Vacationgangster: "Basecamp" Trailer Build

More stuff showed up this afternoon for the build

Lights for the interior

Waterproof cable insert for solar panels

Extension cables for the panels and Y cables to piggyback the second panel.

Cable management for the wiring

Wire for the accessories

Latches for the doors

Weather stripping for the doors and cap.

 

Fenders!

 

I’ve had a few free hours here and there to button up some small things on the trailer, got shocks mounted, closed off the fenders, took it to the dmv and got it titled and registered, rattled canned most of it w some etching primer, settled on a dust seal design using 1” flat bar and d shaped seals from Amazon, got a latch and lock setup dialed for the rear. And hopefully will get the lid made in the next day or so.









and a little something showed up for the truck yesterday

 

Excellent work! Following this one for sure

 

Got a little more work done this evening. Made the top, hinged it and left a small gap for weatherstripping, and made it lockable and added some handles. Probably will be on assisted struts eventually but for now this will work. Also checked placement of solar panel racks for mobile charging, with the ability to remove them and set them up at camp once stopped, also lockable. Still have to figure out a system for that. Not sure which way i'm going with that yet. Any suggestions?

I think we're planning a quick little trial to the south rim this weekend, so we'll see what needs to be done tomorrow. Probably just rattle can the exposed areas as best I can, and pull her around town to test. Still haven't driven around with the struts on yet so I'm excited to see how she does! Oh that and mount the RTT.

I ordered more weather stripping last night, and 80 lb struts for the RTT lift.

I know some of my welds suck but I'm trying to get better. Practice makes perfect.

 

Got the struts for the rooftop tent lift ordered night before last, and they came in a day early, so I installed them tonight.

Finished up the seals on the back doors and lid as well, will grab pics tomorrow.

Some pics of the handles and latch for the padlock for the lid.

 

Sweet looking trailer! Nice work Sir. Cheers

 

Dayum!
That's real nice

 

Thanks guys!

I appreciate the kind words, I in no way claim to be a good welder but this was a great project to become a better one. I still feel like my welds look like shit.

It's been a long week, but I'm making steady progress. I was hoping to get it to the expo next weekend but we'll see how that goes. The wife and I have a Big Sur trip planned in June and a Silverton trip in July so I've got a lot to do and a few weekends to do it in.

As soon as the wife gets back from walking the doggos, I'm going to get out and mount the RTT and maybe a few other small things.

Maybe get the battery tray squared away.

 

I also had an idea for mounting the solar panels to the lid without adding too much weight, while making them lockable.

 

Great work

 

Got the RTT on then went and ran a few errands.

 

I had the chance to make a few repairs while the tent was open, one was to fix where the mounting bolts had pulled through the floor of the cvt from years ago while going over Ophir pass. The hole in the floor had been worn so big that the ten mm bolts pulled through.

On a side note, we bought the show model at the Expo a few years ago, and had the guys mount it on our truck cause they offered to do it for free. I Think they put the small washers on the 10mm bolts when they originally put the mounting point together, so the attachment points were barely larger than the bolt head itself. I should have looked at this before taking the tent off roading, but I did not.


Uh oh.....




So I made some plates and placed them on top of the diamond plate and put the bolts through them. Hopefully spreading out the load where the bolts go through.



The next fix I didn’t take pictures of but still needed to be done. So I’ve been very unhappy with the choice of mounting hardware cvt has chosen to attach their tents to the bars or whatever you may be attaching to. So the nylon luck nuts that tighten down the mounting plates to your load bars are cheap as shit. When I switched the tent out to the trailer from truck last year I had three nuts threads strip and lock onto the bolts causing me to pull out the angle grinder to get them off.

On another note when I went to the expo last year and made this issue known to the cvt peeps they promptly gave me a new mounting kit. So I have no complaints about their customer service.

Fast forward to yesterday as I was remounting the tent to this trailer, I had the same dang problem happen again, new hardware... two plates bolted down and bam..... Two more stripped nuts..... so I feel that cvt needs to source better nuts to hold these things down..... easy fix. A trip to depot for some new grade 8 locknuts and the problem is solved..... with how many tents they have sold I can’t be the only one this has happened to. I’ll call on Monday and see if they have fixed this issue...... this in no way changes my opinion of my tent. I still love it. Just venting.

 

So the wife and I finally got a babysitter for Eliza, so that's freed up some of my time.

Things I've gotten done in the last week:


Fabbed up a battery base with loops to attach a tie down
Wired up the electrical panel ( inverter, solar charger, Blue sea fuse box, main breaker, switch panel, etc)
Wired the solar cables through the exterior
Interior lights
Installed the front jack
Installed the drawer system skeleton
Decided on final placement of watertank
Made mounts to hold down the drawer system (not finalized)
Mounted the the water tank fill spout
Made the floor ground for the battery
Made mounts for the electrical panel
Mounted the exterior shower
Made the upper rear seal for rear doors
Made the table for cooking w support (not finalized)
Cut out and made front doors and seal tabs( I'm waiting on more barrel hinges so for now they're tacked in place to keep the weather out)



Still to do:

Finish looming the electrical for the rear trailer lights
Connect the H20
Make a drain for tank ( downspout w hose bib for running drain away from camp if necessary)
Mount the rear jacks
Buy and mount the Front box
Lockable solar panel mount for driving
Mount the water pump closer to tank outlet
Mount exterior camp lights
Make the spice rack for magnetic jars
Connect the hot water heater
Make a lockable exterior propane bottle mount
Attach barrel hinges to front doors


On to the pics

 

Watching thread, wanting to do the same.

May I ask what this trailer is called exactly?

 

It's registered as a utility trailer through the dmv, I registered it before adding all the extras to keep the registration fee's down. In Az there's a trick about registering something that's worth less than 1K and it's like a one time fee of $130 or so to register it permanently. As far as a nickname for the trailer goes I haven't thought of one yet. Maybe "Basecamp"

To be honest, I figured I could stick this together in a few weekends. Boy was I wrong, It's taken at least 10-12 full days to get it this far.

 

Got the jacks mounted on the rear, and got the rear electrical wrapped up.

 

Hinges on front doors, then latches, got the hot water heater tested as well.

 

Looks great! I really appreciate you updating that as you go, I will be building something similar fairly soon.