Has anyone pulled a camper trailer with a Mini Hardtop? Thinking about getting one of the small Aliner campers and taking the Route 66 trip. Specs in book say you can, so I'm assuming you won't void the warranty. Any info appreciated. Trailer or trip info.

 

That sounds like fun! I'll be watching this thread closely hoping for some great suggestions!

 

My old pop up...

My summer project...


No problems towing in my experience. Go for it.

 

Thank you for replying. Couldn't find ANY info from personal point of view. Was about to give up, thinking it was not feasible. You changed my mind.....it is doable!!!!!!!!

 

Do you have an estimate for how much each of your trailers weigh? Thanks.

 

The pop up was about 800lbs dry and probably 1100 lbs loaded. The new camper is probably close to that if not jus a bit more. I also have a utility trailer that I've hauled everything from lumber to motorcycles to pianos. In all cases, the trailers tow just fine even at highway speed (70 to 75 mph). Biggest thing to worry about is tongue weight and weight distribution to avoid sway....but that's the case regardless of what you tow with.

 

Thank you!!!!!

 

a couple more points on towing i have learned through experience

unless your trailer setup includes trailer brakes, make sure your mini's tires and brakes are in good condition as they will be working harder

tires worn into the last 20% of their life are probably not a good idea

same for the brake pads

ensure the shocks on the mini are in good shape also or you may experience sway on an otherwise proper trailer setup

tire pressure ... ensure that all the tires (including the trailer) are at the proper tire pressure

trailer tires seldom "wear out", the sidewall will fail first causing a blowout ... due to age and the nature of the beast, a trailer spends almost all of its life standing still on it's tires, this is not good for the tires, ideally, the trailer should be jacked up and stored on blocks, but who does that?

i change my trailer tires every 2 or 3 years and have only had 1 trailer tire blowout, and that was on a tire of unknown age on my first trailer, and i never want to have another

scott

 

The pop up campers have always interested me. I'm shocked to hear they only weigh 800 pounds unloaded. Do you have any trouble seeing around it with the side mirrors? I find they are too small as it is.

 

The popup shown above was pretty old....an '88 Starcraft if I recall correctly. It was only an 8' long box.....no grey water tank or gas tank, etc. I "remodeled" it....besides painting it to match the car and painting a huge Union Jack on the roof, I removed a sink cabinet inside as well as the icebox and the water storage tank. That probably dropped it by 100 lbs with those removed. I think modern popups weigh a bit more these days....people expect more conveniences and nicer finishes, therefore there is more weight.

I never had any trouble seeing around the trailer with the side mirrors, the issue was seeing over it with the rearview mirror.....that's not necessarily a deal breaker, though. I lowered the axle on that old Starcraft to accommodate better/larger wheels and that raised the height of the trailer to the point where I could barely see over it in the mirror. On the sides, not much of a problem, though. I originally installed a rear view camera on the license plate bracket of the camper, but ended up never using it because it didn't really help that much. The blind spot behind the camper was really only a few feet and unless a gokart was tailing me, I could see what was behind just fine.

I've towed up to about 1500 lbs (estimated) without feeling uncomfortable doing so. I did have one instance on my way to the MOTD event a few years ago going downhill on the interstate in the mountains where I did get a bit of sway.....that was partially my fault for going too fast and not loading the trailer properly....too little weight on the tongue. Lesson learned.

as bmwr606 said above, make sure your brakes are in good order. While I never had any trouble stopping, 1000 lbs behind you can easily double your stopping distance even with good brakes.

 

Check out motorcycle camping trailers. Most will weigh less than 500 lbs.

http://www.openroadoutfitters.com/ti...riginal-camper

http://bunkhousecamper.com/


http://www.trailmasterinc.com/

 

I've seen several people towing the teardrop campers with their MINI with no trouble. I am researching them myself right now and plan on buying one in the future. We drove a good portion of Route 66 this summer and plan on finishing the route. It was a BLAST! This is what really got me thinking about the teardrops. It would have been great to just look for a little camp ground at the end of the day instead of finding hotels. Plus you don't have to eat out every meal.

As far as the weight for towing with a MINI, it seems that the general consesus is about 1,000 lbs without brakes on the trailer and about 1500 with brakes. Just remember all of that stuff you'll put in the trailer. It adds up fast!

 

Also check out motorcycle campers.