to move everyday a lot of stuff from a to b just to be able to sleep... So at this moment the Thulebox is back on number one and the trailer on number two...
:innocent:

Contact Griff for his input on using a trailer. His website is Sirocco Overland | Сирокко Оверленд | Solo Vehicle Dependent Exploration, Travel & Adventure

He seems to have got along fine with it and is currently in Australia.

@ RussG...

On your G that you used, what trailer towbar/ball did you use?

As in, did you convert the sankey to a 50mm ball, or fit a NATO hitch to the G?

If you fitted a hitch to the G, can you explain how you did it? (I've just bought a 460 SWB, which has a 50mm ball, but i'd like to fit either a dixon bate adjustable or a nato hitch), and would need to make up the mounting plate with the 4 holes in.

cheers

Jamie

Why dont you have your stuff inside the Nissan and have a roof tent for sleep like a maggiolina?
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...r/P1040235.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...r/P1040231.jpg
I think is better this way..!

And you can have a solar panel on the roof tent for extra energy!

hmmmmm, this is strange as the roofrails can only carry 100kg according to Nissan...

And we're two, so way over the 100kg that's one of the reasons we couldn't have a rooftent.
Is it your car? Just to know if you went sleeping with two in it or not... as I really don't want to damage the rails of the roof!

We do also have a normal tent with us, but we'll go with the roofbox (thule motion 900) for all the stuff and then carry the extra tent if need to be and sleep most of the time in the car.

Its not always about down
 

In my past experience, limited as it might be, I have found I do more damage by having a heavy load on the roof trying to bounce up. In the past I have ripped the rails off due to this. I have never done damage to the rails from loading them well beyond 100kg.

Riq

Hi Jamie,

It was a NATO hitch. I basically cut the swan neck off a standard G Wagen hitch and welded a a plate on with 4 holes to take the NATO hitch. I added a triangulation piece in to reinforce it.

As you would expect there was some serious stress on this, the trailer was airborne for a good part of the time:eek3:

I sold it a few years back, wish I hadn't tbh

Russ

Towing a trailer is OK on surfaced roads, within reason , towing on slippery surfaces eg mud tracks or snow can be lethal . On soft surfaces they are a real drag (eg anchor) . They also tend to be high maintenance on rough (eh corrugated) dirt roads.

The roof tent eg magiolina , is the most logical solution to your situation .
Keeps the heavy items down low , and also more secure , less chance of having bedding stolen , from roof , rather than the contents of a roof box storage. You are also more likely to end up with a roomy comfortable bed, which is a big consideration on extended travel . JMHO&E

Here in OZ they do floor mounted slide out draws ... put a flat surface on top for your bed and you have good low load carrying in the slide out draws and your bed all done.

Roof rack mounting limits .. the manufactures state those for traveling down the 4WD road .. the stresses are much less when your stooped and sleeping. So the roof top tent idea does actually work.

Funnily enough I am thinking of going the other way. keep all the gear in the vehicle and tow a trailer tent. that way I will be towing a very lightly loaded trailer.

Actually a small trailer that can extend front,back and up when stopped, so not in way of rear view mirror when driving.

Try to use same wheels as you vehicle so in an emergency the spare will fit anything.

http://www.theworldoffroad.gr/thewor...d/en/index.php

2 years with a magiolina on the racks of the discovery...No problem.

Thanks Russ, gives me some ideas.

I reckon a horizontal piece across the "top" to triangulate the upright flat face (that the hitch bolts to) should beef it up good & proper! :thumbup1:

my way roof tents in Uk do trailers as well.

MyWay Roof Tents (UK): TRAILER TENTS: EXPLORER TRAILER: Myway Explorer light weight off road trailer

these are based on a Sankey which has been refurbished completely.

they do a great two person trailer tent which is fast to erect, comfortable and the trailer gives great storage space.

contact Paul at my way, he is always very helpful to talk with. i have seen one of the smaller trailers up for sale recently at about £3000. make sure you change the wheels and tyres to match the car.

Next year my posting in Ethiopia is up and I want to drive back to Uk before my next posting (not sure where that will be yet, hence drive back to blighty, if next location is driveable, will change the plans and drive direct there).

The car (2013 Defender 110 CSW) will be full with 5 of us (mum dad and three teenage children), so a trailer is really the only option for us. Choose the NATO hitch, it is far better off road.

If using roof boxes, the Roof box company in Uk (I am sure there are similar providers in other countries, just have no knowledge of them and so put what I have here solely as ideas generators), sell two roof boxes, one opening left, one right which provides nearly a thousand litres of useable space. A massive amount and flexible.

Finally, roof tents of all kinds are great, lots of the Autohome family (of which Maggiolina are one) have enough space for bedding etc in as well. I have been banned by my wife from having one as she doesnt fancy the climb onto an LR Defender roof (another reason for the trailer option!!!!!).

Regards.

Alan L.

regards.

Alan l.