Mini Tent Trailer for a little truck

[FischAutoTechGarten]

I had to make a 6 1/2 hour round trip to get this little guy, no dealers in my region, but it looks like the trip was worth while. I even saw a few other Mavericks on the trip, sadly one was a overheated FX4 4K tow on the side of the road that was towing a big camping trailer.

Ufff, don't say that out loud, you'll upset those that advocate towing in excess of the recommended weights (2klbs, 4klbs). Wish you'd snapped a photo as a cautionary tale.

Back to your trailer. Thanks for sharing it with us. Looks like it would setup much faster than traditional pop-ups or tents. I probably have a bush I could store that under. You may be able to size the tires a bit bigger which would give you a bit more latitude with highway speeds (above 100km/h). I know many do that with tear drops that have very, very small wheels.

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[Delzona]

It’s funny , when I go or went off roading , we camped and we always called it off roading !
Over landing just sounds so euro!
I’ll just stick to off-roading !
Never asked my friends if they wanted to go overlanding always asked if they wanted to go off roading this weekend!
I think some advertising companies are trying to make it sound less impactful for all the greenies living in their concrete and oil impregnated rock jungles over us using dirt roads for travel .

When I was stationed in Germany and England all I ever heard was “over-landing” never “off-roading” So I’m with you, I’ll off-road here and over-land when I visit Europe!

 

[Oscarcat]

Excel Tent Trailer



CANADIAN MSRP $ 8,700.00

+ Packaging, Freight, and Tax.



U.S. MSRP $ 6,599.00

+ Packaging, Freight, Brokerage, and Tax.

Excel Trailers | EXCEL Tent Trailers by SunLite Trailers Inc.

Mike

Much appreciated. My son lives in Bellvue WA and goes across the border at Vancouver BC often to mountain bike. If I pull the trigger, I think he can pick it up for me.

 

[icegradner]

I like the concept, but those little tires scare me. Always seems to be more of those on the side of the highway. I assume it's because they have more revolutions per mile, wear the bearings faster. Probably just requires more frequent maintenance/monitoring than the roadside users were aware of. Looks like pulling a 2 wheel dolly at highway speeds.

I'm trying to find a setup where my trailer wheels and tires match the Maverick specs, so I can have interchangeable spares.

Yes the manufacture recommends adding grease the wheel bearings every two weeks if you are traveling regularly. I checked the tires during our trip a few times, when stopped for gas and lunch.

We had a big RAM HD truck, towing a big dump trailer, behind us for half an hour on the freeway, I wonder if they were laughing at my baby trailer.

 

[icegradner]

Much appreciated. My son lives in Bellvue WA and goes across the border at Vancouver BC often to mountain bike. If I pull the trigger, I think he can pick it up for me.

He'd be in for a long drive, they are not available in Vancouver. In BC they are sold in Osoyoos (factory and dealer) or Kamloops (dealer), both a 3+ hour drive from Vancouver. Supposedly there are dealers on Vancouver Island, but they are not listed as official dealers on Sunlite's website.

 

[icegradner]

Ufff, don't say that out loud, you'll upset those that advocate towing in excess of the recommended weights (2klbs, 4klbs). Wish you'd snapped a photo as a cautionary tale.

Back to your trailer. Thanks for sharing it with us. Looks like it would setup much faster than traditional pop-ups or tents. I probably have a bush I could store that under. You may be able to size the tires a bit bigger which would give you a bit more latitude with highway speeds (above 100km/h). I know many do that with tear drops that have very, very small wheels.

It would have been captured on my dash camera, but that file might be overwritten by now.

Yes it is very fast to setup, less than 3 minutes from opening the lid to having it all up and ready to use.

 

[Oscarcat]

He'd be in for a long drive, they are not available in Vancouver. In BC they are sold in Osoyoos (factory and dealer) or Kamloops (dealer), both a 3+ hour drive from Vancouver. Supposedly there are dealers on Vancouver Island, but they are not listed as official dealers on Sunlite's website.

Yep, been to Kamloops. Son and his buddies go to Revelstoke to mountain bike. I may even try to locate a used Excel. Again, thanks for the info.

 

[Panther City Outdoors]

Over landing just sounds so euro!

It's actually Australian in origin

 

[Deleted member 7089]

Excel II Tent trailers are only rated for paved or level gravel roads (no pot holes)

Yeah, that won't work here in Québec neither.

 

[icegradner]

Yeah, that won't work here in Québec neither.

Yeah given that it's for motorcycles, pot holes don't go over well with the bikes either I'd guess.

 

[Derwood]

I cannot remember where I first read about these little tent trailers, maybe it was a similar unit here? They are designed for motorcycles, but if you don't need anything fancy they could be just the ticket to go with the Maverick. Steel frame and fiberglass box, encapsulating what is essentially a bed for two on wheels, coming in at only 295 pounds empty, with a 30 pound tongue weight. Going through mountain passes it's just like having a couple of passengers in the truck, basically not there. Yet there is still enough room in the back for two people to stand up and move around a little behind the bed, even if you are 6ft2. You can option storage boxes, but you can also store some items in the unit on the bed, or on the roof rack. There are add-on rooms and awnings as well, but I didn't go for that.

It's not designed for off roading, as you can see from the ground clearance, I need to use a 5 1/4" drop on the hitch. Factory tires are only rated for speeds up to 62MPH, so if you are a speed demon you'd want to look for higher speed rated ones after getting it. The unit I have is the Excel II tent trailer by Sunlite Trailers, made in British Columbia, Canada, they have dealers in various places in Canada and the US. There are a number of other brands that make similar sized mini tent trailers out there as well, but this was what I could find somewhat locally. I had to make a 6 1/2 hour round trip to get this little guy, no dealers in my region, but it looks like the trip was worth while. I even saw a few other Mavericks on the trip, sadly one was a overheated FX4 4K tow on the side of the road that was towing a big camping trailer.

I considered a number of tailers, both tent trailers and hard sided, but this was the easiest to store at my place so it won out in the end.

Slick! Nice way to stay off the ground when camping.

 

[kojack]

we have the sylvansport go. It's a great unit and built very well.

 

[Panther City Outdoors]

we have the sylvansport go

I had mine factory refurbished and will be publishing a video of it on my youtube channel.

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