What size trailer do you recomend?

[Dunnage Garage]

I recently removed my roof rack and decided I need a trailer. I cannot decide on what size to go with. I've been thinking about a 40"x48" or a 3'x5'. I primarily need room for a cooler and luggage. And some kayaks. It will be pulled by a Jeep TJ. Regardless it needs to be light weight.
I plan on building a enclosed box for it, and putting jeep rims with matching tires as my jeep.
Any overlanders out there run these small...micro trailers? Pros? Cons?
BTW my kayak is only about 7-8 foot long. Any new ones will also be shorter. And my wife's paddle board will be shorter to.
Please and thank you.

 

[roots66]

I recently removed my roof rack and decided I need a trailer. I cannot decide on what size to go with. I've been thinking about a 40"x48" or a 3'x5'. I primarily need room for a cooler and luggage. And some kayaks. It will be pulled by a Jeep TJ. Regardless it needs to be light weight.

As I won't be doing any Rubicon style rock crawling with my rig, I figure a trailer might be a better solution than filling up the bed with gear. I already tow my 6'x10' trailer for normal things, so I got no worries about a smaller one. I too am considering a 40"x48" which will be converted to two levels - lower storage and upper sleeping. However, I'd also like to hear any input on the subject.

Another reason I am going the trailer route is my rig is also my daily driver and I have an 80 mile round trip every day just going back and forth to work. The less things I have to carry during the week, the better. Plus, I can have everything stocked and stored in the garage. When it's time to go, 2 minutes and I'm ready to hit the road.

 

[Honeymooners]

If you are building it, I would recommend making it the same with as your jeep. That way if the Jeep fits, so does the trailer. Length is all about what do you really want. 5 - 6' is pretty common.

 

[lostbutneverstuck]

A 3x5 trailer works great behind a 2 door Jeep and it isn’t overly heavy. Nice to have a base camp as well if you want to spend a few days somewhere.

 

[twisty]

I had a TJ as well. I designed a frame and had someone build it for me with a torsion axle. I went to the junkyard and bought two ass ends of a YJ tub and welded them together so that it had a tailgate in front and tailgate in the rear. There was dead spot where the gas tank would be so I had a gas tank built to fit. Ended up being about 23 gallons. I threw on 33 inch tires which gave it 19 inches of ground clearance and I was off.

When there small like that and with some major ground clearance they will go practically anywhere but if you get yourself in a bad situation they are a PITA. I would still consider some moderately hard wheeling trails with it though, but I would have to know them prior to going. Without knowledge of the trail or someone I trusted to tell me I would just leave the trailer somewhere as basecamp.

It towed behind the tj perfectly and most times I didnt know it was there but on big hills I definately knew, especially when it was full of gas. lol. The one thing I wish I did was put brakes on it. It's light enough where you really dont need most of the time...but other times I needed them.

 

[ArkansasDon]

I built mine from ground up. When I was in the research & planning stages (before the build) I done lots of measurements of the gear I wanted to store in it all times in my trailer. I spent many hour on line looking at trailers built by the owners on a few forums, trying to get a grasp on style, size & functionality.

Our king size bed made for a good lay out for the size of trailer (tub or explore box) you want by laying butcher string in the size you are thinking of. Then we placed the totes inside the string area & using a tape measure figured how tall \ height the tub or explore box is needed by stacking gear on the tub. Once we figured what we wanted in size, style then the drawings came to play & the research of parts & budget to spend on the build of the trailer were penciled. I found that Scott Chaney w\ Compact Camping Concepts was my main go to for many parts & questions & answers since Scott built more adventure trailers than any other single person I know. His knowledge & expertise is a true blessing for the DIY trailer builder from wheel to tub & explore box spacing, to materials used in explore boxes to books he has written on explore box trailer builds, tongue lengths, weight as a few importance. I went with Scott's Dinoot tub.

I'm currently on another build & buying more parts from Scott because of his thoroughness. Collections

If I can give one piece of advise, do a lot of research on what style trailer you want, don't cut corners on this build. Set a realistic budget, use the right parts & install them correctly whether by welding or proper fasteners & it will last you & give you great trouble free service on the trail.

Last year the wife & I were in our home state of Arkansas in the Ozarks Sylamore District going down a barely 1 1\2 vehicle wide road & 2 1\2 miles in when we came across a slap together junkered overland trailer with failed suspension left behind blocking the trail. In all reality I wanted to take "Ol Heavy" my truck & push this heap over the edge, but I didn't & I had to back up w\trailer up hill for 2 1\2 miles on a windy dirt road which took forever.

My actual build of my 1st trailer can be viewed on the American Adventurist forum. my project I went all out & over my budget, but I know I will not have any issues selling this trailer this winter once I finish the squareback teardrop style.
Size of my M416 Dinoot is over-all length 11ft. 9", 40 1\2" wide @ the bottom, 48" wide @ the top, 6ft long, 658lbs empty, 902lbs loaded, 24" chassis ground clearance, 14" axle ground clearance.

I wish you the best in your search & what you come up with.