<\/p>\n
Blaze Davies attributes an idea from his wife, Alicia, as the inspiration for his startup company, Moto Burly, which is gearing up to manufacture rugged trailers built for the backcountry from its shop in the Durango Tech Center.<\/p>\n
Davies said: \u201cWhen we were starting to camp a little more, she said, \u2018Wouldn\u2019t it be nice if we had the kitchen in one bucket and you didn\u2019t have to assemble everything and carry it all to the car. What if you had everything in one place you could just hook up to the car and you didn\u2019t have to load any stuff?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The suggestion prompted Davies to begin searching the internet for something akin to the products suggested by his wife. What he discovered disappointed him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked at what was out there, and nothing really fit. I thought: I could change the suspension and the wheels, I could make it more rugged. Then I realized: Hey, I can make these things better,\u201d Davies said.<\/p>\n
Davies approached his friend, Keith Martin, who was rebuilding old-style Airstream-like trailers, with his business idea to build and sell rugged, high-clearance backcountry trailers, and Martin quickly agreed to form a partnership.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me he had been thinking about the same thing,\u201d Davies said.<\/p>\n
Moto Burly<\/a> has now developed two prototype models of backcountry trailers: the Joey, which is 6 feet by 7 feet and typically between 30-inches to 32-inches high, and the Voodoo, which is 4 feet by 4\u00bd feet.<\/p>\n Each model, built from aluminum composite material, comes with a pullout kitchen with a stainless steel stove, a grill, a sink, a refrigerator\/freezer, pressurized hot water, a workspace with cutting boards, a space for propane tanks (large and small tanks), a 270-degree awning, a roof-top tent and storage space.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is your base camp. You\u2019re set up. You get to your spot and you\u2019re ready to go play,\u201d Davies said.<\/p>\n Most trailer frames are made of angular iron, but to meet the needs of backcountry roads, Moto Burly makes frames out of stainless steel.<\/p>\n Other features that allow the trailers to traverse Forest Service roads include Timbren<\/a> axle-less independent suspensions from Canada that provide the trailers with 20 inches of clearance and a 2-ton articulating coupler, called the McHitch<\/a> made in Australia, that replaces a ball-joint hitch.<\/p>\n Use of air suspensions allows the trailer to be lowered for camping, sleeping or highway driving. Davies eventually envisions creating a single button to allow users to drop the trailer with a push.<\/p>\n When production gets going, Davies said, trailers will be customized to each user\u2019s needs. He hopes to be able to turn around manufacture of a customized trailer in about four weeks.<\/p>\n