Age old debate: Open vs Enclosed Trailer, and other questions...

For people who attend a lot of track/race days (I'm talking 10+ a year, easily), could you share your experiences with both, and possible regrets/likes of what you have and don't have? I'm trying to weigh the cost of convenience vs the actual cost of everything. Currently, I do have access to a truck that is not mine (but is sort of mine) and it has a 5500 lb towing capacity which pretty much leaves only light open trailers as my option. Parts of me wonder if I should just stick with that, or if I should take the plunge to source an awesome tow vehicle that can haul an enclosed trailer (20-24 ft I hear is a good sweetspot).

Now, I gotta ask, it seems to be hard to find quotes on enclosed trailers online. What does your average aluminum enclosed trailer cost these days? They seem to all be above 16k. Thanks for replying in advance! Is it worth it to just get some cheapo enclosed trailers that are slightly heavier? Do they sell cheap "V-Nose" Enclosed Trailers for better aero or is that a high-end premium feature? Thanks for the responses!

Watching with interest.  I bought an Expedition with a 9k lb tow capacity in anticipation of buying an enclosed trailer next year.  My thoughts were having it double as a camper.  Not just camping at the track, my wife and I enjoy camping and hiking a lot and with a baby on the way, we saw this idea as better than continuing with tents.   Change the side door to be able to be opened from the inside, add a window or two, pull the car out, roll the carpet out kind of stuff. 

Used is the way to go on enclosed. They sell for very little compared to the price of new from what I've seen. That said, a lot of people who have had enclosed seem to go back to open at some point unless they are serious racers. The drag from towing and the difficulty in parking them seem to be big detriments.

I have an open trailer. It was cheap but in good condition and well built. It is heavy (steel) and I'd love to swap it for an aluminum open but the cost difference I just can't justify. Mine is an open deck which is handy for under car work. Right now I'm replacing engine mounts and I don't even have to jack the chassis or support it. Downside is it isn't easy to use for hauling non-car things like riding mowers and motorcycles.  Super-extra bonus:  it fits in my garage with the car on the trailer so I don't have to park it outside, uglyfying my neighborhood or finding some alternative location to keep it. Plus, stored indoors the rust stays away.

My open trailer tows nicely behind any half ton pickup or capable SUV. I'd need at least a 3/4 ton to pull an enclosed trailer and a lot more HP.

ddavidv said:

Used is the way to go on enclosed. They sell for very little compared to the price of new from what I've seen.

I don’t know where you’re looking but everywhere I ever looked an enclosed trailer is one of the best things out there as far as holding value.  They always sell within 15% of new unless beat to death then people still want 60% of new cost.  I know guys who buy new every 5 years and sell for within $500 of a new one as a way of not bothering to do maintenance or repairs 

Patrick said:

ddavidv said:

Used is the way to go on enclosed. They sell for very little compared to the price of new from what I've seen.

I don’t know where you’re looking but everywhere I ever looked an enclosed trailer is one of the best things out there as far as holding value.  They always sell within 15% of new unless beat to death then people still want 60% of new cost.  I know guys who buy new every 5 years and sell for within $500 of a new one as a way of not bothering to do maintenance or repairs 

Agreed. Enclosed seem to hold their value very well, or I'm just not searching right.

I switched from an open to an enclosed at the end of 2017 and have been loving it so far.

Pros:

• The car, tools, spares, etc can all just live in it full-time
• Going to/from an event is easier and quicker as you just go hook up the trailer and go, or drop off and head home (I keep mine at a storage lot) versus unloading the car, then parking the trailer, then going home a second time
• It's somewhere to use as "home base" in the paddock, which is helpful for avoiding bad weather, getting out of the sun, having a place to change, etc
• You don't get the interior/bed of your tow vehicle dirty or otherwise messed up with car parts and tools everywhere
• Far fewer people want to borrow it

Cons:

• Worse fuel economy from the tow vehicle when towing it
• Harder to park when you are just getting started with it
• Requires a 1/2-ton-based vehicle to pull (or bigger, depending on trailer size)

I primarily bought my enclosed so I could move closer to DC and not have my own private garage anymore. The racecar can live in the trailer which makes that possible. On the downside, I tried using a 2010 Range Rover as my tow vehicle as it's smaller than a 1/2-ton truck for city driving. It pulled the open very well, but struggled with the enclosed due to the aerodynamics of it - you are pulling a giant wind sail. So, the RR got traded in for a new F150. 

I've got an all-aluminum 20' V-nose (20' box, 4' V, plus frame) which is a total of 27' long. The RR pulled it with reluctance and the F150 does it very well. My trailer would be fine behind any newer Expedition, Sequoia, Suburban type of SUV or a modern 1/2-ton pickup. I have seen some people pull aluminum encloseds with Touraegs, Cayennes, etc but given my RR experience, I wouldn't.

So, you have to consider the fact that you'll either be daily-driving a bigger vehicle or want to have something smaller as a DD. I'm sticking to just the Ford and dealing with the size in the city. 

I think there is a 3rd option , an open trailer with a canvas/vinyl cover , 

if you look at what many Europeans use there is a "tent pole  frame" with a cover , 

its lightweight , aerodynamic  and some use small diameter tires so you "park" over the tires ,  narrow roads  make this a plus......

I just went through this a few months ago. I settled on an 18' aluminum open trailer mostly because I haul a variety of cars and can't fit a larger enclosed trailer in my yard. I love the open trailer for the ease of loading and unloading (especially when it's something other than just the race car) and the gas mileage. I usually average about 16-17 mpg towing the race car with a '14 5.0L F-150. 

By far my biggest complaint is not being able to load up the trailer a few days in advance and worrying about leaving stuff in the bed of the truck/on the trailer at stops, hotels, etc. I've heard numerous times it's not really worth having the enclosed if you can't get one that's quite a bit larger than your car and that it does kind of suck to haul different vehicles. 

This seems to the be the case where a toy hauler is the best option. Enclosed, space for your tools and a sleeping area. It should be towable with your truck. ~5-6K unloaded. 

I went aluminum open trailer, specifically a slightly used Featherlite 3110.  I park my car in my garage and still would do that even if I had an enclosed trailer, so that advantage for the enclosed is gone for me.  I also don't have a truck, so it would have to be pulled by my SUV.

Pros:

Aluminum open trailers basically don't depreciate.  At all.  Especially since I bought mine used, I won't lose $$ on it.

Really lightweight, something like 1200lbs empty, so easily towed with an decent SUV.

Easy to load, unload, park, etc.  Not a whole lot of maintenance either

Bought it with custom wheel rack/storage boxes on it, so it has storage.  Not as much as an enclosed but enough to get it done

Way cheaper than an enclosed trailer

Cons:

Car isn't protected.  Either from weather, prying eyes or the like

Doesn't give shade, camping space or a place to hang out in at the track.

Honestly that's it, the open trailer does everything I need it to do.  I think if I were truly racing and having to bring tons of spares with me, or camped at the track (which I hate!) the enclosed may be the better choice.  Of course I'd have to get a proper tow rig to tow an enclosed tho vs just using my DD SUV...

Not sure around you, but if you want to get an idea of costs, Ebay seems to be a good indicator of costs.  For example, this one is an 8.5x24 for under $5k.  You could add some fold down beds and an A/C unit or two and use it to sleep in at the track. 

-Rob

wearymicrobe said:

This seems to the be the case where a toy hauler is the best option. Enclosed, space for your tools and a sleeping area. It should be towable with your truck. ~5-6K unloaded. 

 

Those can fit a full size car? I always thought they only had space for stuff like ATV's or sandrails.

Since I had an enclosed trailer ripped off and a friend also had one disappear you need to be able to find it , 

put a name or number on the roof ,  paint something on it so the cops can pick it out as they drive by it , or you can see it is yours over a fence.....

think about putting a GPS tracker in it , that is battery and solar powered.....

I am sure there are other things I forgot about.......but they do disappear , often with your race car in them.........and the race car is normally not what they are after !

yupididit said:

wearymicrobe said:

This seems to the be the case where a toy hauler is the best option. Enclosed, space for your tools and a sleeping area. It should be towable with your truck. ~5-6K unloaded. 

 

 

Those can fit a full size car? I always thought they only had space for stuff like ATV's or sandrails.

Absolutely. They even make them with lifts in the back so you can get two cars on the super fancy models.  Its a fifth wheel setup though for some of them. I was looking into them for a while until I realized that with two cars and spares it would weight 14-15K and my truck is not pulling that. Also they have a pretty steep ramp so some lowered track cars with longer wheelbases have trouble getting in without blocks. 

Something like these are out there as well and they weight less but can be a big more expensive. 

I guess while I have everyone's attention here, are there any brands that people like to go with? I mostly see Trailex/Featherlite as the #1 recommended ones.

There is a company named Serpent Express that makes vinyl enclosed trailers. They have aluminum frames some are pretty light. They were made for Cobra replicas hence the name Serpent Express. I was interested for another application but they are a bit pricey but maybe because they are aluminum. I think there may be another company named Covered Wagon that makes only the enclosure. Probably google for more info. The one big advantage is the frame and covers may be removed when only a open trailer is needed. Not as secure as an enclosed trailer but simply the car being out of sight is a real plus.

Brake_L8 said:

I switched from an open to an enclosed at the end of 2017 and have been loving it so far.

Yea, I switched last year as well.

Pros:

• The car, tools, spares, etc can all just live in it full-time
• Going to/from an event is easier and quicker as you just go hook up the trailer and go, or drop off and head home (I keep mine at a storage lot) versus unloading the car, then parking the trailer, then going home a second time

Personally, I found security to be a big concern with leaving stuff in the trailer, enough so that I wasn't willing to do it (and thus didn't bother buying an enclosed) until I had a house with enough space to park it at home.  I'm much more confident about the trailer not disappearing when it's in my side yard, behind a gate, than when it's at some remote storage location.

• It's somewhere to use as "home base" in the paddock, which is helpful for avoiding bad weather, getting out of the sun, having a place to change, etc

This is huge, and not really something I realized until I had one.  I've got a workbench on which I can leave tools and other stuff without worrying about them getting kicked, run over, etc.

If you add a generator and AC then everyone will want to come hang out in your trailer in the middle of the summer, this may be a pro or con, depending. :)

• You don't get the interior/bed of your tow vehicle dirty or otherwise messed up with car parts and tools everywhere

Well, the dirty stuff still goes in the truck bed, because I don't want the *trailer* dirty either. :)

• Far fewer people want to borrow it

Cons:

• Worse fuel economy from the tow vehicle when towing it
• Harder to park when you are just getting started with it
• Requires a 1/2-ton-based vehicle to pull (or bigger, depending on trailer size)

Yup to all three of these.  I have a set of cameras on my trailer that remote to a display in my truck, which makes the parking thing work a lot better.

I have seen some people pull aluminum encloseds with Touraegs, Cayennes, etc but given my RR experience, I wouldn't.

Personally I like my 3/4 Chevy Duramax, but then we have bigger mountains out here in the west. :)

I am about to buy a 20ft Haulmark car trailer for 3500 bucks with AC. It should easily haul my miata and gear and leave me space to sleep in front of the miata if I don't want to unload. This was the first one used I found that cheap. I have found nicer prepared race ones in the 24ft range for closer to 7k used. A brand new 16ft enclosed with AC is like 9k and that's without the upgraded axles.

If you want a car hauler AND a people toyhauler your best bet is the guys at ATC but they are not GRM usual budget friendly. I think they can/will install all the usual toy hauler goodies into one of their car trailers. ATC trailers also has a line called aluminum toy haulers and is probably the best built one you can find of that sort

Even for a small car like a miata you need to go to a huge toy hauler (40-44ft) to have garage separate from living quarters and you need to deal with the breakover and ramp angles.

You can find a lot of gooseneck living quarter+car hauler trailers but now you are talking about something 38+ ft in length

If you are ok with having the foldout furniture you can get a little smaller but where your kitchen is/counters are will be the deal breaker.

A 5500lb tow capacity is pushing its limits even with a typical 3klbs car and a relatively like 2k trailer. 18ft aluminum open car trailers are still like 1800-1900 lbs. My path to solving your particular desire is a cheap ford excursion v10 and a cheap enclosed trailer with AC. If you wander around the pits at an HPDE you get a sense of what a lot of people are using. I considered toy hauler, open trailer, big truck, small truck, motorhome etc. My Ideal I think would have been motorhome with an open trailer but this course of action was more wife approved for now

I'm going to wheeze in on this discussion like a third-party presidential candidate during campaign season.

I flat-tow my track car.  It's an easy, stable tow.  I can get secure trailer storage in my neighborhood but it's $1200 a year.

I have an old Jeep ZJ that handles the load just fine and I have organized my track stuff in there to my liking.  I can leave it in there year-round if I want.  Holds an extra set of wheels and everything.  The windows are tinted pretty dark and it seems like your average thief prospecting for a cargo of tools to fence never even notices it.

There is no unloading or loading at the track.  I can get my tow bar on the car and my differential disconnected in the time it seems to take the other guys to get their cars strapped on their trailers. 

But I do have to lie on the ground in the wet to disconnect the differential when it's raining.  And if I want to take two sets of track wheels, I have to muscle the second set into the track car, because 8 wheels would pretty much fill up the back of the Jeep.  And if I bend up the suspension so bad the car won't roll, I will need to get it towed to a body shop near the track for repairs.  Then again if it won't roll, I'm not sure how I would be getting it on the trailer anyway?

Anyway, enough from me on this subject already.

After having switched to an enclosed, I can't really see going back to open (unless maybe I towed with an RV).  

Pro's:

camping in it at the track.  This is huge for me for the time and $ saved plus the social aspect.

ability to store the car in it in the offseason

security for car/tools when traveling

Con's:

Heavy.  Like 5.5k lbs empty for my cheapo 8.5X24'.  Loaded up with car tools, tires and spares pretty much maxes out my 1/2 ton towing capacity.

Cheapo trailers have cheapo construction.  expect minor leaks and other things that need fixed.

I get about 8mpg towing with a 1/2 ton truck.  My friends with newer trucks get 9-10mpg with similar trailers.

random thoughts:

You almost certainly want the 5k axles as the 3.5k axles don't give you much for cargo weight.

My 24' is significantly harder to maneuver in tight spaces (think gas stations and driveways) than my old 20', but the extra space is worth it to me.

I had a buddy with a couple of car capable toy haulers.  Those are really heavy.  Don't think you can pull with a half ton.  He traded down to a smaller one because his Excursion wasn't cutting it.

Only thing I might add is, from my perspective, one should right size when they are enclosed trailer shopping. The 24 footers (+) are great if you really have that much stuff to house and transport. However they are a bigger pain to pull, maneuver, park and store.  And they may require a more powerful truck or whatever you are pulling with - which mean bigger price tag and potentially  lesser mileage. Unless you are carrying a bunch of spares, tires, set-up pad, four wheeler and body parts - you might get by with and enjoy a smaller trailer. Of course some folks at the track seem to support the bigger is cooler notion. 

Hmmmm.  I have never owned a trailer but have thought about it multiple times and now I am thinking about it again. It would have to be enclosed for me. The biggest plus would be the extra storage space and not having to load and unload and store the car in the garage. Literally like having a garage on wheels. I have a big yard so it would be (mostly) safe. I guess ideally it would be nice to have one of each but if I had to choose one it would be enclosed.

When I was racing I used a steel open trailer and towed with a van. The van provided all the storage space we needed, could be loaded ahead of time, and was a useful family vehicle the rest of the time. We had a canopy for shade. Many of our friends had enclosed and as others have indicated, there are pros and cons to either style. I was on a budget and an open trailer worked out fine. I still have it, twenty years later.

One suggestion. Look into getting a gooseneck trailer. Once you’ve towed a gooseneck you’ll never want to go back to a tag along. The stability and ease of parking are massively better plus most trucks have a higher tow rating for goosenecks. The only downside is you must own a pickup. 

I had been using an open trailer since the mid 90's to tow my race cars.  I had used 3 different tow vehicles to tow this same open trailer. Depending on the car & load all did it without drama. The trailer had 4 wheel electric brakes. Currently I have a new all aluminum 20Ft round edge flat nose trailer with a  2013 F150 Ecoboost to tow it. I did use the PU to tow my open trailer for a bit and it was like it wasn't there. Now with the enclosed I do feel it and see it reflected in my lower MPG's. I knew that going to an enclosed that my mileage would go down.

I do like the idea of having all of my racing stuff inside and dry. I plan on fixing the trailer up to sleep in it comfortably meaning insulating it and heating and/or cooling it as required in the near future. I have no issues keeping the car outside at the track as it's a IT car and only the drivers window is gone. A trap fixes that issue.

FYI, here in the midwest an all aluminum 20 ft trailer can be purchased for under $10K. A basic enclosed to be sure,  but I have the time and knowhow to modify it to my wants and likes so didn't see the need to pay for that up front.