Double Expedition trailer build.

[rlgrace2011]

So progress has been slow since the last update. I will get some pictures up tomorrow. We went with the PFG on one of the trailers and it was a massive error. I ended up spending a week with 40grit sand paper sanding it all back down to bare wood. More pictures tomorrow, stay tuned!

 

[RagnarD]

Windows do look nice. Is there enough room to swing the jack up for travel? I put mine in a similar spot and regretted it. On follow up builds I put the jack on the A-frame.

 

[DanCooper]

They do look smaller once you hook them up to a tow vehicle. I love this thread! Keep building and posting pictures!

 

[rlgrace2011]

Windows do look nice. Is there enough room to swing the jack up for travel? I put mine in a similar spot and regretted it. On follow up builds I put the jack on the A-frame.

There isn't enough room to swing them up but they are removable on both. We went with the foot jack rather than the wheel for stability purposes but will be getting a wheel jack also to go under it while in the shop so its a little easier to move. Right now I just pick them up and move them but thats getting old fast and the ATVs are a bit cumbersome to deal with when they are both in the shop along with the boat.

 

[rlgrace2011]

They do look smaller once you hook them up to a tow vehicle. I love this thread! Keep building and posting pictures!

Thanks! I've made a fair deal of progress, some modifications and a major fix to our poor mans fiberglass problem. I will get some pictures posted tomorrow for sure!

 

[rlgrace2011]

So after hooking up the trailer to the jeep we decided that with the triangular front platform we were ok with shortening the tongue.



Here is a mock up of fuel cans and lockable storage... Really torn between building a railing to hold things such as firewood or using the lockable box. Since this picture my wife as agreed to the 4 gallon rotopax for the rear end (Yes like you probably are, I was shocked!)



I wanted to do running boards but chose not to as it would add more weight as well as make the trailer wider. We are already wider than we wanted but with three of us sleeping inside it seemed that wider might be more necessary.

 

[rlgrace2011]

Here are some pictures of the fenders for my parents trailer that I fabricated. I went with square because its what I had. For my trailer I ordered jeep style fenders from northern tool and equipment. I really like the square look and the heavy duty stability that these give. I will be modifying my northern tool fenders for added strength and the ability to stand on them.

I am going to most likely skin them with 26 ga plate steel and reinforce where its needed.













I think they turned out pretty good for just having been an idea in my head. To date the tape on the floor of our shop is the only real drawing of our trailer build. For these I wanted there to be enough room under the fender to step to 33 or 35 from our current 31s.

 

[rlgrace2011]

After seeing the nose down look of the trailers we knew we had to do something with the jeeps to fix that. Rather than go with a 1 inch drop receiver hitch we decided to lift both jeeps with Teraflex 2.5 inch suspension lifts, with coils and shocks.



Turned out great!

 

[rlgrace2011]

I spent a few hours getting the back door cut and the seal put in. I was very unhappy with how this turned out and later changed it as you will see.



Our original idea was to go with canvas fiberglassing also known as Poor Mans Fiberglassing (PFG). I wanted something organic for the glue to adhere to as well as thin enough that I wouldn't need to use a whole lot of paint to saturate it. As you can tell this stuff looked great. We used garden weed fabric.





But it didn't do so well in the end and ended up costing me some serious headache...

 

[rlgrace2011]

Three days of peeling, scraping, and sanding in conjunction with the heat gun and I'm finally getting all that crap off. We decided to go with monstaliner instead. It is UV protectant, fully sealed, and really doesn't weigh more than the mass quantity of paint that it takes to PFG.

 

[DanCooper]

I think you will really be happy with the Monstaliner. Because I'm a freak about water damage, I used Rot Doctor to treat the bare plywood. However, many, many folks put the Monstaliner directly on the plywood. It is a pain (a major pain) to apply it in the heat, so I ould recommend doing it earlier in the day when it is cooler.

 

[rlgrace2011]

Furring the inside walls to accept the paneling. Of course they don't make actual 1 inch furring so we had to take and rip them to size.



rear galley painted and looking much more finished.




Drop wall and foot well painted with the same exterior paint that should help to resist mold.

 

[rlgrace2011]

Painted ceilings.


Went with a 48 by 32 rear door. I feel like this gives a more finished look as well as ensures that it will be water tight as far as the seal.

 

[rlgrace2011]

I think you will really be happy with the Monstaliner. Because I'm a freak about water damage, I used Rot Doctor to treat the bare plywood. However, many, many folks put the Monstaliner directly on the plywood. It is a pain (a major pain) to apply it in the heat, so I ould recommend doing it earlier in the day when it is cooler.

I was told by monstaliner that it ply needs to be water sealed, epoxy primed and then applied. I have been searching with nothing to show on if I can just prime it with regular primer. Epoxy primer is not readily available but i wanna make sure that it is done right. Any thoughts on that?

 

[DanCooper]

I was told by monstaliner that it ply needs to be water sealed, epoxy primed and then applied. I have been searching with nothing to show on if I can just prime it with regular primer. Epoxy primer is not readily available but i wanna make sure that it is done right. Any thoughts on that?

To really get it water sealed, the CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealant) from http://www.rotdoctor.com/products/cpes.html seems to be the gold standard. They ship really fast. I called them, gave them a credit card number, and they shipped it the same day overnight. To Texas might take a little longer, but you could have it by the weekend. I honestly did not do any searching for any other epoxy sealant and primer, but I imagine the West System epoxies will seal the wood for you and support the Monstaliner. The CPES is thinner and the solvents carry the resins into the wood fibers, while with the other products, the resins are on the surface.

BTW, I have no connection with Rot Doctor or any other resin maker. I'm just an old retired guy.