Funny you ask, Jarrod…

I’m not sure if I met you in my travels or not, but I have had both sized tires.  Originally, in ’05 the Rascal had 12” tires on it.  As far I knew, it was normal, but I did notice it was a little bumpy.  In ’06 I had my Rascal overhauled and upgraded to 13” – while it looked much larger, it also towed much smoother.  I know the company dropped 12” tires right around that same time.  In a car or on a cycle, the same holds true…

Yours,

Gus

Hi Lisa,

That is a great question and interesting on at that – I actually conducted experiments with respect to your question, knowing that I had tens and tens of thousands of miles ahead of me with my teardrop.  I wanted to know EVERYTHING about it and how it would handle in different circumstances.  This may or may not come as a surprise, but as with cross winds, I actually find the teardrop to be a stabilizing force.  The extra set of wheels, with a decently wide base seem to give me a little more grip in a sense.  Overall, I don’t necessarily advise riding in any inclimate weather, but my trailer definitely doesn’t make anything worse.

Yours,

Gus

Hi Phil…
You are right to be concerned. While a 12 volt package is ideal in a teardrop, if you are hauling yours with a bike, you need to be aware of the overall weight – most notably your tongue weight. A deep cycle battery will add 40+ lbs to the trailer, not to mention some of the other pieces/parts that go along with it. I would suggest adding an external 120 v outlet and a couple internal recepts that will allow you to plug your trailer in and plug in whatever you need – always remember, keep your tongue weight in line with your vehicle’s limitations, if you don’t, you’ll contribute to damaging your vehicle and possibly yourself.

I am interested in purchasing a little guy since i have a Subaru Baja. I was interested in buying a pop up or an rpod, but the dealer i spoke with said i cant pull those w/my car even though the weight of the smaller ones is 1500lbs, they said if i load things into it, the weight would be greater. They said they require vehicles to tow at least 3500lbs even though the tow itself is 1500. The little guy might just be my best option – we will see! What can you tell me about my dilemma?

Thanks,

Victoria

Middlebury, Ct

Hi Mary…

We have a lot of Subaru owners that have purchased Little Guys – I have attached a few pics for your review.

There are two ways with respect to tow ratings:

1.       Your vehicle – most standard vehicles are rated to tow 1,000 lbs but any truck or SUV or ‘adventurous vehicle’ will be greater

2.       Your hitch – no matter what your hitch is rated to tow (2,000 – 3,500), you must not exceed the towing capacity of your vehicle

One thing to keep in mind, the towing capacity for any vehicle is based on that vehicle towing a trailer at all times.

You can exceed this tow rating, you just don’t want to do a tremendous amount of driving if you are significantly over the limit.

That said, you would be able to tow any of our trailers, with perhaps the only exception being a 6-Wide Sport model.

85% of our models are under 1,000 lbs – I hope this has shed some light on your dilemma.

Let me know if you have any other questions…

Gus

Hi Gus,

I have been thinking about a Rascal for some time now but a few car enthusiasts have told me that towing with a four cylinder car will destroy the transmission.  I plan to do most of my camping in mountainous areas.  Would it be better to go with a six cylinder car?

Thanks for you time

Mary

Hi Mary…

Thanks for writing .

I have hauled Rascal over 60,000 miles with much less than a 4 cylinder car – a Goldwing.

That alone should ease any fears you may have about towing a Rascal with a car.

Here are some general guidelines to abide by:

Look at your vehicle’s tow rating – that rating is the suggested limit should you be towing something 100% of the time Consider the terrain you are travelling for the majority of your towing: flat vs. hills vs. mountains (I live in Colorado) Consider the trailer you are towing: a Rascal is virtually non-existant behind 98% of all vehicles on the road today.

All of that said, a Rascal won’t do anything to your transmission unless:

You drive a Smart Car AND

You live in the mountains AND

You tow it 100% of the time AND

You drive extremely aggressively (accelerating, braking, turns, etc).

Feel free to contact me again with any questions you may have…

Take Care.

Gus

I’m thinking about one of these, but I’m afraid of the weight. I pull a cargo trailer but the weight never exceeded 250 lbs. with a 25 lb. tongue weight. If I got the Rascal in the cargo version but with one camper door and put in my own air mattress how much weight do you think that would cut out?

I figure on hauling almost all my gear on the bike and keeping  the trailer for sleeping. Like you I want the hard sides for keeping out critters on the Alcan.  How did your Rascal hold up on the Alcan with all the crappy road debris?

Hello, Jim…

If you are looking to lighten up the overall weight of the Rascal, you would save about 80 lbs by removing the cabinets and one of the side doors.  The tongue weight would still be near 40 lbs and the overall camper weight exceeds 400 lbs.  On the Alcan, the Rascal held up just fine.  I am not sure if I was surprised or not, but the stone guard, aluminum fenders and fiberglass exterior offered a great deal of security for me and after the first 50 miles or so, I never gave it a second thought.

Without question. The 68″ dimension is the floor length, not necessarily the sleeping length. When you lay the tri-fold mattress down, it lifts you 4″ above the floor line. The distance between the head and foot walls expand the further up from the floor you go. The mattress alone makes the sleeping length about 72″ but adding blankets on the mattress and placing pillows between the mattress and headwall will push the sleeping area closer to 6 ½ feet.