Nissan Frontier Truck Bed Off-Road Trailer - The "Frontrailer"

[Nd4SpdSe]

Those collars are the first ones that I have found that hold up to my dog for more that a couple years. So hopefully they hold up on your RTT.

Good to know. I'd like to say that the RTT shouldn't' be as rough as a large dog. We used to have a 100lb female lab when I was a kid, and she was a beast, could break collars. Plastic clips were a no-go for what I remember. And being for a dog, it's go to be good to resist the elements. It's kind of neat cause you can get them in other colors. I got green to match the green on the tent, but you can get grey as a good universal color for other color tents like the browns or don't like how bright the green collar, red would be great against the Tepui orange, and purple too, if my chance you have a tent that matches that color as well!

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Busy week, and weekend, as always.
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Spent some time making a quick and dirty front receiver for the X. While many don't like the idea of my brush guard, I did also get it made to where I can swap it other for other accessories. I wasn't sure exctly what, but I wanted that flexibility. 3 years later, now is the time, haha! The reason why? It's because I've been doing some preconstruction for the haunted house, making 3x 16ft long passageways to get ahead of the construction before the tent gets delivered this weekend, so it gives us the ability to get ahead on some work.
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The reason for the front hitch, cause I need to get these things on a trailer to bring them on site, and I don't see this being fun by hand, and I don't want to have to try to ask for help, when I can do this myself. The plan, pin the trailer up front to the truck, and winch them on! It's the easiest solution, and they're not going to get lighter between here and the weekend. Actually, they'll get heavier if I can find wood (or a trailer to go pallet hunting) and get more work done on them...
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With the tent delivery, we'll be spending most of (Canadian) Thanksgiving (again this year) doing the setup and as much construction done as we can, including setting up the wall dividers, and we'll be camping there to make it easier, since it's still a lot of back-and-forth. I wanted to get some stuff done to the trailer, since we'll be sleeping in it, but we think it'll also be using it as a base for making meals for everyone that's helping. I setup the awning to look into making a better shower setup, but also get some of the wiring more functional, especially find I picked up a pair of LED flood lights on Friday from a guy selling them on a local 4x4 group.
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I made this box quite a while ago, and it's finally getting installed!
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Green - Tent (Cause it's green)
Blue - Awning (Cause it's blue-grey)
Yellow - Bed LED lights (cause the trailer is yellow) (To Be Installed)
Red - Work Tailgate Flood Lights (Red is Important?)
Tent and awning wiring connections are made when they're opened.
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I like them, they really light up the area perfectly and very bright!
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I'm short an XT60 connector, and I still need to wire them up properly to the fuse block, instead of cheating and testing with the tent/awning light circuits.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Also to add, with temperatures dropping to 0*C (32*F) overnight Friday, our coldest yet, I wanted to give the tent and heater a try. Last time we were at 6*C (43*F) with great success, so I want to progressively try colder, especially in controlled environments where we can jump back into our bed in the house in case it doesn't go as planned. We ironically slept in the tent again Saturday night. The girlfriend's 2nd cousin was coming up to help her with the paper maché walls and she lives 2 hours away, so we offered her our bed (since the rest of the house is a renovation mess) while we slept for a 2nd consecutive night in the tent. That night they were calling for a hair warmer a 1*C (34*F), so another good night to test it. To mention, these are unseasonably low temps. Right now overnight we're more into the 10-12*C overnight for the next several days, so was good timing on the cool weather for anther test.

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We actually slept with the windows open as pictured Part was to test it's capacity, the other was to bring in cooler air. In theory, this would make the heater run constantly rather then cycle, so should make for a more even temperature. Friday night, I had set the temp just under half and it was working in cycles. Sometime in the early morning, I found it was getting a bit chilly in between cycles so I turned it up what I thought was just a bit, but it actually started to get a too warm, but by this point I decided to get up.
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During the evening, after the sun went down, as I was working on the wiring on the tailgate of the truck. I was under the awning and I had put the sides on. It was starting to get cold, so I turned on the heater since it's *right there* and directed the heat to where I was working. It actually worked very nice locally, but has hoped that it would of warmed the awning area better. It was comfortable, but I'm sure the 2 halogen work lamps I had going contributed to the heat as well. What doesn't help is the hole under the tailgate from opening the access of the awning, as well, technically the awning needs to be shifted a good foot outward, so there's a large opening on the right side. I still need to work on rectifying that, making a way to extend the awning mounting base out from the trailer more when deploying (with sides), but tuck it in for travel. We'll be using this area as a rest area and a place to prep food for the group while we're working on the haunted house, so I'll see if I can find a solution for this. The current idea is 2-3 scissor jacks.
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Saturday going to bed, I set the temperature just over half. I always preheat the tent on max to warm up the sheets and get any humidity out. This time I set the temperature to just over half. At this setting, she ran constant all night at a very comfortable temperature. What was interesting was in the morning, when the sun came out and it started to get warmer, you can tell the Wabasto was turning itself down. I kind of noticed since I have a hard time sleeping past 7am (I get up a 6 during the week). By around 8 she was barely cycling on, and I was up and out of bed before 8:30.
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So far I'm still extremely happy with it, to be able to sleep in literally freezing weather and stay warm and toasty, and Wabasto not even working hard as far as I know, and I'm grabbing fresh outside air and not recycling preheated air either yet, which is another detail I need to figure out, when the time comes and I find the temperature limit in it's current configuration. Hoping to get some -5*C or below for the next test. As next, we'll be setting it up and doing some urban camping on site for working on the haunted house this coming Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend, which is forecasted to be between 11 and 14*C during the nights over the weekend.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Same as always, busy as always, but managed to squeeze in a few things, but mostly necessary to the long weekend that was coming.
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First I finished up my front receiver. This came in handy and made loading up the passageways doable as one person. Even as 3 (with the girlfriend and her cousin) helping, it was still necessary, but at least I had them to help guide it while I winched them across the yard and to not get stuck on anything, or tear off the rain gutters off our house.

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Not a pretty trailer, not mine either, but it works!.

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The second thing I worked on was to rectify the issue with the awning being too "inwards" to properly put on the inside walls. The problem is that the awning would actually need to be mounted in a way that extrudes PAST the side of the vehicle, so the inside walls drop straight down. Because it's too much "inside", it takes up length and there's not enough to make it to where the joint where the outer and inner walls join together unless you cut the corner. Referencing this picture from 2 years ago:

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You can see the issue here. Aggrevated because of the rear tire carrier that was mounted at the time, but still

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Also because the awning it too "inwards", the access flap to the tailgate of the truck isn't centered, there's a large opening on the right side, and the opening stretches around the tailgate. You can get an idea from this reference picture from 2 years ago as well

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I have been brewing a solution for this since the get-go, but wasn't sure exactly now. I had planned to just get/make longer brackets, but I didn't like that idea, and to stick it out that much, I'm afraid it'll just be susceptible to damage. So I wanted to give it the ability to extent out when I need it, and tuck it back in when I don't. I only need to extend it for using the inside walls anyway. But whatever I do, it needs to be able to hold itself up as well. As much as I'd like something simple, I still need to be able to build it, easy to use, and doesn't become a headache and decide to jam up often. The idea that keeps coming back was to use scissor jacks. Oddly, they're not exactly cheap, and not something I wanted to spend as much as their worth for a trial, cause I have no idea if it'll work. I tried looking through a few scrap yards, but had a hard time to find 2-3 that were identical, and I wanted one that uses a hex head to drive it. I did managed to find a guy selling a bunch from his travel trailer, and picked up 3 for $50. The rest I used socket, swivels and extensions to make up the sections that would drive them in series. I did of course have to weld up an "output" shaft onto the first and second jack to drive the following one. I also have to modify (chop) the top of each to have them clear under the RTT. It seems to be a bit hard to see the system well in these pictures, but I still technically need to remove it to clean up the welds and paint them (was very limited on time for these) and drill a hole to put pins to lock the drive system in place so it doesn't accidentally pop out; at this point the drive system is only in my tension, which does a good job a confirming all is square, cause if it wasn't, they'd pop out. I deploy them using a 3/4 socket on a drill at the moment. So far it works well, and under some heavy rain they held up. I was concerned since they're not really designed for lateral forces. The awning did accumulate a lot of water because of the heavy rains we experienced over the weekend, and I need to see if they bent or just pivoted on the rack. I have yet to have time to check them and see about retightening the muffler clamps used to mount them

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I also worked on the shower setup; test version 3. I used the extendable legs I recovered from a few broken gazebos, welded up some loops to run cable through to hang the tarp to function as walls. It worked quite well for a very quickly done setup, and I need to finish it up with more eyelets, but I think I like how it works. And what was nice it was easily movable to re-open back up that space under the awning for the living area. Unfortunately I have no pics of this, but I will once I get those details taken care of...
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One thing I was disappointed in was the performance of my Martin hot water heater. A mix of it having a hard time heating up the water, and also a major lack of water pressure. I had to replace the shower head that came with it since the on-off water switch was broken, and picked up a low-flow replacement, but it was still barely coming out. The heating of the water may of been an issue with the 2xD batteries being old, so I replaced them the following day, but still seemed to be underperforming. I think the next step is to do with a proper L5 Eccotemp shower and a ShuFlo 1.0 GMP pump. It will also resolve the issue on how to mount it. I really like how everyone puts the Eccotemp in a Pelican case, and I really would like to have it permanently mounted as one less thing to manually setup each time. I couldn't find anything of a reasonable size to do the same thing with the Martin heater in the location I wanted. I think I'll be able to kill 3 birds with 1 stone going that route. As much as I'm tempted to do that route this year, it might have to wait until next season.
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As for the long weekend, it rained all weekend. We setup the trailer as a "Foodtrailer" to make up meals for volunteers working there around lunch and supper, as well as snacks.

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The weather wasn't cold, but oddly, we did find it a bit cool in the tent, maybe it was from the humidity, maybe cause we has the windows opened more. We turned it on before crawling into the tent, and I turned it on in the early morning to get the little chill out, but also to get rid of all the condensation. We also used it to warm up the awning section Saturday around supper time to get a bit of heat in and to help us dry out a bit. It seemed to work pretty good, but we also had the BBQ going, but having that right side now closed up because of the awning extension system may of helped as well to keep the heat in. As always, further testing is needed..

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Oh wow. I guess I wasn't as up to date on this as I thought I was. Time flies with the haunted house, taking it down, then the Christmas parade, then Christmas vacation and getting caught up from the craziness of the last few months, those months have flown by. Time to get caught up!
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The days leading up to the opening of the haunted house, I requested and gotten some special vacation days in regards to doing volunteer work for the haunted house. Because we tend to work late on it (say finishing around 11pm or later wasn't uncommon) and I wanted to get early starts, I used the trailer to camp on site for 3 of the 4 nights leading up to the 31st, including the opening on Saturday the 28th.

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I actually used my hot water and water tank to be able to take showers right there on site. The Webasto was used every night, no lie. So nice after passing many hours working in a cold and damp environment, to crawl into a nice warm, dry bed. The added benefit was that I could dry off my clothes and even my towel that I used from showering. In those conditions, it never would of dried otherwise. It got down to +1*C on the night of the 27th, and I was warm and comfortable, even sleeping with the windows open just a crack

One night however, we had some very high winds. We were very happy to have a solid, professionally installed tent to keep our haunted house safe, cause similar storms in the previous years, we'll say it tended to not fair to well, and we spend a lot of time trying to weatherproof our scenes being outside, exposed to whatever mother nature decides to throw at us; rain, snow, winds, and in any combination. Those winds were interesting because they would literally suck the heat out of the tent, even with all the windows closed. I'll have to see if closing all the flaps would help, or look into a cover similar to the Tepui WeatherHood, if not that one. I did put my covers over the heat exhaust which helped almost too much, cause would find it too hot. I could of turned down the heat, but was too stubborn and wanted to really see the capacity of the heater and the tent. Historical data lists that night wind speeds averaging around 35km/h for the entire night, and had peaked at 44km/h at 2am.
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Once the haunted house was a success with over 2500 people coming by. Once that was done, the trailer came home and I had parked it in the backyard with the intention of trying out the tent and the heater in colder weather. Sadly, it just never worked out. Come the weekend it ironically went up above 0, or we were too busy and had some activities that conflicted with those plans. I also had to get the yard cleaned up before winter hit, and before it got either too cold to work outside, or covered everything in ice and snow.
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And I lucked out, only a few days after I got the back yard sorted out (working by heat of a fire) and purchasing a snow blower, we got DUMPED by snow, which I found to be very abnormal for end of November, even for Québec, but have only lived here for several years. I used my newly acquired snow blower to make me a path and had to pack up the trailer and get it out of the back yard. The plan was to bring it to the mother-in-laws as I did last year, so I moved it to the road until I could get time to head that way, which is about just under an hour away.

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Free time? What's that? With no time for a break, it was time to get started on the Christmas parade float for the haunted house. The Xterra now only towing the trailer, but also with the large help (of them finally listening to me) and using almost all LED lights, was in charge of powering all the lights as well. We did have a generator as a backup, but the point was to eliminate the sound of a generator so that our music wouldn't get drowned out. The Xterra did a wonderful job, but needed a little help with a tie wrap around the stop for the throttle body to get my idle up just enough for the alternator to keep up. I love traditional throttle bodies! Part of the design of the float, I decided to jump ahead on my plans for the truck and order in a single-row light bar for the rear. I had to add some supports on my roof basket for a place to mount it. Although I'd say a good excuse to get more lights on the truck, this bar would light up the large 9ft Pierrot face that would be on the front of the float.

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And the float itself, with the truck decorated, and 100% Xterra-powered

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I'm not going to lie to say that me and my girlfriend did way more work on the float when we should of. I'm even the one who made the structure and started the form for the large face while 3 of them we're standing around trying to figure out what to do. I have no clue, I've never made a 9ft tall face out of wood and chicken wire, and never worked with chicken wire before either. These are perfect projects to learn on anyway... What was funny, is what I'm told by the person who was the "Sandman" leading our float, that people would recognise it just because they saw the yellow Xterra coming up. I really can't have anything other then a yellow Xterra from here on in it seems.
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With the craziness of 2017, the truck has been lacking in the TLC department. With the process of looking for a house, buying a house, the pre-move renovations, the move, the post-move renovations (which aren't done yet, but say 80% there), going down to Ontario on vacation and to get some of my stuff from my parents place, the haunted house constructions and take down, the Christmas parade float, those 10 months we're pretty insane. I was too busy and I needed the truck too much to be able to properly maintain her. I was looking around for a few months cause I saw this problem and with no end in sight, so I started looking for a cheap commuter, but something fun too. Long term, because it's cheaper and I really like my truck, I want to stick with the gen1 Xterra and in a few years or when I deem necessary, get a rust-free one and transfer my parts over in a few years, but the big issue coming up is my girlfriend's 2008 Avenger. While not a horrible car, always reinforces why I hate Chrysler products, and is sad on why a car that's almost 10 years old is on the verge of being sent to the scrappers. It's in her best interest that I try to salvage her car. While it's still reliable after doing a lot of work on it about 2 years ago, rust has spread pretty bad in the last few winters. The rockers are bad, the drivers side is pretty bad, as well as the rear fenders. While I'm no pro on body work, I know with time, I could do a good job to repair it, but it's a long job, and I would need to take her car off the road for a few weeks to cut, patch and paint her car. With this, I'll introduce the newest addition to the fleet, my 2011 Mazda2 GS Yozora Edition fully loaded and 75'000kms young. It's a manual 5-speed, and the girlfriend is doing quite well in learning stick. I just can't do auto, especially in suck a small, low powered car as that. I wouldn't call it underpowered, and it is very fun to drive, but I think my Xterra is ironically faster. The nice thing is that she pays for herself in my fuel savings using it as a daily driver instead of the truck. I'm looking forward to spring to get some stuff done on the Xterra. My garage isn't heated or insulated, and hitting regularly -20*C, it's a tad cold out.

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Funny enough, I need to learn that the Mazda2 isn't as tall as the truck, and is quite light that gives it issues with traction in deep snow, so I had to even winch my own car, with my own truck, in my own driveway. It makes me laugh.

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But we have been getting a lot of snow, but nothing the Xterra can't handle. I love it, just pop her in 4x4 and drive through anything.

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And well the trailer, she never made it to the mother-in-laws. I tucked her in my garage before leaving for Christmas and has been there since. I haven't had time to worry, and the way the time goes by, looks like spring will come fast anyway, and I do plan to take her out in March, or maybe February, to try to get some more cold temperature Webasto tests; the tests that I wanted to do back in fall.

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Since Christmas is done and over, I've been taking advantage of having free time (Yay!) to getting back to being social and hanging out with friends and family, while slowly getting back into finishing those renovations started in the summer. I've also been working on my Webasto installation video. Video I took during the install back in August...I'll have a part 2 of the functionality of the heater to follow, but before I do, I want to put out a french version of that video for my Quebec overlanding friends. I will admit, I have a hard time listing to myself recorded, and that part requires me to sit down and redub my video. Another reason why there's limited pictures of the Webasto installation. I want to think that in video format, it might be easier to explain and follow. Part of it as well was when I was looking for details about the function and installation of a Webasto, they were limited and didn't go into the detail that I wanted. Hopefully this helps out many people, and any feedback on the video, positive or negative, is greatly encouraged
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnKtN_rrkkU
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[VanIsle_Greg]

Looking good!

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

I've been feeling down the last few weeks, and the girlfriend having a rough week, wanted to get away. While March Break in Quebec is this week, I put my off holidays to the end of the month so that I can go back to Ontario for Easter. Besides, the girlfriend doesn't get any anyway, but a nice overnighter would do us some good. I was trying to think of a place where we could camp, but in March? Then I remembered about the defunct NORAD/RCAF radar station my friend had talked about. We checked out their website and they listed they have camping for all seasons. Also looking up their site, they had an evening going on for their Austrian luge and a fondue supper. So we called to reserve, and while they were technically full, they had no problem to accommodate 2 more people, and just wouldn't tell the boss. They had later told us they had a cancellation and one of their hosts counted themselves, so they had the place. So I connected the battery charger just to give #2 a last minute boost in case since we we're going to need it for the Webasto. Break the ice that was holding the garage door closed since I haven't opened it at all this winter and wake the trailer from her slumber.
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The Austrian luge was great fun. We had to lean right to turn left. It was a 2.3KM (x4) run with a bus to shuttle us back up. They had got a few members from a local 4x4 club to add additional lighting. They would make their way down to clear the path for the buses to come down and head back up. You can see them here going back up. The luge run on the right. This is the road we'll be taking back up to the top to what would be our camping spot for the night. Not knowing how well it was going to be, I put it in 4x4 Low to not have to worry or embarrass myself. She gladly made the snowy climb without a fuss.
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The little yellow triangle is where we camped. The location pin is the main building.

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I do really love having my lightbars. I don't care that they're cheap ones, they work good enough for me!
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We setup the RTT with the guides and friends that brought us to the top of the mountain, curious of our setup. It also wasn't snowing or technically foggy. We we're actually above the ceiling and in the clouds. On a clear night apparently we could see Quebec City really well.
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While we had brought wood for a fire, the evening did go longer then expected, and after exploring the old radar bunker, it was past midnight and figured we'd go to bed. We were allowed up there to sleep as long as we were back down before noon, so didn't want to risk overstaying our welcome.
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The next morning it was fairly clear and we could finally see was surrounded us. You can tell we're high being at almost level with the motor of the wind turbine generator behind us.
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And the old radar bunker we were camped beside. Sadly the dome is no longer there thanks to neglect by the previous owners after the station was decommissioned and sold for projects that never realised.
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And a top-down view from the 2nd story window of the bunker.
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From there, I heard someone yelling at me. There was a group of scouts (used to be one myself) that was coming up the hill on foot. He knew my home town and I took a few group photos for them, and they took some of my rig. I should be getting those pictures by email eventually. As they also explore the bunker, they were screaming and chanting. My girlfriend went inside to record the audio which could be very useful for the haunted house. Maybe we'll even setup a camp here as a group and record some video. It's pretty cool and creepy! (we recorded the interior as a video)
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You can see from far from up here. Apparently it's the highest point for a 100 mile (yes mile, not km) radius.
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Quebec City would be that way. And while it's clear, you should get a nice view at night of the city. Even in the morning, you can see the clouds aren't that much above us.
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But the mountain is still use for modern communications
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And a beautiful winter wonderland up here.
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And a few photos in front of the bunker before we leave.
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In the end, for a last minute idea, it turned to be a wonderful little trip. One of the reasons I love having a dedicated trailer for camping is that we can pretty much pin up and go. I did do a few quick pre-seasons checks just to make sure. To follow up on the Webasto, it again worked great. We ran it, and it ran constantly for over 10 hours straight; from past midnight to after 10:30am. Remember too that I'm running just a Canadian Tire Eliminator deep cycle battery (x2, but isolated), and nothing fancy yet like an Odessey, NorthStar or even an Optima. I wish I would of had a multimeter with me to of measured the voltage after it's use, or just install a voltmeter like I want to. I want to say it was running around 80-90% of it's max output. I don't think I would say output, as I would probably say more "capacity" since I'm sure it puts out a maximum safe temperature, and depends on how hard it has to work to maintain it. The air was hot enough that I couldn't hold my hand there for a minute, and there was no difference in performance if I set the temperature between half and max. I'm also heating directly the outside air and don't have a recirculation setup, yet. There was a point I found it a bit chilly in the middle of the night. Mind you, we we're using the summer sheets since we didn't have the extra one we would normally bring, including a military wool one that I have. I had no clue where they were and after asking the girlfriend 3-4 times where they were with no straight answer, I gave up. She apparently misunderstood me and thought I was talking about towels. The reason why I was a bit cold was that the girlfriend, on her side of the RTT, had a 2" opening on the full length of that window. It was fine at the start of the night, as the temps dropped (and maybe a bit more wind?), it became noticeable. I noticed it cause I had to go pee too. Once I closed that I/we were absolutely toasty again. And as I've said before, it's nice to retain your heat sleeping with heat as opposed to using just a cold weather sleeping bag, cause I could just went outside in my boots and underwear with no problem, then to crawl back into a warm tent and blankets. Also, it was nice that all our gear, including our coats, socks and boots, were also dry and warm come morning. What I think might happen heating with the Wabesto, or with any similar heater (Propex) is that we'll get to a point that even with the heat output may still be sufficient, the issue will be heat loss as the temperatures get lower as the tent has no real insulation. We did have all the side flaps open too, and as I've said before, I'm not running a not air recirculation tube yet either, but if I can get a test in around -10*C in, but at this point, I'm theorizing that under -10 or -15, it may not be sufficient without an additional layer, like the Tepui WeatherHood. Oddly, winter seems to be winding down earlier this year and might not see anything under -6 according to the 14 day and 30-day forecasts. Mind you, it hasn't been as cold as I've seen it in the past either, which explains the crazy amount of snow we got as well. Winter could be done soon, but if have a rainy spring, that would be less pleasant then snow.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Cool spot... and some great winter camping shots.

 

[Redeth005]

Holy crap I missed out alot over the last few months. lol
I read you are getting a Diff charging system! LUCKY!!! I had thought hard about using a stock toyota axle specifically for that reason but i didnt want the headache of the electric hydraulic brakes. Although i definitely like the idea a diff battery charger. that one should charge up batteries hella good! I'll have to rely on my one 100watt solar panel and small 12v charging wire off the 7 pole connector and hope it gets the job done.

Nice work on the Dimmer/ON/OFF switch. I'm glad i dont have to worry about that. CVT tents come with inside LEDs on their Summit Series tents.
By the way i had not thought about the beach mist at night time. Now i have a whole new purpose for my annex if i ever decide to go to a beach to camp. That is kinda hard around California unless you camp out at PISMO beach where the sand dunes are. And i sure as hell wont drive through that stuff with my heavy trailer lol And about that. I saw you got stuck in the sand. That is one thing i am terrified about. 2 things i absolutely need to fabricate for my trailer after seeing your build is a trailer tongue tire attachment. something with nice somewhat big rubber tires that wont get stuck in sand or soft dirt. And you just reminded me that i need to fab up some adjustable trailer jack mounts for when i disconnect the trailer. Up until now that the last 2 trips i have kept the truck attached to the trailer because i dont have anything to keep it from rolling away other then blocks on the sides of the tires. but i dont have anything to keep it stationary other then the one trailer jack. I gotta fab something up for the rear; preferably 2 on each side of the rear. Maybe add another jack on the right front to make the entire trailer level because when i use my one jack it does lean due to the jack being on the left part of the trailer tongue. I kinda like how do you built yours. I see they retract to put away; Are they removable as well?

 

[Redeth005]

Nice work on the Switch panel. I like the idea. I'm gonna be doing something very similar very soon. I just need to run all the wires to where the lights will be permanently mounted and gotta weld on some light tabs on the roof rack for the lights. It's gonna be a bit more work for me though because i gotta read up some more on the solar set up and how to properly wire up all the electrical stuff. But those lights are pretty damn bright. as you can see in these pix.








Here is more what it looks like in the pitch black with no street lights around.




ONLY DOWNFALL is that i wish i would have bought Amber lights. Since these lights are bright white they are gonna attract so many bugs. and amber lights wont be so bad. that was my mistake when i bought them.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Holy crap I missed out alot over the last few months. lol

I read you are getting a Diff charging system! LUCKY!!! I had thought hard about using a stock toyota axle specifically for that reason but i didnt want the headache of the electric hydraulic brakes. Although i definitely like the idea a diff battery charger. that one should charge up batteries hella good! I'll have to rely on my one 100watt solar panel and small 12v charging wire off the 7 pole connector and hope it gets the job done.

Hehe, I didn't realize you liked the idea that much. It was part of the initial design, and I had planned for the electric-hydraulic brakes from the get-go as well, and actually ordered the actuator this week; the last of the big pieces of the trailer project. The awning and Webasto being the other two. I'll get to solar eventually, but I want to take care of a few other things first. So far my reserve power has been mostly plenty adequate for the most part.

Nice work on the Dimmer/ON/OFF switch. I'm glad I don't have to worry about that. CVT tents come with inside LEDs on their Summit Series tents.

Hehe, ya. My tent is going on 10 years now, so we didn't have those fancy things back then.

By the way i had not thought about the beach mist at night time. Now i have a whole new purpose for my annex if i ever decide to go to a beach to camp. That is kinda hard around California unless you camp out at PISMO beach where the sand dunes are. And i sure as hell wont drive through that stuff with my heavy trailer lol And about that. I saw you got stuck in the sand. That is one thing i am terrified about.

Ya, I find it helps a lot just to cut down on mist and humidity from the outside, but it can keep it inside as well. Not pleasant if you've setup on top of wet ground. It then evaporates and accumulates on the ceiling, then drips down or I rub my hair on it. A bit frustrating sometimes, but makes sence.

2 things i absolutely need to fabricate for my trailer after seeing your build is a trailer tongue tire attachment. something with nice somewhat big rubber tires that wont get stuck in sand or soft dirt.

I need to replace mine as well. It did the job when I first got the trailer built, but since then it's gotten much heavier, especially with the tongue basket loaded with gear/wood. The XO looks like a nice unit, and I saw a few at the local trailer shop last week, but my issue with them is that they would be permanently fixed to the tongue, while mine I like to be able to remove it since it would get in the way if and when I need to jack-knife it on that side. So I'm a bit stuck on that, but my current one isn't too happy with me, nor is the tongue where it's attached.

And you just reminded me that i need to fab up some adjustable trailer jack mounts for when i disconnect the trailer. Up until now that the last 2 trips i have kept the truck attached to the trailer because i dont have anything to keep it from rolling away other then blocks on the sides of the tires. but i dont have anything to keep it stationary other then the one trailer jack. I gotta fab something up for the rear; preferably 2 on each side of the rear. Maybe add another jack on the right front to make the entire trailer level because when i use my one jack it does lean due to the jack being on the left part of the trailer tongue. I kinda like how do you built yours. are they removable or do they just fold down?

Ya, I made them for that reason, as well as the other big problem was the sway in the suspension that would cause the RTT to fold and unjoin at the split. I looked at a few options, and even bought a set of BAL C's, but they ended up being too large and bulky and in the end figured out a way to make my own making a hybrid version of ones that fold and extend. They're bolted in and not removable, but tuck in even with the frame and are not in the way at all. I have plans to make some for the rear and be integrated and hidden in the bumper, but just having the fronts have dealt with the side to side rocking/suspension flexing issue, so the rears haven't been a priority, but I do need to make something up to replace the jack stand that I use in case the trailer decides to flip back. I like them integrated cause I know they're always there, and I don't have to dedicate any storage space for them

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Nice work on the Switch panel. I like the idea. I'm gonna be doing something very similar very soon. I just need to run all the wires to where the lights will be permanently mounted and gotta weld on some light tabs on the roof rack for the lights. It's gonna be a bit more work for me though because i gotta read up some more on the solar set up and how to properly wire up all the electrical stuff. But those lights are pretty damn bright. as you can see in these pix.

NLY DOWNFALL is that i wish i would have bought Amber lights. Since these lights are bright white they are gonna attract so many bugs. and amber lights wont be so bad. that was my mistake when i bought them.

Thanks! For the moment I'm keeping things compact, which requires something custom, but I've also still have a lot of wiring left to do, and make a proper electric box and panel, when I figure out that detail. I've got the wires ran, but need to install LED's to light up inside the bed. I've also got some cheap rock lights. I bought them 2 years ago but never got a chance to install them. I seen other get and use then, but they seem a bit too cheap and I question their impermeability. Where did you end up getting yours?

And one thing to add. One of the guys in the Nissan community had been making up designs in his spare time. I asked him to do mine, and he was more then willing to, admitting he wanted to before I asked him.

If anyone wants any Frontrailer paraphernalia, you can check out his shop, and probably easily contact him to get him to make you stuff of your own.
https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/2536732-2003-nissan-xterra

 

[Titanpat57]

Bout time we got a 'like" button!


Happy Spring!

 

[Redeth005]

I think i replied to you on facebook for this question but ill reply again in case you missed it. I bought my rock lighroclights from a local offroad buddy of mine. Company is called All4OffRoad.

You can buy the lights here:
http://all4offroad.com/rock-lights.html

Although i do know that he does not ship out if the US or so it says on the website. Maybe if you were to contact him on Instagram. His user name is @All4OffRoad. Tell him you know Richard (Redeth005). I'm sure he wouldn't mind shipping out to you if you contacted him in person.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Bout time we got a 'like" button!

I guess they heard ya!

I think i replied to you on facebook for this question but ill reply again in case you missed it. I bought my rock lighroclights from a local offroad buddy of mine. Company is called All4OffRoad.

Although i do know that he does not ship out if the US or so it says on the website. Maybe if you were to contact him on Instagram. His user name is @All4OffRoad. Tell him you know Richard (Redeth005). I'm sure he wouldn't mind shipping out to you if you contacted him in person.

Perfect, thank you!

A few new things have arrived.

A great find thanks to my good friend Fred. A Xantrex 2000w pure sine wave inverter. I know it's been part of my plans for this trailer, but hasn't been a priority. I was thinking about the Canadian Tire 1000w model for the price (when it comes on sale) thinking that it'll be handy, but I don't want or need a large amount of AC power, nor want to include many systems that depend on it. I did want to go the pure sine wave route for it's efficiency, especially the trailer being more dependent on battery power and slower recharge capability. But $200 for a lightly used (about 6 months) Xantrex is a steal when they sell for about the C$600+ range. It's not the most robust version for cold under freezing and humidity, but I'll just be smarter on the installation. I don't see myself really needing this in the winter, and more for extra functionality in the summer, which will be why I'll be connected to the same battery as the Webasto. Besides, if I need something, I do have the 1500w modified sine wave in the Xterra that does that job just fine. To be honest, I have no clue when I will be installing it, and exactly where and how, but it's no rush, and I'll let it simmer and figure it out.

The piece I was most anxious to get was my Dexter 1000psi electric-hydraulic brake actuator. I know the trailer is illegally heavy for the truck without brakes. It does tow and brake fine, and I would just call it fine. This piece is the last of the "big 3" pieces, the more expensive parts of the trailer build. First being the awning, and the second being the Webasto. Ordered it from the USA and picked it up across the border. It cost me about half the price then buying it locally in Canada. It cost me about C$680 while everyone locally wants C$1100+, with tax puts it over C$1200. Amazon Canada they have it for C$999. Huge difference. I'll still need to get a brake controller, and I'll redo the entire brakes on the axle, including the cylinders since they've never been used in the last 3 years of my ownership, and the truck sat for a year prior to that, I'll do it some good to do a proper refresh so that it's not for nothing. I'll still need a brake controller, and that Redarc Tow-Pro Elite looks like the perfect option for use and install. I'd like winter to get the heck out of here ASAP so that I can pull the trailer into the back yard and spending some nice time outside in the sun and making up the braking system. I'd like to get this up and running for an overland meet in Quebec the weekend of 15-17 of June since it may have to do some real off-roading, depending on what they decide. I still have like 3 feet of snow in my back yard, urgh...