My Off Road Worthy 5x8 Camper Build

Before and after:

 

Went for a quick little trip to the Royal Gorge and then camped outside of Salida, first trip with the interior and galley nearly finished was a success.

 

Absolutely outstanding build! Read the whole thing and well done!

 

I'm impressed. I see builds like this on TW and wish I had half the skills. It'd take me years to figure it out.

 

Same, which is why this one took my two years seriously though, all it takes is to see the price tag on the pre-built ones and to want one without paying that kinda price, then say screw it, let’s try.

All in, we’re probably 1/3 the cost of the Hiker trailer we shopped, and it didn’t have electric or anything fancy (except off-road suspension) and was smaller as a 4’x8’. In the end, the one we built is obviously not as refined, but we’re ok with that for the price point.

 

Ha, it'd take me more than two years. I saw some welding.... I'm like tits on a bull with this kind of stuff. But good job!

 

Very nice! maybe someday when money isn't as tight ill jump into building something similar!

 

Amazing build Jake! If I only knew how to weld!!!! Very impressed and you thought of everything!!!!

 

More pics from checking out the Royal Gorge a couple weekends ago.






Came across this tiny gem. For scale, those wheels/tires are golf cart sized...not sure how someone's fitting in that trailer but hey, it's cute.

 

Dude. This is one hell of a write up AND build. One of the best on this website. Bravo!

Question, did you just buy a welder and fabricate all that without any prior experience? If so, that is truly incredible.

 

Thanks brother, not sure I agree but I digress, I appreciate the kind words.

I built a trailer that carried a RTT before this one and watched my buddy weld some on it and practiced some myself, besides that and some YouTube videos...yeah, bought a welder and started practicing then went for it.

Learned lots along the way and still have loads to learn, but it’s been fun so far. 10/10 would recommend going for it if you think you might want to.

 

Great thread . Keep up the nice work

1 comment about your electrical. I noticed your 30 amp fuse breaker- if you're finding that its randomly tripping try using an ANL style fuse. I tried the same style breaker for my trailer project and it became the weak point.
A fixed style fuse may be better if you run into any problems down the road.

Also, I'm looking for some ~ 1 inch rigid insulation for my trailer to insulate between the outside cubbies and below the bed frames, I noticed some in your earlier posts. Any suggestions or tips ?

 

Interesting, did you come up with a reason or a guess as to why it was the weak link? Maybe a quick trip or underrated or what?

The 1” foam worked great for us so far, some good comfortable cabin temps even with no heat source besides our bodies and comfort in sub 10 degree weather (degrees F not C). Honestly, sounds like you’re might be working in tight spaces with the foam, so it’ll probably be a pain to cut/trim and fit but it’s gonna be worth it if you think you need it.

I attached mine with super aggressive adhesive and while I’d have to tear my trailer apart to get to it so it’d never come off, for folks with factory built trailers that are adding supplemental insulation, probably use a simpler spray adhesive that could be undone without tearing everything up in the process. If you find you have specific questions, feel free to ask.

Cheers

 

I have a RTT on the bed of my truck. I love it but have been considering putting it on a trailer. Happened to come across this and man.. I love it!! Lots of work though. Amazing you got a welder and the first thing you do is chop a trailer lol. Amazing job.

 

I'm not sure, I increased the amperage and even with little to no draw they still tripped randomly. For my case I was running 2 gauge wire across 10 ft from the batteries to inside the cabin.
Not ideal but the install turned out great.

Thanks for the insulation details and sticking idea. Never would have thought of spray adhesive.

Cheers man

 

I know this is TW and specifically a build section...but I wanna take a moment to flaunt the GX.

I’m a version of a car guy thru and thru. I’ve owned lots of them and wide variety of them. I entered into the Toyota realm 4-5 years ago with my Tacoma and was converted. I owned it for 4 years, which was a unreal thing for me, I loved it...though I had some complaints, most I’m sure you all know.

Much to my surprise and joy...the GX is my Tacoma with all the problems fixed and the only new problem being it’s not a truck. It’s the same reliable and right sized Toyota, rugged and dual purpose, but with a good bit more comfort and a good bit more power.

To wrap of my GX rant; contemplate one before they’re too well known is all I’m saying, test drive one and see. Then enjoy how affordable the used ones actually are. I sold my 2010 130K TRD crew cab and bought a 2010 98k mile GX460 and only spent a grand extra or so. Great bargain, great vehicle, great option. GX plus a 5x8 utility trailer for when you need a truck still. Perfection guys...

 

We took a long weekend and went down to Ouray/Silverton/Telluride.

Took off after work and made it to Gunnison about 10 PM and didn’t setup for camp, just went to bed.



Woke up early and took Cinnamon Pass from Lake City to Silverton.





Stopped in Animas Fork before Silverton, found camp off CR20 north of town, dropped the trailer and headed straight to Black Bear Pass.






The wife never wanted to do Black Bear...but by the end she enjoyed it. So much so, after checking out Telluride for a bit, we took Ophir Pass back to Silverton to camp and she drove most of it!




Back at camp to get some rest for the morning hike to Ice Lake.




Ice Lake Trail is a bear...for my out of shape self, but a great hike if you’re into that.



We treated ourselves to a night in a hotel Sunday night in Ouray, soaked up the hot springs and came home Monday.

A great weekend in the books.

We started an instagram page for shits and giggles, feel free to follow if you wanna see ongoing photos of my face, sometimes my wife’s gorgeous face, a Lexus doing less common Lexus stuff and our trailer doing pointless adventures around Colorado on weekends with nice weather....we might have a weird niche ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it’s @weekend_bound

Cheers everyone!

 

I have some recent awesome news, the wife and I are expecting our first child!

Along with that news is the realization that the camping trailer will need to go. It’ll likely be a while before we go camping as a family (babies can’t go to ultra high altitude) and I’d rather it not just sit, as well as the wife’s request for a slightly larger RV with a bathroom, water, etc. for the pending new needs.

I recently ordered the solar setup and need to touch up a few things then it’ll officially be for sale. If anyone’s interested, feel free to message me for my cell number or reply here and we’ll talk in more detail.

Location: Colorado Springs, CO

Included: Everything you’d expect, aka anything currently mounted in the most recent pictures, like awning, front landing accessories if wanted, lock-n-roll hitch for trailer and vehicle, bed if wanted and any spare parts I have. I’ll install the solar panel and controller and clean it up nicely.

Title: clear Colorado title in hand

Price: SOLD

Let me know your thoughts and if you have any interest. Just took it down to New Mexico a few weeks ago, she’s serviced and ready to go for the season!

Cheers!
Jake

 

Congrats and good luck selling the camper

 

Trailer has sold.

It’ll likely be a year and change before we get into another trailer. With a young kid and other life events happening, we plan to buy this time instead of building again.

I appreciate all the ideas, motivation and support from you all along the journey of the build.

Cheers everyone!

Jake