RV Trailers desgined for extended boondocking

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lightsword

Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2018
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10
I have a tow vehicle Rated for 6000 lbs towed weight / 500 lbs tongue weight and am currently looking for a RV trailer designed to be used for roughly a week between resupply with 4 people.

I'm looking for something with the following:
  • Generator(ideally built in) that can run AC and other electronics for at least 6 hours a day for 7 days.(generator and fuel can't be transported inside the tow vehicle)
  • Large water tank capacity.
  • Able to comfortably sleep at least 4 people.

Are there any decent trailers available that would work for this? I've been having trouble finding anything within the weight limit of my tow vehicle with a generator and large water tank.
 
Very few trailers are DESIGNED for boondocking beyond an occasional overnight while enroute between campgrounds.  People who boondock for a week at a time usually end up having to highly modify their trailer themselves.  Frequently, this includes a much larger battery bank with solar panels on the roof, and/or a generator carried in the bed of their tow vehicle, and a large water tank in the bed of their tow vehicle, along with a 12 volt water pump and hoses to refill the trailer's tank.

Best you can do is look  for a trailer with large tanks, especially gray and black water, and plan on doing your own mods.
 
Not that i've seen in the weight rating.
Your looking at a very small single axle rig to keep weight under 6000 lbs loaded.
 
Optimistic Paranoid said:
Frequently, this includes a much larger battery bank with solar panels on the roof, and/or a generator carried in the bed of their tow vehicle, and a large water tank in the bed of their tow vehicle, along with a 12 volt water pump and hoses to refill the trailer's tank.
The main problem I'm having is that I can't easily store anything like that in my tow vehicle(it's a SUV not a truck) so I would need a trailer with enough storage space itself.

Koodog said:
Not that i've seen in the weight rating.
Your looking at a very small single axle rig to keep weight under 6000 lbs loaded.
I've found plenty of dual axle trailers which are large enough and well within my weight limits, the main issue seems to be tank size and the generator.
 
Reality check!  A 6000 lb trailer is going to be small, small for 4 people, and limited in storage, tank capacity, batteries, etc. And nothing in that range could be termed "designed for boondocking". Barely designed for the odd weekend trip.

Further, a 6000 lb trailer will have a minimum tongue weight of 600 lbs (700 would be better).  If your tongue weight limit is 500 lbs, you need to consider 5000 lbs as the absolute max loaded trailer weight.  Your SUV probably can't handle its max  rated tongue weight either, since passengers and gear in the SUV will reduce the portion of the cargo capacity available to carry the trailer tongue.

In short, what you want doesn't exist.  You need a heftier tow vehicle or more realistic expectations.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Reality check!  A 6000 lb trailer is going to be small, small for 4 people, and limited in storage, tank capacity, batteries, etc. And nothing in that range could be termed "designed for boondocking". Barely designed for the odd weekend trip.

Further, a 6000 lb trailer will have a minimum tongue weight of 600 lbs (700 would be better).  If your tongue weight limit is 500 lbs, you need to consider 5000 lbs as the absolute max loaded trailer weight.  Your SUV probably can't handle its max  rated tongue weight either, since passengers and gear in the SUV will reduce the portion of the cargo capacity available to carry the trailer tongue.

In short, what you want doesn't exist.  You need a heftier tow vehicle or more realistic expectations.
I've found ones like this that are big enough for 4 people and under 5000 lbs loaded. I would think I would just need a variant with bigger tanks.

Ernie n Tara said:
You may have to mount the generator outside at the rear of the trailer.

Ernie
Yeah, I figured that would probably be what I would need to do.
 
Gary is right on. The OP needs to start looking at class As at least 33 feet long. If they buy anything else they will more than likely be trading it in within a year. They should rent a small class C for a weekend and go camping to see what I am talking about.
 
SeilerBird said:
Gary is right on. The OP needs to start looking at class As at least 33 feet long. If they buy anything else they will more than likely be trading it in within a year. They should rent a small class C for a weekend and go camping to see what I am talking about.

Agree with both. DW had to have the class C we bought last year. Guess what she did last weekend. She was out looking at and pricing class A's.  :eek: I'm glad I got a decent deal on the C.  ::)
 
SeilerBird said:
Gary is right on. The OP needs to start looking at class As at least 33 feet long. If they buy anything else they will more than likely be trading it in within a year. They should rent a small class C for a weekend and go camping to see what I am talking about.
Strongly disagree. There definitely are trailers that can do this (look at Outdoors RV and Lance for starters) but they are WAAAAYYY over 5000-6000 pounds. We did this with a 24? ORV quite happily with two people for a number of years. But even our small trailer was 7500-8000 pounds the way we loaded it. An SUV carrying four passengers can?t come clean we to towing something like that unless it is an old Ford Expedition or Excursion or a 3/4 ton Suburban.
 
I'm currently leaning towards something like this and storing the generator+fuel tanks in the forward storage compartment while driving, would that probably work?
 
Hard to say, what are you going to tow it with?? You cannot necessarily go by what is stamped on the hitch itself, you need the real numbers for the vehicle.
 
Even with a little generator you're going to need upwards of 10 gallons of gas based on your stated usage. That needs to be stored in an area with no electrical components such as converter/charger/inverter/transfer switch. Also needs to be stored in containers that don't vent and of course don't leak. I don't think I'd want 10 gallons of gas stored in the trailer, I think that belongs outside mounted on (probably) the rear bumper.

Because you are so tight on hitch weight, it is going to be a challenge balancing the rig to keep at least 10% weight on the hitch so you don't get tail heavy. The internet is filled with videos of people losing control of mis-loaded bumper pull trailers.
 
You didn't say where you are, or where you hope to boondock.  According to Volvo, the 5000 lbs max weight is only good up to 1000 meters above sea level.  For every additional 1000 meters, it's reduced by 10%

https://support.volvocars.com/en-CA/cars/pages/owners-manual.aspx?mc=v526&my=2018&sw=17w46&article=d53577c67fe2c92bc0a80151506b3243

In addition, the Volvo doesn't seem to have much of a wheelbase.  Short wheelbase vehicles tend not to be as stable while towing as long wheelbase vehicles.

Honestly, this doesn't strike me as a good idea.  I don't think you have enough car for what you want to do.
 
I'm located in Colorado so it's fairly high altitude, and I plan to drive interstate through the Rockies regularly. Volvo however doesn't appear to differentiate between the various AWD variants of this car, the lowest end AWD variant is the T6 which has 316hp while I have the T8 with 400hp due to the dual engine hybrid drive system, I also have the adjustable air suspension which is not standard on the base model. I'm assuming the extra 84 horsepower my vehicle has over the base AWD version should give me enough margin on altitude.
 
lightsword said:
I'm located in Colorado so it's fairly high altitude, and I plan to drive interstate through the Rockies regularly. Volvo however doesn't appear to differentiate between the various AWD variants of this car, the lowest end AWD variant is the T6 which has 316hp while I have the T8 with 400hp due to the dual engine hybrid drive system, I also have the adjustable air suspension which is not standard on the base model. I'm assuming the extra 84 horsepower my vehicle has over the base AWD version should give me enough margin on altitude.

My daughter-in-law has a 2018 Volvo. I think you might want to rethink your towing assumptions. To find out go and rent a U haul trailer, load it up to weight and give it a pull.
 
John Beard said:
My daughter-in-law has a 2018 Volvo. I think you might want to rethink your towing assumptions. To find out go and rent a U haul trailer, load it up to weight and give it a pull.

I agree. Notwithstanding Volvo's seemingly optimistic numbers, there's no way I'd use a small, car-based SUV to tow a long 6000# trailer through the Rockies (or anywhere actually - out on the flat Plains with a little breeze and the tail would be wagging the dog)
 
lightsword said:
I'm currently leaning towards something like this and storing the generator+fuel tanks in the forward storage compartment while driving, would that probably work?
Those fresh and waste water tanks are 1/2 to 1/3 what is takes for two experienced boondockers (DH and me) for a week. Think carefully. Have you thought of a pop up with two king sized beds and a porta potty with a separate enclosure? With the weight savings you could carry a lot more water and other supplies.
 
lightsword said:
I'm currently leaning towards something like this and storing the generator+fuel tanks in the forward storage compartment while driving, would that probably work?

I stand corrected on the single axle, small trailer comment.
Guess I haven't been up on the new designs.
Let us know how it works out.
 
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