Trailer-ers: Place to store/secure a trailer while you explore?

[Martinjmpr]

As I posted here: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/71616-Thoughts-on-a-trailer?p=1023077#post1023077

Wife and I will be going to look at a teardrop trailer this weekend. She has said that with such a trailer she'd be much more enthusiastic about going camping.

So there's a chance that by this time next week I could be a trailer owner! :wings:

(Uh, make that a "two-trailer owner" since I already have a small utility trailer. )

My question, though, is this: For those of you that go to places like the San Juan mountains (CO), Moab, etc, where lots of trails are not advisable with a trailer, do you have a favorite place to "stash" a trailer while you explore, then come back and pick it up? I realize I could just get a KOA campsite and leave the trailer there and it will probably be relatively secure (and for ~$25/night that may be the best bet) but I'm wondering whether any of you have just parked your trailers at the trailhead and then come back for them, or found a business that would be willing to let you park a trailer there for a few hours.

How many of you would leave a trailer at a National Forest Service or National Park Service campsite? That would seem to me to be fairly secure...

My plan is that most of the time I'll be doing fairly easy "through-and-through" trails where I can pull the trailer without difficulty (basically dirt roads) but there are trails I'd like to do that are pretty much 'day trips' where I could go and run the trail and then come back to an established campsite.

 

[skersfan]

I normally leave mine a the trail head, pull the reciever from the trailer and chain a wheel, if no one is in camp during the day. IE base camp trailer. Normally out where we go there are few thieves in my mind. But you never know. I have been lucky with it for many years.

 

[JPK]

I am planning on a hitch lock and a cable through the wheel spokes for security. I'll be using a pintle hitch and lunette and lunette locks are available or cheaply made, a cable bike lock for the wheels. That should keep all but the most determined and well equipped thiefs at bay.

And the teardrop will be insured too.

JPK

 

[cnynrat]

Perhaps I am being niaive, but I often leave my trailer where I am camped without too much concern. I think either removing the coupler and putting a lock through the hitch pin hole, or locking something like a Max Coupler or a Lock-n-Roll to the trailer with a locking hitch pin provides a reaonable level of security against a casual opportunistic thief. The chance of a thief coming along with one of those couplers is small. Putting a lock through a wheel and around a frame member would be even better, but I haven't done that in the past.

 

[Pikeman]

Three pages of discussion just last week on this topic in this thread.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/71690-trailer-security

I am planning to use mine as a base camp trailer that would be left unattended during the day and was not concerned about theft. That would be open desert camping and also in the National Forest. Think about it like this, how many tents are stollen? they are a lot easier to pack up and take along with any gear left in it. Like previous poster said maybe I am naive in regards to thinking not likely for theft. I am more worried about someone coming by and taking some of my gear/ equipment out of hte trailer and why I would want to put a locking lid on it, but not concerned on the trailer itself. I am more worried of it dissappearing out of my driveway than I am out of the Forest/ Campsite.

 

[loren85022]

If I had a loaded AT trailer, I might add a gps transponder. I too worry more about my beloved Honda 1000 generator out there

 

[4x4x4doors]

My teardrop gets locked and left wherever I happen to be camping, generally State or Nat'l Forest coampground/camp site. It has yet to be bothered. I do lock the trailer itself and the hitch.

I may or may not leave the EZ up raised. I fold the chairs and such and put them under the trailer so less visible.

For locking the hitch, I put the coupler in the attached position so that a ball won't go into it and wrap/shorten the safety chains into that same lock.

We've had a cheap tent stolen before but so far (knock on borer-infested tree) no one has messed with the trailer.

 

[UK4X4]

I use a 12 ft long 1/2" cable and large padlock- goes through wheels and hitch- not had a problem in the US- usually parked on BLM land or national parks.

most scumbags stay in towns......hiking out 30 miles to steal a deck chair is'nt normal behavoir.......but there's always the chance of a tea leaf doing the rounds of trail heads looking for an easy score.

Lockup all the removable gear and insure it

My wife painted our first in zebra stripes---a visual deterent to thieves as easily seen and recognised

 

[loup407]

We leave our Horizon all day. I usually lock up all the compartments, put a locking hitch pin in the Max Coupler, and stow the chairs under the trailer. I carry a long cable lock to run through the wheels, but haven't (so far) felt the need to actually do it. We've dragged the trailer all over Colorado and UT (and a trip to DV) and the only time I worry about it is in town.

 

[bigwapitijohnny]

Wheel lock that I found...

All,

I have found a pretty slick way to lock the trailer down. This is a custom wheel lock that I found here at teh local trailer shop. It's originally meant to be used with trailer wheels, however, with a little ingenuity, we found a solution. The lock is made of heavy steel which fits through the wheel and tucks underneath the leaf spring of the trailer. I would imagine this would make a tremendous amount of noise if you tried to move the trailer in any way...

Sitting on the leaf spring...

Out the other side...

I have used this lock several times last year, and it has provided some peace of mind while I was out exploring. I highly recommend this style lock over chaining your wheels...

Hope this helps.

Regards,

BWJ

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

I wonder if you left the trailer at a trail head and put one of these on it, maybe people would think "Ok, the cops have been here, we need to get out of here"

http://www.cheapcycleparts.com/prod...p-w-reminder?gclid=CIye76DQ3a0CFQmd7Qod2UNqnA

I'd worry about putting a lock on that no one can see, only because if they try and hook up to it and move it, it'll do damage