Off Road Camper-Trailer thingy

With the weather being so nice, I took a weekend to go camping and it brought back to me how much I love doing that kind of stuff. However, it also reminded me what a pain it was lugging all the gear around, setting it up, not having anything that was reasonably secure etc.

The logical answer to this is a caravan, but they're just shocking. I have to side with old Mr. Clarkson on this one. I don't need a home on wheels - I need something to keep me dry and not as cold as I'd otherwise be sleeping outside. I also need something that can be towed behind the Dakar (A) without looking stupid and (B) not falling to bits the moment it sees a green lane.

While I was in New Zealand a couple of years back, I spotted a tiny ad in one of their 4x4 magazines for something that seemed a very sensible cross between a trailer tent and a caravan with the axle well towards the back of the chassis and mounted on BFGoodrich tyres. The entire back hinged upwards with extending canvas sides to fill the gap, providing an instant awning and it could sleep two in relative comfort. No way near as big as a caravan, no way near as time-consuming as a trailer tent...

Unfortunately I can't find that magazine even though I'm sure I brought it home and no end of Googling has so far failed to turn up any results. There are, however, plenty of off-road trailer tents and caravans from which to get inspiration if you want to build one yourself...

Contents: Research A quick peruse at what's already on the market Design considerations Towing weights, required functionality, physical size etc.