Vorian
New member
Hi all,
I'm Mike, aka "Vorian", and I've been lurking on here for a while now. I do a lot of wheeling with my '06 Nissan Xterra with my wife and dogs and we do a decent amount of camping. My X is starting to get cramped when we go on trips since we're now up to 3 big dogs now so I've been very interested in Expedition Trailers to make things easier than setting up a tent and also allowing us to easily carry more cargo.
A little over a year ago I came across a great deal on an M101A2 trailer that I couldn't pass up so I snatched it up. Here it is the day I picked it up:
Doing some hauling duty:
So I've had this trailer now for just over a year and I'm about to start to use it for more than just hauling stuff so I figured it's time to start a build thread.
Once I got the trailer I started checking out lots of build threads to get ideas of what could accomplish. First thing I had to do though was replace the lights since they were busted. I also wanted an adjustable jack with a wheel to make it easier to move around. I put in simple trailer lights I got off of Amazon and also replaced all the wiring going to a box with a 7-pin plug. I was able to find a Seasense Trailer Jack 1500lb Big Wheel #50017571 to replace the landing leg.
So I had been looking at tent options.
I came across this somewhere and this is what I was originally thinking but there was a problem with this... there's no room for our dogs and even if it were bigger getting our 3 dogs in there would be very difficult. Our biggest dog is 97lbs and the lightest is 62lbs. Not gonna happen with a traditional RTT unless we have an annex room but then the RTT would have to be mounted pretty high up. My wife wasn't a fan of having to climb a lot of steps so it was time to find another option.
I found these beautiful trailer RTTs:
A company from Australia called 3 Dog Camping makes these but they are ridiculously expensive! I couldn't unsee these though so I started saving and reached out to the US distributor. Unfortunately they seem to have gone under. I have found other similar trailer RTTs out there but most of them require a trailer top that is a good 8" or so lower then my trailer so those weren't an option unless I find someone that can stitch on a canvas extension to allow for a taller trailer.
Then I came across a FB post by a member here selling his 3 Dog Camping 'Pup' trailer RTT for half the price of new. I immediately checked out his listing and sent him a PM. Within a few hours I sent him a deposit. Now I had a new problem... how to get the tent home. I didn't want to pay a crazy amount to have it shipped from Ohio so I figured I would just go pick it up. When he sent me the measurements of the crate he had it packed in I realized it couldn't just be dropped into the bed of my trailer. A coworker suggested I build a quick deck on top of my trailer using some 2x6s we have in our warehouse from receiving shipments. He said they would just be getting rid of them anyways so I picked them up, built a deck and went for a little drive (750 miles round trip) to get my tent!
Was building a deck on top of my trailer overkill??? Absolutely! :elkgrin: Of course the crate the tent was in was extreme overkill as well!
I'm Mike, aka "Vorian", and I've been lurking on here for a while now. I do a lot of wheeling with my '06 Nissan Xterra with my wife and dogs and we do a decent amount of camping. My X is starting to get cramped when we go on trips since we're now up to 3 big dogs now so I've been very interested in Expedition Trailers to make things easier than setting up a tent and also allowing us to easily carry more cargo.
A little over a year ago I came across a great deal on an M101A2 trailer that I couldn't pass up so I snatched it up. Here it is the day I picked it up:
Doing some hauling duty:
So I've had this trailer now for just over a year and I'm about to start to use it for more than just hauling stuff so I figured it's time to start a build thread.
Once I got the trailer I started checking out lots of build threads to get ideas of what could accomplish. First thing I had to do though was replace the lights since they were busted. I also wanted an adjustable jack with a wheel to make it easier to move around. I put in simple trailer lights I got off of Amazon and also replaced all the wiring going to a box with a 7-pin plug. I was able to find a Seasense Trailer Jack 1500lb Big Wheel #50017571 to replace the landing leg.
So I had been looking at tent options.
I came across this somewhere and this is what I was originally thinking but there was a problem with this... there's no room for our dogs and even if it were bigger getting our 3 dogs in there would be very difficult. Our biggest dog is 97lbs and the lightest is 62lbs. Not gonna happen with a traditional RTT unless we have an annex room but then the RTT would have to be mounted pretty high up. My wife wasn't a fan of having to climb a lot of steps so it was time to find another option.
I found these beautiful trailer RTTs:
A company from Australia called 3 Dog Camping makes these but they are ridiculously expensive! I couldn't unsee these though so I started saving and reached out to the US distributor. Unfortunately they seem to have gone under. I have found other similar trailer RTTs out there but most of them require a trailer top that is a good 8" or so lower then my trailer so those weren't an option unless I find someone that can stitch on a canvas extension to allow for a taller trailer.
Then I came across a FB post by a member here selling his 3 Dog Camping 'Pup' trailer RTT for half the price of new. I immediately checked out his listing and sent him a PM. Within a few hours I sent him a deposit. Now I had a new problem... how to get the tent home. I didn't want to pay a crazy amount to have it shipped from Ohio so I figured I would just go pick it up. When he sent me the measurements of the crate he had it packed in I realized it couldn't just be dropped into the bed of my trailer. A coworker suggested I build a quick deck on top of my trailer using some 2x6s we have in our warehouse from receiving shipments. He said they would just be getting rid of them anyways so I picked them up, built a deck and went for a little drive (750 miles round trip) to get my tent!
Was building a deck on top of my trailer overkill??? Absolutely! :elkgrin: Of course the crate the tent was in was extreme overkill as well!
