Elmo's New Toy Hauler Build

[elmo_4_vt]

The "Toad's" butt.

Everything was dry enough to install. And after mounting the tire once, pulling it off to caulk the edges, and putting it back on, I have to say it's not that bad. Not sure if I'm completely happy with the spacing/non-symmetrical aspect of it, but with the size of the tire and the license plate, I didn't have too many other options. I think it will work pretty well though. Everything seems really solid. After next weekend I can hook up the propane line out of black pipe and sort the rest of the propane and water system.



Don

 

[TheThom]

Nice!

 

[loren85022]

Looking forward to a photo with doors open.

 

[elmo_4_vt]

Looking forward to a photo with doors open.

Do you mean to see the clearances of the tire against the hitch? I have that... Hope that is what you meant, because I actually I don't think I have an updated picture of the inside. Though it hasn't change much since the last pictures I put up from last year. Finishing off the inside got pushed down the priority list by the kitchen, and that ended up taking a lot more time than I had anticipated. All I really have there is putting the 1/4" veneer on the walls (just 3/8" BC plywood now), and putting the rest of the cabinet faces and doors together. Shouldn't take more than a few hours since all the material is sitting in the garage, but we'll see. It'll get done, but it doesn't bother me much not being done. Doesn't change how it works.

If you mean the clearance of the tire to hitch, this picture of it looks a little closer than it is... I have about 1.5" of clearance between the tire and the end of the hitch. The gate takes more to lift now, but it's still not that bad. Probably only about 30-40lbs of force at the toughest spot, which is about 15-45 degrees above horizontal. Still lifts up easy from all the way down, and once you pass the 45 degree mark, it finishes by itself, though just barely.




Don

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[BIGGUY]

Very nice. I really like how you did your kitchen setup.

 

[climbingxj]

I love the slide out kitchen that folds out, what a great idea!

 

[DaGoof]

That kitchen set up is great! The trailer pretty good looking too.

 

[Jeff Wanamog]

Yes, this is very interesting. Great idea. How is the box that the kitchen slides into incorporated into your interior?
Jeff

 

[loren85022]

Elmo, you might experiment with the door being able to drop down to a horizontal level, with two posts. Makes a nice little deck. Especially with some like an Ez-awning above.


Sent from my iToaster

 

[elmo_4_vt]

Elmo, you might experiment with the door being able to drop down to a horizontal level, with two posts. Makes a nice little deck. Especially with some like an Ez-awning above.

I am certainly going to try and do that, though I'd like to make it more of a bedroom for my son than a "porch". If you look on the first page, there is a cargo trailer that used to offer that very setup. I haven't quite figured out how to mount and secure the tent material, but I don't think it would be too hard. Hopefully I can just use a channel that some people use for exterior awnings, and put it on the inside frame of the trailer. For the "posts" going to the ground, I was just going to use something like what Adventure trailers uses to stabilize the rear of their trailers. Now I just need to get time to complete it and my wife to sew it up.

Yes, this is very interesting. Great idea. How is the box that the kitchen slides into incorporated into your interior?
Jeff

Thanks Jeff... In the picture below, you can see how the space under the bed doesn't go all the way back. I made the space under the bed just long enough to fit my motorcycle in, then blocked off the rest for the kitchen to slide into. This is before the panels at the floor were finished off, and with the bed tilted up for the cycle:




And the opening looking in without the kitchen:




This one is from earlier in construction and shows the opening and cabinet frames pretty well:

 

[Darwin]

For some reason I am not able to see any the pictures you have posted for this build, except for the ones on this page. I have same problem on tntt.com website. Love the build and would love to view these images. Any chance you can put them up on photobucket or something else? Maybe it's my computer.

 

[Petrolburner]

For some reason I am not able to see any the pictures you have posted for this build, except for the ones on this page. I have same problem on tntt.com website. Love the build and would love to view these images. Any chance you can put them up on photobucket or something else? Maybe it's my computer.

Same here, I'm sure it's just a temporary glitch.

 

[Jeff Wanamog]

Did you use any type of a drawer glide on the kitchen pull out ? I could not see any in your pics, but I thought they might be hidden underneath.
If not, that would explain why it does not matter if the trailer moves while the kitchen is extended.
Thanks.
Jeff

 

[elmo_4_vt]

The picture thing was my fault.... I had uploaded a bunch of pictures for work and was annoyed that they were in with my personal pictures, so I spent a few minutes and organized everything into folders... I thought I remembered the picture address not containing the folder, but I was wrong apparently. They should all be fixed now.

Did you use any type of a drawer glide on the kitchen pull out ? I could not see any in your pics, but I thought they might be hidden underneath.
If not, that would explain why it does not matter if the trailer moves while the kitchen is extended.
Thanks.
Jeff

I see what you were asking Jeff, and no, I don't use any type of drawer slide... I used two pieces of Trex handrail that was on sale that the local box store and cut a channel in them to slide the 1x2 hard-wood maple that I faced the bottom of the ply-wood box with.

Don

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[elmo_4_vt]

On a more up to date note, camping this weekend has to be one of the best experiences I've had since we had our kid. He is 4 now, and it's is really a lot of fun. We did two 4+ mile hikes along the AT and other than dropping as soon as we go back, he did great. It's nice to be able to get back into hiking while we're out. Also, the trailer/kitchen was awesome, and made things very nice. Quick setup time and lots of room to prepare food. Made a full 4 coarse meal on Saturday night for our friends and it was almost like cooking at home. The new stove is almost as hot as out home stove. Much better than the Coleman we've been using since I was a kid.

The site we were at had a really bad slope to it since I let the tenters we were with have the only 2 flat areas. The first try at setting up on Thursday night at 9pm had the tongue of the trailer 4.5' off the ground (just about the max for the tongue jack) and one tire about 8" off the ground. We slept in it that way, but the kitchen couldn't come out because the legs weren't long enough, and the top of the counter was at chest height. Friday morning we moved things around and found an area that was slightly more level. The front was low and one tire was only about 0.5" off the ground. It really makes you appreciate the drop-leg jacks being able to do that though. We couldn't have gotten a camper level with just stabilizers like come on most factory campers. Anyway, a couple pictures of our setup for the weekend.








This is the amount of wood we had left after Friday Morning's fire... My buddy (a fireman) is a bit of a piro... Luckily, it was all from an old pine tree and was very dry, but we finished it all off by this morning.