Hiker Trailer - anyone have experience with them? (Now Buildout)

@First State Overland I may have found a used Basic 5X8 Hiker. Any idea on who makes those roof racks? This one doesn't have any, and that's something I'd definitely want to add. Thanks for any info?


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Steve said:
@First State Overland I may have found a used Basic 5X8 Hiker. Any idea on who makes those roof racks? This one doesn't have any, and that's something I'd definitely want to add. Thanks for any info?


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Steve- if it has cross bars you can put nearly any rack on to it. But Hiker uses Rhino Racks with their builds unless customer specifies otherwise.
 
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First State Overland said:
Steve- if it has cross bars you can put nearly any rack on to it. But Hiker uses Rhino Racks with their builds unless customer specifies otherwise.
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Sorry, yea I meant what are the crossbars that are bolted to the sides of the trailer. It looks like a logo cutout on it, but I can't figure out who makes them. Megan wasn't sure if they'd sell them separately when I asked.
 
Steve said:
Sorry, yea I meant what are the crossbars that are bolted to the sides of the trailer. It looks like a logo cutout on it, but I can't figure out who makes them. Megan wasn't sure if they'd sell them separately when I asked.
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Oh... the cross bars are custom I believe. The logo cutout is an H and a T. I think Randy (@Lead Dog ) could probably answer that one for you. I had Wes reinforce mine to handle extra weight, so there's actually a backside (interior) steel panel on mine too.
 
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When building out the Hiker Trailer Extreme Offroad, where does everyone recommend putting a freezer/refrigerator? My initial preference was to put it in the galley area with a slide out, if possible, but Andrew from Hiker Trailer said he didn't recommend it for fear of leaking right into the cabin. He actually had a horror story of large amounts of blood flowing into the cabin after a hunt (visions of Carrie in the cabin!).

Having said that, putting an Engel 45 quart on the front is kinda ugly (imho) and seems like a great way to either get your fridge stolen or at least your food. What does your experience suggest?

I am a complete noob to overlanding, but now that I've decided to go with Hiker Trailer (and been inspired by First State Overland's build), I'm trying to figure everything out so I can place my order.
 
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Todd Keener said:
When building out the Hiker Trailer Extreme Offroad, where does everyone recommend putting a freezer/refrigerator? My initial preference was to put it in the galley area with a slide out, if possible, but Andrew from Hiker Trailer said he didn't recommend it for fear of leaking right into the cabin. He actually had a horror story of large amounts of blood flowing into the cabin after a hunt (visions of Carrie in the cabin!).

Having said that, putting an Engel 45 quart on the front is kinda ugly (imho) and seems like a great way to either get your fridge stolen or at least your food. What does your experience suggest?

I am a complete noob to overlanding, but now that I've decided to go with Hiker Trailer (and been inspired by First State Overland's build), I'm trying to figure everything out so I can place my order.
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Being honest, the only fridge / freezer I have direct experience with is ARB, owning 2. They are sealed and there's a plug in the bottom for easy cleaning when necessary. I don't know if Engel's have the same plug or not, but I would guess something similar exists. A good fridge should be complete sealed so that leaking problem shouldn't exist. It is the first I've heard of it - ever. Worst case scenario, put a piece of duct tape over the drain hole.

That said, if you can spare the galley space, I'd put it there. Down the road, if I redesign our galley, I think I would create a dual slide (think rails) and I'd make it so it would slide out of the back of the galley, and also side inward toward the cabin so you can grab stuff out of it in the middle of the night if you want. You'd have to cut the galley wall of course, but if I were designing it with Hiker, I might want to go that route. We are using that space for power and water so it's not an option.

The front is also a fine place, but I would have to make a secure box for it. Here are some photos from other owners showing some options. Once you put a deposit down, you are open to join the Facebook owners page where there's a wealth of photos and builds to inspire you.

This one looks to be an offroad that sacrificed cabin space for extra galley space.

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This is one of my favorite front installs. Custom box with slider. Completely secure.
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First State Overland said:
Once you put a deposit down, you are open to join the Facebook owners page where there's a wealth of photos and builds to inspire you.
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^^^ This! In spades!! I ordered my Hiker last week, and I spent two days going through all of the past photos from the group, copying a *lot* of them to a desktop folder for future reference.

Now I have a new quandary, Chad. I recently had the opportunity to buy a National Luna 90 twin at a ridiculously low price. It was a demo unit, so has a couple scratches and a ding in the lid, but that's okay. Way more volume than I need, but it was only a bit more than an ARB 50, so I couldn't pass it up. Now, where the Hell am I going to stuff a a 33 X 20 X21 fridge!? I guess that's a good problem to have. :)
 
Steve said:
^^^ This! In spades!! I ordered my Hiker last week, and I spent two days going through all of the past photos from the group, copying a *lot* of them to a desktop folder for future reference.

Now I have a new quandary, Chad. I recently had the opportunity to buy a National Luna 90 twin at a ridiculously low price. It was a demo unit, so has a couple scratches and a ding in the lid, but that's okay. Way more volume than I need, but it was only a bit more than an ARB 50, so I couldn't pass it up. Now, where the Hell am I going to stuff a a 33 X 20 X21 fridge!? I guess that's a good problem to have. :)
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You might be able to get away with a galley side slideout in. Tembo Tusk makes them. Option 2, and probably the cheapest is tongue box. Just get a top opener large enough to give you access to controls. But my own personal preference if you're only running one fridge/freezer has always been in the tow vehicle. Even when I'm not camping or exploring, it's just nice to have to do simple things like keep groceries frozen and not have to worry about running home right away. Or maybe you're going to a sporting event and you pop open the tailgate and have instant refreshments. Or you make camp, detach the trailer and drive trails all day, you don't need to worry about bringing a cooler. I've also used it for storage of pretty odd things. Once I bought a floral arrangement and didn't have anyone to hold it and keep it from spilling. So popped open the fridge, vase and all down in there (the ARB has a removable lid) and what little water did spill was all contained by the fridge. I don't know your setup, but with a 4Runner, I'd put a retractable, tilting slider by AluCab in there and be done. It's pricey but it's sturdy and awesome. (Why is overlanding SO expensive?!?!)
 
First State Overland said:
But my own personal preference if you're only running one fridge/freezer has always been in the tow vehicle.
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That's what we'll likely do. We carry the Yeti Tundra 50 with us almost all of the time, and if not, an RTIC 20. I'll *have* to build a slide for the National Luna, as it'll be too tall to open in the 4Runner. That's the problem I had with the Yeti in the Outback.

My plans have been to build a Goose Gear style baseplate, and then modular stuff on top easily removable to make the entire area available for things like the lawn mower. This buying opportunity will just accelerate that.

An idea, for when traveling across country using the Hiker more as a moving van than camper, is to add some threaded inserts into the floor in front of the curb side door. Then I can use the 4Runner as passenger and luggage vehicle and move my fridge slide to the trailer. Just thinking off the top of my head, right now...
 
First State Overland said:
Added a secondary utility box in front behind the steel "battery" box that I'm using for storage. The large PVC box houses my Climate Right unit. In order to get it to open correctly, I reverse installed it so that the latch is hidden (which is a bonus) and it opens toward the trailer so the airflow lines from the Climate right can hook up and come right out of the top if I wanted. I think the plan is to pull the unit out and sit it on top of the box for use just for airflow and ability to use the remote through the front window. Also installing reversed allows the battery box to open with it as well. The larger box is bolted through the front mesh and secured.

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Here you can see the space around the unit inside the box.

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And then a shot of both opening at once.

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This is over the top! Hiker should be featuring your unit showing the possibilities! However I'm concerned about getting it dirty? Perhaps shoes off slippers on sign? After all, AC,tv, hot water!!!! Yes hives of jealousy just broke out!!!!


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I was curious what brand pump you installed?
I tried to zoom in on the image but couldn't make the name out.

Thanks in advance!
 
The water purifier is interesting. If I understand your setup correctly, it pulls from the water tank, right? Because of contamination I'm thinking you wouldn't put river water in there, right? So it's just for potable "hose water"?
 
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