R_Lefebvre
Expedition Leader
Well, after giving this much thought, I've set off on my new trailer build.
I'm need a large trailer to be able to take a family of 4 on long trips while being able to keep a minimum amount of stuff in the truck or on the roof of the truck. I want to be able to go for 7-14 days with many comforts needed by a young family. The trips may be on dirt roads, level 2 or maybe 3 trails, and even some trips to developed campgrounds. One of the requirements was reasonably quick setup at the campsite with no kicking rocks around, pounding wimpy pegs into rocky ground, etc. which is why the ground tent is getting nixed. I had a pretty nice ground camping setup with a large tent, screenhouse, folding kitchen, etc but it takes over an hour to set up, and even longer to pack down which is just too long when we often tend to move camp every day. It was manageable before the kids arrived, but now we need to tend to the little ones.
In addition to carrying a lot of camping supplies, water, etc, the trailer has to be able to carry at least 1 full size dirtbike as well as 1 mini. Maybe even more in the future. This was because I will use the trailer while attending enduro races and trail rides. I also wanted to have a portable potti on board so that we can camp outside of campgrounds without having to dig a hole...
These requirements, save for the ability to do "trails" steered me in the direction of one of the off-road tent trailers. I had my heart set on a Starcraft 11RT for sale here locally at a pretty good price, but my wife just won't budge on it with the economy being as it is.
So, I've undertaken to build my own expedition camping trailer. I'll try to post my sketches soon, but basically it's going to look a lot like a Conqueror Conquest. The requirements to carry the motorcycles will mean that is will not have a triangular tongue box. This area on the tongue will be empty so that rails can be bolted onto which the bikes can be stowed. If I find it necessary, I may make a tongue box that can be swapped on when not carrying the bikes.
Since I don't have this space available, I did want to make the main body have as much room as possible. As such, I designed the main body to be 90" long. This is also a benefit because it would be able to fit the largest of RTT's available. I did want to go with an Eezi-Awn 2200, but concerns for the weight, and also the fact that with a mimimum roof height of 2m would mean the entire trailer would be over 7 feet tall, which means it would not fit in my garage. No go. So, I will be planning to use one of the trailer tents. I'm still not decided on the Eezi-Awn Globetrotter, or the MyWay TrailerTent. I like the large awning on the MyWay, but I worry that it will be a bother to always have to deploy it, whether needed or not. Regardless, the 90" body length will easily fit these tents.
Now, the problem with these tents is that they are not large enough for a family of 4. I have solved that problem by planning to have one of the fold down sides of the trailer will become a bed for the kids. I think it's an ingenious solution to a problem that many of us have. It has the side benefit of keeping the kids closer to the ground if you're worried about them falling. Basically, that fold down door will hold level, and I will have a sleeping space probably 48x48 which should suit the kids well for many years. I may go 48x60, I haven't finished that detail yet. This space will be lost to permanent storage, but I will store some items in the space which will be removed when preparing the bed. Maybe plastic boxes with clothes, toys, etc. This space will be on the same side of the trailer as the tent deploys, so that they will be sheltered by the lower tent body, and also it will be available to quickly peek over from our bed above. I intend to have an internal release on the door, just in case of any mishaps, but also in case the kids needed to shelter inside the body of the trailer from a snooping bear. I also really like this aspect of the design, the kids will be protected by a hard shell.
Also on the same side and enclosed by the lower tent will be a porta potty for midnight bathroom breaks. This maybe be on a pull out slide, or a flip down shelf. Either way I'll create some kind of privacy screen inside the tent.
Now, trying to gain as much space inside the trailer led me to trying to keep the floor as low as possible. I wanted ground clearance comparable to my Disco. I've got about 16" under the rockers, I see no need for more than that on the trailer. However, a leaf spring suspension just took up too much space, and I also had trouble sourcing an axle of the correct width. Things like that can be difficult around here. I also wanted to match the bolt spacing of my Disco, but that would have required many custom trailer parts which would mean I would gain the benefit of wheel interchangeability, but lose the easy availability of new trailer wheels, hubs, brakes, etc... So I stuck with a standard 5x4.5" bolt spacing. I decided to give a shot to the Torflex axles, since I love the ride on one of my other trailers, and they were available in a 3500lb rating with independent sides so that I can space them as required to match the track width of the truck. I will attempt to solve the durability concerns with a combination of shock absorbers (ala NTSQD) and bumpstops on the frame to limit upward travel. The Torflex axles also allow the trailer floor to be dropped about 4" relative to leaf springs. I plan to run something like 30x9.5R15 Cooper Discoverer S/T tires which are the same type but different size as the truck. Lastly, the trailer will have 3500lb electric drum brakes.
The frame is going to be mainly 4x2x.125 steel tubing for the lower deck. Maybe overkill, but steel is cheap and I'd rather have the extra weight, especially with the expected tongue weight. The upper box will mostly be framed with 2x2x.125. Their will be a triangular tongue, but with an extensible bar which will mainly be used when the bikes are on the tongue. Will have a screw jack on the tongue with a sand pad which will swivel out of the way, and two screw jacks with sand pads which will be welded to the rear corners.
The right side of the trailer will contain the kitchen area, with a flip down door which will servce as a countertop, storage area for a standard camping stove, and a pull out cooler/freezer on the forward section. Several 10's of gallons of on-board water, and I want to try and rig up some kind of neato sink arrangement on a pull out. The sink could be build into a metal box that is insulated to help keep the water warm longer, with a drain and hose coming out the bottom.
There's a couple things I still have to sort out:
1) Sheet metal on the top of the frame or the bottom of the frame? The former makes it better for storage, the latter makes it better for sliding over things on the trail.
2) The sheetmetal sides will come down to just shy of the outer edge of the tires. I want some kind of nice rubber fender extension or fender flare, but I don't know what or how.
3) Haven't figured out the spare tire storage yet. I'd like to put it on the back door, but then I need HD hinges and door frame.
4) Tail Light location. Can't figure out if I want recessed ones in the bumper, or standout boxed units above that. I also like the idea of a CHMSL even though it's not necessary on a trailer.
That's all I can think of to write for now. I've already picked up my trailer wheels, suspension, a standard coupler for road use, some boxed LED submersible tail lights I'm not sure I'm keeping, wheels and the jacks. Once I finish sketching in AutoCad I'll be picking up the steel and hopefully get welding this weekend.
I'm need a large trailer to be able to take a family of 4 on long trips while being able to keep a minimum amount of stuff in the truck or on the roof of the truck. I want to be able to go for 7-14 days with many comforts needed by a young family. The trips may be on dirt roads, level 2 or maybe 3 trails, and even some trips to developed campgrounds. One of the requirements was reasonably quick setup at the campsite with no kicking rocks around, pounding wimpy pegs into rocky ground, etc. which is why the ground tent is getting nixed. I had a pretty nice ground camping setup with a large tent, screenhouse, folding kitchen, etc but it takes over an hour to set up, and even longer to pack down which is just too long when we often tend to move camp every day. It was manageable before the kids arrived, but now we need to tend to the little ones.
In addition to carrying a lot of camping supplies, water, etc, the trailer has to be able to carry at least 1 full size dirtbike as well as 1 mini. Maybe even more in the future. This was because I will use the trailer while attending enduro races and trail rides. I also wanted to have a portable potti on board so that we can camp outside of campgrounds without having to dig a hole...
These requirements, save for the ability to do "trails" steered me in the direction of one of the off-road tent trailers. I had my heart set on a Starcraft 11RT for sale here locally at a pretty good price, but my wife just won't budge on it with the economy being as it is.
So, I've undertaken to build my own expedition camping trailer. I'll try to post my sketches soon, but basically it's going to look a lot like a Conqueror Conquest. The requirements to carry the motorcycles will mean that is will not have a triangular tongue box. This area on the tongue will be empty so that rails can be bolted onto which the bikes can be stowed. If I find it necessary, I may make a tongue box that can be swapped on when not carrying the bikes.
Since I don't have this space available, I did want to make the main body have as much room as possible. As such, I designed the main body to be 90" long. This is also a benefit because it would be able to fit the largest of RTT's available. I did want to go with an Eezi-Awn 2200, but concerns for the weight, and also the fact that with a mimimum roof height of 2m would mean the entire trailer would be over 7 feet tall, which means it would not fit in my garage. No go. So, I will be planning to use one of the trailer tents. I'm still not decided on the Eezi-Awn Globetrotter, or the MyWay TrailerTent. I like the large awning on the MyWay, but I worry that it will be a bother to always have to deploy it, whether needed or not. Regardless, the 90" body length will easily fit these tents.
Now, the problem with these tents is that they are not large enough for a family of 4. I have solved that problem by planning to have one of the fold down sides of the trailer will become a bed for the kids. I think it's an ingenious solution to a problem that many of us have. It has the side benefit of keeping the kids closer to the ground if you're worried about them falling. Basically, that fold down door will hold level, and I will have a sleeping space probably 48x48 which should suit the kids well for many years. I may go 48x60, I haven't finished that detail yet. This space will be lost to permanent storage, but I will store some items in the space which will be removed when preparing the bed. Maybe plastic boxes with clothes, toys, etc. This space will be on the same side of the trailer as the tent deploys, so that they will be sheltered by the lower tent body, and also it will be available to quickly peek over from our bed above. I intend to have an internal release on the door, just in case of any mishaps, but also in case the kids needed to shelter inside the body of the trailer from a snooping bear. I also really like this aspect of the design, the kids will be protected by a hard shell.
Also on the same side and enclosed by the lower tent will be a porta potty for midnight bathroom breaks. This maybe be on a pull out slide, or a flip down shelf. Either way I'll create some kind of privacy screen inside the tent.
Now, trying to gain as much space inside the trailer led me to trying to keep the floor as low as possible. I wanted ground clearance comparable to my Disco. I've got about 16" under the rockers, I see no need for more than that on the trailer. However, a leaf spring suspension just took up too much space, and I also had trouble sourcing an axle of the correct width. Things like that can be difficult around here. I also wanted to match the bolt spacing of my Disco, but that would have required many custom trailer parts which would mean I would gain the benefit of wheel interchangeability, but lose the easy availability of new trailer wheels, hubs, brakes, etc... So I stuck with a standard 5x4.5" bolt spacing. I decided to give a shot to the Torflex axles, since I love the ride on one of my other trailers, and they were available in a 3500lb rating with independent sides so that I can space them as required to match the track width of the truck. I will attempt to solve the durability concerns with a combination of shock absorbers (ala NTSQD) and bumpstops on the frame to limit upward travel. The Torflex axles also allow the trailer floor to be dropped about 4" relative to leaf springs. I plan to run something like 30x9.5R15 Cooper Discoverer S/T tires which are the same type but different size as the truck. Lastly, the trailer will have 3500lb electric drum brakes.
The frame is going to be mainly 4x2x.125 steel tubing for the lower deck. Maybe overkill, but steel is cheap and I'd rather have the extra weight, especially with the expected tongue weight. The upper box will mostly be framed with 2x2x.125. Their will be a triangular tongue, but with an extensible bar which will mainly be used when the bikes are on the tongue. Will have a screw jack on the tongue with a sand pad which will swivel out of the way, and two screw jacks with sand pads which will be welded to the rear corners.
The right side of the trailer will contain the kitchen area, with a flip down door which will servce as a countertop, storage area for a standard camping stove, and a pull out cooler/freezer on the forward section. Several 10's of gallons of on-board water, and I want to try and rig up some kind of neato sink arrangement on a pull out. The sink could be build into a metal box that is insulated to help keep the water warm longer, with a drain and hose coming out the bottom.
There's a couple things I still have to sort out:
1) Sheet metal on the top of the frame or the bottom of the frame? The former makes it better for storage, the latter makes it better for sliding over things on the trail.
2) The sheetmetal sides will come down to just shy of the outer edge of the tires. I want some kind of nice rubber fender extension or fender flare, but I don't know what or how.
3) Haven't figured out the spare tire storage yet. I'd like to put it on the back door, but then I need HD hinges and door frame.
4) Tail Light location. Can't figure out if I want recessed ones in the bumper, or standout boxed units above that. I also like the idea of a CHMSL even though it's not necessary on a trailer.
That's all I can think of to write for now. I've already picked up my trailer wheels, suspension, a standard coupler for road use, some boxed LED submersible tail lights I'm not sure I'm keeping, wheels and the jacks. Once I finish sketching in AutoCad I'll be picking up the steel and hopefully get welding this weekend.
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