Off Road Worthy 6x10 Cargo Trailer Camper Build

[eatSleepWoof]

I went with a diesel heater purely because of the cost (~$250 vs $2000 CAD for propex).

That said, if money was not a factor, I'd opt for the Propex 100% of the time. Single fuel source is a big plus, but beyond that, all diesel heaters have a distinct ticking sound coming from their pumps. I'm a very, very sensitive sleeper, and that sound can occasionally bug me. Even with significant noise insulation around the pump, the ticking is still audible inside my trailer. You shouldn't have any noise with the Propex.

I've used propane stoves in -24C without any issues. And have also used them at the altitudes you mentioned, also without any issues. Although I haven't combined the temperature and altitude in one trip.

 

[Jmanscotch]

I went with a diesel heater purely because of the cost (~$250 vs $2000 CAD for propex).

That said, if money was not a factor, I'd opt for the Propex 100% of the time. Single fuel source is a big plus, but beyond that, all diesel heaters have a distinct ticking sound coming from their pumps. I'm a very, very sensitive sleeper, and that sound can occasionally bug me. Even with significant noise insulation around the pump, the ticking is still audible inside my trailer. You shouldn't have any noise with the Propex.

I've used propane stoves in -24C without any issues. And have also used them at the altitudes you mentioned, also without any issues. Although I haven't combined the temperature and altitude in one trip.

Comparing the Webasto and the Propex, the Propex is actually a little bit cheaper, ~$200 cheaper or about $1,000 USD. Cost isn’t the biggest concern, I’ve already blown the budget and have found some savings in other areas, so keeping the kiddo (and wife I suppose) reliably warm and cozy is a bigger priority in my mind.

The Propex is also sold by a US authorized dealer locally to me (well, Denver, so a hour away) which is always a plus.

I do like the single (and redundant) fuel source concept of it. Diesel smells and smokes, but kerosene might be an ok fix to that. I have heard the complaints about the fuel pumps and there’s options to fix that I guess, but I really don’t want to be piecing together a setup, I want to mostly install it and forget it and get back to life and camping to create memories with the family.

The Propex does have some complaints about the air “whooshing” noise from the vents…but that’s a white noise and mostly inherent to any forced air setup…I sleep with a fan, even when camping, so that’ll probably be drowned out or blend in.

Appreciate the feedback and insight.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

The "whooshing" sound will be present with any movement of air. Easy enough to fix by splitting the output hose into a larger diameter one, or even several hoses that output in different areas of the camper. Move volume in that output hose = slower air movement = less whoosh. But like you anticipate, it'll likely not be a problem to begin with.

Having a Propex dealer nearby would seal the deal for me.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Took a little break, but have been working on things here and there.

Moving on to building out the inside, I installed furring strips on all the factory steel studs and begun hanging the ceiling.

I reused the original walls for the ceiling and bought new 1/2” thick walls.




To cut the holes for the windows and doors, I mocked the panel in place, traced the openings and then went back and measured the appropriate clearance from the traced line to what the trim will need to fit on the interior.




Ceiling and wall panels were glued to the furring strips with some standard construction adhesive and held in place with some brad nails. Ceiling panels did end up getting a few screws as they didn’t want to stay and I only had one spreader bar on hand to hold it up in spots. They’re screwed to the furring strips though, so no thermal bridging will occur.




I was originally going to do a painted white ceiling, but the wifey talked me into wood stained slats that run the length of the trailer. They’ll be spaced out 1/2-3/4 inch from each other, so a bit of ceiling will show through, so she wanted to go with a black background on the ceiling. We opted for a grey black, cracked pepper, as she felt the standard black was a bit boring.




To address the lack of studs and thus easy ability to mount wood to the slanted V-nose portion of the ceiling, I choose to go with an alcantara style headliner material and spray adhesive it in place. This upper portion of the v-nose will become a short upper cabinet area, so the alcantara will work nice as an interior backing to the cabinet space.




I also ran the wiring for solar panels, I forgot this step when I put the ceiling in and thus had install the wire pass through a bit more on the slanted v-nose than I would of preferred, cosmetically.

 

[Jmanscotch]

I’ve also decided to shorted the trailer tongue about 8 inches and modify the lock-n-roll hitch to be 4 inches closer to the truck. I debated on this a bit and decided the entire setup is just too long and the extra 12 inches I could take out of it would be worth the effort but still be a sweet spot for my wants/needs.

Hitch before and after I shoved it into the receiver further and drilled a new hole.



On the trailer side, I can’t really move the jack rearward more or it runs into the a-frame of the tongue when in its horizontal stored position, so I’m just going to cut 8 inches out between the jack mount and the coupler mount and move the coupler back and weld the safety chain mounts underneath the extended tongue tube. Haven’t done it yet, waiting for a part for my welder.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Recycled the door catches that used to live on the side of the trailer by the fenders and am using them to keep the doors open 90* to the back of the trailer.

The rear of the trailer will be a slide out kitchen on the driver side, gear storage in the middle and a cooler on a slide on the passenger side. These will all exist under the ~20” bed platform. There will be a vertical wall 7” into the back of the trailer, this is the headboard of the bed. I’ll put some storage on it.

Since the kitchen and cooler will slide straight out, I wanted to keep the doors opening only 90* to offer some wind protection to the slide outs and create a defined space that may have some accessory holders (towel holder, maybe a flip down prep table, etc).

I put the door stays in a place where the arms are secure by the rear door hinges when the doors are close. I’ll be welding in a flat stock diagonal support for the bottom of the door side mount.




I also decided to do a quick waterproof treatment on the rear door wood. I hadsome Thompson deck waterproofing clear sitting around and used it. The doors should only see light rain at times, so it should be enough to protect the wood.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Happy New Year!

Worked towards getting the bed platform in and the galley dividers below it installed.

Used 1.5” square boards to create side runners that would screw into the walls, then used pocket holes to secure dividers to the floor and to the bed platform (which is the original trailer floor).




The board across the front (near the side door) is just to ensure the dividers are lined up flush with eachother.




Also mocked up the cooler and slide.




Started making the front bench that’s going to be tucked into the V-nose of the trailer.



Would’ve got more done, but these cheap 1.5” square boards warp like crazy and the others I got at junk, so I need to go grab more.

 

[Jmanscotch]

The weathers been crap lately, including below zero today and for the next few days, but trying to get some interior work checked off the list.

Installed the “headboard” that will be the wall between the galley space and the sleeping space. We’ll be leaning on it, and it’ll be unsupported except on the top/bottom edges, so I went with 3/4” plywood for some rigidity.

I'm definitely no woodworker, as you see from some of the wood work done inside, so I take a very practical and simple approach to it. Thankfully my circular saw cuts ended up pretty tight on this one and didn’t leave any crazy gaps for air/light between the two spaces. So a little caulking and it’ll be sealed up.

A 2x3 screwed to the ceiling and walls to hold the top of the headboard, with a little relief cut for the bed fan and galley overhead light wiring, and a 2x3 mounted to the bed platform, that’ll hide under the mattress, to secure the bottom of the headboard.



Front bench also got some time. Added in some vertical supports to the front face and built the rest of the rear supports and the top boards. The bench top will be padded and hinged so it opens up in two sections to allow for battery, electrical and heater access.

Again, very basic wood work, no perfect miter joints or fanciness, just good enough not to be too rough.




Today was too cold for working outside, so I threw my buddy heater inside and worked on mocking up the wiring, making sure to keep large gauge cables running as short a route as reasonably possible without kinking the wires, making everything neat enough and practical.

Blue painters tape represents where the oversized 200aH battery will be strapped down.

Blue Sea everything (quality stuff for a fair price): cut off switch, 30 A breaker, 12 circuit fused junction box.

Renogy shunt/battery monitor (will got on the face of the bench when that’s installed).

Victory Energy MPPT charge controller with Bluetooth for the solar panels.

Not pictured is the battery tender that’ll mount to the right of the electrical shown and plug into the 115V AC pass through cord.




Had to order a few larger ring terminal connectors and another set of battery cables before I can finish wiring everything in.

Made a run to Lowe’s and grabbed the interior wall panels, so those will be going in soon as well as painting and staining selected areas (headboard, bench, bed and cubbies, maybe the V-nose wall).

Then off to a night out with the family.

 

[hooptycrawler]

You have a cool build going so far. I too found the 2x2s at Lowe's are pretty useless. Maybe 1 in 10 is useable. I've been building mine with 2x3s and while a little heavier they seem way better. What are you using for wall paneling? I've been debating leaving the wood and trying to sand and finish or covering with something else.

 

[Jmanscotch]

The 2x3s are so much better, I probably should have used them but already committed to the 2x2s in some spots. So long as I can get straight ones, they work ok, but it’s definitely a weaker and softer wood than that 2x3s.

We considered keeping the wood walls, but my finish on them wasn’t ideal for that and with such a dark ceiling, we know we need light colored walls to avoid a dark basement feel in the trailer. I almost just opted to paint them a nice off white, but the wife wanted something a little nicer so we went with some 0.090” thick plastic panels from Lowes. They have a little texture pattern to them, are pretty lightweight and should make a nice clean finish. Though I do remember when they were under $20 a panel and they’ve now almost doubled in price.

 

[ITTOG]

How do you plan to attach them to the wall?

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[Jmanscotch]

How do you plan to attach them to the wall?

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

Liquid Nails Heavy Duty Construction Adhesive, with a few screws along the top edge to hold it in place while the adhesive cures. There’ll be trim that hides the top screws.




I’ve use this before on my last trailer and it works great. I used it to mount my ceiling and wall panels to the furring strips too.

Only negative is it does bond strong, so if you use it and ever want to remove the panels at some point in the future, you going to destroy them and take chunks of the layered wood with it too.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Had a few short hours today and worked on some small projects, not worth an update really but wanted to share as one of the projects I finished up ended up revealing something I screwed up and really just felt like sharing that.

Installed the galley side lights and caulked the headboard perimeter (inside and out).




Also cut and installed the finish trim on the face of the bed platform and storage dividers.




With the trim installed, the rear doors shut snug against the rear galley shelf.



Ignore the messy caulking job, it’ll get cleaned up.

Then I went on to screwing down the cooler slide and immediately realized I had overlooked a very important detail…




The slide doesn’t slide out far enough for the damn cooler to open….oops.

I wanted to point out this mistake as it’ll both explain why I end up cutting out a clearance section in the galley shelf, but more importantly it’s a reminder that you don’t get it all perfect when you’re DIYing…and that’s ok.

I didn’t even consider this as a potential problem and thus overlooked it. It can be fixed easily, thankfully, but ******** like this happens and you just adapt and make it work.

I have a few things to focus on at work for another week or so then I plan to take off a few days and make a good stride on getting a big chunk of the interior wrapped up.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Knocked out a few more things, on a mission to get the bulk of the interior in.

Made some bedside shelves that’ll house a couple cup holders and a power plug.





Then moved onto the v-nose upper cabinet and finishing the lower bench. Build a basic frame and added mounting points to the wall to secure the bottom.




Bench top will hinge up to give access for removing the battery, installing and maintaining the Propex heater and such.

There’ll be holes cut in the upper cabinet for access and a marine access door in the face of the bench for easily reaching the main power switch, fuses and other bits.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Built, installed and caulked the under bed storage dividers.

The center storage area is for storing gear (camp chairs, propane fire pit, table, etc) so it’ll be accessed from the rear galley area. It needed to be 6’ deep to fit the gear, so the cabin side of the center storage area is shallow…a good shoe nook.




The two outside storage areas are for the cooler (passenger side) and slide out kitchen (driver side). Both are roughly 3’ deep, as measure from the rear galley opening. That means the inside of the cabin retains 6.5’ of linear floor from the divider, under the bed, to the bench face in the v-nose.

These areas will be good sleeping nooks that two <6’6” tall people could theoretically sleep in (feet under the bed, head in the walkway at the foot of the bed). Great option to have for the odd ball time we might need the camper to sleep 4, or to use when the kiddo outgrows the bed platform setup we’ll be using while she’s a toddler.

For the most part, they’ll be used for cabin storage for now. One will have a portapotty tucked into it and some bins.




Next was painting a few areas of the wood that won’t have FRP paneling on them. Did this to “seal” the wood in some areas and for general aesthetics.




Also painted the underneath of the upper v-nose cabinet as it’ll get the same stained slat ceiling treatment as the main ceiling.