Utah's Zion Off-Road hit the trailer market with one of the most modular off-road camping trailers out there, a multi-stage squaredrop that allows customers to spec it from empty to fully loaded. Now it's sliding the modularity over to a simpler skeletal utility trailer/camper. The new Z2 starts out as a basic bed box, allowing buyers to build it into a precisely specced gear-stacking tool for at home and afield. Carry lumber and supplies one weekend, dirt bikes and kayaks the next. Top it with a rooftop tent and you have a breezy micro-camping trailer for open-ended adventures with return date TBD.
Zion's original multi-stage Z1 trailer remains a highly versatile choice for camping and overlanding, but it's not as suitable for hauling big, heavy gear like an ATV or pair of dirt bikes. With the Z2, Zion carves out space for this type of big gear-hauling, relying on lifted crossbars and available rooftop tents (RTTs) to maintain full-blown overnight camping capabilities.
The 12.9-foot-long (3.9-m) Z2 starts with the same rugged frame as the Z1, and Zion has designed the standard 3,500-lb solid axle and leaf springs to be readily swappable for customers who'd prefer a Timbren Axle-Less suspension. Ground clearance to the axle is an even foot (30.5 cm) and to the frame is 17.2 inches (43.7 cm).
Instead of topping that frame with a live-in body this time around, Zion keeps things loose and skeletal, starting with a bed liner-finished 6061-T6 aluminum plate deck measuring 7.75 feet (2.3 m) long by 4.25 feet (1.3 m) wide. The deck includes integrated slots throughout for adding accessories like bike tire/fork mounts and to provide integrated draining for rain and washing. It also incorporates 10 frame-bolted D-ring tie-downs for securing gear and cargo.
Zion boxes the Z1 deck out with 24.75-in-tall (62.9-cm) side walls and a 21.5-in (54.6-cm) front wall, all of which are predrilled for mounting plates and accessories, outside or inside. The walls are topped with an extruded aluminum lip for further mounting versatility, and while the trailer does not incorporate a hard tailgate, Zion does show a heavy-duty retention net for closing off the rear.
That gives you a pretty solid utility trailer with loads more mounting versatility than average. Zion finishes off the standard base trailer with a set of four bed lights for easily rummaging through cargo after dark and a rocker switch panel for those lights and available auxiliary and rock lights. The bed lights run off the connection to the tow vehicle, but the optional lights require an external battery or power station. Zion wires in the light and battery connections as standard and offers several battery options.
To step the trailer build up to the next level (or two+), buyers can look to the optional crossbar assemblies, which secure to the interior side walls to serve as an upper rack. Buyers can choose two to four of these adjustable-height assemblies and can even add a lower set of crossbars to the same risers for three levels of storage, as shown in the top photo.
Now the fun really starts, both for Zion and the buyer. We've seen more and more of these ultra-modular camper and gear-carrier designs sprouting up, and it's not hard to see why – the builder can lure you in with a simple base RV at a low price, then keep you coming back for years on end to add on all those cool (probably expensive) accessories.
It's not all bad for the buyer, either, as he or she doesn't have to lay out the full pile of cash up front and can get out into the wild right away with a bone-stock base model, building it up over time. Beyond spreading out the overall cost, that route can also help one identify ahead of time the add-ons that are actually useful in the field and those that essentially window dressing.
We do wonder how much the average modular build will end up costing in the end versus the one-and-done full-spec build. We'd imagine it's more tempting to keep adding on when you're sitting at camp staring at all those empty drill holes.
Whatever the case, Zion has carried over some of the MOLLE panel and carrier options from its Z1 squaredrop range, offering both standalone accessories and five full build stages. We'll refer you to Zion's configuration page to see the full details for each of those stages, but suffice to say, you can spend over $17,000 on a Stage 5 package and still not have a place to sleep at night.
Stage 5 does get you a very capable hauler with electric brakes, GoalZero Yeti 700 power station, 23Zero 270-degree awning, tongue box, BFG KO2 off-road tires, Timbren suspension upgrade, full-size spare tire carrier, various mounting plates, three adjustable-height riser/crossbar assemblies, frame-mounted steps, auxiliary and rock lights, an articulating hitch and more. It'll definitely be a tricked-out utility hauler like no other, but is it worth more than the price of Zion's Stage 1 Z1 teardrop? Buyer decides.
Strip things back to the base Z2 model with just a deck, set of leaf-sprung wheels, three walls, bed lights and automotive rear lighting, and you save almost $10K of price in the process, down to $7,600 to start. That gives you a slick 950-lb (431-kg) utility trailer with over 2,000 lb (907 kg) of payload. From there, you can enjoy as is for basic hauling, head back to Zion for upgrades in the future, or build it out yourself with crossbars, MOLLE panels, mounts, etc.
The all-new Z2 is available for preorder now. The video introduction below provides a complete walkthrough of the base trailer and all five stages of add-ons.
Source: Zion Off-Road