Bruiser the Adventure Cargo Trailer

Adventurous

Adventurous

Explorer
Welcome to the build thread for Bruiser the adventure cargo trailer!

Back story: The wife and I have intentions of selling our house, taking the money, and hitting the road. The goal is to head up to Alaska and go as far north as possible, then make our way down the western seaboard, explore the southwest, then head east. Why a trailer? Well, we have 3 dogs and wanted the ability to drop it at a "base camp" then go off exploring in the truck. To this end, I wanted something as small and light as I could get, something large enough to stand up in, and something that was hard sided and weatherproof. The wife requested an indoor bathroom with a separate shower and toilet area. Our first go at the matter looked like this...

IMG_2484 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

...a 20' Fleetwood Wilderness dual axle travel trailer. It had a dry weight of ~3,200 lbs and took about 4 months to tear the inside apart, replace the rotten floor joists, studs, sub-floor, and then put that all back together. We took it out for it's maiden voyage last July on a road trip with the in-laws and I hated every second of it. HATED IT. It was big, cumbersome, heavy, and plain sucked to tow over the high CO mountain passes. So without having ever spent a night in, it we sold it.

We mulled over all of the options, a-frames, other travel trailers, pop-ups, a flippac, a 4-wheel camper, but none provided the space we needed within our budget and at a weight I thought was reasonable. To that end, I found myself thinking that building a trailer might end up being the only way to get what I wanted. Enter Bruiser the Adventure Trailer.

We purchased from Colorado Trailers (https://www.coloradotrailersinc.com) in Castle Rock, CO. It started life as a 6x12' Cargo Craft cargo trailer that we special ordered and upgraded with the following:

Off road package (32" mud terrains, Dexter independent torsion axles)
Black out package
Insulated walls, ceiling, and floor
Black/Blue exterior
Removable front coupler
Spare tire
6'6" interior height
2 side windows
RV screen door in the rear
Driver's side ladder

We placed the order in October 2017 and received the trailer in December 2017. Tada!

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Got it all hitched up and dragged it the 50 miles home. It weighs ~1,300 as configured so towing it was, other than the abysmal gas mileage, a relative pleasure. As our intended departure date is in June, the build begins almost immediately.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr
 
S

SoDakSooner

Adventurer
They had one of those in Tulsa a few months ago. Looked really cool. Good luck. Looking forward to watching it progress.
 
Adventurous

Adventurous

Explorer
A few shots of the interior before the disassembly phase begins. I'll be taking it down to the frame to weld in reinforcements in target areas to accommodate the exterior accessories as well as the interior cabinetry. I'll also take the opportunity to begin running wiring to accessories. The trailer will not have huge electrical needs, the fridge, a water pump (maybe), LED interior and exterior lights, and a power inverter to support a toaster oven or electric tea kettle (wife's demands).

DSC_3822 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Tape is laying out the floor plan, an official drawing shall follow.

DSC_3824 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

There is a single roof vent at the moment. This shall get replaced with a Fantastic Fan to help improve the airflow in/out.

DSC_3825 by Tim Souza, on Flickr
 
R

Roc8man

New member
Since you only have the small rear door for people access and no ramp door for toy like cargo, are you planning on taking any toys? If so, how? A dirt bike would fit but you could also just put a hitch on the rear with a dirt bike rack.

Also, I would expect the metal interior walls to be cold even with the insulation. The metal frame will transmit cold from the outside walls, into the metal framing and then into the interior. Even with 3/8" wood in my interior, I can see a difference in temperature using a thermal camera so with metal it will be very noticeable. You may want to consider coating it or swapping it for wood (which would also make it easier mount outlets and similar in the wall items).

Great start with your choice! Let me know when you're done with it as I'm local and would love to see it.

Best of luck,
Dave
 
Adventurous

Adventurous

Explorer
Roc8man said:
Since you only have the small rear door for people access and no ramp door for toy like cargo, are you planning on taking any toys? If so, how? A dirt bike would fit but you could also just put a hitch on the rear with a dirt bike rack.

Also, I would expect the metal interior walls to be cold even with the insulation. The metal frame will transmit cold from the outside walls, into the metal framing and then into the interior. Even with 3/8" wood in my interior, I can see a difference in temperature using a thermal camera so with metal it will be very noticeable. You may want to consider coating it or swapping it for wood (which would also make it easier mount outlets and similar in the wall items).

Great start with your choice! Let me know when you're done with it as I'm local and would love to see it.

Best of luck,
Dave
Click to expand...

Hey Dave!

Thanks for the feedback. As for toys, I am a mountain biker first and foremost, so as long as I can toss my bike in/on the truck I will be a happy camper. No dirt bikes/quads/utvs/rzrs in my future, so the single door won't prove much of a detractor, in fact, we asked for that door alone as this is intended to be small, lightweight camper. When shopping I found that was what was missing from the camper spectrum, something that came in under 2K lbs, wasn't hugely expensive, and was well built. I'm hoping that when I'm done it'll be able to check all of those boxes.

At the moment, the cross section of the trailer wall looks like this from inside to out: aluminum skin -> 3/8" plywood -> 1" foam -> aluminum skin. You are right that the cold will transmit, but the best I can hope for is to make sure the insulation has full coverage and any air gaps are filled with expandable foam. At least that's my plan at the moment, we shall see how that morphs as I progress.

Mind sharing a few pics of yours? I'm most curious about the heater situation, I keep thinking one of those propane wall mount heaters but I'm not sold on that solution at the moment. I'd love to do a Propex, but until the money tree blossoms that isn't happening either. Anyway, I keep looking around for inspiration but just keep stumbling on teardrops, "expo" style trailers, or RVs. Oddly enough the best ideas I'm getting are from Sportsmobiles and vans.
 
Hummelator

Hummelator

Adventurer
This is pretty cool. I didn't know there were any factory made offroad cargo trailers.
Do you know the R-value of the insulated walls?
 
southpier

southpier

Expedition Leader
regardless of interior panel choice, maybe isolate the framing to create a thermal bridge barrier. I think even a dyna-mat strip would be helpful. but agree the wood interior would be nice & very practical from a construction and end use standpoint.. 6mm should work fine. nice tow rig, too.
 
Adventurous

Adventurous

Explorer
Hummelator said:
This is pretty cool. I didn't know there were any factory made offroad cargo trailers.
Do you know the R-value of the insulated walls?
Click to expand...

Colorado Trailers was the only place I saw that offers them. There are a whole suite of options available if you are actually interested and Julie has a nearly unlimited well of patience, she answered questions promptly over the course of several months through design changes. Highly recommended.

As far as the insulation, it is 1" hard foam and has no facing so I can't say definitively, but most insulation in that range seems to be between R-4 & R-6. Not great, but I guess I can only expect so much when limited space is available.

southpier said:
regardless of interior panel choice, maybe isolate the framing to create a thermal bridge barrier. I think even a dyna-mat strip would be helpful. but agree the wood interior would be nice & very practical from a construction and end use standpoint.. 6mm should work fine. nice tow rig, too.
Click to expand...

The thought already crossed my mind and trust me, I wish I had the time and money to go down that road and build it to my lofty standards. Sadly I do not, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's not too bad and that a propane heater can keep the relatively small space adequately heated.

If I had my druthers, I would probably tuck something like this behind all of the walls: https://www.homedepot.com/p/SilentS...tic-Insulated-Underlayment-TQ250B35/205309965

The aluminum over wood interior was also a conscious decision as our dogs can be messy. I can already see a muddy tail painting it all brown in short order. The aluminum was low maintenance and should blend in with the rest of the build plan nicely.
 
Scott B.

Scott B.

SE Expedition Society
I wouldn't worry too much about adding extra insulation.

When we sleep in our teardrop, we keep the door windows and roof vent open for ventilation. If not, we could suffocate. I think you will need to do the same.

We sleep under several blankets, and stay warm even during cold winter nights.

To me, the biggest advantage to a "hard-sided tent" type sleeping solution is the wind blocking. You can stay reasonably warm in the cold as long the wind isn't constantly blowing your heat away.
 
Rumblefish_Pro

Rumblefish_Pro

Observer
Sweet trailer, I have one of their 5x10s. I have not built it out yet, trying to figure out how to put a folding platform in there for my Futon mattress, but its nice and clean. It tows nicely behind my JK and with my WK2 you hardly notice it back there.
 
SWITAWI

SWITAWI

Doesn't Get Out Enough
R

Roc8man

New member
Adventurous said:
Hey Dave!

Thanks for the feedback. As for toys, I am a mountain biker first and foremost, so as long as I can toss my bike in/on the truck I will be a happy camper. No dirt bikes/quads/utvs/rzrs in my future, so the single door won't prove much of a detractor, in fact, we asked for that door alone as this is intended to be small, lightweight camper. When shopping I found that was what was missing from the camper spectrum, something that came in under 2K lbs, wasn't hugely expensive, and was well built. I'm hoping that when I'm done it'll be able to check all of those boxes.

At the moment, the cross section of the trailer wall looks like this from inside to out: aluminum skin -> 3/8" plywood -> 1" foam -> aluminum skin. You are right that the cold will transmit, but the best I can hope for is to make sure the insulation has full coverage and any air gaps are filled with expandable foam. At least that's my plan at the moment, we shall see how that morphs as I progress.

Mind sharing a few pics of yours? I'm most curious about the heater situation, I keep thinking one of those propane wall mount heaters but I'm not sold on that solution at the moment. I'd love to do a Propex, but until the money tree blossoms that isn't happening either. Anyway, I keep looking around for inspiration but just keep stumbling on teardrops, "expo" style trailers, or RVs. Oddly enough the best ideas I'm getting are from Sportsmobiles and vans.
Click to expand...

Mine is still in work as well but here are some pictures from how far it is as of Sept. I haven't had much time since to work on it and the weather hasn't helped either. Regardless I was able to use it for archery season with my buddy. We use a way too large wall tent stove to heat it. First time we loaded it about half full and it cooked us right out of the trailer and we sat outside with everything open. The insulation helps a ton so you won't need much to heat it. I used 1.5" of R9 Poly-Iso and then the 3/8 wood on top. I recently added some ceiling panels to cover the insulation and have LED lights and 4 speakers. I also put in the two windows and have a third to add near the front by the kitchen counter once it's in. It's better to see it in person but it's not done yet so not really worth more than the pics. With this setup, I can bring two ATV's and a dirt bike with me, then unload them and set up the cots. Plenty of ground clearance with the full size truck tires moved to under the body to keep the track width the same as my Jeep. When done or close I'll do a write up as well.

Dave
 

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02rangeredge

Adventurer
never seen an enclosed trailer with a single man door as the only rear door, i may have overlooked it but is it custom ordered?
 
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