It's been one year since I've posted to this thread. I've mostly just been using the camper as is. I bought a digital thermostat that works better, less temperature swing between turning on and off compared to the mechanical one it came with. The refrigerator doesn't work with AC, DC or propane now and I haven't looked into it. The converter quit working. I wired up the Motovan hitch wiring to charge while running, but the power doesn't make it to the batteries from the camper wire harness. Related to the converter failure? Probably. I'm considering removing the mini fridge and making it a cabinet instead. I just bought a big 65 quart 12 volt fridge/freezer for the Motovan, so the tiny fridge in the camper has less appeal. That would be a great spot to have cookware anyway. I'm considering pulling the converter, 30 amp shore power cord and rewiring the whole thing with an extension cord, inverter, and dedicated battery charger. I had my mom fix up the factory curtains. They were paper thin and didn't block any light. She sewed white canvas to the back of them and this cool little accent strip. I can't find any photos of them in my albums right now.
I've done two trips to Baja this winter and I didn't take the camper for either trip. Why? The Motovan taxes the little 5.4 liter V8 quite a bit as is. It really needs shorter gears in the rear end for towing. However, the main reason is speed down rough dirt roads. I installed the Weldtec 4" Octillo Cruiser suspension kit with Fox Shox and a Puma air compressor so I could air down to 25 psi and back up in only ten minutes. On a rough road that the Motovan could average 40 mph down, I'd have to go 15 or 20 with the trailer. 2" of suspension travel and 27" tires doesn't cut it. I'm getting closer to taking action on that front. I'm thinking of a straight axle with long leaf springs from a light duty pickup like a Ranger or Tacoma from a junkyard. Any old shocks of the appropriate length would probably be fine and then mount 33x9.50 or so tires. Use the same wheels as the Motovan if possible, but I'm not sure how I'd get that 8 lug pattern without using a big axle. I'd plan on either a trailer axle or a junkyard pickup axle.
The other option I'm considering is to just space down the existing torsion axle a couple inches so I could fit 33" tires. This would give me more sidewall squish, but I doubt it would be enough to increase the speed enough to justify the cost and effort. May as well put some long travel springs on so I could get 8-10" of travel.
If I go through all this welding on the frame I'd also extend the tongue about 2 feet so I could just jacknife the trailer in camp and load/unload bikes without disconnecting. This would also make it much easier to back up this short little trailer. The Corvette will soon be for sale so I don't need to keep it sized and balanced for that use anymore. It has been awesome to use as a tow rig though. Really awesome.
