I Built A Great Cargo Trailer (or a Terrible Camper)

[taitstevens]

Background

Hi! I built a 5x8 trailer! Just like a bunch of other people! Warning! Long rambling self-indulgent posts ahead.

It started as a basic cargo trailer and turned into a nice cargo trailer and maybe even rises to the level of terrible camping trailer. So I guess I can think of it as a nice cargo trailer or as the worst camping trailer in the history of camping trailers, maybe ever.

My wife and I have a daughter; we go camping sometimes. Our camping gear doesn't fit easily in the jeep and we want our daughter to be able to bring a frind. So we needed more space.

We thought a trailer might help. We realized we could leave the camping gear in the trailer between trips. When we moved into our house, it wasn't all that full. Somehow it's full now. So, moving some stuff out of the house seemed like a good plan.

We decided to look into a cargo trailer and realized that sleeping in it might be a good option if there was an emergency.

Trailer configuration

The only good place we have to park a trailer is on the side of the house; between the garage and the fence. In order to get a lawnmower past the trailer, we needed the trailer to be narrow. We decided a 5 foot wide trailer would have to fit our needs.

Since the passenger's side of the trailer needed to be against the fence, we opted for a driver's side door so we could get into the side while it was parked. We ordered the side door with an RV style latch so we could open the door from the inside.

We ordered it with cargo doors (aka barn doors) in the back.

The stock trailers we found came with tongues that were too short to swing the Jeep's tire carrier open. So, we paid for a 6" tongue extension.

I wanted to name the trailer "Gene Simmons", wife said "No".

We wanted to be able to take the trailer on dirt roads with us, so we got a swing jack for the tongue to increase clearance.



We also ordered a spare tire. Because.

We ordered electronic brakes. The sales person pointed out they wre probably not necessary. I decided they weren't that expensive to add and are nice to have.


Weight Test and Build Plans

Before started the build, we did a load test. We loaded the trailer up with a bunch of stuff to simulate the weight of all our camping gear and drove up into the local mountains. The Jeep pulled the trailer just fine (it was maybe 5 mph slower on the steepest hills).

When we opened up the trailer, our loose cargo had shifted all over the place - we needed some way to secure the gear.

Also, we would have to completely empty the trailer if we really wanted to be able to sleep in it. After thinking for maybe a whole second or two, I realized we wouldn't want to have to unload all of our gear into the rain in order to get us out of the rain.

We decided to put shelves in the nose of the trailer and try to make a bed with storage underneath. We settled on bench seat down the right hand side with a dinette table that could drop down to the height of the bench seat for a bed with additional storage underneath. I also started thinking about putting shelves on the back doors.

Suddenly it wasn't so much a cargo trailer as it was almost a camping trailer.

 

[taitstevens]

Infrastructure changes

When we got the trailer, the swing jack for the tongue was too long and came with a sand pad. I cut the jack with a bandsaw and replaced the sand pad with a wheel. This allows me to shift the trailer around on cement by myself, even when the trailer is full. This is nice because, when parking in the narrow space on the side of the house, getting the trailer right up against the fence is important if we want to get the lawnmower and trash cans past the trailer.

The spare tire came mounted inside the trailer. I recognized quickly that we would limited space and, if we ever did have to use the spare, probably would not want the dirty flat tire in the cargo space. So I designed a spare tire carrier mount for the tongue, measuring carefully to make sure we would be able get the jeep spare tire carrier open.

A friend welded it up, and it is bolted to the frame on the front. The mount is rock solid. It's probably overkill - I can bounce on it and it doesn't even flex (I weigh 270#).

Floor
The floor was made of a plastic impregnated OSF board, so it's advertised as waterproof. We bought some vinyl planks and glue, then installed the vinyl. They weren't long enough for one plank to go clear across the trailer. Normally one would stagger the seams. However, they were long enough that a single seam would be under the bench. I decided to have the seam be under the bench seat so it would not be visible. Also, the glue we used stays flexible, so there was potential for the vinyl to move a little. I put a couple of screws through the vinyl on the back edge of the trailer to anchor it.

I caulked around the edges, between the vinyl and the wall. Painter's tape really helps make a nice clean edge.

Skid plate
The sides and back of the trailer hang down past the frame a couple of inches. Since dirt roads occasionally have rocks, I was worried that a rock might cathch the lip on the back and damage the trailer. I got some sheet metal cut to size and screwed it to the underside of the trailer in hopes that it would help the trailer slide off any loose rocks.



Ceiling and Insulation
When we got the trailer, the roof was a thin sheet of metal with no insulation and exposed ribs on the interior. We bought some foam sheet insulation and cut it to size with a putty knife. A friend gave me some sheets of plastic that we screwed to the ribs with self tapping screws and trimmed with aluminum strips. It turns out the frame it sits against is not uniformly curved, so there are some areas where it bows up a bit. I tucked some pieces of melamine sponge (Mr. Clean) in there at some point to try to minimize the bowing.

Walls
We brushed the walls with Latex paint - then, after the first coat, found it was really rough and unpleasant to touch. We sanded the roughness down with a rotary sander for the large areas and the oscillating sander for the detailed areas. Another coat was rolled on for larger areas and brushed for details. I really like almond color because dust doesn't show on it as much.

I added e-Track on both sides by screwing it into the frame members where holes lined up. It is increadibly easy to work with, remarkably strong, and gives a ton of attachment options.

We have a friend working on a custom pvc-framed hammock (or cot) for my daughter that will hang from the e-Track, in case we all need to sleep in the trailer sometime.

 

[taitstevens]

Front Shelving
The front shelves come to the front edge of the door. The bottom shelf is 3/4" ply, with no lip, to match the height and thickness of the bench seat. So, it can act as an extension of the bed if needed.

The other shelves are 1/2" ply with a grooved maple face board. This board acts as a lip to keep smaller items from sliding off the edge of the shelf. There are vertical supports screwed into the wall at each end of the shelf and at two places in between (at the ribs in the frame). There was a little sag on the 1/2" ply when loaded, so a block was added for additional support in the middle of the shelves.



I am using European style curtain rods as cargo retainers. These were are fairly slim, resist flexing, and can be sort of locked in with appropriate supports. They haven't bounced out and I doubt they will. To remove a support, one lifts them up in the bracket, then rotates toward the cargo while continuing to lift. It's very quick once you have the feel of it and they do an excellent job of keeping cargo on the shelves.

Bench Seat and Table
The bench seat runs from the edge of the shelves to the back of the trailer on the passenger's side. We needed a vertical support for rigidity, and I wanted to be able to get into part of the storage from the back of the trailer. So, there is a vertical divider about 2/3 of the way back from the front of the trailer. The top in the front is removable to access cargo.

Rather than bolting the table supports to the floor, we chose to screw into a free floating board. This leaves the water barrier of the floor intact and the floor smooth when the board is out of the way. When changing the dinette to bed mode, the bottom board goes between the table and the shelves, right behind the trailer door.

People (in particular, kids) sometimes put their weight on a table even when they are aware it can rock. To keep the table from shifting, I mounted single e-track anchors on the wall behind the trailer (screwed into the trailers ribs). By strapping it in wih a racheting strap, I am able to pull the table against the wall, where it is very stable.



The ice chest sits underneath the dinette table at the back of the trailer. Since the table support posts are offset, rotating the table 180 degrees moves it about 8" forward. This allows a person to have a seat at the table on the ice chest.

Trailer Door
We recognized that we would need to have at least one window for circulation if we wanted to sleep in the trailer. The only place I felt sure I could install was in the side door. I ordered a sliding window online, cut the hole in the door, and installed the window with the sticky putty as a seal.

After a couple of days, I peeled away the extra putty squishing out from the sides and caulked the edges. The most time consuming part of the whole window installation that was trying to get a smooth curve on the rounded courners by applying overlapping layers of painter's tape to approximate a curve.

We also added a pocket to the door to hold the folding stool and keep a few smaller items handy.

The door had metal cross bracing - the tricky part was figuring out where the braces were were. Screwing into those was much stronger than just screwing to the veneer (that would not have been strong at all). I also had to notch the board for the bed so the door could shut all the way. It's working out really well so far.

Rear Shelving
The bench seat/bed stops several inches short of the rear doors to leave space for shelving. I measured to see how deep and wide a shelf could be to allow the doors to close without hitting each other, big enought to hold propane bottles and canned food!

I wanted to mount the shelves flush against the doors. There are some holes in the door for hinge bolts, etc and I was hoping to just use longer bolts to include the shelves. However, there were several places where the edge of the shelf would hit against existing T-nuts, so it seemed like that wouldn't work.

I decided to just have the back of the shelf offset from the door to sit against the T-nuts. For support toward the outside edges, I replaced one exterior bolt from each of the hinge straps with a longer bolt to go through back of the shelves. I also drilled two more holes on each side to support the other end of the shelves. Overall, the mounting has worked out very well.

The bench on the drivers' side doesn't go down all the way to allow for clearance of the ice chest.

Oak dowels were used as cargo retainers for these shelves. They are just friction fit through holes in the sides and can be replaced quickly if one ever breaks.

Finish
The front shelves, frame on the side door, rear shelves, and retaining dowels were treated with Watco Danish oil seal and rubbed down with steel wool. This helps harden the wood and provides some modest ease in cleaning up spills and dust versus untreated wood.

It takes forever to dry and finish off-gassing. I've been leaving the doors open most days for two months. End even with a couple of 115 degree days with like 10% humidity, it still smells pretty strongly in there.

Weight Distribution and Content
The trailer's axle is pretty far back. It sits 2 feet from the rear door - so 75% of the cargo space is contributing to tongue weight. This means I have to try to position weight as far to the rear as we can.

We try to put lighter stuff in the front shelves, like clothes, shoes, the lantern, empty water jug, and toilet paper.

The under-bench storage is huge! The forward compartment can hold our 10x10 tent, 3 camp chairs, and a folding camp table, as well as a triangle shade, 3 sleeping bags, some foam mats for additional padding, and a pop-up tent for our porta-potty setup. I try to pack the heaviest items toward the back of the compartment. The rear compartment can hold our stove, 7 gallons of water, a milk-crate's worth of firewood, and a box of cat litter for the potty bucket.

The ice chest sits under the table, at the very back of the trailer to keep its weight as far back as possible.

The heavier camping items (canned food, bottles, and propane) are carried on the back shelves, along with some other staples that are nice to routinely bring (such as pancake mix, sugar, flour, instant mashed potatoes and/or stuffing mix, minute rice, and powdered drinks).

With access to under-bench storage, the ice chest, and the cooking supplies on the shelves, the back may make a reasonable cooking area (if open to the elements).


I also drilled two 1/4" holes in the bench for quickly removable through-axle front fork mounts for two mountain bikes.

 

[taitstevens]

Things we would do differently
I would order the trailer with insulation in the walls, factory installed insulation in the ceiling, factory installed vinyl flooring, and factory installed windows. Those were a lot of work and factory installation would not have cost that much more than doing it myself (probably less if you count the tools I bought for the project).

If we knew up front that we were building a camping trailer, we might have considered a 5x9 or 5x10 for a little additional space. On the other hand, that would decrease the departure angle, so it would decrease offroad capability slightly. If our storage space and tow vehicle weren't limitations, a wider trailer might also be considered. But I am very happy with the towability of this trailer and how it fits in the space we have.

Most manufacturers offer a 24 inch or a 16 inch spacing on the frame verticals. A 16 inch spacing would increase the rigidity and allow more places to anchor eTrack and other fixtures. I am happy with how mine came out but might consider 16 inch spacing if I ever buy another.

Future plans
I worry - a little - about carbon monoxide accumulation if we sleep in the trailer. We put in a carbon monoxide detector. If CO starts accumulating, we might add another window to allow for a cross breeze.

This first version of the bench seat and tables was made with very inexpensive Chinese birch plywood for $30 a sheet. It warps and chips and flakes something awful. We will eventually rebuild it with Baltic birch, but plan to hold off until we see if any design changes are suggested by ongoing use. The bench stops an inch and a half short or so of the shelves. When using as a bed, it might be nice to get closer to the shelves, so we will probably adjust the dimensions when we remake the bench.

I plan to put Formica or a similar laminate on the table; I think I will wait until I do the Baltic birch conversion to avoid going to that labor and expense twice.

Conclusion
I found other's builds inspiring - thank you to everyone that posted their build.

As I mentioned, I can think of this as the worst camping trailer in the history of camping trailers, maybe ever. Or I can think of this as a really nice cargo trailer optimized for our camping gear.

It would be hard to buy - or even design - a better trailer for our needs:
- Light enough, even loaded, to tow with my tow vehicle
- Small enough to fit in our side yard
- Driver's side door to get in while parked against the fence
- Inexpensive enough to fit in our budget
- Holds our camping stuff, year round
- Has some room for sports gear (bicycles)
- A reasonable cooking and eating area
- Space for privacy or to get out of the elements when needed
- Room (sort of) for 3 to sleep
- Adequate clearance and departure angle for light off-road duty

I'm choosing to think of it as a nice cargo trailer.

 

[Bluedog225]

This is great! Thanks for posting. I’ve spent the day trying to figure out which brand base trailer to pick. Do you mind letting me know? Thanks Tom

 

[taitstevens]

Hi!

Sorry the underlined stuff are not links, just headers. Will change to bold.

My trailer is a Pace Outback. I would do it again.