gwolff's Cargo Trailer Camper Conversion

Haha that's awesome, it sure does look like the same base design!

I do like the topo map idea, but it would be a few coins. Maybe once you finish selling your extra 17 sets of wheels/tires you can put that money into the wrap

 

Projector and a sharpie for a DIY topo map? Better yet you can make it of your favorite park.

 

THAT would be amazing

 

Had a couple few hours today so I picked up some stuff I need to go hard tomorrow. i also did a few things today, like reinforcing the bed legs with braces and adding a 1x6 lip on the front edge. I am probably going to stain it and add a handle to it.



I also added a little bracket on the rear door to hold it at 90 degrees instead of past 180. This will be nice when working in the kitchen, there will be extra counter space within reach. You can see the little bracket/rod setup below the hinge. I heated and bent a metal bar. I wouldn't count on that thing in 40mph winds but it will be plenty strong for normal weather



Tomorrow is going to be crazy. Here is my To Do by Tuesday Night:

• Finish rear cabinets/cubbies
• Install fold down counter top
• Remake the interior cabinet door we screwed up
• Add hardware to the cabinets
• Close the gaps between the ceiling/walls
• Put wall covering on door
• Finish wall covering around door and add trim
• Put in base
• Stain bed trim
• Get curtains hemmed to the right length
• Install fire extinguisher and CO monitor

Hopefully I can knock out almost all of that tomorrow. I'm sure things will fall into Monday and Tuesday. I am hoping to leave for camping Wednesday night.

 

Looks good. Have fun hunting Easter Eggs next weekend, you made the deadline!

 

Wow, it's almost done. Just a few things to finish up tomorrow and maybe Tuesday and I'll be done. Here's some pics from today

Staining Bed



Closed up the ceiling with acrovyn and caulking/spray 90.


Flip down countertop on the back door which I made out of mahogany and coated with polyurethane


Video Update: https://youtu.be/vHdxzy-nrjM

 

Looking great man! The inside looks like it was done by a manufacturer! How'd you end up radiusing those corners structurally? Did you mean you used spray foam and mounted the acrovyn directly to it?

I also like that galley table, we're planning to do something very similar. What's your latch system to hold it in the stored position?

 

Here's a screen shot of the table showing the latch system:



As for the acrovyn in the corners, its just adhered to the other acrovyn on top and bottom. We taped off where we wanted the piece to be and cut a piece to fit that space. Then we put silicone and 3M spray 90 in the area making contact and put the piece into place. So there isn't anything structural backing it, but that spray 90 adhesive is really strong and the acrovyn is lightweight. I am pretty confident in it. It's very hard to pull apart two sheets of acrovyn that have been glued with that stuff.

 

Started with a 5x8 right? How long is your bed? I'm 6'4" and I'm thinking of getting a 6x12 and putting a fullsize queen in it. I don't plan on dragging it through moab but I am worried about it being a long addition to my already long DCLB.

 

Yeah it's a 5x8 with a full size bed, 74 inches long. I am 6'2, so I am the exact length of the mattress lol. Fortunately I don't sleep straightened out like a pencil

 

True! My wife is also 5'11" so I was worried about sleeping comfortably.

 

You could surely sleep comfortably on a full size, just don't put walls at the head and foot like I did. That would allow you to still have room to walk around the bed. I have about an inch between the bed and the wall. If you had a 6 ft wide you'd gain an extra foot of space, but you lose half of it with a queen size bed. Of course, that doesn't necessarily matter, just depends on how you want it to be.

 

Ours is a 5x8 as well. I'm 6'1" (lady is like 5'5"). The 8 foot long measurement comes in, on ours atleast, if measuring from the front most edge of the curved front wall to the back door. So while it is 8 foot long, the true usable space inside is closer to 7'4".

Out design goal will be to run a headboard/storage space like gwolff, which will bring us down to that 7' and change number. In the galley space, we're building the bottom vertical 22-24" pretty shallow (like 6-8" deep, used for random storage) then 20-24" up we'll dive deeper into the cabin space (like 24" deep) and most of our storage/shelfs will be the top couple feet. We'll have about 1 foot deep of counter space with a 1 foot deep cabinet behind that. This way I get the leg room I need (while accounting for the height of the mattress). It'll cut into the available galley space some, but it's what we figure will work best for the math we're dealing with.

 

Do you use any software to assist with your layout?

I have seen teardrop designs that do what you're saying, where the bed legroom goes underneath the counter of the galley area. It is a good idea. You could potentially have the storage area under the bed accessible from the rear also to make it easy to load long items

 

Exactly like some of the typical teardrop designs, as you mention. Unlike you, I do sleep like a sprawled out baby so I need some fudge room to avoid being cramped at night.

Lol what's software? The lady friends Mac took a dump after 15 years and my cheap Dell won't support any of the design software, so all our designs are happening via pen and paper, which we're fine with anyhow. I hate detailed planning, so I tend to get a good rough idea going and work with it till something comes together looking like it was the plan all along.

We contemplated doing a raised bed platform and having underneath storage access for that exact reason, but ultimately I decided I didn't care for how TALL the trailer is, so I'm chopping the top off, lopping 8" out of the walls, then welding the top back on (and shortening the doors to match). We're aiming to go shorter to both lower the overall profile of the trailer as well as make the cabin area smaller so it heats easier. We will lose some real estate in the galley, but it'll still be enough to suit our needs for storage (or so we're hoping).

To quote the girl friend, "we can't have everything we want in the camper, then it wouldn't be camping!"...so we'll probably travel light.

 

That's going to be a really cool project. Since you'll have the thing fully stripped you'll have the opportunity to do a better job painting the frame.. I find mine to be kinda inadequate. You can also do some frame reinforcement

 

I agree, mine's already showing some notable surface corrosion...as a corrosion engineer, that's just unacceptable!

I've got some plans to reinforce the frame and some key spots in the walls (for hanging accessories)...but it'll be interesting to see how yours holds up. I'm betting it'd be fine to leave it as-is as long as you're not literally dragging it over and off rocks.

 

With all the plywood and framing inside of mine, the structure is super rigid. What im hoping is that some day there will be a spare aluminum plate laying around work and I can make a skid plate lol. There was one about a year ago that was about 5x3' and I don't know where it went.

 

I think that'd be sweet!

 

Okay, I just stopped by Socal Teardrops. Holy crud, let me just say that pictures of those teardrops do not do them justice. They are beasts! Some of them are way taller than me! The quality of work looks outstanding. I could not get the smile off my face the whole time I was there, I was just in amazement at how awesome the trailers were. I was like a kid in a candy shop. I would love to own one of those and after having built my own trailer I think their pricing is totally fair. If you have ever considered buying or building a teardrop, go there. You will see some amazing craftsmanship and they are so friendly. They gave me a tour of their shop so I could see their production line. It was so great. I'm going to bring my trailer by there soon.