My Off Road Worthy 6x10 Cargo Trailer Camper Build

RTT trailers are nice if that’s really all you need. They definitely are light and have ample bulk storage.

Enclosed trailers are just so much better if you desire wind protection, insulation and a little critter protection. You can also more easily run power to everything, have organized storage outside of bins and totes and can more easily run solar panels, awnings and the like.

Comes at the cost of weight and money though.

 

Yeah, no real reason other than the Jeep leaf springs raise the trailer plenty, so spring over axle would just be unnecessarily tall and give us issues with galley height and entrance height. My Tacoma isn’t lifted and the trailer setup has more ground clearance than my Tacoma does already, so I have no real need to go higher anyhow.

Springs over axle, on more standard leaf springs would likely be comparable to the height I get with these Jeep leaf springs under the axle. They lift it several (3-5”?) inches by themselves.

 

Yeah, I was able to integrate a house battery in my current trailer with a solar setup and charging for my fridge with an outlet in the drawer assembly or I can use that outlet to power my diesel heater. Half of the tub is devoted to store a cooler and the fridge and the other half is the drawer system previously referenced that houses the stove and cooking supplies.

Mainly thinking about going enclosed so I don't have to deal with a wet tent when it rains and making setup and take down much easier. I camp with a guy that brings a scamp and I'm jealous of the immediatecamp breaking he has every time. Plus the fact he stays much drier!

I gotcha. I had to go SOA on mine to prevent having to go with a cray drop hitch since I'm lifted, running on 35s and have a high clearance rear bumper that puts my hitch up by my tailgate almost... plus, I'm just running short trailer springs.

Oh well, I'm just learning as I go!

 

There’s so many little things that are nice about a full enclosed trailer versus a RTT trailer. It’s hard to note them all but it’s just a better experience for most.

The biggest tip I have for suspension is to swap springs for longer and softer ones (if you start with high weight rated road springs). There’s plenty of good and affordable options, though it is notable better if you weld or have a fan shop that can do the swap. Second is shocks. That combo makes a trailer way more comfortable off road and the shocks should help a taller trailer (like you need to run) retain a bit more of its stability.

Hopefully you enjoy the current setup till the time comes to try for the next one. Cargo trailers are a great jumping off point.

 

The weathers been crap lately, including below zero today and for the next few days, but trying to get some interior work checked off the list.

Installed the “headboard” that will be the wall between the galley space and the sleeping space. We’ll be leaning on it, and it’ll be unsupported except on the top/bottom edges, so I went with 3/4” plywood for some rigidity.

I'm definitely no woodworker, as you see from some of the wood work done inside, so I take a very practical and simple approach to it. Thankfully my circular saw cuts ended up pretty tight on this one and didn’t leave any crazy gaps for air/light between the two spaces. So a little caulking and it’ll be sealed up.

A 2x3 screwed to the ceiling and walls to hold the top of the headboard, with a little relief cut for the bed fan and galley overhead light wiring, and a 2x3 mounted to the bed platform, that’ll hide under the mattress, to secure the bottom of the headboard.



Front bench also got some time. Added in some vertical supports to the front face and built the rest of the rear supports and the top boards. The bench top will be padded and hinged so it opens up in two sections to allow for battery, electrical and heater access.

Again, very basic wood work, no perfect miter joints or fanciness, just good enough not to be too rough.




Today was too cold for working outside, so I threw my buddy heater inside and worked on mocking up the wiring, making sure to keep large gauge cables running as short a route as reasonably possible without kinking the wires, making everything neat enough and practical.

Blue painters tape represents where the oversized 200aH battery will be strapped down.

Blue Sea everything (quality stuff for a fair price): cut off switch, 30 A breaker, 12 circuit fused junction box.

Renogy shunt/battery monitor (will got on the face of the bench when that’s installed).

Victory Energy MPPT charge controller with Bluetooth for the solar panels.

Not pictured is the battery tender that’ll mount to the right of the electrical shown and plug into the 115V AC pass through cord.




Had to order a few larger ring terminal connectors and another set of battery cables before I can finish wiring everything in.

Made a run to Lowe’s and grabbed the interior wall panels, so those will be going in soon as well as painting and staining selected areas (headboard, bench, bed and cubbies, maybe the V-nose wall).

Then off to a night out with the family.

 

Had a few short hours today and worked on some small projects, not worth an update really but wanted to share as one of the projects I finished up ended up revealing something I screwed up and really just felt like sharing that.

Installed the galley side lights and caulked the headboard perimeter (inside and out).





Also cut and installed the finish trim on the face of the bed platform and storage dividers.




With the trim installed, the rear doors shut snug against the rear galley shelf.




Ignore the messy caulking job, it’ll get cleaned up.

Then I went on to screwing down the cooler slide and immediately realized I had overlooked a very important detail…



The slide doesn’t slide out far enough for the damn cooler to open….oops.

I wanted to point out this mistake as it’ll both explain why I end up cutting out a clearance section in the galley shelf, but more importantly it’s a reminder that you don’t get it all perfect when you’re DIYing…and that’s ok.

I didn’t even consider this as a potential problem and thus overlooked it. It can be fixed easily, thankfully, but shit like this happens and you just adapt and make it work.

I have a few things to focus on at work for another week or so then I plan to take off a few days and make a good stride on getting a big chunk of the interior wrapped up.

 

When I built our trailer setup, I to messed up a couple times. You just have go with it, or back up and redo.
Trailer is coming along nicely.

 

Yep, it happens.

I feel like so many comment something like, “I wish I could do this”, “I don’t know how to do this” on our builds….well, we (those who have said screw it and try it) still don’t know what they’re doing necessarily and often have mistakes, a few little things we’d do differently and sometimes things we mess up decently and learn from. That’s just part of it, it’s how you learn.

I remember a couple moments in your build that you struggled with. Adapt and overcome though. That and I learned from them too, even though it wasn’t the same type of build I was executing, just took general mental notes.

 

100% agree!

Only difference between those of us that have attempted to build things like these trailers and those that haven't is the effort put in.

I will be the first to say I have no clue what I'm doing. My welding skill/knowledge comes from working years in the mining industry and that is all I have to bring to the table. Everything else is decided and learned on the fly or correcting a failed attempt.

As I tell several others, if I can do it I know others can. Because there is nothing special about my skillset or knowledge. I'm just too stubborn to stop in the middle of a project and I absolutely refuse to quit, no matter how bad I might have screwed something up until it is properly completed.

I have no clue if the way I built my first trailer was correct or "the right way". All I know is that it tows straight down the road quite easily and it has survived each time I take it off road.

 

You never know if you can or can’t do something, if you don’t try. We may screw it up a few times along the way. The end result may not be perfect, but we did it a had fun building it. If it works and meets your needs. Then it’s a win win.

 

Knocked out a few more things, on a mission to get the bulk of the interior in.

Made some bedside shelves that’ll house a couple cup holders and a power plug.




Then moved onto the v-nose upper cabinet and finishing the lower bench. Build a basic frame and added mounting points to the wall to secure the bottom.




Bench top will hinge up to give access for removing the battery, installing and maintaining the Propex heater and such.

There’ll be holes cut in the upper cabinet for access and a marine access door in the face of the bench for easily reaching the main power switch, fuses and other bits.

 

Built, installed and caulked the under bed storage dividers.

The center storage area is for storing gear (camp chairs, propane fire pit, table, etc) so it’ll be accessed from the rear galley area. It needed to be 6’ deep to fit the gear, so the cabin side of the center storage area is shallow…a good shoe nook.




The two outside storage areas are for the cooler (passenger side) and slide out kitchen (driver side). Both are roughly 3’ deep, as measure from the rear galley opening. That means the inside of the cabin retains 6.5’ of linear floor from the divider, under the bed, to the bench face in the v-nose.



These areas will be good sleeping nooks that two <6’6” tall people could theoretically sleep in (feet under the bed, head in the walkway at the foot of the bed). Great option to have for the odd ball time we might need the camper to sleep 4, or to use when the kiddo outgrows the bed platform setup we’ll be using while she’s a toddler.


For the most part, they’ll be used for cabin storage for now. One will have a portapotty tucked into it and some bins.

Next was painting a few areas of the wood that won’t have FRP paneling on them. Did this to “seal” the wood in some areas and for general aesthetics.




Also painted the underneath of the upper v-nose cabinet as it’ll get the same stained slat ceiling treatment as the main ceiling.

 

Looking good

 

Aimed to get over a hump this weekend by putting the paneling up inside, but snow and a sick daughter kept that from happening..soon though.




Instead, I worked on a few smaller projects during her nap times. As the snow started to fall, I started fitting the solar panel mounts.

I bought two EcoFlow 100W all black panels. I was going to go for some Renogy units like last time, but these EcoFlows were nearly the same price and featured the black frame, which I though was a nice touch over the traditional aluminum…not that you’ll see it really.

Used 1” angle iron to span between the rear two roof rack cross bars. Simply clamped them in place, drilled a 1/4” hole through the cross bars and angle iron and bolted them down. Tech tip, put a piece of wood under where you’re drilling so you don’t accidentally pierce through the roof when the drill bill punches out the bottom side of the mounts.




Panels sit directly onto the angle iron and bolt down. I thought this was going to be the cleanest install, and it is I suppose, but there’s two things that make me wish I had done it slightly differently:

- it was a chore to drill the panel mounting holes in the right spot and then get all the hardware installed to bolt them down. Tight and blind spots to get to.

- I think the small crevice between the edge of the panel and the angle iron is going to collect water/snow/dirt and that’s not ideal.




The freezing rain had my hands wet and cold and I forgot to take a final picture of the second panel on. Still need to hook up all the wiring, but the cold and snow meant that’ll have to wait.

I opted to do an inside project next, cut the holes for the upper and lower cabinets.




Uppers will have either doors over them (because my jigsaw cutting ability sucks and the cuts are too wavy to display) or nets that hold gear inside.

Lower cabinet/bench needed a quick access panel for the main power switch and seeing the status of the battery and such.

Opted to go with a premade marine grade door with trickier latch (relative) as my daughter loves to mess with doors, knobs and such and she would’ve always been getting into a basic hinged door panel and probably turning off the power switch to the camper…so this will maybe help keep her out a bit while she’s in this “open everything and turn every switch” phase.




Sat back and relaxed a bit, before getting back to the kiddo. Starting to feel like a camper now.

 

I finally cut out the clearance for the cooler to open. Less than ideal, but it works now and was easier and quicker than any alternative route.






Then started in on hanging up the FRP paneling. I ended up using Loctite PL Premium 3X adhesive caulking and generally, I wouldn’t recommend it. Even with the caulking sitting in the house at 68+ degrees, I found it did not thin/spread out well behind the FRP panels and stayed in a thick line behind it, which will be fine really, but did create some clear high/low spots in the FRP panels that move a bit when you touch them.

For most of the panels, I took general size measurements and used those to precut and test fit the panels, leaving some of the finer detail cuts to be made inside the trailer. Having a board backer and straight edge helped cut the panels in the yard.




Here’s the adhesive applied and then the panel in place.






I did learn that it was way easier to apply the FRP sheet, leaving a ~1” gap between the edge of the panel, and where the adhesive caulking was applied to, so you could peel back the edge and install the trim AFTER the panel was in place.

Putting the trim up, then fitting the panel into the trim, was my first try and it was the wrong way to do it.

Moved onto the inside. I measure and precut the holes for the bedside light wiring, but put the panels up before cutting the window/door/light switch openings. This panelling is 0.060” thick and I found a fresh razor blade would cut it well with a single pass, so it was easy to use the wood cutouts as an edge to slide the razor blade down and cut a pretty decent reveal around those things.





I did get the rest of the v-nose area done, but forgot a picture. I only have a small section on either wall, by the v-nose, to finish now.

I’m color blind though, and ended up getting gray trim, for the trim that joins two panels, so I have to return those and make sure I find the white trim so I can put the last panels in.

It’s a bit sterile looking inside now, but cedar (or cedar looking) ceiling slates, the bedding, the v-nose bench cushion, flooring and some other touches should help balance that out a bit and cozy it up

 

Welp, checking in on the trailer this weekend and the adhesive has failed to hold. It hasn’t completely failed but it has failed on maybe 50% of the total surface area. There’s adhesive properly stuck to the FRP and stuck to the wood, but the adhesive didn’t retain adhesion with itself and pulled away from itself.

I did a lot of reading on how to adhere FRP to the interior walls and there’s issues with lots of options (mainly temperature related for an RV) and this Loctite was suppose to be the ticket, but man does it seem like it isn’t, or there was too much user error on my part. I had heated the inside of the trailer a bit as it was 50 degrees outside during most of the application and while application temp is suppose to be above 40 degrees (per loctite) I figured the surface temp of the wood inside was slightly cold and warmed it up a bit before applying it. I also left the adhesive in the house for days to be at room temp. I can only guess that the temps dropping to the teens overnight just didn’t play well with the curing process and lead to the failure.

Wildly frustrated and planning too mope about it for week or so and see if I think I can save it or if it needs to come out.

I’m half tempted to rip it out and just paint the walls, but I just know that where the adhesive has adhered to the wood, it’ll take pieces with it when I scrap it off. Ugh.

 

Found we had some white trim paint sitting around from years ago and went ahead and painted a bit of the trim inside the trailer.




Then tidied up the solar wiring a bit with my favorite wire loom material. I don’t love my routing and roof mounts (3M tape mounted holders with zip ties) so migh try it again down the road.




Then I decided I had cried about the interior panel situation enough and tried again…only to find the adhesive I had been using (for other wood bits on the inside, not the FRP…yet) had absolutely zero instant holding ability (not that it was suppose to, but I presumed it would for some reason). So…move right along to buying a laser level and using that to drill holes and mount the FRP to the walls with screws.

Measuring holes and using the level to ensure they line up. 24” spacing horizontally, 12” vertical spacing.




I’m not in love with it, having all these little buttons all over, but it’s functional so I’ll have to live with it. Still need to finish a few more sections, but ran out of the right size screws (always something that requires a store run).

I also have bad news about the Tacoma…got hit by a stop sign runner on the way home from work, so the truck is down for a while and I need to focus on finding something to replace it…which will likely be a Tundra, so I’ll be back after figuring that out.

 

Ah man that stinks, sorry to hear.

 

All good, I was looking for an excuse to get into a Tundra and the wife was busting my balls about it. Now I can justify it without as much grief from her. She’s already asked when we’re going to look at them, so she gets it.

The Tacoma is far from totaled, but I’m not one to let a good excuse for buying a “new to me” vehicle pass me by. The next vehicle will be the 53rd vehicle I’ve owned…in 23 years. I get bored with cars quick.

 

I get that. Have the same problem while a dink but can’t anymore since I only work. Also I Need to retire lol. Picked up a used work horse Tundy the other day though. Would love to have gone brand new but prices are looney still.