Off Road Worthy 6x10 Cargo Trailer Camper Build

[Jmanscotch]

Got some good used tires for dirt cheap, size matches the 255/75R17s on my truck. They are NanKang Mud terrains…but should be just fine for the trailer. The pair is like new and was $136 shipped to my door…for both.



Also welded on my jack mount and painted the new tongue. Using Rustoleum Truck Bed Coating for all exterior painted frame/etc pieces.



Also got the roof rack mounts started. Measure them to be about 39” apart from eachother, with the rear two being nearly centered over the rear axle.

I’m happy with how my ARB Awning mounts worked as roof rack feet. Way cheaper than actual roof rack feet ($30 a set) and have no concerns that they’d be anything less than plenty strong enough.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Working towards getting the windows, doors and vent fan in. Started by mocking up the desired setup with blue tape and checking for good visual balance and functional location of it all.




Then measured twice, cut the vertical uprights and used an oscillating tool to free the studs from the ridiculous adhesive used to stick the screw-less skin to the studs.



We’re going to run two 31.5” wide by 13.5” tall top hinged Dometic Seitz S4 acrylic windows. We disliked the sliding windows in the last camper, you need to leave them open for ventilation and there would always be a little rain that got in overnight. These will help prevent that and serve as emergency exits…tight ones, but possible ones if truly needed.

Framed in the window supports with 1 inch square tube welded in place and painted it for a bit of corrosion protection.




I also put the lift shackle on and instead of reinstalling the shock mounts in a new location, I just opted to go for shorter shocks.

 

[Jmanscotch]

I got the windows in today and the sealant is setting up, used Sikaflex 221 to mount them. Windows are mounted in the same spot on either side of the trailer.





Door is in too, but I need to redo it a bit. The self tapping screws I bought to mount it are junk and need replaced. Annoyingly, the door sits true andplumb, but the bottom trim on thetrailer is off kilt, so it looks a bit off.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Got the roof rack buttoned up and awning mounted. Drilled holes in the cross bars and mounted it with simple bolts, though I did put butyl tape under the washers and roof rack feet.

I’ve already gone quite a bit over budget, so trying to save a bit here and there and opted for the All-Top (Chinese knockoff) awning. Initial impressions are good for a super cheap $114 awning. It seems to be a very similar style/setup to the ARB we previously ran, so much so I’m pretty sure the spare ARB poles I have would be a direct fit. It’s 8.5” by 8.5”.




Welded in some angle iron and placed a smaller piece of board in the ceiling, this will be a thicker section that allows me to mount my MaxxAir 6.5” ceiling vent fan. It’ll be right at the foot of the bed.




The Lippert axle I got with the trailer was suppose to be a custom ordered 6x5.5” lug 3,500 lb drop axle with brakes. The trailer manufacturer said they don’t offer that combination and I’d have to upgrade to a 7,000 lb straight axle (for $$$) to get it, so I politely declined and figured I’d just replace the axle with a custom Dexter axle for half the cost.

Turns out I wildly underestimated the cost of the right Dexter axle and it was proving difficult to assemble the right parts and keep it a drop axle.

I called Lippert and they said they didn’t offer a 6 lug brake drum for a 3,500 lb axle, but further digging showed they did offer one for a 4,400 lb axle that happened to have the exact same 10” brake drum and inner and outer bearings…which I found odd, so I confirmed with them and ordered a set for $290. Those came in…damaged, so waiting on replacements but was able to mock up one side to double check fitment, tire clearance and such.

Looks like it’s going to work perfectly and the wheel/tire will clear the trailer body by nearly 2” (yay skinny tires and mild offsets).




The door came out again, if you noticed in the pictures. I don’t wanna talk about it…that thing is fighting me. Another day

 

[dsk65]

I got the windows in today and the sealant is setting up, used Sikaflex 221 to mount them. Windows are mounted in the same spot on either side of the trailer.

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Door is in too, but I need to redo it a bit. The self tapping screws I bought to mount it are junk and need replaced. Annoyingly, the door sits true andplumb, but the bottom trim on thetrailer is off kilt, so it looks a bit off.

View attachment 800860View attachment 800861

Enjoying this build thread, thanks for sharing. You could paint the trailer skin black beneath the door to trick the eye into not seeing the non-plumb trim, if it bothers you.

You do very nice work👍

 

[Jmanscotch]

Enjoying this build thread, thanks for sharing. You could paint the trailer skin black beneath the door to trick the eye into not seeing the non-plumb trim, if it bothers you.

You do very nice work👍

Thanks brother, that’s exactly the visual fix I was thinking about, if it ends up bothering me enough. It bothers me less knowing it is indeed square and true and that the guy who put the trim on is crosseyed and lazy…and not me lol.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Its best to work with butyl tape when it’s cold…

It was cold today, so fourth times the charm and I got the door in correctly. The tape kept falling, stretching and doubling up and thinning out in spots as I attempted to put the door up before. It wouldn’t have sealed well, it sat very wavy on the surface of the trailer and had a few spots that tweaked enough to cause interference when closing the door. Laying the door flat, working to apply the butyl tape when cold and having the mounting holes predrilled seemed to be the ticket I was needing.




Next is a lot of little things: sealing up the skin panels on the inside, parts of the frame and some wiring holes.

Clean up the factory wiring and add a secondary ground wire…while the trailer is wired to ground via self tapping screws to the frame currently, I will be grounding the system via a secondary ground wire that ties back to the truck through the 7-pin connector. The grounding screws will all be buried after construction of the inside and I’d really hate it if one worked looseenough to get a spotty connection and u couldn’t get to it’d thus theredundancy. Same with some of the factory connections, I’ll go through and remove mechanical crimps and soldereach connection.

After that, I need to get the floor in.

 

[ITTOG]

I noticed the tire is very close to the fender on the back side. Are you moving the axle forward?

Very nice work. Everything is looking good.

I had a trailer like yours that I was doing similar stuff with. Then I sold it and built a slide in.

 

[Jmanscotch]

I noticed the tire is very close to the fender on the back side. Are you moving the axle forward?

Very nice work. Everything is looking good.

I had a trailer like yours that I was doing similar stuff with. Then I sold it and built a slide in.

These stock fenders will be replaced and the new fender will be placed towards the back of the trailer a bit more to fix that clearance issue. That said, I will probably run fender-less for a bit as I like attaching the fenders to the rock rail setup I’ll add come spring, instead of to the trailer wall, as it helps set the fender out a little wider for the wider tires/track.

I like the look of these fenders and had planned on keeping them, but they’re some of the thinnest cheap fenders the manufacturer could find. I briefly stood on it to do some work on the roof rack and it buckled and folded down an inch.

Trying to find good steel, flat top fenders, that are thicker gauge metal, shaped in a way that offers rigidity and fit 32” tires is harder than it would seem, so I’m still on the hunt for a good set for a fair price.

We considered trying a 4WheelCamper slide in, I really like them, but the second hand cost on those went bonkers during Covid, like $30k instead of a good used on being in the $15-18k range and I didn’t feel like building one…so cheers to you for doing that!

 

[Jmanscotch]

Installed some porch lights, some under-body scene lights (affectionately called “ground effects” by my wife), cleaned up the fender holes…the used ones and the dozen or so misdrilled ones, cleaned up the 7 pin wiring and sealed up some nooks and cranny’s today.

The wild attempts of the worker at the factory to find solid metal to drill into.




I put the screws back in the holes that were successful, put butyl tape on the inside of those that weren’t and then dabbled some SikaFlex 221 on the outside.

I installed two porch lights on the entrance/awning side of the trailer, one on the opposite side.

There’s a white LED bar along the top trim, just left of the door and an amber below that. White will be the primary use light, while the amber will be for buggy nights or middle of the night quick trips outside.




Put one on the passenger side as well, for either future use with a shower/toilet/etc tent off that side or just general lighting to see what’s happening on that side.




The aforementioned “ground-effects” are just seven LED license plate lights that will be used for softer under trailer scene lighting for navigating around the camp site when we want a chiller vibe.

The A-liner camper, we bought to try most recently, has a single exterior under frame light right beside the steps into the RV and we really came to like that usability. Seven lights might turn out to be too much, but I could add a dimmer switch for them if so.

Placed 3 along each side of the trailer, on a cross support just inside the main frame rails, and one centered on the back by the galley.




Here's a better picture of the tire to trailer clearance with the fender off.




Aiming to get a little more wiring prep done and then the floor (and insulation maybe) in this weekend. We head to New York next weekend for Halloween, so gonna take a little break after that

 

[grizzlypath]

I'm really enjoying the progress on this camper build! I am also interested in seeing how you set-up the interior for the family.

 

[Jmanscotch]

I'm really enjoying the progress on this camper build! I am also interested in seeing how you set-up the interior for the family.

The wife and I are fighting each other a bit on some interior design.

I want to build the kiddos bed to be on the driver side of the trailer, half towards the front of the trailer and half tucked under the raised queen bed in the back, then a bench with storage in the v-nose area.

She wants a bed either in the v-nose area or elevated higher, up near the bed or higher, like a hammock.

Again…the beauty (and curse sometimes) of building your own setup is you can (and have to) build it exactly how YOU decide to lol.

We’ll probably build it out with the main queen bed in place, as there’s no real option to change that dramatically. We’ll then hold out on building the kiddos bed and play with a few options as we use it some and work it out from there.

We’ll have a few open cubbies under the bed (as accessed from the inside living area) that can be made into whatever serves us well:

- a book for a porta potty
- storage
- a bed for the kiddo
- etc

My current plan is to shove all the electrics (battery, eventual propane furnace, power distribution, etc) in the nose and build a bench seat over it.

We also talked about cutting the bed into a horseshoe shape, so there’s a cutout for a table top and an area to sit around, like this:



The wifey didn’t like it…which I find odd, it’s very much what she’s into (dual functionality of the space), so we’ll see. I think we’ll not do this for now, but it’ll be done in a way where cutting out the table top, from the bed platform, would be an easier thing to change down the road.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Got started on a few things, finished none of them.

Decided to replace the floor and reuse the original floor for the bed platform. The ‘cheapest of the cheap’ origional OSB was hacked up pretty decently with the install at the factory; damaged edges, misdrilled screw holes and a couple damaged spots.

I went with new better quality and rated OSB and am coating it with two coats of TotalBoat penetrating epoxy. This should seal up the OSB and prevent water from making it in and causing issues. I might also add an additional layer of paint (or truck bed liner?) over the bottom of the OSB once’s it’s installed in place.

One light layer of penetrating epoxy on and I ran out, so letting that sit while I wait for another jug.




Started running the electrical on the interior, unfortunately 100’ of wire turned out to be about half of what I needed, so that’s on pause as more comes in from my buddy Jeff Bezos.

Every 12V circuit will be 14 gauge stranded copper. Larger (relative) amp draw circuits (fans, charging ports) will have their own dedicated wiring while some of the lighter amp load circuits will share a 12V feed circuit and just unique runs after the switches.

Electrical plans are:

Single Renogy 200aH AGM battery
Renogy Battery Monitor
Victory Energy MPPT Solar Charge Controller
Two Renogy 100 watt solar panels
Using all Blue Seas outlets, power distribution blocks, fuses

Battery compartment will be in the front passenger side of the V-nose, under a bench/cabinet. The driver side of the V-nose will eventually house a propane heater (thinking Propex HS2000).

Outside there’ll be:

White LED porch lights on each side
Amber LED porch light on passenger side
Cigarette Lighter Power Port between fender and door on passenger side (for charging items and awning lights)
Soft white LED undercarriage ambient lighting

Inside there’ll be:

Two Cigarette Lighter power ports for heating blankets and such
MaxxAir 6.5” vent fan with dimmable LED light
Three dual USB charging ports for bedside and galley/storage area charging
Two bedside wall mounted LED lamps (dimmable)
8” Bedside wall mounted fan
LED lighting in the galley/storage area out back





I did get the ambient ground lighting in and done. I’m liking the end result a lot, especially for the ~$30 it took to do.




After running out of epoxy and wiring, I decided to install a bit of insulation..but ran out of time. Dang it.

 

[ITTOG]

Looks like a well thought out system for your needs. Did you consider red lighting near the door/steps. It is easier on the eyes than white if you have to leave/enter the trailer at night.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Looks like a well thought out system for your needs. Did you consider red lighting near the door/steps. It is easier on the eyes than white if you have to leave/enter the trailer at night.

I did consider an amber color for those for the night vision reason, but ultimately that’s why I added the amber side light and will put another one in the galley area probably.

The ambient lighting is primarily just a general camp sight light for late into the evenings when we want to be able to traverse around without having so much light. We can enjoy a fire, move around and see a little bit, wash up in the galley area and put things away before bed without having a notably bright light.

That said, I could always paint the lights with a different color lense tint if it seems like a good move in the future.