RV Review: Fab-o fiberglass: Some of my favorite fiberglass trailers

Last week we looked at some of the Class B RVs that I think stood out and the comments from RVTravel.com readers didn’t disappoint. If you didn’t read the article, that’s one thing. But if you didn’t read the comments, I feel you’re missing out. Click here to read. 

Essentially what was said was, these things are ridiculously expensive. And you’re right. So, what if you wanted a better RVing experience at a fraction of the price? But you didn’t want as much maintenance as some travel trailers require with their rubber roofs and that sort of thing? This week we have the answer. 

Plastic Fantastic

There are a bunch of independent RV companies making fiberglass travel trailers, many of which are priced under $30,000. Seriously! There are also models that are rather premium in their approach to things that have loftier MSRPs. 

One of the advantages of this kind of trailer is that they are built of large fiberglass sections and then fused together. There are no rubber roofs or other things that increase the amount of attention you have to pay to the structure. Yes, as with all RVs, you do have to keep an eye on the seals, but there is a lower likelihood of water intrusion just based on the way they’re built. 

Further, some of these can legitimately be towed with smaller vehicles than the traditional American pickup. That means maintenance on the tow vehicle is simplified and your fuel mileage might be not horrible, as well—depending on how fast you drive and things like that. 

So, here are some of my favorite fiberglass trailers. 

MeerKat

The MeerKat is one of the smaller and lighter trailers in this series and, at 900 pounds dry, could easily be towed by virtually anything on the road. But even if you wanted a buffer, let’s say you find yourself a Chevrolet Colorado diesel pick ‘em up truck. You could tow this thing like nobody’s business. Oh, and get great fuel mileage doing so. 

The secret to the MeerKat is that there’s a round pop-up section that almost reminds me of a turret. Except that it pops up. This not only gives you decent headroom in the popped-up section, but it also makes this trailer garageable in most household garages. 

Take that, you HOA grouchies. 

And while that bunch of HOA party poopers won’t let you paint your house whatever color you like, you can get the MeerKat in a variety of colors so you can have your towable affront to their lack of vision in the garage—and there’s nothing they can say about it. 

Happier Camper

Happier Camper makes two offerings in the fiberglass trailer world, one of which is almost like an IKEA trailer and the other is a bit more traditional. There’s the original HC1 and the newer Traveler. 

These small, very lightweight trailers have something called the Adaptive System. That is a series of pieces that fit into a grid on the floor that allows you to almost build your own camper. There are refrigerators, toilets, couches, tables and all sorts of various pieces you can bring in to make the Happier Camper anything from a blank space to a fully outfitted, very small RV. 

The company now has two sizes, but I legitimately sought out the first Happier Camper HC1 years ago as a consideration for my own travel needs. I liked that you could use it for cargo one day, camping the next. 

The smaller HC1 is also much more of a blank canvas. The new, larger Traveler has an installed kitchen and bathroom with the Adaptiv blocks making up the bed and whatever else you want to accomplish with them. 

Armadillo Backpack

Seeing the imagination of some builders is inspiring, and the Armadillo Backpack falls right into this description. These are fully outfitted, very small trailers that have most of the comforts of home in a 14-foot-long fiberglass shell. 

But where a lot of very small trailers fall short, the Armadillo excels—storage. These little trailers are available with a huge pull-out under-floor tray that can really make the difference between leaving something behind and bringing it along. Yet, at 1,800 pounds dry weight, these are still not huge. 

Relic

If Happier Camper is the IKEA of RVs, Relic is just the opposite. Using traditional woods and materials, the story of the Relic is fascinating to me. I have the Relic story here. 

The Relic trailer looks like a classic design because it actually is. If you’re looking for a smaller trailer that really stands out, this might be worth considering. 

Escape trailers

If I were going to start a new towable RV company, I would do it the way Escape trailers has done it up in Canada. That company regularly produces videos with company updates, but also has a bunch of instructional/informational videos. 

You can get a variety of floor plans and several sizes in an Escape. We happened to look at the Escape 21C trailer, which is a two-axle affair. The company also has a larger model on the horizon, but offers several single-axle variants, as well. 

While these are not labeled as four-season coaches, they do feature things like dual-pane windows and great insulation. 

I first heard of this company at Quartzsite, where I thought this was another brand. The lady who had just picked it up scolded me and shared how passionate Escape owners are and proceeded to show me why this was a better offering. Okay, then. 

Bigfoot trailers

Who is Bigfoot trailers? This is yet another Canadian RV builder and one that celebrates the winters that they get up there by producing products that are truly designed to accommodate that white stuff. 

The company makes both travel trailers and pickup campers. The travel trailer I looked at, the Bigfoot 25B25RQ, is the one they say is their most popular. In fact, I called the company to get a few clarifications and ended up speaking with Grant Bilodeau, head of the company. Clearly, he is a standout in the RV space as he actually can enthusiastically rave about what the company is doing and be spot-on in his enthusiasm. 

This is also one of the larger trailers in this series, particularly when you count the width—which is 102”. But that width means that this trailer offers all the living space you’d want in a travel trailer, even with the walk-around queen-sized bed being set east-to-west. 

There’s more

While I hit on some of my favorites in this space, there are a lot more fiberglass trailers that are pretty nifty. 

For example, both Escape trailers and Scamp make fifth wheel fiberglass models. These are the definition of small, easily towable models, although not so small that I’d want to tow with something like the new Ford Maverick. 

There’s also the super fancy Boler trailer, but I’m a bigger fan of the Bigfoot, quite frankly. 

Whatever the case, these can be very affordable but built to require less maintenance. While towing anything is going to hurt your fuel mileage, the smaller profile of some of these trailers might not be the giant hit that it would be with larger and more traditional travel trailers. 

And you can take that van money, buy a decent used half-ton pickup (if you don’t own several already) and many of the trailers on this list, and have enough left over for a fancy bottle of bubbly and some caviar. Or, if you’re me, a big ol’ plate of barbecue and a few craft beers. 

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