If there was ever an RV that should be called "Chuck," it was the original Ushi Outdoors trailer. The North Carolina startup must have realized its oversight because its second trailer wears the name. It's not quite as natural a chuckwagon as the original, but it is a tiny, lightweight support rig that owners can quickly customize into their ultimate adventure partner. The Chuck can carry nearly twice its own dry weight, and Ushi offers a long list of ready-to-add options to fill that payload atop the open bed and MOLLE rack.
The Ushi Chuck isn't quite as instantly endearing as the original Ushi trailer – now fittingly named the Ushi OG – but that's mostly because it has a more imposing presence to it, a function of its lower, stouter center of gravity, slightly wider 70-in (178-cm) track that extends well past the body width, and burlier mud-terrain tires. It's clearly made to venture off the pavement and not sugarcoat life off the beaten path with gratuitous kindnesses or unnecessary luxuries. It's, rather literally, a tent and rucksack on wheels.
At a mere 711 lb (323 kg) to start and 8.3 feet (2.5 m) from its bumper to the tippity-tip of its tongue, the Chuck ranks among the smallest off-road trailers designed to hitch to street-legal four-wheel vehicles, not motorcycles, or bicycles, or human waists. It's a tad larger than the 7.4-foot (2.3 m) 500-lb (227-kg) Road Warrior, a car/motorcycle hybrid trailer, but is designed with a similar exoskeleton-based accessorize-it-yourself ethic.
In fact, the Chuck represents the latest debut in a wave of highly modular adventure camping trailers that's brought us a steady stream of new releases like the bolt-and-play Beaver Built, the roll-and-schuss Genimax HR, the load-it-out VanMe Bobo, and the moto-hauling Runaway Venturist.
Ushi's new design is as modular as any of those others, thanks to a combination of boxy 43 x 39 x 21-in (109 x 99 x 53-cm) cargo bed and MOLLE-style steel rack. The former is there to hold the large, bulky stuff, such as coolers, duffel bags, grills, stoves, and crates loaded with gear. Buyers can add a set of slides for more easily accessing cargo from just behind the swinging tailgate. A diamond-plate aluminum cover is also available to improve security and weatherproofing while adding a second level of storage.
The above-bed rack is where things get really fun, and creativity is openly encouraged. First and foremost, if you want to camp on this trailer, you'll have to add a roof tent up top. Ushi offers a two/three-person tent, but with 700 lb (318 kg) of static weight capacity on the rack and 1,289 lb (585 kg) of payload, buyers should have some freedom in choosing their own without cutting into their freedom for additional accessorizing.
The towers and crossbars of the rack are steel beams with MOLLE-style mounting points, designed to make adding components as painless as possible. These complement the larger MOLLE panels that stretch across the sides and lower front of the rack.
Many truck racks and accessories already use this same style of attachment, so the Chuck is ready to start loading on components from the get-go. Ushi sprints out of the gate with a rather long, comprehensive scroll of options that includes camping add-ons like pressurized 15- or 30-L water tanks, an awning, a sink faucet, a grill mount, a battery and plenty more. Buyers can also add gear-carrying options like a kayak rack, ebike rack and fishing rod holder.
Beyond Ushi's own list of options, the rack can be easily outfitted with compatible mounts for gear like traction boards, spare tires, shovels and Rotopax canisters.
Out front, the Ushi stores even more cargo in a lockable weatherproof tongue box. It also brings an attachable side worktop and sink basin mount, brake lights, and textured polyurethane-finished 12-gauge steel fenders as standard equipment. Both the aluminum bumper and tongue are removable, allowing the tiny Chuck to store away even smaller than it tows.
Ushi plants the Chuck atop a 1/4-in aluminum-tube chassis and cushions the wheels with a torsion axle suspension. A 4-in lift raises ground clearance to a comfortable 14 inches (35.5 cm) while steel wheels shown wrapped in mud-terrain tires ensure the trailer keeps rolling.
The built-in-the-USA Ushi Chuck starts at a budget-friendly US$6,990 but will rise rapidly once buyers get started accessorizing it into their dream rig with camping amenities, overlanding kit, accompanying mounting hardware, sports racks and more. On the plus side, they can spread that financial pain out over time by gradually adding components, a clear advantage of the ultra-modular cargo-cum-camper trailer.
It's also worth noting that Ushi has added the option of a rooftop tent support system to the frame of its chuckwagon-like OG trailer, giving the gear-carrying tagalong full camping capability.
Source: Ushi Outdoors