Folding Trailer

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I was driving around today and I saw one of THESE:

http://trailmanor.com/WebDocs/folding-line/folding-index.html

It's the first time I've seen one, and I must say, it certainly looks like an interesting design.

A little too bourgeois for my taste, but the engineering is certainly clever.

Regards
John

 

[compassrose]

David & I looked at those years ago. We liked them so I guess we are/were a bit too middle class (bourgeoisie) for you. They are hard to come by used. Extremely well built. We were living in a vintage hardsided Apache popup. That sure would have been a huge step up and having our own bathroom in the winter with the kids would have been a godsend. And we still could have pulled it with the car. We wanted the 3124KB with the two beds. If we had gotten it, I probably wouldn't be living in the bus today.

The Apache:

 

[WriterMs]

I agree the engineering is neat. But one of the first things I noticed is it has only one axle? With its length, it looked like a teeter-totter to me.

One of the things I love most about traveling (between camps) in my van is that I have my own facilities available all of the time. Pull over at a pretty overlook to have lunch? Everything is there to fix lunch or use the restroom (yes, I know this is evidently a bigger issue for women but still...) or even take an hour's nap. If the weather is bad when I reach camp, I do not have to go outside to set up anything.

 

[Reducto]

I'm surprised I haven't seen one of those before, very cool! It seems like something similar would work great on a van as an alternative to a pop top. It could give you more headroom and more length without losing insulation like you would with a standard canvas-sided top.

 

[compassrose]

I agree the engineering is neat. But one of the first things I noticed is it has only one axle?  With its length, it looked like a teeter-totter to me.

Very stable and one person could set it up. One dealership we looked at them at, let me completely set up then break it down. The top is counterbalanced very nicely and it took no effort at all. It is also well insulated. We met folks who were fulltiming in their Trailmanor. Wind, snow & sleet yet they stayed warm and dry. We finally found one used that we could afford but it was sold before I could call the sellers. If you ever get the chance to look at one, do so. It is one of the very few RVs that we thought was well built.

 

[ZoNiE]

AKA Hi-Lo.
So long as the axle is behind the CG putting weight on the TV, there is no teeter-totter effect.
I cannot believe that the Europeans tolerate their designs, but then with their small cars, tongue weight must be next to nothing...

 

[highdesertranger]

well if you drive on pavement and camp on pavement, one of these might work. here are some problems I see.
1. limited storage. notice there are no cabinets on the top that pops up. because you can't have them they would get in the way of making them collapsible.
2. way to many seals to hold mother nature at bay. these seal will leak allowing for drafts and dust to get in. the older the more they will leak.
3. torsion axle equals no good for off highway use. strictly a pavement vehicle.
4. slide out also no good for off road driving.
5. single 3500 lbs axle as MsWriter already pointed out not very stable.
so a recap might work for some pavement campers, for boondocking I wouldn't take one if you gave it to me. ok maybe I would, then I would strip it. I wish companies like this would pay me to road test their RV's. then I would call them and let them know where to pick up their piece of junk. my 2 cents. highdesertranger

 

[WriterMs]

C'mon, HDR, tell us what you really think! LOL

Your enjoyable humor aside, RV companies SHOULD pay folks like you (who actually know how the whole package should work) to test their rigs. But then they'd feel bad when they don't spend the money to make the improvements.

Then again, it does look like TrailManor targets folks who want full hookups, etc.

 

[dhawktx]

I was intrigued when I realized that these are hybrid 'Foamies' similar to what the DIY Teardrop folks are making...



http://www.tnttt.com/viewforum.php?f=55

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

We liked them so I guess we are/were a bit too middle class (bourgeoisie) for you.

What can I say, CR?  Some people, like me, are natural born bohemians.  Others aren't.

Regards
John

 

[compassrose]

What can I say, CR?  Some people, like me, are natural born bohemians.  Others aren't.

Regards
John

Thank god. Who wants everyone to be the same...

 

[Canine]

I could live in that.Before we bought the Gray Goose,we missed out on a hi-lo down the road,We didn't even know it was for sale until it sold.

 

[SoulRaven]

I always thought I wanted one. They have an owner's forum. It appears the screws fall out and you have to keep ahead of them. There is also a trick with the toilet as it is a recirculating toilet and although it has a filter involved it still recirculates what isn't caught by the filter. There is a newer less fancy model that has a cassette toilet although it still has a "fancy" price.

Hi Lo is a sturdier trailer. I have been in them. There is actually some talk about Hi Lo starting up again. They are working on a proto-type. Trailmanor started something similar called the "Rise" which doesn't seem to be taking off. The price is around $35,000 on the "Rise" which is more than I could pay even if I had the cash in hand. It has some kind of fancy lift system. I think it could sell IF they could bring down the price quite a bite.