Rucksack Alternative

[Simon B]

Here is something that might be useful to some intrepid pilgrims:

https://newatlas.com/outdoors/monowalker-fatmate-towable-backpack/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=b407f684a7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_07_10_08_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-b407f684a7-89816254

I have seen a couple of homemade contraptions butt his seems pretty well engineered. Not sure however if it would be for me!!

 

[JoroAtanasof]

Here is something that might be useful to some intrepid pilgrims:

https://newatlas.com/outdoors/monowalker-fatmate-towable-backpack/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=b407f684a7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_07_10_08_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-b407f684a7-89816254

I have seen a couple of homemade contraptions butt his seems pretty well engineered. Not sure however if it would be for me!!

Link is not working .

 

[naplesdon]

I don't want to open the link, it requires TMI!

 

[Katia Taam]

Can´t open the link...

 

[malingerer]

I don't want to open the link, it requires TMI!

have built three now and discarded! never got it quite right Would love a proper one but the cost is prohibitive.

keep on truckin but not the quad bike!

samarkand

 

[Stephan the Painter]

This link works:

"Towable backpack" gets an aluminum frame and a big, fat tire

Nine years ago, we heard about a towable backpack setup known as the Monowalker Hikingtrailer. Well, a new version is now being crowdfunded, and it's claimed to be sturdier, more adjustable, and capable of carrying even more gear.

newatlas.com

This link says it's at fundraising stages. They expect it to retail for 1000 Euros. It seems like a lot of money for one wheel and some metal. It doesn't even seem to have brakes, which you need on these things for going downhill. The designers are living in a fantasy world if they think they would sell more then a few.

 

[Jean Ti]

This link works:

"Towable backpack" gets an aluminum frame and a big, fat tire

Nine years ago, we heard about a towable backpack setup known as the Monowalker Hikingtrailer. Well, a new version is now being crowdfunded, and it's claimed to be sturdier, more adjustable, and capable of carrying even more gear.

newatlas.com

This link says it's at fundraising stages. They expect it to retail for 1000 Euros. It seems like a lot of money for one wheel and some metal. It doesn't even seem to have brakes, which you need on these things for going downhill. The designers are living in a fantasy world if they think they would sell more then a few.

You can also purchase a bycicle for a 1000 Euros...

 

[Sara_Dhooma]

This type of trolley would be alright for an expedition-type trek with the need to carry multiple days of water.
Total overkill for the Camino, no need to carry such a huge amount of weight.

 

[David Tallan]

It's not exactly an alternative to a rucksack. You still need the rucksack to put your stuff into. This just helps you tote it. Others have noted the cost and the lack of brakes. I wonder about stability with the single wheel. It seems to require you to constantly hold a pair of handles to keep it stable, which doesn't leave any hands free. An alternative might be what Efren used on his Via Francigena trip. It had the handles but you could also strap it to your waist, and the two wheels seem a little more stable: https://www.radicaldesign.com/wheelie-v-cargo-walking-trailer

 

[David]

sorry but it is a Terrible! design. A mono-wheel has half the weight (of trailer and load) on the body, they are also unstable, having only one wheel at the rear - needs both hands to keep it from rolling side to side.

If you are going to use a trailer it must have two wheels and the load must sit squarely over the axle - this then means that there is no weight on the body, only on the trailer. Then, to stop it pitching one loads very slightly forward to give about a pound or so at the hip-belt, which gives good contact and stabilises it -

Trust me on this - a mono-wheel is a terrible design.

 

[Dinkumdigger]

sorry but it is a Terrible! design. A mono-wheel has half the weight (of trailer and load) on the body, they are also unstable, having only one wheel at the rear - needs both hands to keep it from rolling side to side.

If you are going to use a trailer it must have two wheels and the load must sit squarely over the axle - this then means that there is no weight on the body, only on the trailer. Then, to stop it pitching one loads very slightly forward to give about a pound or so at the hip-belt, which gives good contact and stabilises it -

Trust me on this - a mono-wheel is a terrible design.

I couldn't agree more David. As the owner of a Radical Designs Wheelie V,which I have used at home in Scotland and on camino in Spain,a two wheeled hiking trailer is the only sensible way to go.

 

[trecile]

The company isn't exactly reinventing the wheel. Hiking trailers have been around for quite some time.

Wheelie walking trailers | Radical Design

Wheelie walking trailers

www.radicaldesign.com

Best Hiking Trailer | Hands-Free Travel Cart | HipStar

Make your move hands-free with our best-in-class multipurpose Hiking Trailer - HipStar, turning into the sidekick for all your hiking, camping, or trekking needs.

hipstar.net

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/hiking-trailer-advice.60174/

 

[David]

Twin wheel trailers - weight over the axle, long draw bars - they all fold down - perfect balance, no weight on the body.



The latest one I have made - twin wheels, weight over the axle, no weight on the body -



If you did Meccano as a child you can build your own - easy - but whatever you do stay away from any design that is one wheel at the rear!!!
The Americans make them because before the Indian wars in the late 1800's that put the original nations onto reservations, when the native American Indian nations were still free, the plains Indians used a travois - two poles hung from a pony to carry weight such as a tepee (they didn't use wheels) - so the modern mono-wheel design - bad enough for a pony back then, terrible now for a hiker!

 

[lindam]

As another option, I recently saw this design: https://trekkersfriend.com. Seems to offer a fair bit of flexibility in terms of its use and is lightweight.

 

[dougfitz]

This link works:

"Towable backpack" gets an aluminum frame and a big, fat tire

Nine years ago, we heard about a towable backpack setup known as the Monowalker Hikingtrailer. Well, a new version is now being crowdfunded, and it's claimed to be sturdier, more adjustable, and capable of carrying even more gear.

newatlas.com

This link says it's at fundraising stages. They expect it to retail for 1000 Euros. It seems like a lot of money for one wheel and some metal. It doesn't even seem to have brakes, which you need on these things for going downhill. The designers are living in a fantasy world if they think they would sell more then a few.

Thanks for a working link. The fundraiser, and some specifications, are here, and it has a brake. But it appears that there is only one 'order' so far.

I can understand a single wheel design for more extreme trail conditions, such as some of the legs of the St Olavs Way routes that I have walked, but not for the routes that I have walked in Spain.

Also, as others have pointed out, it is possible to design a trailer to give much less than 50% of the load on the walker, but that is so much easier to achieve in a two wheel design where the load is both between the wheels and over the axle.

 

[DoughnutANZ]

It's not exactly an alternative to a rucksack. You still need the rucksack to put your stuff into. This just helps you tote it. Others have noted the cost and the lack of brakes. I wonder about stability with the single wheel. It seems to require you to constantly hold a pair of handles to keep it stable, which doesn't leave any hands free. An alternative might be what Efren used on his Via Francigena trip. It had the handles but you could also strap it to your waist, and the two wheels seem a little more stable: https://www.radicaldesign.com/wheelie-v-cargo-walking-trailer

It does have a brake and connects to a harness with the weight carried on a hip belt. The handles are for additional stability over rough ground or when going downhill.

As previously mentioned it is overkill for a Camino but would be useful for some wilderness treks where extensive food and water are required.

It is expensive.

I did pass someone using a similar device when I did my Camino.

It could be useful for families with young children or for walking companions who take their companions pack for them for some reason.

 

[JennyH94]

My trailer, Spot, so kindly made and gifted by David here on the Forum and featured in David’s post No.13 above, packs down very neatly into my suitcase for airline travel to Europe and the UK from Australia and for further non-camino travels while in the Northern Hemisphere. Last year I was able to fit Spot, my backpack, camino gear and non-camino gear into the suitcase.

The day before I started my camino I posted the suitcase with all the non-camino gear etc to the post office in Santiago, headed off with Spot and collected the suitcase several weeks later. Once I dismantled Spot I gave him a shower in the hotel bathroom (cleaning up thoroughly afterwards) and packed him in the suitcase.

Here’s a photo:



And walking with him is a dream! There’s no weight and no sweaty back from a backpack when lugging the pack. My backpack fits snugly into Spot’s cart, as does a couple of large water bottles, and, on the odd occasion, a bottle of wine!

With tenting caminos being a frequent topic of conversation on the Forum recently, a trailer can make a tenting camino a very attractive option - pilgrims won’t be loaded down with the extras needed for such a camino if carrying a backpack - everything can go into the trailer.

Cheers from Oz -
Jenny