Jumping jack tent trailer/camper build and advice needed

Afternoon all,
Yesterday I struck a deal for a 3yr old jumping jack 6x8 trailer.
If you are not familiar with them, they are essentially a heavy built utility trailer frame with independent rubber torsion spring axles. They house a giant winged roof top tent style tent that ends up resembling an outfittter style basecamp. The top deck acts as a toy hauler or gear hauler for carrying atvs, kayaks, canoes, bikes, paddle boards, firewood, really anything.
The purchased a base model 6x8.
It has a double bed on one wing and a single on the other.
My main goal will be something I can comfortably camp in with my wife and 2yr old daughter. I wanted something more robust and waterproof than a large ground tent or rooftop tent. I also didn’t want a small camper. Basically I was looking for a large, dry place to sleep and eat. I think this fills the void well. It will also be used as a fishing, hunting basecamp for weekend trips.
Here is a link to their website
https://www.jumpingjacktrailers.com/check-out-our--tent-trailer-6x8

They have been around for almost 20years and seem to have good factory support for replacement parts or general repair advice.
Scott Brady of Overland Journal has owned one for over 10years for his family and has rave reviews of it. (Coming from someone who has been “overlanding” on every continent before it was a thing)

a couple things I will be working on.
1. A center curtain privacy divider. I am thinking shower curtain rings with a piece of canvas for starters.
2. Interior/exterior lighting. I will probably go with led adhesive strip lights that can run off of my jackery power station. Not sure on exterior yet.
3. Heat. Camping with a young child will make this a requirement. Upstate NY keeps you prepared. My first summer here we canoed and camped on a reserved small island in the Adirondacks. We were not prepared with a summer bag and the 90degree day turned into 35 degree night.
Debating on a MR buddy propane heater with a thermo-fan vs a Chinese diesel heater.
4. Lift, wheels tires. the stock trailer tires are prone to punctures. Tentatively the plan is a 2”x2” square tube block lift welded beteeen the frame and axle plate. Some cheap 15x8 wheels and 31 10.5 15s LT rated tires

while they don’t look it, seems they are pretty capable off-road as well

Who has built up a pretty bare camper setup with heat, water, 12v that has some advice

 

For heat, i’m assuming you’re talking off grid, no electric? That’s a relatively small area, it will heat up quick but, since it’s a tent, will lose heat very quickly unless you have an insulated tarp for the roof. When we were tending and even in our pop up, we’d use one of those Coleman propane lanterns as a heat source before bed and in the morning, just to get the chill out of the air. Once in bed, just relied on a warm sleeping bag for the cold nights. For a relatively small area, they do great with heat even though it’s not their intended purpose. If you’re looking for something to heat the area during the night, you should make sure it’s indirect heat and vents to the outside. Short bursts, you can have something like the Mr Heater inside but I wouldn’t run it all night because of the fumes. Also, if you get something in the tent for heat, it’s still open air under the sleeping area so a warm bag will still be essential.

I would go propane over diesel heat just for the smell. Diesel heaters tend to have more of an odor than propane.

 

yes this would be a self powered hating system.
A lot of the people on the jumping jack pages seem to run the propane heaters all night and monitor with a portable CO2 detector.
The diesel heaters seem really loud too from some of the YouTube reviews. I’ve got several dedicated sleeping pads and bags but toddlers are difficult (and dangerous) to keep confined in a sleeping bag at night so full heat will be needed during the night

 

Fair point, I didn't realize how young your kids were. If you have a CO detector, then you should be good, that was my primary concern with a direct fire heater. The tent material may have enough open air to where it's not an issue. Those Mr. Heater seem to be a really good option. They can be a little loud but one I saw was a constant noise so, unless you're a really light sleeper, maybe it just fades into the background and isn't an issue.
I was looking at those down at an RV shop near me a few years ago, they seem like cool little trailers. I'm sure you guys will have fun with it.

 

Funny how many parallels I see with my ice fishing house that I camp in all winter.

I camp outdoors in the Northeast winter with nothing but a very good, heavy bag on a closed cell/self inflating mattress. For heat I use a buddy heater but only run it when I'm not sleeping. I'll get my ice shack (sorta similar to what you have there, just on a plastic sled instead of a trailer and very insulated fabric) very warm with a Buddy heater right before I go to bed and the heater is within reach so I can fire it up about 10 minutes before I crawl out of the wrapper in the AM. This is how I do it even at -17F. My sleeping bag is pretty insane, 40 below bag and the air mattress is pretty key. You really want air to insulate below you instead of any other kind of mattress, and it needs to be the self inflating foam/air for comfort (eg. Thermarest)- unfortunately they are expensive. My sleeping system is probably a $500 investment, but like I said, it will keep you or even kids warm at crazy low temps. Just food for thought.

For power I built myself a battery box using 3, 20ah lithium batteries from a company called Amped Outdoors. Highly recommended. The box powers some crazy technology, I have a big 9" imaging fish finder, an underwater camera that is displayed on a standalone 10" 12volt LCD TV (I also use this to watch movies on at night with a Google Chromecast), a whole bunch of LED lights that are built into the shanty, an air bubbler for my bait, and I'll use it to charge my phone and bluetooth speaker. It's WAY more power than I need, a little overkill, I can camp 3 nights and 4 days with this setup and not use more than 50% of the battery.

The ice shack:


The deck I built with the mattress:


The battery box:



Anyway, that may or may not help, but there it is!

 

thanks for the advice (our situations are surprisingly similar), I myself, am pretty well equipped and enjoy cold weather camping. ive got a klymit double V insultated pad as well as a thermorest pad. i've got a fall, summer, and -40 mummy bag.
My initial goal is to make camping as enjoyable (**initially**) as possible for my family. My daughter is too young to stay bundled in a sleeping bag and sleep soundly so i need a consistent, all night heat source aside from relying on ones body warmth. Up here, even a summer camping trip can drop into the 30s at night.
i don't have a 7 pin that will provide 12v to charge a battery.
Your 12v setup looks sweet. I like how it is self contained and easy to move. Do you have a build thread for it?

 

I did on my ice fishing site, but they have such a terrible search situation there I can't seem to find it. I will do some digging and get back to you.

 

Here is my heater setup for my wedge camper. It’s just a Chinese diesel heater mounted inside a harbor freight pelican case. With the duct I’m able to move the heater away from the camper and noise isn’t an issue. Honestly it’s pretty quiet anyway. The loudest part is the fuel pump ticking. Another perk of the box mounting is when I don’t need it I can just leave it in the garage.









last pic is using it to heat my garage while working out there.

 

Nice Solo vape you got there!

Yeah, my boss put a diesel heater in his woodshop this winter, says it would be very quiet if not for the cheap fuel pump. Like metal on metal, clicking.

 

HAHAHA didn't even realize the vape was in the background... Oregon problems.

As for the fuel pump it helps alot to use a rubber mount. Mine came with a molded rubber one that works pretty well but I've also seen some Van builds online mount it using a small quick fist. They're way louder if they're hard mounted since it resonates through the structure. It's especially a problem mounted in Vans.

Other than the fuel pump clicking it's practically silent.

 

Picked it up today.

 

Let me know if you are able to find it. After some internal and spousal debate, I think 12v first over a Heater makes sense. In the least we would have the option to run a pair of heated blankets on either bed. Having the option for heated blankets, phone charging and lighting will be better money spent than just a heated which may get used a couple times a year.

 

Yeah I don't have an actual build thread, but I can help with how it goes together. If you have any fundamental electrical knowledge than you should be able to put one together yourself. There are also places that sell them all built up, and this place has a good DIY video: https://www.iceholepower.com/

 

a couple quick mods i want to make before the first outing.

adhesive back rubber padding on all the metal on metal parts to reduce rattling.
modify the rickety table to work off of the back wing.
get a linchpin on some cable for the hitch latch (prevent dropping/getting misplaced)
install the rear lock pins with cabling (prevent dropping/getting misplaced)
install a cheap bubble level to help with setup.
extend travel cover pull cords.

 

found this from your other thread. very nice setup.

could you use a couple of solar panels to help charge the "battery bank" when you are out in the wild?

might help keep the propane heat out and just use a smaller 12V for constant overnight?

 

I have a jackary 240 power station that will suffice for right now. It can be solar charged right now but that doesn’t seem feasible for leasing in the overcast NE and camping generally under wooded cover. I plan on building 12v box as @jethro suggested. Right now the jackary is plenty of for several nights of led lighting, and recharging phones, gps, and headlamps.
Some type of heating (aside from pads or blankets) will come later

 

Hey I'm coming to this thread a little late but I found one of these trailers for 4200 locally. After having it for a few months do you think it's a good upgrade from a standard roof top tent? I want to be able to haul my 4wheeler when I go places I also want to be able to set up a camping spot and stay there while being able to move my truck.

 

Absolutely. I can set it up quicker than a standard rtt. Almost 7’ of headroom and 100% waterproof.
Couldn’t be happier with it

 

A couple "boredom" mods to get me through the dead of winter. 2-1/2" square tube axle lift, vision steel wheels and the leftover 265/75/16 ATs from my xterra.