New Camp Trailer Build - Bean Squared Style

[ExpoMike]

Hi all,

So I have been thinking of a camp trailer for quite a while. Our first delve into the overland world was back in 2007 when we picked up a Kamparoo Cub "clam shell" style trailer. We had a lot of fun and great trips with it. We moved to a truck/popup camper, then was out of the camping world for a bit. Wanting to get back into camping again, I picked up another (yes 2nd one) M1010 ambo and am still in the process of building it but it has become a much longer term project. The idea of going back to a camp trailer never left my mind and I had thought about buying something being manufactured. Earlier this year Bean Trailers announced they were thinking of bring the "Bean Squared" to market. Looking this rig over, it ticked every box I was looking for. Okay, I figured I would have to wait until they went into production. Then in the later part of the year, they announced the price range and looking at 75K! That was way out of my market. I started looking at building my own (as I have been researching a DIY for the last few years) but really didn't have a starting point. I could fab up a frame and go from there or buy a ready to go frame from Boreas Camper but was looking at 9K for a rolling frame (which is really nice BTW).

As it was, I was checking FB Marketplace (which I do way too much according to my wife LOL) and a trailer popped up, that looked like it would be a perfect starting point. Price was fair, specs met what I needed and it happened to be local. Hot damn, this might work out well. I setup a time to pick it up and when I got there, we started chatting. I found out it was @Victory_Overland who had it listed on FB. We chatting a bit about his and my plans and the deal was made. Super cool guy! Thanks for the deal!!

Here are some starting pics of getting it home and a few from the ad. I also posted one of the Bean Squared to give an idea of what I am going for. I have a few other things I need to take care of before I can start on this project but hopefully before the end of the year I will have plans and maybe get started.

 

[ExpoMike]

Did a first draft concept of what I am looking to build. It is fairly to scale but doesn't have all items included but gives a good idea of the layout. I think this is totally doable.

 

[ExpoMike]

Got the garage cleaned up so I could put the trailer in and start doing some initial work to it. First up is to mount a new Ark jack and remove the two current support jacks, which do not have wheels to role it. This should make pushing it around a little easier. Once that is done, then I need to mount lights and wiring, so it can be driven legally. As they say, all projects have to start somewhere.

Tacked the mounting plate to the frame


Mock up of the new Ark jack

 

[hooptycrawler]

Interested to see what you build, that's a pretty neat trailer to start with. Looks well built.

 

[ExpoMike]

Thanks! The trailer is very well built and the way it is designed, the sides are more like "boat sides" so there is a LOT of clearance around the perimeter.

Got the jack plate welded on and bolted the Ark jack to it (temp until after paint). Man is it EASY to roll around with that. This originally had two jacks (non wheeled) on each side of the tongue. I cut the mount off this side and was going to cut off the other side but now I am thinking I might leave it, to have another support that doesn't have a wheel. This could be beneficial when storing, as I can keep the weight off the wheeled jack (you can see the other one supporting the trailer while I was mocking the Ark jack into place).





Next up will be lighting...