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Earlier this year, I left home in sunny Southern California and flew to Libby, Montana (which is incredibly beautiful, by the way) to meet the folks at Sherpa Trailers. Specifically, I was there to get a grand tour of their Bigfoot teardrop trailer.
As you can see in the video below, there was a lot to see – and it was an incredible experience seeing how the Sherpa Trailers team does business.
Today’s article is a Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot review – a comprehensive look at this trailer top to bottom, inside and out. I’ll explain everything from build quality to smart features that make this a crazy-good trailer to a couple of things I’d change if I had my druthers.
So, have a seat, grab some coffee, and come along with me on this Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot review!
Table of Contents
- Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot Review: Basic Specs
- Features of the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot
- Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot Review: Optional Upgrades
- Towing the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot
- Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot Review: Off-the-Charts Build Quality
- Pros and Cons of the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot
- Final Thoughts
Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot Review: Basic Specs
With a cabin that’s five feet wide and eight feet long, the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot provides all the room you need without being too big for your off-road adventures. After all, you want to have a comfortable cabin to sleep in, but you don’t want something so big that it prohibits you from hitting difficult, narrow trails. The Bigfoot strikes a wonderful balance between the two.
With 40 square feet of cabin space, you can embark on a supremely comfortable solo camping trip, or if you have your significant other with you, you can share the space (which fits a queen-sized mattress) without feeling cramped. Heck, bring Fido along with you for the trip, too!
The Bigfoot trailer tips the scales at 1,300 pounds dry, which means you can easily tow this thing with a two-door Jeep or another small SUV. Even smaller vehicles like Subarus can tow this trailer without issue thanks to the 140-pound tongue weight. No need for a big diesel truck with airbags to tow this bad boy!
Complementing the spacious cabin is a chassis that’s ready to party off-road. The Bigfoot comes with 31-inch 10-50 R-15 tires, heavy-duty aluminum fenders, and a straight Dexter axle with 1,400-pound leaf springs on each side. Like I said, the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot is an ideal blend of interior comfort and off-road readiness that many try to replicate, but can’t quite get there.
Features of the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot
Some teardrop trailer companies essentially sell you a metal box on wheels. And while that might be beneficial for folks who want to finish the trailer to their liking, my view is that if you buy a teardrop trailer, it should be ready to roll for your adventures.
The Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot certainly meets that mark…
Included in the Bigfoot’s standard features are a wheeled tongue jack so you can easily maneuver the trailer around, dual stabilizer jacks in the rear to give the trailer stability while you’re camped, and a two-inch rear receiver so you can add a bike rack or cargo rack for added storage.
Likewise, Sherpa Trailers has outfitted the Bigfoot with a six-outlet power strip in the rear bulkhead so you can charge devices and run electronics when you’re connected to a generator or shore power. LED lighting inside and outside the trailer can also be used when connected to a power source.
The Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot comes standard with two doors to get a nice cross-breeze through the trailer, or pop open the vent and turn on the 12-volt fan to get airflow in the cabin.
When you bunk in for the night, you’ll appreciate the carpeted walls and floor, which provides some insulation from outdoor temperatures while also being easy to clean after your adventure is over.
So, while the Bigfoot trailer isn’t a Hyatt Regency on wheels, it’s certainly not an empty tin-can, either. You can pick this trailer up, throw your gear inside, and have everything you need to hit the road right then and there.
Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot Review: Optional Upgrades
While Sherpa Trailers gives you a fantastic base for your camping trips, you can make the Bigfoot an even better adventure mobile by adding optional upgrades directly from Sherpa Trailers.
Inside, you can add cubbyhole storage to keep your stuff neatly organized and out of the way. You can also add a trifold mattress that doubles as a comfortable place to sit and relax. If you need additional sleeping space, adding interior bunks should be on your upgrade list. Other interior upgrades include additional cabin windows and a large rear door for easy access to the cabin.
The outside of the Bigfoot trailer can be loaded up with all sorts of amenities for your adventures. For example, you can add a:
- Roof rack
- Rooftop tent
- Roof rack basket
- Kayak rack
- Tongue box
Moreover, the Bigfoot trailer can be fitted with a diamond plate rock guard, a full-size spare tire, and a mounted propane tank. Throw a Watersport Weekender 8-gallon water storage tank so you can take showers while you’re at it. And since the water tank is food-grade, you can use the water for drinking and cooking, too.
For those chilly camping trips, the optional 110-volt heater is a nice option. If you want to be off-grid-ready, add an Ecoflow solar generator with a Rockpals solar panel to the mix.
And, if you want some outdoor living space but want to be protected, throw in a side table for meal prep, an 8′ x 8′ awning, and a deluxe awning room, too!
Towing the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot
As I mentioned earlier, the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot weighs just 1,300 pounds dry, and with a tongue weight of only 140 pounds, this trailer is easy to tow, even with a smaller vehicle.
Towing small single-axle trailers like this can sometimes be a challenge as they can fishtail, yet the Bigfoot has excellent on-road manners. Obviously, you can’t drive 90 mph on the highway towing one of these, but you can’t do that with any trailer! The Bigfoot feels nicely balanced at highway speeds and it’s more than capable once you hit dirt trails.
There’s something to be said for a compact, lightweight trailer like this when it comes to fuel economy. Rather than eating up all your fuel with a large trailer, you can go further between fill-ups with a trailer that weighs a fraction of what many other off-road-ready trailers weigh.
What’s more, the compact size of the Bigfoot makes it much easier to navigate trails, make tight turns, and back into camping spots (or your driveway). If you’re hesitant to tow a trailer, the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot will change your mind!
Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot Review: Off-the-Charts Build Quality
As I noted earlier, Sherpa Trailers is headquartered in beautiful Libby, Montana. That means that the Bigfoot trailer is made in the USA by skilled tradespeople using high-quality materials.
For example, the ceiling has 2×4 ribs every 12 inches and is covered with mahogany plywood. The roof has 1.5-inch foam insulation between the ribs, plus a hardboard underlayment and a 040 aluminum outer skin. The roof skin is only two parts, which helps reduce the likelihood of leaks.
The front and rear bulkheads also feature 2×4 construction. The 2x4s are pocketed into the sides of the trailer to give it improved sturdiness for rough off-road travels.
The walls and floor of the Bigfoot are made with 3/4-inch exterior-grade plywood. This structure is covered with 24-gauge sheet metal flashing that comes in your choice of 23 colors.
When I was in Libby, I toured this trailer inside and out, and the quality of craftsmanship was evident in every corner. The folks at Sherpa Trailers do things right, even if it takes a little more time and eats into their bottom line. They aren’t in this business purely for the money. Instead, they want to deliver the finest product to each customer, no matter what options and amenities that customer chooses. That commitment to quality shows in each trailer these folks produce.
Pros and Cons of the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot
I’ve already discussed many of the pros of the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot – incredible build quality, a host of standard features, and a robust list of optional upgrades.
This trailer is also easy to tow with virtually any vehicle, feels incredibly spacious inside (especially if you add the optional rear door), and the flat back design gives you additional headroom inside the trailer.
And, of course, the team behind this trailer is a fine group of people dedicated to their craft and to customer satisfaction. It’s a great combination!
I’d also like to add the price to the list of pros. This trailer is budget-friendly, so you don’t have to take out a second mortgage to buy it. Even if you load it up with options, you still avoid the sticker shock of many other teardrop trailers.
The list is very short in terms of things I didn’t like about the trailer when I inspected it up in Libby…
First, the models I got to tour had the two standard side windows. Without an optional window added to the mix (or the optional rear door), the cabin seemed a little on the dark side. However, since you can rectify that issue with an optional feature or two, it’s not a huge deal.
Secondly, these trailers come with a standard ball hitch – which is completely fine – but as someone that uses a max coupler for my setup, it’s too valuable an amenity not to have as part of the standard equipment.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, no teardrop trailer is perfect. Yet, the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot comes damn close.
The mix of standard features and options, on-road manners and off-road capability, and build quality and price is tough to beat. I appreciate the hard work and dedication it takes to be a small business owner, too, so kudos to Sherpa Trailers for crushing it!
Obviously, I’m nothing but impressed with this trailer. I found it to be intriguing before I even saw it with my own eyes. But after spending a few days getting familiar with the Bigfoot and the Sherpa Trailers team, I was even more blown away.
It’s safe to say that if you’re in the market for a teardrop trailer for your adventures, the Sherpa Trailers Bigfoot should definitely be on your radar! Visit Sherpa Trailers to get all the details about the Bigfoot.