Most travel trailers are sold with a static floor plan. What you see is what you get, and if you change your mind, you’re stuck with it, or you take a bath on resale value and sell your unit. An increasing number of manufacturers are creating campers that change their interiors to fit whatever you have going on in life. The new Search4 Outdoors S4 trailer might be one of the craziest modular campers yet. It’s tiny enough to fit into a parking space, yet can be made large enough to have a huge all-glass living room. It’s also bewildering in more than one way.
The world of modular travel trailers has been heating up in the 2020s. If you want something that looks retro, the folks of Happier Camper will sell you a fiberglass camper that has a modular interior that works like LEGO bricks. If you want one of those boxy and tiny off-road campers, Zion Off-Road will sell you an empty box that you’re supposed to build up as you go. If you want your RV to propel itself, Grounded RVs still sells somewhat modular camper van conversions. ATC Trailers is famed for its designs that let you turn your cargo trailer into a camper at a moment’s notice. Even Honda wants to make a camper with some modularity built-in with its weird Base Station concept.
All of these RVs have a vaguely similar goal of giving you a floor plan that changes with your life. In ATCs and Happier Campers, for example, you can take bits out of your interior so you can park motorcycles and other toys inside. Then, on a future trip where you aren’t hauling in a bunch of gear, you could fill the interior back up with whatever you took out.
Depending on how modular the design is, you might be able to change where the bed is, or where your living room or storage space is. In theory, if you get bored with how your camper looks, you can just change it up.
RV startup Search4 Outdoors wants to sell what it thinks will be the ultimate modular camper. Supposedly, the S4 Trailer has “Infinity Floor Plans” to go with a whole host of attractive features and what sounds like a great bill of materials. But I do have some concerns.
A Trailer Company That Isn’t For RVers
Search4 Outdoors sort of just materialized out of the ether in late 2025. To date, the company’s website doesn’t tell you who created it, where it’s based, or really give you any sort of human element before asking you to fork over your money. Through some digging, I was able to find out that the Search4 Outdoors website was created in early 2024, and it teased the launch of a new RV coming that spring.
Well, Spring came and went, and as far as I can tell, the Search4 Outdoors website remained untouched through most of 2025 as it continued to tease a new RV coming in spring 2024. Finally, in November 2025, a new Instagram account began publishing images and videos about a prototype camper. The Search4 Outdoors S4 was born. Recently, the trailer was highlighted by Patrick Botticelli of New Jersey Outdoor Adventures, where some details about Search4 Outdoors were revealed (video below or click here):
The company is based in New Jersey and was founded by Mike. In the video, Mike explains that his company’s debut trailer is not for RVers. Instead, it’s for those who seek outdoor adventure. The S4 was designed after Mike looked around for campers for outdoor adventurers and found none that really hit the spot. The Search4 Outdoors website seems to set some huge expectations:
The search for empty barrels, untracked powder, and the loamiest trails goes on year-round. The S4 off-grid travel trailer is not made for RV’ers, it is purpose-built for those who ski/snowboard, surf, and mountain bike. Its expandable design provides extra living space with floor to ceiling windows, bringing the outside to you…while the fully modular interior can be rearranged to match any trip — from you and a friend chasing a powder day, to a family surf trip down the coast. Plus, this is the ONLY trailer with a moveable bathroom. A compact wood-burning stove, combined with a removable diesel heater, keep you warm with a touch of ambiance after a long winter day outside….and with solar power (along with 400W wind turbine), 12V systems (including air conditioning that runs directly off the batteries) and rugged off-grid capability, this trailer is ready to chase every season — wherever the search takes you.
Alright then, what will buyers get when the S4 goes into production? In short, quite a lot.
The Search4 Outdoors S4
Let’s start with the build, because the materials used here make for a rather great start.
Search4 Outdoors says that the trailer starts life with a hand-built steel frame. Attached to that frame is a Cruisemaster XT independent coil spring suspension. Mike explains that Search4 Outdoors did consider an air bag suspension, but believes that coil springs are better for durability and extremely cold environments. The trailer’s wheels are shod in Falken Wildpeak all-terrain tires, and yes, Search4 expects buyers to take the trailer off-road.
Built atop this frame is a 17-foot box. The main camper area is 13 feet long, and there’s an additional four feet for the V-shaped nose. Finally, another two feet is used by the tongue. The body features aluminum panels on the exterior, Azdel composite walls inside, and an aluminum structure. The way Mike sees it, if aluminum works for Airstream, it’ll work for the S4. Aluminum has been proven to be a sturdy material to build an RV out of, and the build sheet suggests that, if you did spring a water leak, you aren’t going to have the walls blowing out like in a typical stick-built travel trailer.
Search4 Outdoors first considered a much longer trailer. However, late in development, the trailer’s designers decided to cut the trailer down to just 19 feet. The logic behind that decision was that the trailer will be able to fit into a standard parking space. Likewise, if you go to a campground with strict RV length limits, like the Bahia Honda State Park, this trailer can fit.
This late-minute change explains the bizarre axle placement on the prototype trailer. It was originally built as a longer rig! Mike says that the production version will have its axle in a position to provide 15 percent tongue weight.
Search4 Outdoors also claims that this build is four-season rated. Supporting the camper’s mission to survive any outside condition is Havelock Wool insulation, Arctic Tern windows, a 27,000 BTU diesel heater, a 10,000 BTU 12V air-conditioner/heat pump, and a wood-burning stove. Search4 Outdoors says that the camper has been tested in temperatures as low as 20 degrees and as high as a summer in Florida. Remember this, because we’ll come back to it.
An Interior Your Way
The interior is where the S4 gets properly nutty. The inside of the S4 is based around the concept that Search4 calls “The Infinity Track Interior System” and the “Infinity Floor Plans.” Basically, everything in the trailer either rides on a track or can be moved. These tracks dot the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and even the camper’s exterior.
Everything sits on this track system, from the trailer’s tiny trash can to the towel rack for the shower. Even the movie projector screen hangs from the tracks on the roof. Of course, the idea is that, if for some reason you want to hang your towels outside, just yank it from an interior wall and place it on a track outside. It’s the same deal with the tables, storage cabinets, and everything else.
Then there’s the sunroom. You might have noticed that the windows on the main body of the trailer are pathetically small. The S4 comes with a sunroom to make up for that. When you deploy the sunroom, you get an all dual-pane plexiglass enclosure that adds seven feet of length to the living space.
Even the kitchen and bathroom are modular. The kitchen and bathroom cubes are self-contained, which means that you can just move them to wherever you want in the trailer. The bathroom is a 30″ by 30″ cube with a shower, a Joolca composting toilet, and its own sink. The shower pulls from a built-in 10-gallon tank.
The kitchen cube consists of a sink with its own seven-gallon tank, a dual-burner stove, a microwave, and a 65-liter ICECO refrigerator. The kitchen unit has a butcher block countertop and wood cabinetry. Search4 Outdoors says that all of the wood in the trailer is real, and not cheap particle board.
The beds are as configurable as the rest of the trailer. The S4 supports a residential king bed, a queen bed, multiple single beds, four 80-inch bunk beds, and combinations of beds on the floor and beds hanging from the walls.
All of this stuff can be moved around. So, if you want to have your kitchen and your bathroom in the sunroom, you can do that. If you want your living room there instead, sure, why not? The layout is entirely up to you since basically nothing in the trailer’s interior is permanently affixed. The additional room in the V-nose also has some practicality, as that’s where you can store dirty gear, muddy boots, wet skis, or even a bathroom.
Search4 says that, in addition to what’s been noted already, you’ll get an 800-watt solar system, 920 Ah heated LiFePO4 batteries, a plug for a personal wind turbine, a built-in Viair air compressor, an HD projector, and Bluetooth speakers. The prototype trailer is 12-volt power only, but the company says that the production version will have an inverter.
All of this adds up to a trailer that weighs around 4,000 pounds empty and 6,000 pounds when loaded. The price? $79,895. That coin gets you everything except the bathroom. If you want more than 17 gallons of water, you can get up to a 25-gallon water tank as an option. A larger refrigerator is an option as well. Search4 offers some limited customization options, namely exterior color, wood stain, fabric colors, wheels, and floor color.
More Work Than A Tent
Honestly, when I started researching this trailer, I was ready to call it one of the coolest travel trailer designs of the modern era. But the more I think about it, the more I’m left scratching my head.
Let’s start with the sunroom. If you watch the video, you’ll see that deploying and packing up the sunroom is hilariously convoluted.
It takes two people to deploy the sunroom’s floor, and you can watch Mike hauling around window panels, setting up the window supports, and then securing everything one at a time. Forget LEGO, this is like an adult Erector set, and by the time you’re done, you won’t want to go hiking or skiing because you’ll be burned out just building the sunroom. It makes setting up a low-buck tent in a thunderstorm look easy. I’d feel like you’d need a vacation after setting up your camper for your vacation.
To be fair to Search4 Outdoors, the company says that the plexiglass panels weigh only 20 pounds each and that the production version will get rid of the Rube Goldberg machine for a much easier track system. However, Search4 also admits that, if you’re just doing a weekend trip, it would probably be easier to leave the sunroom at home.
Then there are the drawbacks of having the sunroom in the first place. Anyone who has a glass room in their home can tell you just how hard it is to keep that area cool in the summer. Search4 Outdoors admits that the S4 trailer’s sunroom also gets toasty in the summer and potentially frosty in the winter. Their solution is an insulated blackout curtain that you deploy over the windows. Thankfully, Search4 notes, the multiple sources of heat in the trailer can keep the camper feeling warm even with the sunroom deployed.
In the worst case, such as really extreme heat or cold, you can just leave the sunroom at home and have the hatch door closed. That brings me to my next issue. The windows on the trailer body itself are hopelessly tiny. As someone who has slept in campers with tiny windows before, it sort of ruins the whole experience and makes you feel like you’re in a bunker. You’re in the beautiful wilderness, but have mostly white walls to look at. This trailer sort of depends on you opening that rear hatch to really get that full experience.
Search4 Outdoors acknowledges another drawback. Many of the modular pieces have built-in storage, are designed for storage, or have water tanks. Once the shower’s tank is filled up, Search4 admits, you aren’t moving it anywhere. Everything else is also going to be weighed down by what you store in them. You’ll still be able to move all of the bits around since they have felt pads, but it might require some muscle. Per Search4 Outdoors:
“If they are loaded, you are not picking them up … however, sliding them around is still very do-able.”
Realistically, unless you’re strong or feel like unpacking, the layout you start a trip with will probably be the layout you end the trip with. Also note that anything you drag into the sunroom will have to be dragged back into the trailer when it’s time to leave. So, no matter what, this is a travel trailer that will require a bit of setup on every trip.
My final concern is really just one of preference, and it’s that the trailer doesn’t look like a camper. It looks like a cargo trailer that someone shoved a bathroom into. Many of the commenters on the video tour assumed that the trailer was a converted cargo hauler, not something made from the ground up like it actually is. Personally, if I were spending $79,895 on a factory-built camper, I’d prefer it not look like something I made in a shed.
A Great Vision, But Maybe Could Use Some Tweaks
If you’re interested in the Search4 Outdoors S4, the company is taking $500 refundable deposits right now. Whenever the trailer does enter production, it says you can expect to wait 12 to 16 weeks to have it built. As always, I don’t recommend spending any real money on a new RV until the production version exists.
It sounds like I’m being hard on Search4 Outdoors, and I probably am. But I do love this concept. I adore the idea of being able to make just the layout I want, and not have some company from Indiana dictate it for me. Just the fact that the designers figured out how to create a totally portable kitchen and bathroom is so cool. If I had one of these, I’d cook breakfast from the sunroom every morning.
So, if I’m being hard on Search4, it’s because I want this idea to be successful. I see a lot of great ideas here, just not the sort of execution I’d expect from a trailer a stone’s throw from $100,000. But to Search4’s credit, it does seem to be taking criticism, so who knows what the production version will actually look like. I hope Search4 can pull it off, because if they do, the S4 could be a weird way to go on an outdoor adventure.
Top graphic images: Search4 Outdoors
Glass house, white Ferrari, live for New Year’s Eve.
If they can do it at the price and make the sunroom easier to deal with, I’d be interested. It’s along the lines of something I’d build if I had the skill.
This looks perfect for setting up a mini red light district in the middle of nowhere.
My first thought was that it just a cargo trailer camper conversion. Nothing wrong with actually doing that and it would probably make a fine weekender. But why go through all that “hand built steel frame” and “aluminum is good enough for Airstream” spiel just to build your own cargo trailer?
And that sunroom. Yeesh. Lugging those panels around is going to get old fast – should be fun doing that in any weather. The closed in porch idea is neat for someone that often camps in the woods (mosquitos) but why not something like isinglass or the like? Lighter, simpler framing, etc.
A pop-up gazebo does this so much better and is about $79,000 cheaper.
Are awnings a thing in the US? They’re basically a tent that fixes to the side of your caravan, generally doubling your floor space. The also usually take at least two people to erect, and it would usually take the best part of an hour between our family parking in a camping plot and finally having everything set up. Mind you, half of that would be due to my dad’s faffing around.
I would consider this a functional prototype which is not the first, nor the last iteration in a line up of prototypes before going into production. With every next step the concept will improve. Hopefully they will reach production before resources run out.
There are so many “wait a minute…” issues, starting with the price, but I very much enjoy these articles and the pipe dreams about living on the road with just me and my various bikes stuffed into some sort of camping device that they enable. Thanks Mercedes! Keep up the good work!
This is a Glamper. Nobody is dragging this to hell and back behind their Wrangler, Gladiator or Land Cruiser.
The styling is perfect for the Cybertruck!!
So a cargo trailer with a bunch of movable furniture is worth $80k?
I feel like I’m missing the value in this.
As a cargo trailer, it will be substantially more durable than any of the disposable options from Indiana.
As someone who has spent many years fixing cargo trailers, only marginally.
I think this is one of those ideas that’s great in concept, but less so in real life.
If you buy this, I bet you change the layout once. Maybe twice. That’s when you figure out the layout that works best for the camping you do, and it stays that way.
Then the central reason for paying a premium goes away. You’d be better off renting different RVs, figuring out which one works best for you, and buying that one.
I don’t care about changing it and over, what I like about this is that I can try out different layouts until I find the right one. Maybe sometimes move a few things around to haul larger items in the back.
If I built this myself I’d not likely have the track system, so I’d be stuck with a layout that seemed like a good idea at the time.
That flat black is anything but cool out in the sunshine.
This looks neat. I could totally dig the DIY sunroom if setup was easier. There are a lot of sites around me where 20 feet is the maximum length for the fixed parts of the camper. But they have more room once it’s parked and leveled. That sunroom would be a great cheat code.
Agreed, it looks too much like a converted cargo trailer than the camper-specific build it is. Azdel isn’t affected by leaks, so more windows would be great.
I have a great idea for a modular camper. I’m just going to throw a bunch of loose shit in a cargo trailer and then assemble half the thing on-site when I get there.
Damn… these guys beat me to it.
Should call it the shotgun. They took a bunch of ideas and threw them in a storage trailer and tried to make them work together but it doesn’t work.
As someone who uses his own camper in a lot of different ways, I really like the modular concept of hanging everything on wall-mounted tracks so you can configure it exactly the way you want for a specific trip. But I don’t need an $80k camper with a cool but impractical glass room.
I can’t help but wonder if this company should forget selling an entire trailer and just lean into developing the track system as a way for people to easily build out their own modular cargo conversions.
I’d be all over that.
I don’t ski, but maybe I also don’t understand anything about skiing.
I had thought that skiing happens on a mountain. You ski down and then ride the lift back up.
Is the ski use case for this trailer for you to drag it up an isolated, un-plowed snow-covered road to set up camp in an un-plowed wilderness, then hike further up the mountain and ski back to the trailer? Do you drag this thing to the top, ski down and then climb back up to it?
Does it come with a helicopter? I feel like any time I’ve seen people skiing down mountains without ski lifts, a helicopter drops them off.
A bonus helicopter would explain the price…
This is for using the piece of land your uncle has up in the mountains near the ski area. He knows a guy who will plow it out before you arrive. Then you don’t have to spend $400 a night in a crappy motel that’s $60 a night during the off-season.
If you own the land, you could put a cabin there for less than $80k.
For the same price you could park this there: https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2027-Forest+River-Cherokee+Timberwolf+Black+Label+39JMBL-5041200961#sid=464040
Or for less than half the price you can find 1-2 year old versions with a porch area: https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2024-Forest+River-CHEROKEE+TIMBERWOLF+16ML-5041703537#sid=382633
Those are neat! I had no idea those existed! Definitely a good alternative for putting on a piece of land if local codes allow
Not exactly meant for travel like the one the article is about, however.
I didn’t know they existed either until I looked for them last night.
There are top-down ski resorts. Snowshoe WV may be one of the largest, and there are many small resorts in the gully’s of WI and IL.
Sucks to have your last activity of the day to be riding a lift. 🙁
As a person who spends a lot of time snowboarding I see a lot of people set up campers/vans in the parking lots for tailgating, or to keep their dogs in the camper during the day, or to beat traffic but have a place to take a nap until the mountain opens. The issue here is that usually these are vans, trucks with slide ins, or at largest a small class C camper. Generally people try to be courteous enough to only take one parking spot. I’ve never seen somebody try to drag a trailer into a ski resort lot to tailgate.
Well, we parked our camper in the parking lot of various ski areas overnight, but this was also 60 years ago.
That axle placement is going to give a lot of tongue weight. I hope they have a fix as you stated.
Putting that sunroom up panel by panel can’t help but make me think of Hammond’s camper on that one episode of Top Gear.
So to the point
My thought exactly. Not the most auspicious inspiration.
or the joy of assembly when there is a -20 wind chill coming from the NorthWest. A very hard NO.
This is pretty much what I have contemplated building for myself, just way better executed than I would likely manage, even allowing for how fiddly the current setup appears to be. It’s clear they have room to refine the ‘sunroom’ part in particular. But it otherwise looks like solid execution on a lot of ideas that are very appealing to me. I think the modularity is mainly a feature in preparing for different trips, so it would not bother me that it’s hard to move the kitchen, bathroom, etc. during a given trip. So I like it, but how many other people will like it to the tune of $80k? I hope they find enough to make this a viable business. I’d love to see how this trailer evolves if they can sell it for a while.
Also, it doesn’t bother me one bit that it mostly looks like a v-nose cargo trailer from the outside. It’s purposeful and non-descript, perfect. Not to mention that you can use it as a cargo trailer as well due to the modularity.
Considering that the rest of the trailer’s windows are barely more than portholes, why not just get a regular cargo trailer, cut out a skylight, open the back doors, and hang a set of mesh curtains to keep the bugs out to have a similar effect for less?
Oh absolutely, I would wind up doing it for myself long before dropping $80k for this, as I imagine most of us on here would. But for the more money than time set, I can see it.
The lack of windows with the sunroom not set up is actually perfect for things like Burning Man and other desert uses.
The color scheme is a mistake.
It looks like a dumpster.
These cargo trailer conversions are on a uptrend picking up the slack of the bus conversions and tiny houses on wheels. Most people seem to spend about $30k all in doing themself over a few months. So $50k? For a complete unit might be reasonable.
I do like the the concept of the sunroom that’s worth something I’m not sure $30k but maybe $10k? It reminds me of some of the fancy surf shacks you see in places like new Zealand.
Using foam core fiberglass with some veneer like you see in the marine industry might be good idea for the moveable furniture. Keeps it extremely light while still strong.
He might have something decently placed at the right time. I don’t think there is a long future there but sell the trend get out or evolve to something else.
Agree, weird the obsession with hardwood interiors. Keep the weight down use something lighter and stronger. I don’t need it to look like a country farmhouse especially if I have to lug these units in and out of the trailer.
This camper is definitely not for me. I like to throw rocks
Not impressed with the axle location. That would place a huge weight on the towbar hitch.
The story does mention that this prototype was originally a larger unit, and the production axle location will be optimized.
That said, it still would feel like sleeping in a horse trailer…
Maybe just me, but if I want to go “camping” and see the outdoors, I’ll just go outdoors. I’ll grab that mountain bike, in this case, and go for a ride.
The glass-house-on-wheels concept seems a really odd take on how to experience the outdoors.
I keep wanting to say things like this in response to such concepts: for a product intended for people who want to go outdoors, this sure does bring a lot of indoors with it. Couldn’t we just get in the car and go? And then get back in the car and go to a hotel?
Where the bathroom isn’t a 30″ cube?
I get the appeal. The idea isn’t to experience the outdoors, it’s to bring ‘home’ wherever you want. To sit in an armchair and sip tea while reading a book in the middle of the woods without mosquitos or gnats. To work on a laptop at a desk while on a mountain top without too much screen glare. For people who can take longer vacations while working ‘from home’ I can totally see how this would be attractive.
But I also hate home improvement, and spending an hour dragging around kitchen modules and installing plexiglass panels sounds like no fun. They need a version that just has plexiglass walls and shades over them or something.