Here are my thoughts on the travel trailer thing - and no offense to anyone who has one, it's just not for me even though I think some are pretty cool.
99% of the wheeling and camping I do is by myself, so an expensive 7,000 pound, 8 passenger, gas guzzling, overbuilt, over-engineered, body on frame SUV with ~$20k in mods is already pretty excessive. Any trailer that can go where I've typically wheeled means another overbuilt, over-engineered, expensive piece of equipment that has to be purchased, likely modified or dialed in, insured, parked when not being used, requires periodic maintenance, and ultimately limits where I would go. Then there's the consideration of many fewer trails to choose from to accommodate the trailer, the reduction in fun while wheeling with a trailer (also worse driving on the pavement to get there), the reduced gas mileage and more horrible range than the truck already has to begin with, the additional time to set up and tear down (nothing is faster than just hopping in the back and sleeping on top of the ARB drawers), the increased footprint at your campsite, the fear of someone messing with it if I left it at the campsite and wheeled for the day...Honestly I could go on and on about *my perceived* flaws with the trailer plan, so I have never seriously considered one. That said, if I had a big family or a bunch of people who went with me on trips, a trailer might make more sense.
More than anything though I'm trying to pare everything down because the off road hobby for me (granted, over the course of ~20 years) turned into more preparing the truck and planning for trips instead of actually going out and having fun. It was pretty funny when I bought the van - I intentionally planned NOTHING. I got on a plane with my backpack full of 5 days of clothes and toiletries, an Ipad and headphones I didn't use, my phone which I barely used, a book, and that's about it. I picked it up and the seller asked me which route I was taking, where I was stopping, how long it would take, and my answers to everything were "I have no idea to be honest". The feeling of a 2,100 mile trip with absolutely nothing planned and no provisions other than a quick stop at Walmart to get things like PBJ stuff, a pillow and a pocket knife. It reminded me of one of my favorite camping trips ever actually. I was in high school and had a Jeep at the time, and I stopped at my buddy's house to see what he was up to on a Friday night. He was working on his 4runner, so I helped him wrap up and he said "want to go wheeling?". It was ~10pm on a Friday night, and we left in our trucks and ended up wheeling until we were too tired then each slept in the back of our trucks with whatever we had in the back and ate granola bars for dinner and breakfast the next day. We woke up and wheeled all day the following day which included me sliding down an icy granite rock face (oh ya it was winter in Colorado too!) smashing the front end of my Jeep and barely limped it home, and then we started tearing it apart and learned how to do body work about a decade before Youtube or online instructions for everything was a thing.
I'm not saying I don't like to be prepared today because I do, but I feel like much of the adventure is lost with incredibly expensive dialed in trucks, complex and often unnecessary modifications, bullet proof and inflexible itineraries, etc. The 200 is IMO the best combination of capability, comfort, and reliability, so to come full circle I think all terrain tires and sliders are just about all it needs to be perfect...kinda like how I started this build threadSo I think the priority above all else should be just to get outside with whatever you have as much as possible and figure it out as you go. With that said, I won't be around here much at all for the foreseeable future, so apologies if anyone quotes or tags me it might be a long time before I reply!
Totally get this.
I had my previous FJ build dialed, fridge never left the truck, RTT never came off the truck and bedding was stowed inside, onboard solar, air and hotwater were permanent. Essential gear all had its place and stayed in the truck. At any given moment I could decide to pull over and camp and I generally had enough water and food in the fridge to stay for at least a couple nights. Definitely more than 50% of my camping trips were completely unplanned spontaneous events and those are often the best kind.
Trying to figure out how to work my way back to that with a family and two young children. Have an Austrlian TrakShack trailer now that the camping gear stays in permanently but I am still a long way from the "Just hitch it up and be ready to go in 10 minutes" ideal I sold myself on when buying it. Part of that may just be needing more time and experience to get things dialed in.
With the FJ everything was in the vehicle and I was in the vehicle every day so if anything happened it was noticed and resolved immediately. The trailer sits in my garage for weeks at a time between trips and it seems like everytime I go to use it there is something that needs attention and delays our rapid departure.
The Sprinter Van or similar small RV route is definitely appealing with the family. Especially the ability to whip up a quick snack or give them a little time to run around all while being inside the vehicle. My trailer has a nice swing out kitchen setup but that's not exactly ideal to pull over in the dark in the middle of a rainstorm and fire up for a snack. Excited to follow along on your van life adventures and hear more of your feedback.
) and self contained nature of the van are my favorite aspects of it so far. For what a van gives up in off road capability, it makes up for in conveniences and livability, and the 19+ Sprinters with factory 4x4 and a true high/low transfer case narrow the off road capability gap.
