We’re going to compare the Jay Feather Micro Bunkhouse trailer to a No Boundaries bunkhouse trailer. Specifically, we’re going to be looking at the NoBo or the NB 16.6. The 16.6 bunkhouse trailer is the most comparable to the 171bh. The travel trailer that we have is the Jay Feather Micro 171bh, and when we bought this trailer, we spent about three years researching trailers before making the purchase. During that process, we did look at several No Boundaries trailers. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really a model that felt like the right fit for us. All of the bunk models that they had were in the larger versions of their trailers, so they were longer and they were heavier. But now they have this 16.6, which is very similar to the bunkhouse trailer that we ended up getting. So today I wanted to go through and do a comparison comparing the Jay Feather Micro 171BH trailer to the No Boundaries 16.6.
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Length
So first let’s talk about length. The Jay Feather Micro is just over 20 feet long and the No Boundaries is almost 22 feet long. So for length, the Jay Feather Micro wins because it’s almost two feet shorter.
Weight
Next, let’s talk about weight. So the dry weight of both of these trailers is very, very similar. The dry weight is the unloaded weight. So it’s the weight of the trailer with the features from the factory. It’s the weight without any of your gear and without any water in the tanks or propane in the tanks. No batteries, just the weight of just the trailer.
Now the dry weights are pretty much the same in these two trailers, but the amount the trailers can carry, so their cargo carrying capacity, is a little bit different. In the Jay Feather Micro it can have about 1200 pounds and in the No Boundaries it could have about 1500 pounds.
So even though the dry weights are about the same, No Boundaries can actually carry about 300 pounds more of whatever you want. So that would be gear, water, or even extra equipment like upgraded batteries or more solar panels.
So since the No Boundaries allows you to carry more cargo with you, we are going to say that the No Boundaries wins the category of weight.
Tanks
Next, let’s talk about tanks. So on the No Boundaries bunkhouse trailer, the fresh water tank, the black tank and the gray tank are all 30 gallons. So they’re 30 gallons each. You have 30 gallons of fresh water and you have space for 30 gallons in your black tank and your gray tank.
On the Jay Feather Micro, the freshwater tank is 55 gallons. The black and the gray tanks are pretty similar to the No Boundaries tanks. They’re slightly more than 30 gallons, but it’s pretty similar. Where the Jay Feather Micro really shines is the 55 gallon freshwater tank, which is almost double what you have on the No Boundaries.
So for tank size, the Jay Feather Micro wins.
Slide
Next let’s talk about the slide. So on the No Boundaries, they have a kitchen slide. So that means the kitchen area is in a section that actually extends out past the side of the trailer. There’s a little button that you push and it moves out that chunk of the wall. It does give you a little bit more space inside of the trailer.
Now people are going to have different opinions on how they feel about slides, and we haven’t owned a trailer with a slide. So this is my opinion, but I also don’t have a lot of experience with slides. But in our Jay Feather Micro, we don’t have a slide and I really like having one less thing to worry about.
We don’t have to maintain it and we don’t have to worry about it not working. We don’t have to worry about getting a spot that has space to put the slide out. When we’re parking we don’t have to worry about if there’s a tree there or something that we need to avoid to deal with the slide.
I know there are people that would prefer to have a slide because it makes it feel a little larger on the inside. We haven’t had an issue with the amount of space that we have, and so for us, we like not having a slide because it’s one less thing to have to worry about.
So for this category, I’m going to give the win to the Jay Feather Micro.
Windows
Next, let’s talk about windows. The windows on the No Boundaries are by far my favorite part about this trailer. They did amazing with the amount of windows. The front bed has windows on both sides and a windshield, so there’s windows on three sides of the front bed, which is really cool. You have so much visibility. On the camp side they also did really good with windows. So there’s the window that’s on the front bed that I already mentioned, but there’s also a window on the door. And then near the dinette there’s a large window right on the camp side. The opposite side has less window coverage, but you do still have some windows, and that side typically isn’t as important.
Now on the Jay Feather Micro, we do have a nice large window at our dinette, but our dinette is not on the camp side so often that window will just look into somebody else’s campsite, which isn’t as nice as if it was on our campsite.
The windows that we have on our camp side to start with, it was just the one really small window above the sink, and then we replaced our frosted glass window with an upgraded entry window that we could see through in our entry door. That was a huge change. We are so happy that we did that. It really makes a big difference.
But even with making that change, I’m still going to say that the winner of this category is No Boundaries because they have much better window coverage than in the Jay Feather Micro.
Bunks
Now, both the No Boundaries and the Jay Feather Micro have the bunkhouse and the bunks. They’re both the single bunks, so they’re similar size, but the bunkhouses are really laid out differently.
So on the No Boundaries, the top bunk is pretty open. And in the past I’ve expressed some concern with bunkhouses like this because my kids tend to roll all over the place, but it is also kind of nice to have it more open. It might not feel as small of a space for the kid that’s up there. And they have a curtain that still goes all around so the kid can close it and still have some privacy.
Another part that’s different in the No Boundaries bunk is there’s a ladder on the edge of the bunkhouse. I think it’s nice that the ladder is on the backside, so it doesn’t take away from the entry space from whoever is going to be sleeping in the bottom bunk. If it was on the side, it would feel a little bit more cramped, but having it on the backside looks pretty nice and seems like it would be pretty functional.
Our Jay Feather Micro did not come with any kind of bunk ladder, but in the 2023 model, they did start adding a ladder that goes onto the back wall between the bunks and the bathroom, and it actually pulls out from the wall and then the kids can climb up it.
So these bunks are completely different, but I don’t think one is good and one is bad. They’re just different styles and which one works better for you is going to change depending on your family and your needs. So for this category, it is a tie.
Storage Under Bunks
Next, let’s talk about the storage underneath the bunks. So both of these trailers have a storage door right next to the bottom bunk and you could open up the door from the outside and you can actually lift the bunk up and you could store stuff underneath it.
The difference is on the No Boundaries, that area is closed up, so whatever you put under there, you only access it through that storage door. But in the Jay Feather Micro you have that door, but you also have a cargo net on the other side, so you could still reach stuff while you’re inside of the trailer.
Now this is another one that could kind of go either way because I could see why some people might like having that area closed up because you could put stuff in there that you don’t have to worry about it rolling out to the rest of the trailer. But for us, we like to use that area to let our dog sleep under there. So it’s kind of like a triple bunk bed and our dog’s bed goes underneath there and that’s where he sleeps. I also like being able to grab stuff from that area while we’re inside of the trailer, especially if there’s a kid sleeping in there, opening up that door is not very ideal.
So again, this could be different for different people, but for us, I’m going to say that the win for this category goes to the Jay Feather Micro.
Dinette
Next, let’s talk about the dinette.
So on the No Boundaries, the dinette is on the camp side versus on the Jay Feather Micro, it is not. It’s on the opposite side. I really like having the dinette on the camp side. I think that would be nice. Both of the dinettes have nice large windows, so that would be good. But the bottom line is the dinette and the No Boundaries is tiny. It looks like it would work for two people, but that is it.
In the Jay Feather Micro, we have fit four people, two adults and two kids in this dinette multiple times. We love having the option to come in and play card games or to eat inside if the weather is not good. It gives us a spot that we could come and hang out as a family. If the dinette only fit two people, that would not be as ideal.
And so because of this I’m going to give the win to the Jay Feather Micro for the dinette.
Dinette Storage
Next, let’s talk about the dinette storage. On the Jay Feather Micro, on each bench of the dinette there is a door and we could open it and we could store stuff in there. It’s a pretty decent amount of space. We can also take the cushions off, take the plywood off of the bench, and there is more storage back there for the water pump and stuff. But what I’m trying to look at right now is really just the storage that we have to be able to utilize easily inside of the trailer, not talking about little areas where we can stick extra components.
Now in the No Boundaries under their dinette benches, one bench has the furnace and the other bench has the converter, the electrical box. So it’s possible that you could take the cushions off, take the plywood off, similar to ours, and maybe there’s some space back there with maybe the water pumps back there on that one too. I don’t know. But there’s no nice front facing cabinets that you can use for internal storage.
So for this category, the win goes to the Jay Feather Micro.
Stove
Next, talk about the stove. So the No Boundaries has a two burner stove and the Jay Feather Micro has a three burner stove. Now I’ve said before on some other videos, I’m good with two burners. We don’t cook inside, we mostly just heat up water for coffee inside and two burners would be great. But if I had two burners, I would want the kind where it’s a front and back burner, not side to side, but front and backs. Then you’d have extra counter space.
Now the No Boundaries, like I said, it has two burners, but they’re not front and back. They’re side by side. But more than that, the stove is not recessed into the countertop with a cover. It’s up above the countertop and there’s no cover. So it’s really just eating away at your counter space.
And the Jay Feather Micro, we have the three burner stove, but it’s recessed and there’s a glass backsplash that folds down flat. So when we’re not using the stove or it’s not cooling down, we have a flat area that I can easily use to extend the countertop.
So for this category, the Jay Feather Micro wins.
Fridge
Next, let’s talk about the fridge. Our fridge is a dual gas electric fridge and the fridge in the No Boundaries is also a two-way gas electric fridge. The Jay Feather Micro does also have the 12 volt option. But the bigger difference is the fridge in the No Boundaries, it is so much smaller.
It’s a smaller fridge and it has an ice box inside of it, whereas our fridge has a full on freezer up top. We have so much space in this thing and having a freezer is so cool we get to bring ice cream with us. And if we’re going on long trips, I could do things like freeze bread and freeze things that would just not last on a long trip otherwise. So before we had our trailer, I probably would’ve said that smaller fridge is fine, it’s no big deal and we don’t really need a freezer. But after having this, I am so spoiled and I don’t want to go back to camping without ice cream.
So the winner of this category goes to the Jay Feather Micro.
Vacuum
The next category I want to talk about is the vacuum, which just sounds awesome. A vacuum in a trailer?
So the Jay Feather Micro does not have a vacuum.
The No Boundaries has this cool little area where you take a broom, you just sweep up your trailer, but then it’s basically just a dust pan vacuum. So you use your foot to open up a compartment and then you just sweep whatever right into that area and it just sucks it all in. It’s just a little vacuum area that you just sweep into. And I mean this is pretty cool. When we camp at the beach, we are sweeping up sand all the time. Pretty much every time we come into the trailer. It would be really cool to have a convenient way to sweep it up.
So the winner of this category goes to the No Boundaries.
Showermiser
Next, let’s talk about the shower miser. So the No Boundaries has what’s called a shower miser, and if you’re not familiar with that, it’s a little device that’s on the faucet for the shower. What it does is it just kind of cycles water through it. So while the water is heating up, it’s going through this instead of going down into your gray tank. And then when it gets warm, it changes the color so that you know that the shower’s ready to use and then you could start taking your shower.
It’s a more efficient use of water. And so the No Boundaries comes with one of these, the Jay Feather Micro does not. Now, as you might know if you’ve been following us, we don’t really use our shower. We use it for storage. So we probably wouldn’t get much use out of this, but I still think it’s really cool and I really wish that we had one on our kitchen sink. I don’t know why they’re only in the showers. I feel like they would be really useful in other parts of the trailer too.
But anyways, I’m going to give the win for this one to the No Boundaries.
Bathroom
Okay, next let’s talk about the bathroom, the layout of the bathroom in general. So in the No Boundaries, they have a corner shower, they have a sink. They do have a sink in the bathroom, which is such a rare find. And then of course they have a toilet.
In the Jay Feather Micro there is also a toilet and there is not only a sink but a sink with some counter space. It is so awesome. And then we have a big rectangular shower. Now I clearly have a biased opinion. I’m a really big fan of how they arrange the bathroom in this trailer in the Jay Feather Micro. I really prefer the rectangular shower versus the corner shower, and I love having some counter space.
In addition to that, if you compare these two bathrooms above the sink in the No Boundaries, they have a mirror but they don’t have a vanity. There’s no cabinet up there. In the Jay Feather Micro, there is a cabinet that we can open and we have a ton of storage space in there.
So as far as bathrooms go, I don’t think you can beat this Jay Feather Micro bathroom. It is designed in a really great way. It’s very usable and you have a good amount of space in there. The winner of this category goes to the Jay Feather Micro.
Ceiling Vent Fan
Next, let’s talk about a ceiling vent fan. In the Jay Feather Micro, we have two ceiling vent fans. So there’s the small one in the bathroom, but the one that we use all the time is we have a Max Air vent fan and it’s right in the front area. So this thing, whenever we’re camping in high heat, we’re normally dry camping, so we very rarely use the ac, but what we do is we turn on our Max Air vent fan and that helps get all of the hot air out. The Max Air vent fan has been great. We love this thing and it does a lot to help cool down the trailer.
The No Boundaries does have a ceiling vent fan, but only in the bathroom. They just have a tiny little fan in the bathroom. There is not a Max Air vent fan anywhere. They don’t have a fan at all in the front area. And like I said, the one in the bathroom is just a small fan.
So for this category, the winner is definitely the Jay Feather Micro.
Front Bed Storage
Okay, now let’s talk about the storage under the front bed. So both trailers have a pass-through area, which does also go under this front bed area. But in the Jay Feather Micro, the very front of it, the part closest to the inside here is not included in the pass through area. Instead, there’s large storage cubes underneath. There are two large storage cubes that you could pull out and put stuff inside of there. So this is where we normally put our clothes and sometimes we’ll use it for dirty clothes or just miscellaneous storage.
In the No Boundaries, it’s a really similar setup except the whole underneath area, it’s all part of the pass through storage. But the part closest to the inside here upfront, instead of having a cabinet or drawers or storage cubes or anything like that, it’s just open. There’s an open space. So you can access the stuff in the pass through, which could be cool, but I feel like figuring out a good use with that space would be difficult. You’d have to do something so stuff isn’t just sliding all over. I mean maybe if you pack in a suitcase or a duffle bag, you could just shove that part there. It probably wouldn’t wiggle around too much, but I don’t know.
I feel like that would be a more difficult situation to keep organized than the situation in the Jay Feather Micro. And we’ve really gotten used to how this works. We really like these storage cubes. They work out well for us. So for this category, we’re going to say the winner is the Jay Feather Micro.
Controller Location
Okay, next, this might sound a little silly, but let’s talk about the control locations. So specifically we’re talking about the solar controller and the tank sensors.
In the No Boundaries, these are in the bathroom. Now for the tank sensors, I could see how that would make sense. I mean those are pretty useless anyways, and checking the tanks while you’re in the bathroom, I guess that could be useful. But the solar controller, that one just seems really weird. I don’t really like that that’s in the bathroom.
In our trailer we did a solar upgrade and we added a Cerbo GX where our solar controller was. It’s kind of the brains of our system and it shows exactly what’s going on and it’s really, it’s kind of a focal point. We really like having that system to look at and it just looks nice. I don’t really want to hide it in the bathroom. I like to show it off when I’m giving tours of the trailer.
Plus we have young kids and anything in the bathroom is behind closed doors and they are way more likely to screw around with stuff in there. If they click the buttons and check the tank levels, that doesn’t matter. It’s not going to hurt anything. But if they start messing with settings on the solar controller, that could cause a problem. What if they change the battery type on accident or what if they accidentally turn the inverter on or just little things that really shouldn’t matter. And it’d great if they didn’t just mess with stuff, but you just know there’s a better chance that they’re going to start messing with it when it’s sitting right there in the bathroom behind closed doors.
So anyways, this is pretty minor, but we like having our solar controller out in the front area. And so because of this, I’m going to give the win to the Jay Feather Micro.
Exterior Extras
Now let’s start talking about a few things on the outside of the trailers. Let’s compare the brush guards on the Jay Feather Micro to the fenders on the No Boundaries. I know these are technically separate things, but I think they’re similar, so I’m just going to kind of compare them to each other.
So the brush guards on the Jay Feather Micro go on both sides of the trailer and it’s just kind of to help have less stuff scratch up your trailer. We originally thought that they would act as a step too, but they do not. They cannot support enough weight. What we do like to use them for is just hanging up towels to dry and using its tie our dog up.
On the No Boundaries, they don’t have any brush guards like that, but they do have some pretty nice fenders on it. So the fenders actually can act as a step. So unlike the brush guards that you cannot step on the fenders on the no boundaries, you can actually step on to help get stuff on and off of the roof. Plus they’re so wide that they can act like a nice little shelf.
Now like I said, I know these things are kind of different, but if I had to choose between the Step On Fenders or the brush guards, I think I would choose the fenders. I thought those seemed pretty cool. And in the 2024 version of the Jay Feather Micro, they took the brush guards off. They’re not even an option anymore.
So anyways, I know this category is kind of silly. This is really not an apples to apples comparison, but hey, I’m just going to say the No Boundaries wins this category.
Outside Kitchen
Okay, now let’s talk about the outside kitchen. So both trailers have sort of a similar thing going on where you’re not going to have a pullout outside kitchen, but they do have stuff that you can use to hook onto your trailer so that it’s convenient and you have a cooking space right on the side of it.
So in the Jay Feather Micro, they have what’s called a Jay Port where you slide in a shelf to the side of the trailer and then you could put a Blackstone right on the top of that shelf and it’s right next to the Quick Connect connection.
On the No boundaries they also have a shelf system and their shelf system has a spot to put a griddle on as well. And then it also has an additional just shelf, which is cool. It’s nice to have the extra space.
The reason why I am giving the win to the Jay Feather Micro instead of the No Boundaries for this, even though they have the actual shelf is their cooking area is not underneath the awning. The awning ends and then there’s the cooking area. On the Jay Feather Micro, you can cook underneath the awning. Not only is this nice for warm days when you want to be in the shade a little bit more. But we’ve also cooked outside in light rain. Now I don’t mind standing in the rain, but if I’m trying to cook some burgers outside, I don’t want them to get rained on.
So I really like that we could cook under the awning if we need to just to help make it that much more unlikely that we’d have to bring the food in to cook inside.
Propane
Next, let’s talk about the propane tanks. So the No Boundaries comes with one 20 pound propane tank and the Jay Feather Micro comes with two 20 pound propane tanks. Of course, the No Boundaries will have a lighter tongue weight with only one tank, but we really like having a spare tank. So we’re going to say the winner of this category is the Jay Feather Micro.
Suspension
Next, let’s talk about suspension. The Jay Feather Micro has nice tires and good suspension. We’ve never had any complaints about it, but the No Boundaries has what they call Beast Mode.
Beast Mode is a mandatory package. So it’s kind of marketed like it’s an option, but really it’s not. All of the No Boundaries will have Beast Mode. And Beast Mode includes independent suspension. So the suspension on the No Boundaries trailer, it’s Axle-Less, it’s completely independent on both of those wheels. And because of that, it’s going to ride a lot smoother and you’re going to be able to go on rougher terrain.
So I thought that looked really awesome. And the winner for the suspension category is going to go to the No Boundaries.
Solar
Okay, now let’s talk about solar. On the No Boundaries the solar package that it comes with is a 200 watt solar panel up top, a 30 amp controller and a 2000 watt inverter. So that means it comes with a way for you to use some of your outlets just from your battery power. Now I don’t know how many outlets the inverter is hooked up to. I am not certain that it will power every outlet in the trailer. I am not sure, but 2000 watts is pretty good. That is a good solar setup for it to come with standard. And that doesn’t include batteries. Batteries are the one thing that you would need to add onto that.
If you wanted to upgrade your solar they have an option too where you can upgrade it and it adds on some lithium batteries, it does a 3000 watt inverter instead of a 2000. It adds more solar to the roof. I think it’s around 500 watts, which is a nice option that you can just pay to get this nice solar upgrade instead of having to do it later.
Now on the Jay Feather Micro, when we bought our trailer, which was in 2021, solar was an option. It was pre-wired for solar, but it was not included. Now it’s actually included. There’s a 200 watt panel on the roof and then a 30 amp controller. You can also pay to upgrade the solar package and that will give you an 1800 watt inverter.
So anyways, solar has come a long way and it’s nice that both of the trailers do offer some kind of solar just to start with. Because the No Boundaries comes with an inverter and because the No Boundaries has a package that you can upgrade to Lithium and get a really nice solar package, the winner for this category is going to go to the No Boundaries.
TPMS
Next, let’s talk about TPMS. So TPMS is the Tire Pressure Monitoring System and on the No Boundaries, they actually include a TPMS system, which is pretty cool. The Jay Feather Micro did not. We added the TST 507, we added a TPMS to our trailer. And funny enough, the No Boundaries TPMS system, it’s also the TST system. So it’s the same one that we added onto our trailer and it seems to be a pretty good system.
Awning
And then let’s talk about the awning. The awning on the No Boundaries is 11 feet. The awning on the Jay Feather Micro is 13 feet. So the Jay Feather Micro gives you an extra two feet, which is pretty nice. It’s nice that they give you basically as long of an awning that will fit on the trailer. So for this category, the winner is the Jay Feather Micro.
Price
Now lastly, let’s talk about the price. So the price can vary depending on several different factors. It can vary depending on where you are in the country, what dealership you go to, what features the trailer has, what specific year model you’re looking at. There’s all kinds of different things that can affect the price. So what I’m going to compare is just really rough estimates.
If you’ve watched any previous bunkhouse comparison videos that I’ve done, you’ve probably seen that I normally estimate that the price of the Jay Feather Micro, that our trailer is around the $25,000 mark. When I was researching for this video, I was finding it harder and harder to find trailers around that price point. It kind of seems like the prices are going up.
So for this price comparison, I’m going to say that the Jay Feather Micro that you can get roughly for somewhere around $30,000 and the No Boundaries seems to be around the $40,000 mark. And those were both when you were looking for new trailers.
Conclusion
So in general, the No Boundaries 16.6 sells for more than the Jay Feather Micro 171bh.
Now, I don’t think there’s a bad option here. I know I say this with most of my trailer comparisons, but honestly, all of these little trailers, they’re all awesome. And which one works for you is just going to vary depending on your family. And to be honest, the most important thing is just to get started. Just get something that works for you and then you’ll tweak it and make it yours, make it right, and you just get to get out there and get camping and start having fun.
So we have the Jay Feather Micro. We love this trailer. We would definitely recommend it. The No Boundaries 16.6, like I said, it didn’t exist. That particular model wasn’t out when we were looking. It does look like a really cool option too.
I don’t think that there is one that’s better than the other. You just have to look and see what matters to you and your family and which one of those trailers is best at fulfilling that.
