My Off Road Worthy 5x8 Camper Build

Hey TW folks. I've been building another off road camping trailer to pull behind my 2nd gen Tacoma and never did a build thread here, so figured I'd repost some post from EP and get caught up here.

Last year I built a steel 4x6 camping trailer that we adorned with our roof top tent. We really enjoyed that setup, but after only a few uses, I decided it was time to sell it to fund adult life (aka a ring for the lady) and ultimately we've decided we want to build another now and do it a little different this time. We're in Colorado and the high elevations we tend to camp at can make the tent weather season short, so we're going the way of enclosed camping. Idea's here and on some other overlanding forums have really inspired us to go this route.
How we camped before the trailer life started, RTT on a bed rack.



Here's the trailer I built last year, there's a build thread on expeditionportal if anyone's interested in the details.

Essentially what I started with, but this is after a strip down:



Finished:



A quick shot of the typical trails we'd plan to encounter:



So our use is primarily going to be 2 day 1 night weekend warrior trips into the Rocky Mountains. We do have some ideas for more long distance trips, but those would be primarily pavement to a destination then off the beaten path. We don't intentionally get into hard trails, rock crawling, miles of washboards at speed, water crossings or anything drastic but we do enjoy getting back far enough to enjoy great views and privacy which tends to put us traversing some rutted roads, tight "jeep" trails and switchbacks.

The idea is to build up a 5x8 to be slightly more robust to both handle the extra off road forces as well as handle all the gear we'll be hauling with it. Insulate for cold Spring/Fall camping, install a basic storage bias type galley, add windows, vents, tongue storage, and a few other tweaks.

To begin, we shopped trailers, new and used, and ultimately settled on a 2018 Carry On 5x8 with side swing single rear door and curb side door as well. Out the door it was a touch over $2,000. I researched cargo trailer brands and found some opinions on each, hearing good general info on the difference in say a Carry On and a higher priced/quality Interstate/Wells Cargo/PACE/Etc, with a common theme that one should avoid Georgia's mecca of cheap trailers. I decided to go with this unit as it seemed to have the same notable drawbacks as most cargo trailers in its price range yet had some pros I appreciated. The main pros being the side door (saving us on a pricey RV Door), a nice Dexter 3,500 lbs axle already equipped and a main base frame made from 2x4 boxed steel. Some of the notable cons that we're willing to work around are: poor workmanship on assembly (we'll circle back to this), really cheap wiring and install techniques, Z style vertical wall supports (but 1" square tube roof bows), two-piece curved roof, multiple piece aluminum siding and some general cost savings materials.

Here's the trailer we brought home:






Here's what we've done so far:
- wheel adapters to match lug pattern to tow vehicle, Tacoma with 6x5.5
- New wheels and tires to match tow rig 265/75 16" on 16x8 wheels
- New longer and softer riding and de-rated leaf springs (will be adding shocks eventually)
- Lock-N-Roll limited articulation hitch

We started with wheels/tires and suspension to help dial in final height so we could determine a few other things of priority. Here's a few pictures of the setup:





One thing that might be a little different than many builds I've seen here; we are going to CHOP the top on the CT about 8 inches to lower the overall profile of the trailer. We intend to use it more like a TD and not a RV so head room isn't a priority and managing the excess height wins.

We plan to reinforce the main box frame with a few more cross supports, some smaller metal vertical wall supports and ultimately extend the tongue with 2.5" receiver tube to offer some more truck/CT clearance for turning as well as make room for tongue cargo solutions.

We plan to run basic electrical functions and will be doing everything 12V, no 120. Maybe pre-wire for solar so down the road we can go that route, but for now we'll charge while at home (and a little while towing with the 7-pin) as that'll typically last us the one night we'll be out camping.

There's also plans for front tongue box, small landing to catch some misc, rock rails surrounding trailer base to keep any basic obstacles from contacting aluminum siding so easily, a rear bumper, custom fenders and side landings behind the fenders, roof rack and some misc storage on the sides (propane tank, water, fuel, jack, etc).

Moving on, I wanted to see what we were working with so I removed the inside paneling and inspected build materials, quality, etc. Here's what I found.

- basic interior setup - 24" on center supports, Z channel supports, aluminum skin, 1" square tube ceiling supports and some cheap board



- Crap wiring techniques and installation (and I've read of them having bad quality wire overall) as evident by these crimp on connectors that surely don't last in bouncy environments.



- No protection on wiring going through metal hole (but it is a ground wire atleast, not a hot lead! Second pic is the completely loose ground attachment




No real surprises, except one weld that was horribly burnt through (between the pathetically flimsy horizontal fender support between two vertical supports).

Jake

 

I received some goodies. I purchased my first welder ever! After some research, I settled on a Hobart 140 MIG unit. I only have access to 120VAC and I've read pretty good reviews, for the price point and as a hobby welder/mild workhorse. As a 120 volt unit, it does have it's expected limitations, but it should serve me well and perform with what I ask of it. Typical 20% duty cycle, 1/2" max metal thickness (at 120 amps if I recall). Seen on Amazon here: http://a.co/ewbUTJj



Also received my roof rack towers and Lock-N-Roll limited coupler from Scott, a great guy. I highly recommend his website. He doesn't have everything, a good bit of what he sells is tuned for his Dinoot trailer designs, but he has some nick-nack parts at a good price is a reliable guy to deal with. I used him for my last build and found a few more helpful items through him again this round.

Lock-N-Roll here (actually ends up being a better deal than ordering via LNR themselves): https://compact-camping-concepts-2.myshopify.com/products/fixed-height-off-road-couplers

His "No weld" Rack towers here (though I do plan to weld them, I just liked his design so I grabbed them): https://compact-camping-concepts-2.myshopify.com/products/no-weld-trailer-rack-towers



The oddball piece in that picture is a 2" receiver adapter for fitting a 2" receiver (2.5" OD) to a 50 degree A-Frame tongue. It's laser cut 1/4" plate and is a much nicer piece then I could fabricate (and has their engineers stamp of approval, aka he designed it). I purchased it from AT, or Adventure Trailers, also great folks. They don't list it on their website, but if you're interested in a precision piece like this, just contact them and they'll help you out. http://adventuretrailers.com/
Picture provided by AdventureTrailers (if you mind, let me know and I'll delete it).



Mario at AT assured me it didn't need modified, as it was engineered to be more than adequate for the forces it'd see, even offroad.

Suspension that'll be in progress soon; CJ-7 leaf springs.

The setup I bought for my offroad trailer is all Jeep CJ-7 rear suspension stuff. The GVWR for a entry level, or "light duty" rear leaf spring suspension, is roughly 4150 lbs with ~2,100 of that being for the rear suspension, so I choose to go with the setup assuming they're appropriate for my predicted 1,200-1400 lb trailer without being too overrated for weight. I'm adding shocks to the setup to help dampen the suspension (I'm using the CJ-7 leaf springs perches with a built in lower shock mount to attach the shock at the bottom and running a custom top mount that'll weld to the trailer frame).

To complete the conversion from my stock crap suspension to the CJ-7 suspension, I bought:

- 3 used leaf springs from local recycling yard (2 to use and one for spare)
- leaf spring hangers, shackles, bolts, bushings and bump stops from 4 wheel parts
- custom top shock mount
- my old Tacoma factory rear shocks

Here's the CJ-7 leaf springs I bought, cleaned up and painted:




Here's the link for the CJ-7 suspension diagram to help see what all you need if you choose this route: https://www.4wheelparts.com/hardpart...aspx?hpDID=134

From that diagram, I bought:

2 - #44 Front leaf spring hangers
2 - #37 Front hanger bushings
2 - #39 Spring perches w/ lower shock mounts (they is specific drivers/passenger side part numbers)
2 - #51 Bump stops
2 - #38 Rear shackle kits (includes bushings and bolts needed)
2 - #46 Rear lead spring hangers
2 - ???? U-bolts that fit my 2.38" diameter trailer axle and yet fit the CJ-7 spring perches (forget the part numbers I found)

 

Hung the Jeep CJ-7 leaf springs, they're going to be so much better than the stock trailer springs.

Factory CJ-7 front and rear spring hangers:




The factory CJ-7 u-bolt perch with built in lower shock mount (I still need to figure out a top shock mount):




Old trailer leads compared to new setup:



Treated the wood floor with some roof patch to help it last a minute longer hopefully.




Also, tore the trailer down to studs. Needed to do this for a few reasons. I'm cutting the trailer down 8 inches shorter, so this will help with the process. Some of the metal inside the trailer was poorly painted, so once I shorten the top I'm going to prep and paint everything as well. It'll also give me a chance to redo some of the horrible sealant plastered on the trailer from the factory.



Nothing quite like cutting the top off your brand new trailer!



Just set it back on for today. I'll finish welding it this week and make some other changes in the process.




Jake

 

I ordered two doors from Challenger Doors. Both are all black units, 32" tall x 26" wide with vertical windows and screens. Some change of heart from the lady meant we're going this route now versus the single existing door curb side. Their ship date is about two weeks out so that'll be a later development.

Also, I went ahead and framed for the doors, based on specs given from Challenger. Didn't want to cut the aluminum until I have the doors on site to verify some dimensions...you know, lack of trust on accuracy from some folks.

Cutting the existing vertical Z supports and melting some 1" square tube in place of it for the door supports:




Skins trimmed down 8" and screwed back on for now. I'm going to replace the screws with bolts, padded washers and nylon nuts...just need to source 100 or so of them for a fair price.




Installed 100 new bolts and nuts to replace the self tapping screws that held the skin and trim on. We have lots of washboard roads around here and I didn't want the screws to rattle out over time. Plus there's was concern of the small headed screws ripping through the aluminum skin.
(small headed screws on left, new bolts/washers/nuts on the right)






Getting the roof rack finished. Using the no weld towers from Scott and some 1"x" square tube for the crossbars. Also installed the LED porch lights.

The base mounts offer great style and clearance for the roof. They rise enough to clear the roof with plenty of space to flex and will be a great place for the ARB awning to mount to.





I spaced the crossbars about 36" apart. It seemed like a common spacing and worked well to put the bases mounting in a good sturdy location on the interior framing. I set the entire system back, straddling the axle on center (or real close rather). This will both keep weight in a good location as well as leave me ample room for the roof vent to be mounting at the head of the trailer.

Speaking of; fitted some bracing for the roof vent and did the dirty dead of cutting my first hole in the roof :NC







Finished a few other chores, from rewiring the trailer side of things, finished rebuilding the rear door, applied bed liner to parts of the frame that won't be touched again and prepped the new 2.5" receiver tongue to weld that on this week.

Our doors will be in this week and I'll get those installed, finish the rock rail/sliders and build the front platform and fenders out. Soon, we'll be on the road of building out the interior!

Jake

 

My father and brother are coming later this month for a long weekend trip and we're going to head into the mountains and get lost. I have a new goal to get the trailer to a usable, if only bare bones, condition in the next few weeks and so my focus has been on the things needed to make that happen.

I installed an aero vent cover for the roof vent. This will allow us to keep the vent open in those random summer rains. I used acetone to clean the surfaces where the roof vent would mount, then placed butyl tape under the rood vent flange. Once I dropped the vent into it's cutout, I used #8 by 1" self tapping screws to secure the vent to it's frame. To further seal the vent, I used 4" white Externabond tape to seal the screws and flange joint. I wanted to use their silver/aluminum product so it'd blend in, but it was $80 and the white was under $20 (for 10').



The doors arrived from Challenger as well, so I measure and cut the holes for both, using a jig saw.



Same installation method as the roof vent. Acetone prep, butyl tape under the mounting flange and self taping screws. I only placed a few screws in for now. I ordered some #10 black oxide self tapping screws so they'll blend in with the door frame better. Once those arrive, I'll finish securing the doors to the trailer, cut the excess butyl tape off that has squeezed out and then caulk the edges with some black caulk to keep the aesthetics nice and neat.




I'm pretty happy with the doors from Challenger. They're 26" wide by 32" tall. They're keyed alike, have windows in them that slide vertically and have a catch to keep the window open with a sliding screen as well. Having the windows in the doors will help save us some real estate on the side of the trailer, which is needed since we'll be building the galley deep into the trailer and it was going to occupy the space windows would've if they weren't in the doors.

I also finished installing the Jeep CJ-7 shocks by installing the new cross member and bolting the top shock mount to it. The difference they made with my 200 lbs jumping in the trailer was great, so I'm hopeful the ride quality is going to be what I'm expecting on the trailer.




That's it for now. The plan for the next few weeks is to:

- Install new 2" receiver tube tongue along with the Lock-N-Roll hitch
- install flooring
- maybe install insulation and interior side walls
- maybe install tree sliders, finish fabricating front landing and install fenders, rear bumper with jacks for leveling

That should get it to a usable state for the trip we're planning. It'd be a good short two day trip that'd be a chance to shake down the trailer and see if there's anything that'd need improved thus far.

Jake

 

New 2" receiver tube tongue burnt on. It's essentially a 3 foot extension that houses the Lock-N-Roll hitch.

Why 3 feet, you ask...it's the magic number that gives me clearance between the A frame portion of the trailer tongue and my truck bumper. Now, I'll be able to turn the truck 90 degrees to the trailer, which will help in tight turns offroad, turning around and the extension will making backing the trailer a pleasant task. It'll also give me room to build a landing on the front of the trailer to place a tongue box, jack mounts, propane storage and whatever else.

Drawback is sheer length of the setup now, but that's not a huge concern for us and where we intend to take the trailer.




I finished installing the roof rack, came out very sturdy. It's the no weld base mounts with 1"x1" 16 gauge tubing, finished off with plastic end caps, painted in bed liner.




Also painted the new tongue so it wouldn't get crusty with the random thunder storms we've been having.



Then I fabricated a simple 2x3 16 gauge rear bumper. Once it was done, I coated it and the fenders I bought. I wanted to get the bumper welded on today, but errands took over and then took the lady out for a little date night as a thanks for her putting up with me being busy in the driveway for the last several weeks/weekends.




I also finished fabricating the front tongue landing. It's the width of the trailer, so a bit over 5' wide and about 18" deep.








Quick update on the landing. Started by trimming the expanded metal to match the front curvature of the trailer..the best one can with expanded metal sheet.



The trimmed the front and sides to match, as well as make some small trim outs to go around part of the new tongue reinforcement so it's sit flush.




Once all the sheet was trimmed, it made sense to take a flap disk and clean up all the burs, to keep them catching clothing and such when leaning up on the landing.




Then weld it down and a quick coat of paint




Jake

 

My 8.5'x8.5' ARB awning came in and I went straight into mounting it.

I used their Heavy Duty mounts to mount it to my roof rack. I simply mounted it using the existing bolts that mount the cross bars to the racks feet.



Came out real nice. Pretty close and tight to the trailer, well close enough. Very impressed with the quality of the awning. The cover is great, the zippers slide easy and all other materials look like they'll take some good use.



I went ahead and tested how tough it was to deploy. While I can see it being a much less cumbersome with two people, I was still able to do it the first time in under 5 minutes, not bad at all.



It folds back up nice, secures well and is a breeze to fit back into the storage bag.

I welded on the three jack mounts and the safety chain hoop today.

Two side wind jacks for the rear and a top wind for the tongue. For the safety chain hoop, I just used an old axle U-bolt I had, cut off the threaded portion and welded it underneath the front of the receiver tube tongue.





I also mounted the new tongue box and propane tank/holder.




I finally got the floor in too. I used sub-floor sealant on the cross members and edges, set the floor in then screwed it down as well. I'm thinking the sub-floor sealant will help keep some water from migrating between the edges of the floor and the inside of the walls.



I also finished caulking the roof, sides and doors. Not thrilled with my work on this, but it'll do its job so I'll deal with it for now.

Jake

 

First trip with the trailer was a success, though I did come back with a short list of improvements to make.



My father and I packed up Friday morning and headed west, headed for the Pomeroy Lake, near the ghost town of St. Elmo, Colorado (or 30 miles SW of Buena Vista).

The trailer towed well across the Rockies, up and through a few 10,000 ft elevation mountain passes. The tongue weight did seem to be a bit on the heavy side,
especially with the truck bed loaded down on top of it all, but that should get sorted out with the work yet to come on the trailer. Some lessons I learned are: big bumps and enough speed will make the trailer axle bottom out into the trailer frame, so I have to fix that. Second; I need to rethink mounting the awning. Maybe move it to the actual feet of the roof rack so it's sucked in another ~3 inches. A half dozen times, the trailer being off kilt or sliding down a rock, put it (the awning) as the most likely part of the trailer to hang up on a tree.

We aimed to do some gold panning, fly fishing and old mine exploring so once we neared St Elmo, we turn south to begin our 3,200 ft ascent up the north side of Pomeroy Mountain. The trail we took was the old mining path established first in the late 1800's, it was a winding and steep creep up a boulder laced tight trail carefully woven between trees, cliffs and across creeks...truly stunning, though at times, a little tight and sketchy for the trailer. We didn't stop in the tough sections to get any pics, but here's some from the bottom as we got started.





*disclaimer: this last one is on the way down

About 1/2 mile from the summit (and just below tree line) we found a nice tucked away spot in the valley below the lake, which provided some wind protection and some soothing sounds from the cascading water streaming down past the camp site.






Night view from camp



We slept well, even considering the plethora of evidence that a bear was wandering the area we setup in. The trailer leveled out nicely, slept comfortably with no excess noise even with no insulation in sight. Air flow was adequate inside and no mosquitoes were able to find their way in over night. I will admit it was a bit tight for two larger gentleman, as my father and I are, but should sleep my significant other and I well.

We woke up Saturday morning and immediately set our sights on some fishing at the lake above camp. We failed...horribly.



Our first time fly fishing was a bust, but that's ok. The altitude began to take it toll and we headed back down a few thousand feet to wander the ole mine remnants.
Here's the Mary Murphy mine, circa 1902-ish






I was caught using the abandoned outhouse



More mine buildings and other dilapidated structures





Some more general rambling around and exploring ensued. We found some more rivers/creeks to explore and try out luck with fishing some more...but the disappointment trend kept up.





With that...I'm going to take a little while off from all things trailer. I need to tackle some other projects around the house as well as just devote some time to other life needs. I'll be back to finish the inside, the fenders and make some tweaks shortly...until then.

Jake

 

Things have been slow lately and with the dozen or so wildfires burning around Colorado right now, stage 3 fire bans have me putting some plans on the back burner and focusing on items that don't require any grinding or welding outdoors.

We have one 100,000+ acre fire burning right now because a guy had been cooking some meat in his yard and the coals caught the next day. Hundred of homes evacuated and dozens of homes already lost....so rightfully, local authorities are writing rather large financial reminders for anyone caught doing anything with a flame or spark outside...so I'm focusing on the interior right now.

Before getting started on interior work, I set out to fix one of the main things I found out on my trip with my father: bumpy roads and 30 MPH could convince the suspension to compress enough that the axle would bottom out on the trailer frame. I contemplated doing an axle flip, to gain the clearance needed, but that'd lift the trailer about 5-6 inches and that was just going to be too much.

Since I'm running an exact Jeep CJ-7 suspension, I decided to see what options I had for a lift kit for that chassis. I found some 2 inch lift shackles and based on what I observed, they'll work perfectly to give me clearance without going too high, all for a mere $40.

Before and after:




One of the other things I noticed was the trailer seemed slightly tongue heavy on our trip, so I took some time to run to one of my companies facilities to use the truck scale there.

As the trailer sits now, it's 1,160 pounds, with a tongue weight of 220 pounds. So a little more than ideal. Batteries and a galley should help balance that nicely and get me closer to my goal of 10%.



With that question answered, lets move onto the interior work.




I went with 1" insulation, attached to the walls and roof with some silicone adhesive laid in vertical rows. My thinking here was if there were ever a leak, the vertical rows will allow moisture to roll down and out instead of having a spot to collect. The Gorilla glue will be used later. I also filled some of the odd-ball shapes in the front of the trailer with minimally expanding foam.




Then onto the wonderful mess of cutting the foam insulation, white balls going everywhere and hours of measuring, cutting, fitting, gluing, taping....good fun.



Next was the interior wood walls. I went with some 1/2 Maple. Cut the 4x8 sheet down to size, placed inside and traced the doorway so I could cut the hole there.




I just used a pen to trace a rough duplicate of the inside edge of the door opening. On the interior of the door, there's finishing trim ring that'll be installed. It fits behind a 3/4 inch frame around the door opening. Thus the original trace of the door opening will need cut out about an 1 inch to give room for the trim ring to fit.




Cutting complete.



Mocked up to ensure proper fitment with the trim ring in place.



Everything fit well, so sides were sanded and staining commenced. I let the lady pick the stain, she settled on a lighter color since it'll be close quarters. I believe it's called Puritine Pine, by MinWax. Two coats of that were applied. Tomorrow I'll finish it off with some clear gloss, water based, polyurethane and we'll get to installing it.



No pictures right now, but while she was staining, I ran the wiring for the side porch lights, dome light and vent fan.

Jake

 

The lady has definitely become more interested in helping with the camper since it's starting to resemble something she'd sleep in, finally. I don't think I addressed the window coverings she made for it yet. She came up with a simple yet effective solution for offering some privacy, shade and yet the ability to cinch them up and let the air flow through the windows when open.

She picked a nice fleece material. Helps promote a cozy feeling inside and offers a little insulation for the window.



She sewed velcro strips on so they could easily be removed and washed when needed.



Folding them up and out of the way is done simply by rolling/folding up the bottom and using the extra strap of fabric to tie it up.



I really like the way they turned out.

As some may know, I sold my last trailer to help save for funds to purchase a ring. While it still took me a while to get around to it, we went camping this weekend and I popped the question. Don't worry, after nearly 5 years of dating, she said yes.



We went to a nice spot above Turquoise lake in Leadville, CO. Didn't get the spot I wanted with lake views, long story there, but it was still a decent spot. For some
reason I don't have pictures on my phone of the actual main view to the north, just the one to the south...but it overlooked a valley and was quite the sight.





I've been working on the fenders some, scratching the purchased set and working on building my own.

I started with fabbing up the main fender supports and adding a little kick out on the front side.




I probably won't be back to working on them for a few weeks though.

Something I did notice while prepping for this weekend's trip is my Lock N Roll hitch is twisted.




I talked to a nice gentleman at Lock-N-Roll and he said these rotation limiting units are discontinued due to the fact that they had been known to twist like this. He said the cause is jackknifing the trailer (usually while backing) then the tongue on the trailer drops and when you pull forward again, the T shank side of things just binds and twists. While I haven't backed the trailer in this scenario, I have made U-turns that have put the trailer nearly 90 degrees to the truck and that must have been when it happened.

That said, they offered to send me whichever Lock-N-Roll setup I wanted as a replacement, free of charge. So I was pretty satisfied with their willingness to stand behind their product without question. Great company in my opinion.

Being the curious fella I am, I hooked up the trailer and jackknifed it to try to see how this occurred. It was also a chance to show the 90 degree clearance between the truck and trailer, as I had intended by design when extending the trailer tongue.

 

Well, I finally got around to finishing my fenders.

I started with some 1.5" square tube. A little big for a mere fender, but it's metal I had left over and I decided to use it simply to save another run to the shop and some money.

I framed out the basic shape, trying to get the complex angle to fit right after cutting everything with the inaccurate angle grinder.



A lot of work later, they were fully framed and ready to be covered. I found some scrap 14 gauge sheet metal I had from my last trailer and went about building an inside skirt to the fender. Since my fenders don't mount right up against the trailer, I needed a skirt to keep mud from flinging onto the trailer as well as be a barrier for a blown tire, which won't allow the rubber to rip into the soft aluminum trailer side. The sheet metal I had wasn't tall enough to cover the entire fender in one piece, so I stitched together two smaller strips.



Once that was complete for both sides, I placed the fenders back in place on their supports and welded them down.



Finished with a nice coat of bed liner



For some reason, the fenders came out a little more narrow than I had originally planned, so this week I'll trim back the fender supports to match the fender stick out and reweld some new end caps on and repaint.



They came out pretty nice if you ask me :thinking:

Next is the front landing jack support and shovel/axe mount I'm finishing up, then back to the interior.

Jake

 

Trimmed up the fender mounts so they don't stick out any more



Then onto finishing the jack, axe and shovel mount on the front landing.
I had to start by cutting away the expanded metal on the landing to get access to weld in a cross support to base everything off of.



Then built up the mount. It's crazy beefy for what it actually does, but I had extra 2x3 tube and so that's what it was built with. Welded on the two jack mounts and predrilled the holes for the 4 quickfist mounts on the back. Then I went ahead and mocked everything up before painting.






Up next, rebuilding the stupid back door.

Jake

 

anndddddd now we're up to speed. We took it out camping this weekend to check out the fall colows and had a blast. Put lots of good trail strips on it and put it through the ropes. More pics to come, here's some off my phone though.

Camping on the Continental Divide near Breckenridge.

 

I REALLY like this build. Awesome job! Looks like one of those NOBO campers almost

 

Nice work!

Seems like now it's time to sell it and build another one...

 

Hahaha are you secretly my fiance?!

We're saving to buy a house (WITH a garage so I can build something inside, for a change) and she suggested selling it to put that towards a down payment, then just build another once we have said garage. As I stand right now though, I like the function of this trailer and how it's turned out, unlike the last one that I had a list of things I'd do differently. Plus the interior isn't done and thus I wanna hold on to it and finish it once we have the house.

As they say, though, everything's for sale for the right price.

Jake

 

That’s a really cool rig! Awesome job..

 

The time has come to rebuild the rear door. The factory door is pretty flimsy, adding to that, I screwed it up when cutting it down after I shortened the trailer. It hasn't fit quite right, doesn't seal well and isn't much of a use outside being a simple door...so this weekend I dove into designing and building a replacement.

Here's what we started with, flimsy pressed wood frame with aluminum sheet.



The door opening is out of square about 1/4 inch so instead of making a square door, I built it to match the opening. I started by trimming down and framing up some 1.5x1.5 inch angle iron. The angle iron will give me a good surface to mount a weather seal on too.



Next, I wanted to make the door more than just a boring door, so I made up a couple cross brace's out of 1.5x1.5 square tube and came up with a drop down cooking table that'll house the propane stove.



The table is offset to the outside of the door (when open) to give good clearance/access to the galley selves. I also installed new heavy duty hinges to support the new door. I currently went with some sheet metal as a door skin, but I'm rethinking that as the door now weights roughly 60 lbs. I might try recycling some of the aluminum skin from the old 2 doors and see if I can come up with something that looks half decent.

Here's the door installed, with the shelf up in it's stored position:



Here's the self down in it's usable position. I have some butcher block like slabs of wood and I'm planning to finish the shelf with some of it inside the angle iron base.




I had to think up a latch system to keep the table in the stored position as well as something to keep the table from opening beyond 90 degrees/level. I went through many ideas in my head and ultimately came up with this simple fix. A few sections of angle iron welded on to create a hole to place a pin to keep each side up, and the tab will also be the 'stopper' that keeps the table level when down.

In the stored position (pins not installed)



Deployed table, resting on the tabs



I'm going to play around with trying to skin the door with aluminum this week and see how it goes. Should have a finished update this week.

Jake

 

Finally pulled some pictures off the camera and figured I'd just dump a few here:







Jake

 

How was towing with the extra weight? Any noticeable wind pull/drag?