Hey, a fellow Utahn. Don't see that too often.
Anyways, the "best enclosed trailer" is way too wide of a topic. I have had several enclosed trailers of various sizes over the past 20 years of RVing with pretty good results. We have hauled everything from snowmobiles, ATV's, motorcycles and street rods and now Jeeps and sand rail/ATV's.
Waaaaay too many options, and mainly price ranges to narrow down the best trailer.
We had a Wells Cargo 24' for about fifteen years and it was a great trailer and we pulled it around most of the U.S. behind three different coaches. In 2008 we wanted to upgrade to a 26' and something with heavier axles because we wanted to haul not only our sand toys but also our Jeep and Harley, at different times of course.
We seriously considered a stacker but realistically the weight of most of those things empty got me thinking about how much stuff (ie weight) I would be putting in it and then I was afraid I wouldn't be happy with the way the coach towed the trailer.
I looked seriously at T&E race trailers as at the time in my opinion I thought they were about the best enclosed trailer on the market. However, the cost of a T&E trailer is more than double what I was looking to spend.
With much more research I ended up special ordering a Haulmark Edge Race trailer, 26' long and had extra height added to it along with 7k pound axles, "L" shaped work bench, floor mounted winch, two 500 watt halogen flood lights on the right side, 4' side door (vs. 40" std door), full width rear door (98" opening), ATP flooring, extended tongue and the race package which consisted of flourescent lighting and electrical outlets spaced around the interior.
I also didn't like the option of mounting the spare tire under the floor such as where it was stored in our Wells Cargo so I opted out of a spare tire. Upon taking delivery I fabricated a tongue mounted bracket and covered the spare tire with a white and polished stainless steel Continental Kit for a fraction of the cost that Haulmark wanted for something similar.
So far I can say I have been very happy with the Haulmark trailer as we are just starting our 5th year with it and have towed it approx. 20k+ miles now, it tows fantastic.
The only thing that I would NOT recommend being as you are in Utah with wide temperature swings from season to season, is the seamless interior. When we ordered ours I questioned Haulmark about the durability and flexibility of the interior seams with varying temperatures and they told me it shouldn't be an issue. They were wrong. Upon the first cold snap of the first year of ownership multiple seams had become disbonded. I contacted Haulmark and they wanted me to bring it to Arizona where the trailer was manufactured. It was not built in Springville at the time because that is when the Springville Haulmark plant had burnt down. I convinced them to let me bring it to Springville for the warranty work now that they were back up and running but it took a lot of convincing.
The service manager at the Springville plant was very disappointed that they allowed a trailer to be built with the seamless interior that they knew would be sent to northern Utah. This made me a little pissed off to say the least because I had purposely asked this exact question. They agreed to fix it which they did. I picked up the trailer and was very disappointed in the many, many glue covered fingerprints and glue streaks on the interior. It took me about three days to clean the interior after picking it up from having the warranty work completed.
The following year, several other seams as well as a couple of the same ones came apart. I did not want to take it back for more warranty work so I had a local sheetmetal shop cut me some 1" wide strips of #4 grain stainless steel and applied it to the seams. Now after the past four years it is holding up well.
Mike.
Here is a picture of the interior with the stainless steel strips. Again I highly advise against the seamless interior. The adhesive just won't take the huge temperature swings we have here.
Anyways, the "best enclosed trailer" is way too wide of a topic. I have had several enclosed trailers of various sizes over the past 20 years of RVing with pretty good results. We have hauled everything from snowmobiles, ATV's, motorcycles and street rods and now Jeeps and sand rail/ATV's.
Waaaaay too many options, and mainly price ranges to narrow down the best trailer.
We had a Wells Cargo 24' for about fifteen years and it was a great trailer and we pulled it around most of the U.S. behind three different coaches. In 2008 we wanted to upgrade to a 26' and something with heavier axles because we wanted to haul not only our sand toys but also our Jeep and Harley, at different times of course.
We seriously considered a stacker but realistically the weight of most of those things empty got me thinking about how much stuff (ie weight) I would be putting in it and then I was afraid I wouldn't be happy with the way the coach towed the trailer.
I looked seriously at T&E race trailers as at the time in my opinion I thought they were about the best enclosed trailer on the market. However, the cost of a T&E trailer is more than double what I was looking to spend.
With much more research I ended up special ordering a Haulmark Edge Race trailer, 26' long and had extra height added to it along with 7k pound axles, "L" shaped work bench, floor mounted winch, two 500 watt halogen flood lights on the right side, 4' side door (vs. 40" std door), full width rear door (98" opening), ATP flooring, extended tongue and the race package which consisted of flourescent lighting and electrical outlets spaced around the interior.
I also didn't like the option of mounting the spare tire under the floor such as where it was stored in our Wells Cargo so I opted out of a spare tire. Upon taking delivery I fabricated a tongue mounted bracket and covered the spare tire with a white and polished stainless steel Continental Kit for a fraction of the cost that Haulmark wanted for something similar.
So far I can say I have been very happy with the Haulmark trailer as we are just starting our 5th year with it and have towed it approx. 20k+ miles now, it tows fantastic.
The only thing that I would NOT recommend being as you are in Utah with wide temperature swings from season to season, is the seamless interior. When we ordered ours I questioned Haulmark about the durability and flexibility of the interior seams with varying temperatures and they told me it shouldn't be an issue. They were wrong. Upon the first cold snap of the first year of ownership multiple seams had become disbonded. I contacted Haulmark and they wanted me to bring it to Arizona where the trailer was manufactured. It was not built in Springville at the time because that is when the Springville Haulmark plant had burnt down. I convinced them to let me bring it to Springville for the warranty work now that they were back up and running but it took a lot of convincing.
The service manager at the Springville plant was very disappointed that they allowed a trailer to be built with the seamless interior that they knew would be sent to northern Utah. This made me a little pissed off to say the least because I had purposely asked this exact question. They agreed to fix it which they did. I picked up the trailer and was very disappointed in the many, many glue covered fingerprints and glue streaks on the interior. It took me about three days to clean the interior after picking it up from having the warranty work completed.
The following year, several other seams as well as a couple of the same ones came apart. I did not want to take it back for more warranty work so I had a local sheetmetal shop cut me some 1" wide strips of #4 grain stainless steel and applied it to the seams. Now after the past four years it is holding up well.
Mike.
Here is a picture of the interior with the stainless steel strips. Again I highly advise against the seamless interior. The adhesive just won't take the huge temperature swings we have here.
