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John___Angela's avatar
John___Angela
Explorer
May 13, 2013

Smart car, tent trailer, kayak combo

Not sure if this belongs under this forum, tent trailers, tow vehicles or dinghy or whatever. For now we will put them here. Obviously this is meant for the smart car crowd. Just figured I would post a picture of our little week-end setup. The final weight with the timeout trailer loaded for camping including fridge/freezer packed, AGM pack on, groceries and 5 pound propane bottle it scaled at 526 pounds. A little higher than we wanted but the european rating for the diesel is 660 pounds so it should be good. Other than the clutch engaging a little slower on starts it really feels no difference on the road. Still pulls strong as long as its in its torque zone. I keep it out of 6th as 90 KMH is about as fast as we go. We don't pull it very far anyway, local lakes etc. The tounge weight needs to be 50 or better pounds or it makes noise in the hitch. Mine is right at 55 pounds or so. It was a little heavier but the solar panel was loaded to the rear under the Thule pack so it pivoted a little weight off the hitch. Might have to rethink it a bit as the fridge is lighter at the end of the weekend than the beginning. The thule pack has the porta-potti and the campfire in a can. Most of the rest is packed in the tent trailer itself. The setup picture is older but this is the first time with this Kayak. We no longer bring the big propane tank. It is now a little 5 pounder. Good enough for a few days. We are now also pulling it with our black cabriolet instead of the burgundy car.





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  • John___Angela's avatar
    John___Angela
    Explorer
    May 14, 2013
    Olde Volks Place wrote:
    You might just need a Hensley Arrow cub for that rig to cut down on sway :B

    Just kidding that looks like a real fun setup, they make that type setup for motorcycles.
    Love the smart car


    Yep. The timeout trailer is essentially a motorcycle trailer but the smart car crowd and the fiat 500 bunch are adapting them as well. Whatever works right.
  • Olde_Volks_Plac's avatar
    Olde_Volks_Plac
    Explorer
    May 14, 2013
    You might just need a Hensley Arrow cub for that rig to cut down on sway :B

    Just kidding that looks like a real fun setup, they make that type setup for motorcycles.
    Love the smart car
  • John___Angela's avatar
    John___Angela
    Explorer
    May 14, 2013
    hershey wrote:
    Your bringing a tear to my eyes.
    Back in about '78 I towed a Timeout tent trailer (and thats exactly what it really is, a tent trailer) with a '76 Honda Goldwing. Riding two up thru 24 states and two Providences of Canada.
    My wife rode a Honda 550. I had absolutely no problem towing that Timeout with the motorcycle. I'm thinking I had more HP in that motorcycle than you do in the Smart Car. :) Stopping wasn't an issues as I recall. Course I drove very defensively.
    The Timeout is a clever and unique little camper. Not a 45 ft MH but its one check of a lot upscale from the tent I used before I started towing the Timeout.
    We didn't have anything on the tongue or on top of it, nor did we have anything like a frig. We used a small, very small ice chest and a 2 burner Coleman stove.
    Best feature???? Easy setup and teardown and listening to the rain and knowing that we're 2 ft off the ground and DRY.


    Yah there's no doubt you had more horsepower. The smart car diesel has 44 HP but a ton of torque for its weight. The fridge/freezer is a dometic compressor type. You can see it mounted in the front. We had a bag sewed to cover it for rainy trips. The AGM battery pack is mounted on the top in front of the THULE. There is an 80 watt folding portable solar panel with built in controller under the THULE. It powers the fridge indefinetely through the power pack. This solved a problem we had at first as the pack would only power the fridge for a couple days bough that's generally all we go out for. Here's a picture of the AGM pack I built to power the fridge.



  • hershey's avatar
    hershey
    Explorer
    May 14, 2013
    Your bringing a tear to my eyes.
    Back in about '78 I towed a Timeout tent trailer (and thats exactly what it really is, a tent trailer) with a '76 Honda Goldwing. Riding two up thru 24 states and two Providences of Canada.
    My wife rode a Honda 550. I had absolutely no problem towing that Timeout with the motorcycle. I'm thinking I had more HP in that motorcycle than you do in the Smart Car. :) Stopping wasn't an issues as I recall. Course I drove very defensively.
    The Timeout is a clever and unique little camper. Not a 45 ft MH but its one check of a lot upscale from the tent I used before I started towing the Timeout.
    We didn't have anything on the tongue or on top of it, nor did we have anything like a frig. We used a small, very small ice chest and a 2 burner Coleman stove.
    Best feature???? Easy setup and teardown and listening to the rain and knowing that we're 2 ft off the ground and DRY.
  • AprilWhine's avatar
    AprilWhine
    Explorer
    May 14, 2013
    Very cool rig! I think something like that could work for me to tow behind my MINI. For now though, I can't think of a place I could take a tent trailer that I couldn't take my View.
  • John___Angela's avatar
    John___Angela
    Explorer
    May 14, 2013
    gbopp wrote:
    That's a neat setup.
    With the way gas prices are heading, someday it may be considered a 'big rig'. :E


    I suppose but I'll hold on to my motorhome anyway. Having said that my mileage drops from around 70 miles per US gallon down to low to mid 50's with this set-up, although I suspect the kayak may affect that a bit.
  • gbopp's avatar
    gbopp
    Explorer
    May 14, 2013
    That's a neat setup.
    With the way gas prices are heading, someday it may be considered a 'big rig'. :E

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