Base Camp Trailer ideas

[ALF]

It's finally time. After owning a Canadian M101 for the better part of 6 years I am finally ready to build her out as a base camp trailer. My son is now 7 and started cub scouts so we will be camping a lot. I wan't my trailer to contain all my camping needs for the trip and storage when we get home. We went on a quick over nighter last weekend to Cub World and jeez what a pain getting all the stuff located, loaded, deployed, taken down, reloaded, and unloaded. I was gone a little over 24 hours and probably spent 20% of my waking time loading, setting up or taking down.

So here are my ideas after many years of doodling, following others and head a lot of head scratching.

1. I wan't my RTT mounted at least 6.5' high. This does three things; first it allows maximum benefit of the RTT changing room (actually could be a secondary sleeping area), secondly gives more accessible room/storage underneath the RTT and lastly gives me a perfect mounting point for a canopy on the driver side as the RTT will fold out the passenger side. I know the center of gravity is going to be effected big time but this is a base camp trailer and not a hard core off road take me anywhere trailer. Dirt roads a few creek crossing is all she is going to see. Any thoughts on this CG issue.

2. I had hoops built a few years ago by Jim B of rock solid offroad http://solidrockoff-road.com/index.php The hoops are made of typcial roll bar DOM steel. I will have front and rear hoops connected to the trailer corners. A spreader bar will run horizontally and connect the two hoops. There will a "false" middle hoop that only ties into the spreader.

3. There will be an opaque lexan roof on top and custom sewn rollup cloth sides probably made out of sunbrella. Sides will snap or cinch down to the trailer.

4. Driver side between the hoops will be custom made cabinets 15" deep, 60" wide and 30" tall. These cab's will hold cookware, dry food, and other essentials. This cabinet space will be broken up as follows; two bottom cabs each 30x15 with drop down doors to make a work surface and two top cab's 30 x 15 with typical cabinet doors.

5. A 20" x 10" x 48" pullout will be built into the trailer on the driver side in front of fender. A box will be built on the outside of the trailer in front of the fender to accommodate 48" sliders. This will pull out will be perpendicular to the trailer side and have a three burner stove and wash tub. It will have double sliders one set of 48"ers to pull out the primary section (housing the cook top) and a second set of 30" sliders for holding the wash tub. I will plan for an attached fold down leg at the end of the primary pull out for support. The slider will be fully boxed/enclosed inside the trailer bed with sheet metal.

6. Rear of trailer will get a tailgate and one large slide out (48" sliders again) on the drivers side for a fridge/freeze and a storage box. This slide out will be 48" long, 21 inches wide and 18" high. The remaining 15" on the passenger side of the slide out will be left open for gear storage (chairs, tables, etc....)

7. Front of trailer gets a nose box for two batteries, inverter, and system controls.

8. A 20 gallon skinny rectangular water container will be mounted in front of the nose boxe up against the trailer body much like the AT trailers.

9. Trailer tongue will be extended 2' for better towing and backing.

10. Propane pancake tank on passenger side in front of fender.

11. Two Jerry Can holders on each rear corner.

12. 2x2 hitch receiver welded into rear cross member for bike carrier, etc...

13. 2x2 receiver tube welded to each corner of the trailer frame facing out to the sides. These will accept a standard crack down trailer jack with flat foot for stabilizing and leveling the trailer once parked.

She is going to be heavy but I am going to put disk hubs on the axles and also extend the wheels via different backspaced rims or adapters. My major concern is the how it will handle at highway speed given the height.

Okay long post but fire away and shoot holes in any of my ideas, add to them if you like or flame me I'm a big boy. No offenses taken.


Cheers,


ALF

 

[Titanpat57]

That's a great wish list...and a great plan...just a lot of weight fpr a smaller trailer to carry. I know exactly what you mean about set up time, that's what prompted me to go in the direction I did Closed top, "stuff" always ready to go.

I was going to go with a 2 battery system but found a 1000w generator for $230 bucks...and a hell of a lot lighter than the battery. Now I can charge the battery or run small goodies.

Either way sounds like a fun build...please post the progress :victory:

Pat

 

[ALF]

weight

The weight doesn't really bother me as much as the placement of the weight. These little trailers can handle a 1,000 pounds of payload on improved roads. I think I will probably be at 800-900 pounds fully loaded.

I can always make the cage shorter with out much trouble.

My plan is to get the cage mounted to the trailer and the RTT mounted to the cage then load a bunch of ballast weight in the trailer and take a drive. This will let me know if I have a problem before proceeding to the next step.

Once you start adding up all the component costs of the trailer you see why the commercial variations are so damn expensive. I will probably have $4k in mine before all is done and this will not include my labor.

Good thing is when you build your own you can do it in stages and not get $$ slammed all at once.

Keep it coming. I will be posting up some pics and drawings later.

Alf

 

[ALF]

Titan trailer

Pat,

I just checked out your build thread on mud and its very cool. Have you finished the new frame and front box. It is going to be very functional with the new nose configuration. You work fast.

I would assume that if you didn't have any top heavy issues when trailering my design should be okay. All the wood, windows, doors, etc.. in your trailer have to weigh more than my cage and sunbrella.

I like the long tongue (so does she :sombrero. I am going create a new triangulation on the front of mine 2" x4" .125 tube forming a new triangle that will be longer by about 2' from the original design. I will have tie-in's to the original frame along the way. At the termination point in the front I am going to integrate a 2" receiver tube. I will then make up a 2x2 tongue that will slide into the receiver. I can easily make different length tongues if necessary. It also serves as a theft deterrent as you can pull out the tongue and the thief has no way to hook up to the trailer. I think I saw this design on Mud in a discussion about trailer security.

Anyway like to hear more of your thoughts. PM me if you want to take it off board.

Alf

 

[Robert Bills]

Alf,

I built my Bantam T3-C as a "field kitchen" for personal use and for use by the adult leaders at my son's Boy Scout campouts. It might give you some ideas. Check the link in my signature.

 

[ntsqd]

The about to be mine TrailBlazer trailer had it's frame built from scratch with an extendable tongue feature. The extender has it's own receiver socket for interchangeable couplers and can be extended nearly 4 feet. At the moment it has only two pin holes in it, fully extended and fully retracted. In my time with it I've had the tongue in the extended position exactly once, when I was moving it around in the sand while camped on the Treeline at Sandlake, OR.

The frame also has a 2" socket receiver at the rear. It is one continuous piece of tubing all the way through the frame.

 

[ALF]

Long tongue dong

Exactly what I was thinking. The longer the tongue the greater the leverage and consequently decreasing tongue weight.

Also as the distance from the pivot point (i.e. the hitch) and the tires increases the responsiveness of the trailer decreases. Hence better tracking and easier backing up as the trailer repsonds slower. All Good.

ALF

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Sounds like your design spec is close to my own, only you're starting with a lighter weight trailer. My only concern is that the existing trailer won't handle as much weight as you're adding to it. Might be easier in the long run to start from scratch.

 

[ALF]

weight/scratch build

Scratch build is out of the question for me.

The frame construction is more than capable of handling the weight. The axle and leaf springs may be questionalbe above 1k in in weight. I have concluded from reading and talking to many individuals that these trailers were grossly underated. It's frame is short and not very wide so it is actually quite stout. It was designed to carry a payload of 500# across rugged terrain. All I'm asking it to due is run straight down the higway and pull across some loging roads.

I think the week link in the stock design is the spring eye and shackle attachement points when exposed to lateral force. The brackets look very weak and need attention especially due to excessive forces from a higher center of gravity. I will add boxing these points in which is very easy and will require minimal energy and expense.

Further , if the trailer sags upon my trial with loaded ballast weight I will look to upgrade the springs and perhaps the axle.

Keep shooting as this is good for the thinking helmet.


Cheers,


Kevin
:coffeedrink:

 

[Titanpat57]

Thanks Mr. Alf for the kind words...it was my first attempt and I've learned a lot from there.

As far as top heavy, not really a problem for me..but I'm not a real off roader like most of the guys here. My issues are with the tongue weight (21 gals. of water, loaded 55 qt. cooler, nose box w/ battery) which is around 350-400 lbs. That doesn't allow any room for anything else from an upgrade or improvement standpoint. The longer tongue has made it a pleasure (that's what she said :sombrero to tow, and I wouldn't have done it any different. Closing it in solid and adding windows, doors and insulation did add more weight, and all the gear fills the back up completely. For all intents and purposes that build is officially dead in the water, can't handle anymore weight...hence the new design.

As you described it was important to have the tent open over the back, and that has proved invaluable with the room add-on. (esp. when the Boss needs to climb down during the night and use the porta-potti inside) . I use the big Cabelas camp kitchen and that has served me well also. I keep all the supplies in containers and pull them out to set up camp...thought about cabinets but decided it was more convienent to have the supplies where there used and needed. I also carry a 10' x 10' EZ-up with net sides or solid panels...depending on the need.

The original plan was have sleeping room inside..but for anyone over 5'-8" it would be tight (better for 2 kids). The new design has 9' inside, so it'll be much better.

The new build has changed direction once again...lol. The new concept is based off the M116A2 generator trailer frame. It already has a hydraulic brake system, emergency hand brakes, weighs around 750 empty, and is rated for 3000lbs easy. It'll save me a ton of work building a new frame with axle, and give me plenty of trailer left to do the onboard air, insta-hot shower and even solar on the roof! I should be able to build the trailer box in the garage and lift it on in the spring (yea..I must be smoking something if I'm thinkin' the Mrs. is going to leave the car out...lol)

Rob did a great job on his build and he's got some awesome drop-foot jacks on the rear of his trailer (which I will be stealing that idea thank you very much!)

Here's the newest plan...not quite done yet

Keep the ideas rolling in..can't wait to see it come together!

 

[TxRubiRig]

RTT mount...

1st of all, same line of thought as me

2nd have you thought about being able to raise and lower the rtt...lowered for trailering and raised for camping...chech out my thread
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32014

(fyi, haven't completed it, so didn't post more details yet)




The rest of my plan is...covered kitchen on the tailgate, changing room on passenger side, and larger screened room on driver's
I'm just very slow, doesn't help living in a condo and not having a garage

 

[ntsqd]

Exactly what I was thinking. The longer the tongue the greater the leverage and consequently decreasing tongue weight.

Also as the distance from the pivot point (i.e. the hitch) and the tires increases the responsiveness of the trailer decreases. Hence better tracking and easier backing up as the trailer repsonds slower. All Good.

ALF

Except that it isn't needed with this trailer. In it's shortest setting it tows and backs up very well. Even when towing it with my 130" wheelbase Suburban backing it up is not too difficult.
I would likely include the feature in any future build of my own, but I would not expect to use it very often.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yep, I didn't need to use it even with 1 motorcycle mounted on my tongue. No problem turning, or with the load. Looks like I'll only need it if I have 2 bikes on the tongue.

 

[ntsqd]

The only time that I figured that I might make use of the feature was when I was contemplating putting a tray on the tongue for the XR. Seems that the GF's planned kitchen has preempted that space.....