02/06/2026
I wanted to share this as an example of the innovation that is unfolding for camping products in other countries.
Apart from a few exceptions, I do feel the UK is lacking innovation and is hardly breaking new frontiers when it comes to producing something other than tents, campervans, motorhomes and caravans.
It's a bit sad really, but opens the door for Tracka. 💪
Small camping trailers are great for a lot of reasons. They're easier to tow and maneuver than large trailers. They're compatible with a large variety of vehicles, likely including the everyday driver parked in your garage. Less trailer usually means less price tag, and less money spent on gas. The list goes on, but for all those advantages, small trailers usually fall short on one highly critical spec: a bathroom. The latest ROG trailer from Encore RV solves the lack of bathroom issue in a rather bold way, and it's a much better small camper for it.
Encore RV is a member of a new breed of Indiana RV builders working to forge a different path for the industry. It's located right in the Elkhart area that has long served as the RV capital of the world, the same RV capital of the world that has also gained a notorious reputation for being the world capital of cheaply built stick-and-tin RV lawn ornaments.
But some of the latest brands on the Elkhart scene have their eye on a future of better Elkhart products. They've been watching carefully the growing popularity of more ruggedly built trailers and RVs from small, independent shops around and beyond the US and have worked to incorporate some of those principles into their own larger scale operations, offering a compelling mix of tough, durable, corrosion-proof construction and mass-produced pricing.
Encore was established in 2020 as one of those companies, quickly branching out with a three-brand lineup of adventure-ready trailers built using all aluminum and composites, zero wood. ROG is currently the sub-brand among the three comprising the smallest, most rugged trailers, offering products in both a straightforward "adventure" base trim and a fully doomsday-prepped "survival" trim with multiple mounted axes, a water purification system, a first aid kit, and even a survival guide for cross-referencing your sh*t-hits-the-fan SOPs.
At the moment, the 12RK is the cheapest base model in the ROG family. It features the brand's completely wood-free construction with single-piece fiberglass roof, aluminum framing and composite panels. The "12" references the camper box length of just under 12 feet (3.7 m), while the entire camper with tow bar measures in at 15 feet (4.6 m) long. It's a small trailer by any measure, quite comparable in size to the Campinawe Crossover Solo we looked at a few days ago, not to mention dozens of other teardrop/squaredrop-style trailers.
Like Campinawe, Encore doesn't settle for just a bed and some cabinets, turning its small trailer into an all-day living space. The RK floor plan includes a futon-style 60 x 80-in (152 x 203-cm) queen mattress that slides back to work as a sofa for hanging out, listening to the included Bluetooth speaker and/or watching the available 32-in TV mounted to the front interior wall.
The 12RK kitchen rides just inside the dual tailgate doors. The setup includes a dual-burner slide-out stove, countertop with inbuilt sink and 93-L 12V door fridge. A fold-down shelf around the side of the trailer is designed for using the available 25-in dual-burner griddle, perfect for burgers, pancakes, bacon and other common campground fare.
The 12RK also comes standard with a large 163-L water tank, on-demand water heater and outdoor sprayer. What it doesn't come standard with: a bathroom ... or a toilet, not even a cheap portable model on the options sheet.
That's not necessarily an all-out dealbreaker because most trailers in this size class don't have a bathroom, but if you're really looking to leave organized campgrounds behind for off-grid primitive sites, the way a light, rugged off-roader like the 12RK is designed to do, you'll want some kind of toilet solution ... and not necessarily just the shovel that comes as part of the Survival package.
Encore debuted the all-new ROG 12RK-FB at Overland Expo West in Arizona a couple weeks ago for just this reason. The new ROG trailer features a very smart, simple solution to the bathroom conundrum confounding so many small trailer builders. Instead of taking up any of the ultra-limited floor space inside the cabin, or expanding that cabin into something larger and heavier that many buyers don't want to tow, Encore equips the ROG trailer with a deployable part-time bathroom inside a rugged cargo box up on the trailer tongue.
The ripstop bathroom tent is designed to pop out of the cargo box and pitch in minutes, if not seconds. The strut-assisted box lid opens sideways across the trailer's width to serve as the outer tent wall, while integrated frame members swivel around to hold the roof up in place. Each sidewall also relies on a thinner two-piece pole to push its fabric outward so as not to cling to the person showering.…
Complete breakdown in the comments ↓
