upcountry
Explorer
Starting a build thread on the M101a2 I picked up last month from Gov Liquidation for $440 (yes, it ended up cost more, they need to eat too) - $540 off the lot.
The primary purpose of this trailer is to take on weekend and longer trips around the Pacific Northwest. My family has outgrown my Toyota Tacoma short bed and we now require more s&$t than I care to take with me, but that's what trailers are for, right?
Since we both work full time, we have found it hard to pack up and head out of town quickly and painlessly (usually ends in pre-trip drama that shadows the whole trip). My hope is I can create a self contained RV-like camper (I despise oversized massive RV's and will never own one). We are happy to sleep in a tent on the ground becuase we want to be in the same tent as our very young children, so no roof tent needed for us. But I would like to add a gas cooktop, water tank with pump, potty for the kids (I'm fine with a pit latrine ................ my wife and I served together as Peace Corps volunteers for three years in an indigenous village in Panama and I subsequently spent many years as a watershed restoration manager in Hawaii so logged lots of time sweating in tropical forests).
The idea is to have most stuff packed up in action packers ready to go. I also want to create a lid for it so I can store it outside in the seattle rain.
The good news for me is my cousin is a steelworker and a big 4x4 enthusiast - he has an amazing rockcrawler and likes to modify vehicles. So I have ready willing professional welding help close by.
Ill post pics as I go, but to start with I have done some generic things - such as replace the surge brake and lunnette ring with an adjustable channel (thank you to Mark Harley and Koolex11 for the ideas and pics). I also stripped a ton of crap off it - these things are way overbuilt. I want to weigh it now becuase you cant even notice it behind the Tacoma empty. Of course that is after I took off the cover, bows, wood stake sides, surge break, chains, etc....
Anyone know someone who wants a cavas, bows, and sides for cheap or trade?
Here is what it looked like when I picked it up:
I will try to post some pics next of what it looks like after cleaning it up.
The primary purpose of this trailer is to take on weekend and longer trips around the Pacific Northwest. My family has outgrown my Toyota Tacoma short bed and we now require more s&$t than I care to take with me, but that's what trailers are for, right?
Since we both work full time, we have found it hard to pack up and head out of town quickly and painlessly (usually ends in pre-trip drama that shadows the whole trip). My hope is I can create a self contained RV-like camper (I despise oversized massive RV's and will never own one). We are happy to sleep in a tent on the ground becuase we want to be in the same tent as our very young children, so no roof tent needed for us. But I would like to add a gas cooktop, water tank with pump, potty for the kids (I'm fine with a pit latrine ................ my wife and I served together as Peace Corps volunteers for three years in an indigenous village in Panama and I subsequently spent many years as a watershed restoration manager in Hawaii so logged lots of time sweating in tropical forests).
The idea is to have most stuff packed up in action packers ready to go. I also want to create a lid for it so I can store it outside in the seattle rain.
The good news for me is my cousin is a steelworker and a big 4x4 enthusiast - he has an amazing rockcrawler and likes to modify vehicles. So I have ready willing professional welding help close by.
Ill post pics as I go, but to start with I have done some generic things - such as replace the surge brake and lunnette ring with an adjustable channel (thank you to Mark Harley and Koolex11 for the ideas and pics). I also stripped a ton of crap off it - these things are way overbuilt. I want to weigh it now becuase you cant even notice it behind the Tacoma empty. Of course that is after I took off the cover, bows, wood stake sides, surge break, chains, etc....
Anyone know someone who wants a cavas, bows, and sides for cheap or trade?
Here is what it looked like when I picked it up:
I will try to post some pics next of what it looks like after cleaning it up.
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