My Backcountry Camper Trailer Build

[SSRx7]

Rob, I am relatively new on the forums, and have been lurking around the trailer build threads for quite awhile. I must say that your rig is absolutly brilliant, and the craftsmanship is suppurb! I really like your layout and design.

I'm curious about something. On your kitchen side, you have the stove on the inboard side and the cooler on the outboard side. Does it get 'cramped' while cooking that close to the side of the trailer? I only ask, because when I'm cooking, I like space around me when I have to lift hot pans or use my spatula to get under things at different angles.

I was noticing your main door hanging down there and was thinking that if it was opened down and was supported level you could have a nice shelf there. If the cooler and stove traded places and were rotated 180* so you stood on the other side of the slideout, you would have alot more room to cook with, the cooler would be just as accessable, and you could have the "shelf" door right behind the cooler and stove to set things on, like cooking spices, serving trays or what ever so that your slide out doesn't get crowded with all the stuff used for cooking. Also, on your slideout door (front door) you could have a shelf that drops down when it is opened, folds up for when closing the door, and also have a storage space for all your B-B-Q utensils. That way they always have a place of their own, and they are right there when you need them.

Just an observation, I know you have put alot of thought into this and it is an amazing peice of work.

Look forward to seeing how it keeps coming along.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Gasman, it's at Bon Echo. It's a nice park, but it's one of the more popular ones so camping spaces are a bit more cramped. However, it's not one of the ones where you're basically in a field with no privacy at all. It's just... really busy. Mazinaw lake is a large lake with lots of cottages on it, so the lake is busy with motorboat traffic. Overall, it's a nice recreational type park, with nice beaches. It's not a wilderness park.

Bill, thanks for the kind words. No, I don't find it cramped at all. You need to keep the scale of the thing in perspective, the stove is about as wide as I am. If I was cooking really fancy dishes, maybe it would be an issue, but I haven't had a problem.

I originally intended to have the door held out level to become a shelf/table. That was the design in CAD, but then once I built it, I realized that the door was way too big for that. It would be nice to have that much counter space, but then I wouldn't be able to actually reach over the counter to get into the cabinets, or use the sink. The door is something like 30" tall, that would be a heck of a reach on a regular basis. So, I just decided to drop it down. I have been thinking of adding something to the door that would fold up with it, maybe a shelf like you suggest, or a spice rack, utensil holders, something like that. We'll see. Just thinking now, one thing that would be really nice would be something near the sink where I could deposit dirty dishes until they can be washed. At the moment, they either clog up the sink, or have to stay on the eating table. Some kind of basket that folded down from the drop down door would be sweet.

That's one idea to turn the stove around, but I was trying to maintain a triangular work area. So you can stand in one place, and just turn yourself to get something from the cabinets, or use the countertop for cutting, etc. I didn't want to have to keep running around the slide to get things on the other side. The other reason I put the cooler on the outside is because I wanted to be able to get to it easily. Open the door and pull the cooler out quickly, without opening the slide all the way. Say I was stopped in a parking lot of something, if a vehicle was beside me, I couldn't get into the cooler to grab a drink or whatever.

I have also thought about using the slide door for something else. Eventually, I will have a shelf built in the front compartment, just above the height of the fridge and stove. On the kitchen side, I plan to build a wooden pantry box. It'll be removable to easily take it into the house to stock it up. I have thought about making some kind of rack or small cupboard that would key into the space, and swing out on the door. But since the door has to be open 180° until I fix the hinges, the usefulness would be limited.

I will be doing something more with the slide itself. I'd like to make some more counter space there that would fold out. Ideally, would like to achieve a U shaped work area. But I haven't quite sorted it out yet.

 

[gasman]

Bon Echo... nice park i havnt been there since i was a kid,, like a 100 years ago, you know we are not that far away from each other, we should hook up some time i would like to see you trailer in person one day

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yeah, once I get the truck going again, I'm going to see about setting up something for the southern Ontario guys. Maybe late August.

 

[duanewhatley]

Any present day pictures by chance? Trailer looks awesome!

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Thread Necromancy!

Well, after a several year hiatus, I'm back on ExPo.

This trailer did eventually get finished and used for it's intended purpose. Nothing too radical, but allowed camping in areas at the end of a few roads less traveled.

Crowe River conservation area not too far from home, setting out on a week long trip.









Achray Lake in northern Algonquin. This is a "car camping" site, but at the end of a long dirt road (20-50km) not many would take a normal camper on.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Exploring northern Algonquin park, found some strange areas, appeared to be abandoned campsites, military base? Not sure. Just old decrepit asphalted roads in the middle of the forest.





Helicopter pad, middle of nowhere.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

My absolute favorite place we found to go. Shelbourne Lake at the Haliburton Highlands Water Trails. This is actually supposed to be a canoe camping park. But there are 4 campsites at the put-in spot about 1 hour's drive in on a rough dirt road. Can barely get the trailer in, but it's worth it. Kitchen is finally finished here.



And got the kids sleeping area finished.



Kids really enjoyed camping back then.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Sadly, my son's tolerance for the slow pace of camping, cramped quarters, bugs, etc. has waned over the years, and we eventually ended up getting a "real" camper to tow behind my Frontier Pro4X daily driver. Still have the Rover and off-road camper, but this allows us to enjoy camping more and travel further. In 2015 we took a 2-week trip out to Cape Breton.



Much more "pedestrian" trip, but we never could have done it with the kids being older, spoiled by the comforts of modern life. And 2 weeks camping while almost completely exposed to the near constant rain and bugs wouldn't have been fun for any of us. This was the biggest disadvantage I found to the off-road camper. No shelter unless we deploy the easy-up and screen sidings. Then still exposed during cooking, etc. Things are quite a bit different in Ontario than more arid areas.

Also, over the years, I realized that there are not really that many places to go in Ontario with the off-road camper. Almost all the trails within 2 day's drive of Toronto are completely hogged out, destroyed, by JK's on 44's. The last trip I took, I had several massive stucks requiring hard winch pulls on what used to be Level 1 trails just a few years earlier.

This trail was passable by the truck and trailer in 2008:





Very few trails are passable by the Rover anymore, even without the trailer. So trips are restricted to gravel roads in resource extraction areas. I've gone on a couple trips with just some guy friends, but the family isn't interested in that sort of thing much.

We ended up buying a freighter canoe and doing some canoe camping, which is a much more natural way to move around this area. At some point, I realized I can travel a further distance in a day by canoe, than I can by truck (assuming not using maintained roads).





Still have the trailer, but just haven't had a lot of opportunity to use it lately. Hopefully I can change that in the future.

 

[nwoods]

Welcome back Rob!

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Thanks!

 

[Titanpat57]

I second that!!

Hi Rob!

Great pics!

 

[TroySmith80]

Great build, thanks for the long term follow up. It's inspiration for me to get serious about my own custom build.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Huh, how did this end up in the retail model subforum?