My Backcountry Camper Trailer Build
- Thread starter R_Lefebvre
- Start date
Rob, I gotta tell ya I am a lurker here and can see why there are probably a lot of people I know that won't put their builds on here and only come for ideas and info. But really this is not different from any other board. People have been hiding behind their keyboard since the internet became mainstream. I tend to only post often on boards where my friends are as if i know someone I can take sh&^ from them a lot better. I do not post on a lot of boards that I do not know people on simply because I, like you get pissed too easy.
Really there are only too solutions...
1) Don't post. (please do not choose this one as your trailer is an outstanding build)
2) Get over it. You are how old? There are a** holes every where not just the internet. Ignore those that knock you down and realize that you are not on this earth to impress everyone.
Really there are only too solutions...
1) Don't post. (please do not choose this one as your trailer is an outstanding build)
2) Get over it. You are how old? There are a** holes every where not just the internet. Ignore those that knock you down and realize that you are not on this earth to impress everyone.
R_Lefebvre
Expedition Leader
It's ok guys, don't worry about it. I can take the flak.
Titanpat57
Expedition Leader
Glad you got to get a break with the family!
R_Lefebvre
Expedition Leader
Anyway, so here's a photo of it painted (minus the doors of course) behind the truck to show the colour match. I actually washed the truck last night... I took photos before but the truck was brown so you could hardly tell. 
Obviously the trailer paint isn't nearly as glossy but, the shade is right. As I said, Sherwin Williams did a great job. I'm leaving the trailer outside for a few days so it can cure better.
Can't wait to get the tent up top. I wonder how many men it will take to lift 150 lbs up there? I'm not sure if 4 is enough? I could bring it to work and use a forklift, but that would be a PITA.
Obviously the trailer paint isn't nearly as glossy but, the shade is right. As I said, Sherwin Williams did a great job. I'm leaving the trailer outside for a few days so it can cure better.Can't wait to get the tent up top. I wonder how many men it will take to lift 150 lbs up there? I'm not sure if 4 is enough? I could bring it to work and use a forklift, but that would be a PITA.
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R_Lefebvre
Expedition Leader
R_Lefebvre
Expedition Leader
Yeah, I understand the frustration some people have towards engineers who don't know how to get their hands dirty. It bugged me too when I was in university. Me and another guy took some night classes at a high school to learn machining. But, he took it a step further than me and ended up taking a break from university half way through, went to college and got his machining ticket, then finished his degree. I taught myself to weld after buying the welder.
nwoods
Expedition Leader
Rob, I went and found the comment made by Sinhue. I thought it was pretty funny. You have to admit, your packing job in that photo resembled something I would expect from an airline or UPS, which have an avid history and reputation for jostling their contents as much as possible. As i said initially, it was unsettling. It did look like a safety issue.
I learned a great deal from a photo posted on EE a while back on their Adventures page. It might even have been from JSQ? A white Disco was going down an easy looking grade, but somehow managed to roll onto it's side. The photos were about a well set up solo recovery from that situation, but one of the images showed the rear door open, and all the boxes and gear still neatly stacked and held in place with tie-down straps, despite the fact that the truck was on its side! Virtually no missile hazard. Seeing that photo was sort of an "Ah Ha!" moment for me.
I can't afford Pelican boxes, or any of the off brand variants either, and personally, I don't have the room available that they consume for the meager amount they store. They are excellent boxes, but not very efficient in cramped spaces IMHO. There are cheap alternatives. Milk crates are great. Stackable, compact, very easy to tie down, and you can get them in different colors for different contents, and you can see the contents. They make a good base layer for holding down the heavy stuff, then stack lighter objects on top of. ActionPackers are also great. Strong, very sturdy, stackable, fairly efficient and light weight. Great for tools and camp kitchen gear. I use the larger boxes to stow firewood. I can get about 3 bundles of firewood into one medium action packer, and my hatchet. Can be stowed on the roof rack or in the truck.
No matter what, and I'm sure you agree, I tie everything down. When I load a roll of drawings to go to a construction site, I tie it down! Groceries in in the back? Cargo net!
No convenient tie down points? Use a strap running side to side between anchor points and lash to that. It works great. Do it fore and aft, side to side (4 straps) and you have 360 degrees of tie down points. Tie down the heavy stuff down low independently of the lighter stuff up top.
Camp chairs come in stuff sacks with handles on them. Thread the tiedown straps through the handle straps, crank them down. Use compression bags for bulky items. Can't afford a cargo barrier right now? Use ratchet straps from shoulder belt anchor points and create a safety web with straps or bungies. Use some of that engineering ingenuity!
Roof rack storage: Again, the Actionpackers work great. So do rubber cargo bags. North Face makes some nice ones. Rola makes an awesome bag called the Platypus that holds a ton of bulky items. I can fit all of my sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and camp chairs, and large family tent into it. Total weight up top stays pretty light, bag is waterproof and astonishingly quiet in the wind as well. It has 8 buckles that can clamp to just about anything, but I always toss another strap over it just to be safe.
Here is a photo of my rack with maximum weight load that I'd ever want to stow up there. I have a wood box (medium ActionPacker), small tools (in military Night Vision Google boxes), a tripod (in waterproof sack), 5 gallon fuel can (within super siphon distance of my gas cap), and the large Rola bag. Probably about 150 lbs total and definitely not ideal, but necessary for a long distance, 10 day camping trip I did last year through Utah.
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jeepmedic46
Expedition Leader
Trailer looks great, Can't wait to see it with the RTT on it. Kudos on a awesome build.:ylsmoke:
R_Lefebvre
Expedition Leader
Nathan, I appreciate you posting that here, it's a much more useful discussion than a simple flippant comment.
I have a roof rack basket already (though it's a SportRack, so the Martha Stewarts won't like it) and a bag like your Rola, only it's anything but waterproof. I've used the setup when camping with my Focus wagon. I simply put everything in garbage bags (Oh, the horror!) and then inside the rooftop bag, in the rack.
I do NOT like to use the basket with the truck. I would debate the relative safety of a loaded rack on top of an already tall SUV, vs. a bunch of stuff in the truck. I used the basket with the wagon which had a low CG. My friend who did truck suspension tuning at Ford drove the trucks with high CG with outriggers, trying to get them to roll as part of his job. Nobody on any of these boards has "rolled" as many vehicles as he has. On his advice, I do not like to use a rack at all. (He freaked out when I told him I have a 2" lift.) I have used the basket with the truck, and might have in this case had I realized how full it was going to get before it was too late. But the only things I would put up there are the very light things, sleeping bags, tent, maybe the chairs. Wood, gas, etc... no way, I think that's crazy. We could have a huge discussion about the relative safety of a heavy rack vs. a sleeping bag in the back seat, or a cardboard box of dry food above the head rests. Nobody will win the argument because there simply aren't enough examples in the real world of things actually going wrong to draw any conclusion. It's all conjecture.
Anyway, as I said had I known before it was too late, I probably would have installed the roof rack, but it takes about an hour and I ran out of time. Shame on me for not planning better. I've been very preoccupied with the trailer and it consumes all my time and energy.
As for tie downs, I think people must be delusional if they think they are any real safety benefit. They prevent things from shifting, nothing more. Maybe in a low speed flop, they'll hold things secure, but in a violent roll (likely caused by an overloaded rack...) or heavy frontal, forget about it. I've seen what a medium suitcase does to a rear seat in a collision, and it's not pretty. A strap looped through a handle will do NOTHING. That's a joke. I find it really amusing that the same guys who make fun of cargo drawer systems are the same ones who think that thing a strap around a Pelican case will hold. There's a reason professionals spend so much money on cargo systems.
Neatly stacked Pelican cases and straps, but no cargo barriers? Sorry, that's being more concerned about appearances than real safety. Tools or recovery gear in a Pelican case will tear through the back seat like a cannon ball, or a single loop of webbing in a violent roll is like trying to catch a greased pig.
All of this is the reason I decided to go with a trailer. I have more stuff I need to bring than can be contained behind a cargo barrier in the back. I do not think loading the roof is a good idea because it raises the CG, and also apparently uses even more fuel than a trailer while affording way less storage space.
The reality is, any time we step out our front door we take risks. Many people think we're all taking unacceptable risks anytime we take our families off the paved roads, out of cell phone range, or 911 services. Yet we all do it anyway. Nobody could say with any credibility that what I did was more dangerous than somebody with a heavy roof rack, or maybe brought more tools and equipment in nice Pelican shell casings than I did. It's all dangerous.
I have a roof rack basket already (though it's a SportRack, so the Martha Stewarts won't like it) and a bag like your Rola, only it's anything but waterproof. I've used the setup when camping with my Focus wagon. I simply put everything in garbage bags (Oh, the horror!) and then inside the rooftop bag, in the rack.
I do NOT like to use the basket with the truck. I would debate the relative safety of a loaded rack on top of an already tall SUV, vs. a bunch of stuff in the truck. I used the basket with the wagon which had a low CG. My friend who did truck suspension tuning at Ford drove the trucks with high CG with outriggers, trying to get them to roll as part of his job. Nobody on any of these boards has "rolled" as many vehicles as he has. On his advice, I do not like to use a rack at all. (He freaked out when I told him I have a 2" lift.) I have used the basket with the truck, and might have in this case had I realized how full it was going to get before it was too late. But the only things I would put up there are the very light things, sleeping bags, tent, maybe the chairs. Wood, gas, etc... no way, I think that's crazy. We could have a huge discussion about the relative safety of a heavy rack vs. a sleeping bag in the back seat, or a cardboard box of dry food above the head rests. Nobody will win the argument because there simply aren't enough examples in the real world of things actually going wrong to draw any conclusion. It's all conjecture.
Anyway, as I said had I known before it was too late, I probably would have installed the roof rack, but it takes about an hour and I ran out of time. Shame on me for not planning better. I've been very preoccupied with the trailer and it consumes all my time and energy.
As for tie downs, I think people must be delusional if they think they are any real safety benefit. They prevent things from shifting, nothing more. Maybe in a low speed flop, they'll hold things secure, but in a violent roll (likely caused by an overloaded rack...) or heavy frontal, forget about it. I've seen what a medium suitcase does to a rear seat in a collision, and it's not pretty. A strap looped through a handle will do NOTHING. That's a joke. I find it really amusing that the same guys who make fun of cargo drawer systems are the same ones who think that thing a strap around a Pelican case will hold. There's a reason professionals spend so much money on cargo systems.
Neatly stacked Pelican cases and straps, but no cargo barriers? Sorry, that's being more concerned about appearances than real safety. Tools or recovery gear in a Pelican case will tear through the back seat like a cannon ball, or a single loop of webbing in a violent roll is like trying to catch a greased pig.
All of this is the reason I decided to go with a trailer. I have more stuff I need to bring than can be contained behind a cargo barrier in the back. I do not think loading the roof is a good idea because it raises the CG, and also apparently uses even more fuel than a trailer while affording way less storage space.
The reality is, any time we step out our front door we take risks. Many people think we're all taking unacceptable risks anytime we take our families off the paved roads, out of cell phone range, or 911 services. Yet we all do it anyway. Nobody could say with any credibility that what I did was more dangerous than somebody with a heavy roof rack, or maybe brought more tools and equipment in nice Pelican shell casings than I did. It's all dangerous.