Best Tiny House Trailers

Written by Rob Guros in Uncategorized

A trailer is a foundation upon which your tiny house stands. This implies that it has to be firm and sturdy. Even though your tiny house looks extremely gorgeous, if the trailer is not solid, both the tiny house and the trailer will not stand the test of time. 

What are the Best Tiny House Trailers?

The best tiny house trailers are custom-made to meet your needs. While the best trailer for your house varies depending on the size and design of your home, here are a few key characteristics:

  • A flat deck
  • Heavy-duty axles 
  • Electric brakes 
  • High-load radial tires 
  • Safety chains
  • Heavy-duty tongue

Choosing the right trailer size, design, weight, and towing capacity is a primary factor in the success of your tiny house trip. This is because the quality of a trailer determines the ease of towing when you eventually get on the road. 

To give you a comprehensive picture of what the best tiny house trailers should be like, this article highlights the basic features that any tiny house trailer should have. It also discusses the types of tiny house trailers to help you decide what works best for you. Keep reading to learn more!

The Basic Features of a Good Tiny House Trailer

Tiny house trailers can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Those who have a history of building trailers will certainly give you better quality trailers because they have perfected their trailer designs with time. 

Going to seasoned tiny house trailer designers helps you choose the best tiny house trailer for your needs. But there are some basic features that a good tiny house trailer should have and which you should look for. Here is a list of those:

  • A flat deck without a dovetail or sidewalls gives a flat foundation which is easier to work with.
  • Two steel beams instead of wood decking. Wood adds weight and no value, while steel beams are a secure surface where your tiny house is attached without multiplying the weight.
  • A steel flange that’s welded to the sides which extends the width of the deck, giving you ample space to bolt the tiny house to the trailer while reducing the bit of the house that hangs over the edges of the trailer.
  • A stout steel framing to support the trailer since it will be hauling lots of weight consistently.
  • Heavy-duty axles corresponding to the Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). For example, tandem axles with 7,000 lbs. would correspond to 14,000 GVW.
  • Electric brakes on the axles for maximum braking control of your heavy tiny house and an emergency breakaway kit to stop the tiny house if need be.
  • High load radial tires since these are designed for heavy loads and resist well under the weight and strain of the moving house. 
  • Running lights (or prewiring for the lights), to increase the visibility of your trailer-load during the day but most especially at night.
  • Safety chains to ensure your trailer stays securely attached to the vehicle while you travel.
  • A heavy-duty tongue that accounts for 9-15% of your tiny house weight.

While these basic features should characterize every tiny house trailer, it is also true that what may be considered best for one person may not be so for another. This means that you should be able to choose from a variety.

What Can You Choose From?

There are a variety of tiny house trailer designs to choose from, it just depends on what you are looking for. Here are three common design types of tiny house trailers:

The gooseneck tiny house trailer

The gooseneck tiny house trailer has a raised portion at the front that stays over the towing vehicle, giving the tiny house the shape of a goose’s neck. The raised portion of the trailer is made in a way that it does not touch the truck’s bed and bed walls, which would compromise maneuverability when towing. See this tiny house gooseneck trailer illustration from Tiny Home Builders.

Using a gooseneck design gives your house extra length without necessarily increasing the intended original length. In other words, the portion of the trailer that hangs over the towing truck gives additional space, but the comprehensive trailer and vehicle length are maintained. For example, if your trailer is 12ft and the tow vehicle is 8ft, that would make for 20ft in total. That length is maintained even though the gooseneck has an additional 4ft. 

Tiny House Basics manufacturers make custom gooseneck tiny house trailers with a standard 8ft x 102″ wide deck on the gooseneck. You can custom select the upper deck height. The typical offer is a triple-axle trailer, and you can choose between a GVWR of 18,000 and 21,000.

For more information on gooseneck tiny houses and gooseneck trailers, click here.

The pros

The gooseneck offers better stability when towing by balancing the front and back.

You get more space without increasing the original length.

The weight distribution gives better maneuverability and a safer ride.

The cons

Gooseneck design requires you to dig deeper into your pocket when compared to other designs.

It has a distinctive look that may not be appreciated by everyone.

Bumper pull trailers

Most vehicles are equipped for a bumper pull trailer since it is the most common design. They will cost less than a gooseneck trailer and are easy to build on and tow. They give more height than the deckover design. The trailer connects to the vehicle hitch by a ball coupler, which may also be attached directly to the bumper for light-duty vehicles. See this illustration from the Tiny Home Builders.

The 5″ Channel Carhauler from PJ Trailers is an example of a good bumper pull trailer model. The trailer can be made with a GVWR rating between 14,000lb and 24,000lb. The deck length is between 16ft and 22ft, and the deck height is 21ft. The deck width is 83ʺ, and the tandem axles are rated at 3,500lb. The standard tire size is ST205/57R15.

The pros

  • Less costly when compared to the gooseneck design. 
  • It offers more interior height than the deckover design.
  • It can be used on the hitch of most vehicles.

The cons

  • Less space than the gooseneck trailer.

Deckover trailers

Deckover trailers are similar to bumper pull trailers with a distinguishing feature that their deck is over the tires (deckover). The good thing about using a deckover trailer is that you can increase your tiny house’s width since a bit of the house can hangover the trailer. The downside, however, is that your interior house is reduced by around a foot since the house sits over the wheels. It also means that you’ll need to include an extra stair or two to climb into the house. 

A good example is the Medium Duty Deckover 6″ Channel by PJ Trailers. This trailer model has a GVWR of 9,990lb and a deck width of 101ʺ. The deck length ranges between 14ft and 24ft while the deck height is 33ʺ. The trailer has tandem axles rated at 5,200lb, and the standard tire size is ST225/75R15.

The pros

  • Additional house width.

The cons

  • The prescribed maximum height of 13.5ft is reduced by around one foot.
  • Extra work and cost for additional stairs.

The Best Tiny House Trailer

In consideration of the basic features and design variety, it would be wise to say that the best tiny house trailers will depend on the need of the tiny house owner.

Standard trailer designs are a good starting point for anyone planning to build their own tiny house. However, these may lack the minute details that you are looking for, which may elicit the need to custom-make your own tiny house trailer. 

The primary reason for custom making your tiny house trailer would be the fact that many trailers aren’t designed with tiny houses in mind. They may include loading ramps or be longer than you would like your trailer to be. So if you purchase a tariler with these features, you may need to do some extra work to adapt it to your tiny house.

Hence, custom-making your own trailer can borrow the strengths of the standard designs and integrate them to make the best tiny house trailer for you.

For example, if you want a tiny house with a loft, the gooseneck design is great for you. But now if you combine that with a deckover design, you will be limited in regards to your length. You might, therefore, need to combine your gooseneck with a bumper pull deck trailer.

Many manufacturers also have standardized trailer lengths. If you are looking for an 18ft trailer, but your manufacturer has standard lengths between 12ft and 32ft built at the difference of 4ft (12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32), then you will need to custom make your 18ft trailer.

Custom making your own trailer may be difficult, but it assures that you will get exactly what you are looking for.

Concluding Summary

If a trailer is the foundation of your tiny house then it has to be firm and sturdy.

The best tiny house trailers are those custom made to suit your purpose. Even though they should meet some basic trailer features, they are adapted to answer customer needs for size and design.

The gooseneck, bumper pull, and deckover trailer designs have different pros and cons. The strength of each design should be integrated to make the ideal custom-made trailer for you.

Trailer manufacturers with a long history will offer you better designs since they have refined their models with time. Even though they may not have what you are looking for, they can work with you to best help meet the needs of you and your tiny house.

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