Hi-lo Travel Trailers Folded Then Came Back Again

Hi-lo travel trailers folded and then came back again stronger and better than they were before. The new owner brought some changes to the Hi-lo trailer.

Hi-lo travel trailers first appeared in 1956 and after fifty four years of operation was closed down in 2010. You would have thought this would have been the last of the Hi-lo brand.

You see because it was a franchise operation one of the franchise holders decided to purchase the rights to the Hi-lo brand outright from the original owner. William Kerola brought from owner Jim Snyder the Hi-lo trademark, designs and intellectual property.

In 2014 a deal was struck and the Hi-lo travel trailers began to appear on the market again. So production of new trailers began but this time they were smaller than some of the older models of the past.  

Hi-lo Travel trailer Past Innovations

Hi-lo travel trailer owner from the past Jim Snyder brought innovation to the brand in the form of the Hi-lo method of production where two halves were made to be put one on top of the other. This odd concept proved to be extremely different from all other travel trailers on the market at the time and still are today.

You will find that these trailers are made extremely robust to stand the rigours of time. The idea was to be able to tow a trailer that could be transformed into a travel trailer once you had reached your destination.

It was also a trailer that could be towed by your SUV or medium sized family car. Because it acted like a trailer when in the low position there is less drag making the hi-lo travel trailer extremely economical to tow by only using one gallon of gas per hundred miles of use.

The greatest benefit to the Hi-lo owner was the electric lift and hydraulic lowering system which had been manual which is now the backup. To you the customer it made it so much easier to raise and lower the trailer when needed.  

Hi-lo Travel Trailer Benefits

You may like the major benefit of a Hi-lo travel trailer which is the ease of towing and the fact that you can tow it with a medium sized vehicle. This is possible because in the low position the camper acts and looks like a trailer.

These small travel trailers are therefore very useful for camping trips away for a few days. Another benefit you may like is the electric hydraulic lowering and electric lifting mechanism in which the main arm which used to bend and buckle because of corrosion is now a galvanized rod for a longer lasting travel trailer experience without failure.

The other benefit you may like is the ability to park it in your garage in the low position for safe keeping and out of the weather which brakes everything down. You can also fit an anti-sway bar if one is not already there to keep the trailer stable when towing.  

There is Only Two Hi-lo Wanderer Models:  

• Wanderer

  Two Models 

  RB(Rear Bed) 

  SD(Side Dinette) 

Hi-lo Travel Trailer Pitfalls

The pitfalls with a hi-lo travel trailer is the tendency for the rod that supports the hydraulic over electric lift system tends to fail after a period of time because of corrosion. The rod would buckle causing major damage to the trailer. In the later models this was changed to a fully galvanized rod to lengthen the time it would last and to avoid early failure due to corrosion.

Another tendency with these trailers is leaking through the vents and the windows causing flood damage. Because of the laminated fiberglass side walls once they get wet there is a tendency for delamination which is difficult to fix.

So what this means is that you have to be careful when thinking of purchasing a hi-lo travel trailer and do your due diligence to make sure you are not buying a lemon that is going to be nothing but a headache to you. You would think that the new ones would be better. The truth is they are using the standard materials in the industry because they are cheap and can make maximum profit for the company so be careful.

The other thing is there is no shower in the Wanderer Hi-lo travel trailer but the SD model does have storage for a porta pot as there is no on board sewage system. The RB has no toilet or shower and is very basic and is sixteen feet long. That is the standard length for the Wanderer.

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