What Fits Your Camping Needs
If you are looking for a trailer that is more capable than your typical pavement princess, you have a world of options in the market. At Princess Craft, we’ve spent years dedicated to the more niche corners of the RV market with lightweight towable trailers such as teardrops and folding A-frame trailers, as well as a specific focus on truck campers. When manufacturers started to focus on the more niche area of off-road camping rigs, we perked our ears up! Today, we’re going to look at MDC-USA and InTech RV trailers.
So, what makes a trailer more capable of getting off the asphalt safely? The fact is adventurous trailer owners through the years have been taking their camping rigs wherever they please. It’s always been possible, if you’re willing to deal with the wear, tear, and repair cycle they’re committing to. Covered wagons, stagecoaches, and other horse/mule/donkey/ox/etc.-drawn wagons that crisscrossed continents are the clear ancestors of our modern rigs. And we’re still trying to take our stuff and habitats to far-off places, albeit for different purposes.
Most trailers simply aren’t made for off-road treks, even when they are technically capable enough to go there. It just isn’t smart, generally.
Is the trailer tough enough?
A common notion RV owners have is that traveling with an RV is like taking a house and subjecting it to a constant rumbling earthquake. The continuous stress RVs endure can be immense, and they become significantly more pronounced if going off-road. “Improved” dirt and gravel roads can introduce lots of added vibrations. Lesser-quality (arguably more fun and scenic) roads add more twisting, torquing, flexing, and more to the construction of these trailers and rigs. Go further, and you have rough fire roads, forest service roads, and double-track jeep paths where only solid 4x4s should go. People take their trailers there!
Steel Chassis
Steel frames are still “king” in the places where reliable strength is needed. It is proven, and is easier to repair if the tools and skill are present to do so. The Problem with steel is, unsurprisingly, weight. Rust is of some concern. However, modern methods of galvanization and coatings go a long way to make steel frames last for years to come. MDC-USA trailers, which we started carrying in the past year, have Q345 galvanized steel hot rolled rectangle tube frames for their chassis.
Aluminum Chassis
Another option out there is aluminum. There are many types of aluminum out there, kind of like there are many types of soda-water concoctions available. The thing with aluminum is that there are some extremely strong, and yet lightweight types of aluminum out there. Think about the aluminum that is used to build large passenger and cargo planes. The material is strong but lighter and inherently rust-resistant. It also allows for some more flex, which can be a good or a bad thing.
We like aluminum-framed trailers a lot, and don’t have a problem with a well-engineered aluminum chassis for a trailer. This type of frame does great for light to moderate off-road usage. InTech RVs are all built on very capable aluminum chassis. Their Flyer lineup of trailers performs well in those gravel/dirt environments, all the way up to washboard roads.
What about the connection to the tow vehicle?
Uneven terrain is a thing no matter the driving surface, but off-road travel enthusiasts are likely to have their minds wander to more extreme situations. If they want to barrel through deeply rutted trails or over rocky obstacles, you better believe they want to have a coupler that is both strong and easily articulates in all directions. When terms like “approach angle” and “departure angle” are part of the everyday vernacular, that trailer in tow needs to stay connected but move freely to deal with the dips and humps that they traverse.
MDC-USA trailers come prepared for these situations with a Cruisemaster DO-35 hitch. This is a proven (and easy) coupling solution that’s been around in Australia for years. They build trailers for the outback adventurers, and this 360-styler connection has kept trailers reliably following their tow vehicles in all manner of rugged environments.
The Flyer trailers from InTech RV come standard with a typical “ball mount.” That’s just okay, and fine for most maintained roads. The nice thing about the InTech trailer coupling situation is that they’re easily upgraded. The couplers on the Flyer trailers are bolted on, so swapping for a sturdy 360-style coupler isn’t difficult. An easy option might be the Lock-N-Roll system. Pop a more offroad capable coupler on a Flyer and you’re really on your way.
Suspension
If wagons and trailers through the years have navigated extreme landscapes, those basic suspension designs can still do it. Newer and more modern designs with newer materials can make for a much “nicer” trip. They may be more rugged, have more ground clearance, and offer a much better ride (for all of the gear in your cabinets and drawers), but the old stalwart leaf springs may forever be in the mix of reliable options.
MDC-USA trailers have a very nice independent, trailing arm suspension. The ground clearance is up there with the best options in the offroad trailer world, and it’s crazy solid. Compared to a basic leaf-spring setup, the MDC-USA suspension is a revelation in strength and capability. What you’ll want to know when dealing with a modern suspension like what you find on the MDC-USA trailers is that it does have more components. You’ll have components like shock absorbers and springs, and a few more maintenance items to keep in mind.
Intech RV trailer suspensions are a modern solution that is quite capable, but most are at home in more entry-level off-roading environments. The suspension used on InTech RV trailers is a torsion axle. It’s technically independent in the way that both wheels can independently deal with dips and impacts, moving up and down, without affecting or upsetting the wheel on the other side. Where it gets into a slightly grey area is that the torsion axles that most RV manufacturers use, including InTech RV, have a tube or axle that runs between the two sides. They may move independently, but they are mechanically connected in the middle, which often makes the center of those “axle tubes” the lowest exposed point of the suspension aside from the wheels and the pitched “arms” that make for ground clearance.
What about the living quarters of these two trailer brands?
This is where the two off-road brands diverge significantly. MDC-USA has the bones and build to get to some very rugged places, arguably more rugged than the InTech RV trailers. But, the MDC-USA trailers want you to camp like a full-featured, comfort-conscious RV enthusiast. They have massive fresh and grey water storage tanks. For black tanks, they use cassette toilets, which is very common for Overlanding rigs throughout the world. There’s technology throughout and comfy inner coil spring mattresses. On-demand hot water, air-conditioning for the summer, and heat for the winter. It’s all there.
From a design and amenities standpoint, the InTech RV Flyer trailers are geared more in the direction of “camping” camping. That’s fine by me and my family! The Flyers are designed to be extremely open. A few cabinets and a sturdy, comfortable sleeping space. Until recently, none of the Flyer models had toilet and shower facilities, but the new Flyer Forge has a nice wet bath in it. You can make the interior of a Flyer work exactly the way you want for any outing, just pack, organize, and arrange to taste. I have loved the spartan designs of the Flyer lineup. My family has a thing, maybe a nostalgia, for tent camping, or even picnic table camping (sleeping bag on a picnic table). So, this is a personal taste situation, and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying either way of camping, or both!
Is the cabin structure sound?
Both the MDC-USA and InTech RV trailers boast welded aluminum upper structures. The difference is that the aluminum cabin framing for the MDC-USA is sitting on a galvanized steel chassis and the Intech RV trailers have what they call a welded, all-aluminum cage frame. Intech RV calls it an all-aluminum cage frame because that aluminum chassis is welded to the upper “cage,” which serves as all the framing for the walls and the roof. For clarification, the MDC walls and roof are also aluminum, but the added fact that the top, bottom, and all sides of the Intech trailers are aluminum that is welded together makes for a solid, uniform, and unique cage superstructure. The two brands are very similar and good in this area.
How do they differ in the way they’re used?
MDC-USA tailers are geared towards couples or family camping with amenities but in rugged and remote places. The InTech RV Flyer trailers are, as stated above, more spartan in their current iterations, and they resemble cargo trailers in the way the space can be utilized. That makes several of the mid to larger-sized Flyer trailers perfect for hauling things like ATVs, four-wheelers, motorcycles, bicycles, and snowmobiles. The Flyer Explore, Discover, and Forge all have tie-down points with the idea that you will be taking your toys with you. So, they’re great for activities like cycling, adventure motorcycle support travel, events, track days, and more. Either makes for perfect basecamps for your active life, but some of the Flyer models make it easy to get those toys to and from locations easier than the MDC-USA models.
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