Craig's Offroad Teardrop Build

[Titanpat57]

Nice job on the build...really like the power center, that is awesome!

Safe travels!

 

[Rutdigger]

....I also added a second bank of 6 volt golf cart batteries. I had a lot of left over stuff from the previous car including battery terminals and some crazy power cables so i used um. Everything just barely fits with only about 1/2" on each side.

Nice job bro. How ya liking those batteries? I have the same ones in mine (only two at the moment). In series I am getting 214AH I think it was but I am having second thoughts on using them and switching to a sealed deep cycle battery. I am getting seepage around the water fill caps and I am NOT diggin that at all. With the trails that I will be going on I have reservations about how these things are gonna hold up with all the sloshing around etc. Not to mention they stink like heck when charging. 4 of these would give me 428 AH, which as you said will last you quit some time out on the trail, but I can get just about the same thing (slightly more) out of 4 deep cycle maintenance free batteries in parallel. I am trying to brain storm the benefits of using these VS the sealed. What are your thoughts? What have you experienced with these batts, good and bad??

 

[dusty122]

yep. you will probably get more hours out of 4 deep cycles. This was the cheaper option. at costco these were about 65 bucks each. it is a crazy amount of power though so its not worth it to most people. I have to turn the inverter all night everynight so that really kills the batteries. Still i will get about 4-5 days out of it. Thats about 32-40 hours of inverter time. if you reduce that its probably good for 3 weeks easily. I ran my arb on it for almost 2 months without plugging the trailer in.

 

[dusty122]

heres some more suspension pictures. It hauls great, tracks straight. never sways. The being able to lower the whole trailer so the kitchen is more user friendly is one of the best reasons to go with the air suspension.

 

[Sharpie]

What are you using to raise and lower the suspension? I read earlier that you had a Schrader valve, if so, are the bags tied together or do you fill them separate? Are the rancho shocks the adjustable ones? I can't tell if there is a bump stop or not. When the suspension is down what is the weight resting on? Thanks for the pics. Working on my suspension right now and am just wondering, thanks.

 

[dusty122]

im not sure if the ranchos are adjustable. I would say no but i havent looked that closely. The airbags have a hose coming out of them to a shrader valve for each bag individually. The original builder designed it that way. its solid, doesnt leak and you can fill the bags with a crappy 12v air compressor or even a bike pump. I went over the top only because I already had the parts from another project. I already owned a 12v compressor, 3 gallon tank and a bunch of 3/8" valves. There are some switches in the panel in the front of the trailer that I can control each side individually and a gauge in the front so i can see how my air is in each side. There is a bump stop to keep it from crushing the bag. I just need to crawl over there and take a better pic. I installed lockout valve on the scrader connector to isolate the aircompressor and valves. Its almost impossible to leak proof all that stuff so i just put those quick little valves on it so its not randomly lowering the trailer while im driving down the road

 

[Rutdigger]

yep. you will probably get more hours out of 4 deep cycles. This was the cheaper option. at costco these were about 65 bucks each. it is a crazy amount of power though so its not worth it to most people. I have to turn the inverter all night everynight so that really kills the batteries. Still i will get about 4-5 days out of it. Thats about 32-40 hours of inverter time. if you reduce that its probably good for 3 weeks easily. I ran my arb on it for almost 2 months without plugging the trailer in.

What about seepage? Are you getting any out from around your fill caps? 65 each that is a really good price!

 

[dusty122]

I havent noticed any and i check the water levels everytime i go out. The golf cart batteries do go through water pretty quickly so its exhausting somewhere. I havent seen stains or puddles anywhere.

 

[capnjackcanon]

Loving your build! I've thought about doing a teardrop before too, but i've got too many kids to be able to rock a tear drop.

 

[dusty122]

I designed a roof rack for the trailer and finally had it built. Its main purpose will be to hold 2 awnings. I have a hannibal awning on my jeep that is going to get moved to one side of the trailer. It has side walls so it will make a nice quick deploying private room. The other 3 sides is getting MEGA awning (bunduawn)

 

[FMF]

Any pics with the new awnings?

 

[dusty122]

Tested it out at Carpenteria state Beach this weekend. Had some pretty good winds and both awnings stood up well. I've see a mod for the bunduawn to attach poles which i may do if it got any windier. I've had the hannibal for a awhile and its great. Its nice to have it on the trailer though. Its great to have a private stand up room especially for campgrounds. The bunduawn is ridiculously giant and its awesome. Its super easy to deploy. putting it away isnt as easy as they show in the videos and the video honestly is pretty useless if you are trying to figure it out for the first time. I've gotten better but it isn't as easy as it appears on their website. The order of operations as shown on their site doesn't seem to work out and it seems theres a step missing. now that i know how the process works and that it doesn't pack exactly as tight as when it was packed its a ton easier. I will however find the bundutec people at overland expo and get an expert's guide on the best way to close it.

 

[FMF]

Where you ever conceded for the amount of presser that the awning places on the trailer in the wind? Is yours only bolted down with four bolts?

 

[dusty122]

not too concerned. The manufacturer for the bunduawn suggests mounting at 2 points no more than 18 inches from the ends. The roof rack is super solid. Its got cross bars and is bolted through the side of the trailer which is a total of 1.5" of solid plywood. I think the trailer would probably flip over before the connections to the rack or the trailer failed.

 

[MagicMtnDan]

I have a question about trailer construction (hope I'm not derailing the conversation about this great trailer)...

Any reason why the trailers aren't typically wider by constructing them over the fenders? Seems like the trailers that are inside the fenders could be wider. I know if they're built wider they'd weigh more but still I wonder...