My Camping Trailer Project

[Dirtco]

Next, I wanted a dimmable light on the side of the tent where I rest my head. This would have a switch on the inside, and I would be able to dim the light for reading or hangout out before bed.





The main reason I took on this project was that I needed a 12volt power source in the tent for my 12 volt heated blanket that I use to warm up the bed on really cold nights. Since the mattress takes up the entire floor space, there was no place to install a dedicated panel. I decided the best way to handle this was to have something like a remote, but on a cord.

I went to Autozone and found a three port 12 volt power block with an extension cord, that also had a USB port. Three ports is overkill for me, so I used one of the ports to install the switch for the main tent light. I had to gut the unit to make it work, but so far it seems to work fine. The other nice thing is that it has a master on/off switch. The USB port will be great for my phone, tablet, etc.

Here it is on the workbench after reassembly



I have a plug between the tent and trailer so I can remove, or install the tent on the 4Runner if I ever decide to.



An octopus of wiring, I had to give the wiring enough room to fold back up into the tent without getting pulled apart.

 

[Dirtco]

And here is everything all wired up…

Tent entry lights





Regular tent light with dimmer switch



12 volt panel and light switch





Master panel

 

[Dirtco]

Next on my list was an awning; I installed it off the back of the trailer because that is where I plan to do most my cooking and hanging out. It’s a little on the small side, but it should keep the sun and rain off me, and I have a “soft tarp” that I can use in conjunction on the side to provide more coverage if needed.

I started by building some brackets to hold the awning, and I drilled a bunch of holes in them to keep the weight down and look cool.

 

[Dirtco]

Awning installed

 

[Dirtco]

And open!

 

[Dirtco]

After I installed the awning I came up with the idea to install some lights on the underside of the awning, some extra light never hurts.

 

[Titanpat57]

Excellent!!

 

[Funrover]

That is pretty darn sweet!! Way to go!

 

[Septu]

Amazing build!!

 

[srgsng25]

where did you get these LED lights i am looking for something like this for my trailers work lights and cabinet lights

thanks

I figured if the 4Runner has rock lights, the trailer might as well have them too. They are one watt LED flood lights and there will be a three-position switch on the trailer that controls the lights:

Truck ON – The lights will turn on when I turn on the 4Runner’s rock lights, they will feed off the trucks electrical system. Great for night wheeling to camp, and situating the trailer in a good spot after dark.

OFF – Enough said

Trailer ON – The lights turn on, feeding off the trailer’s electrical system. Great for setting up camp, finding stuff under trailer, and making people think there’s a UFO hanging out in the woods.

The HID reverse light works the same way.

 

[Dirtco]

Excellent!!

That is pretty darn sweet!! Way to go!

Amazing build!!

Thanks guy's, I appreciate the kind words!

 

[Dirtco]

where did you get these LED lights i am looking for something like this for my trailers work lights and cabinet lights

thanks

Here is the link to them

http://www.oznium.com/high-intensity-led-floodlight

 

[Dirtco]

It was about that time frame when I took the trailer out to Moab for the second time.

Vail Pass on the way out



Old Dewey Bridge





Camp at BFE



Moab Scenery

 

[Dirtco]

After my Moab trip I made up my mind that I really wanted a fridge; it had been on my list, but not towards the top. Well, that changed.

I had a cooler in the truck, and one in the trailer. The truck cooler was mainly for lunch and beverages, while the trailer cooler was breakfast and dinner (with a few beverages thrown in for good measure). For some reason the constant sloshing of melted ice in the 4Runner finally got to me on this trip. It was hot outside and the coolers just couldn’t keep up; I was buying three bags of ice a day (between truck and trailer), and on top of that a bunch of my food got ruined due to water ingression. Ugh!

So I started looking at fridges and nice coolers. The top of the line fridges were out of my budget (ARB, etc) and didn’t fit my space requirements, the nice coolers were super expensive for being just a cooler. Then I came across the Ironman 4x4 fridge, and after a couple measurements found out that the 30L would fit the slide out of the trailer perfect, like ½” to spare perfect!

http://www.ironman4x4.com/html/fridge.html

At the time that fridge was running right around $585, not bad but a lot for the size. Then I read through this…

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...ices-only-visible-in-checkout?highlight=indel

The same exact fridge for $399, from what I can tell it’s identical and uses all the same components (once you put it in your cart the price drops to $399). I was sold!

http://www.truckfridge.com/tf31.html

Here is what it looked like when I first took it out of the box…

 

[Dirtco]

And a few pictures of it installed in the trailer; it really couldn’t be a better fit, it’s like it was built was this trailer!

Fridge hold downs installed, and power cord hard wired.