Skersfan's build for Old Sarge, May 2012...

[SWITAWI]

07/11 update...

Lost a day today due to fire on my hill. 4 hours of driving to get down the hill and back, and the trailer was not ready when I got there.

Good news is the graphics are on, and the roof rack showed up. It appears to be a lot more work than I had hoped for.

DMV in the morning, pick up solar panel in Temecula, pick up slider for my trailer. Hopefully finish silicone and trim tomorrow.

Lot to do to get it ready and mine. Tired to say the least. - Bob

 

[SWITAWI]

Friday The 13th UPDATE!!!

Finished up the roof rack. A lot more work than I had thought, but after doing one the second should be easier. All water connections work. No leaks, hot water heater works, monitoring system works, grey water holding tank drains. Still need to figure a vent location for it. Spray on the sink works with great water pressure. NO LEAKS, wow!! That is a first, normally have something running somewhere that is hard to find.

Should wrap it up early in the afternoon tomorrow, as I have to drive to Temecula to pick up slider and solar panel. I may be late into Moab, as I have to get my trailer ready to go and the truck, plus load. Supposed to put roof rack on mine, hopefully I can do it in less than 6 hours!!!! Duh, lot of work and drilling through the roof is terrifying. - Bob

 

[Trailpsycho]

Freaking super-sweet, Bob! Great job! Great trailer! Very impressive.

 

[STREGA]

Well done Bob, looking forward to seeing the trailers and you at the FJ Summit. Hopefully you can get some rest before heading out on the road for Ouray.

 

[Aspen Trails Trailers]

Well just got off the phone with Old Sarge, I am taking the trailer to Ouray and he will pick it up on Wednesday, so everyone will get to see it first hand. I am headed out tomorrow, so not much sleep I am afraid. Still doing silicone, god that never ends it seems.

 

[BIGGUY]

Very nice work Bob. Have a safe trip down and a lot of fun when you get there.

 

[skersfan]

Headed out the door to Ouray and the FJ National Summit, stopping in Moab to show it to Old Sarge and then meeting up with him at Ouray to deliver it. Will get pictures of completed trailer in awhile.

 

[Septu]

Can't wait to see this when Sarge hits Whitehorse.

 

[Dirtytires]

One bad *** build there Bob.

 

[skersfan]

Finished the trailer on the 15th and brought it to Ouray, Colorado. where I attended the FJ Summit. Old Sarge departed on his month trip to Alaska this morning, going through Yellowstone and on to BC, Canada, then to northern tip of Alaska. Trailer was a large hit at the Summit, so we will see how that turns into sales.

We are raising the price of the Base Camp model to 22,500. Too much work and expense to stay at the 17.5K mark.

It towed perfectly and had no problems, but the guy who wired the tow vehicle really screwed the pooch, took me 2 hours to figure out what he had done, but still had a constant hot to the brakes, so disconnected and he will look into having the truck redone when he hits Seattle.

Thanks for all the interest and comments on the build.

Bob

 

[InvisibleOne]

Just wanted to post a quick comment in Bobs thread here in regard to his customer service. I'm a big fan of anyone with Bob's kind of fab skills so I've been following this thread. I really liked the foxwing awning he's installed on Sarges trailer. I contacted him via PM asking about it and he sent me a bunch of pics and said he was a dealer and could therefore supply me the Foxwing. I'm doing the Jeepers Jamboree here in a few days and really wanted to install one of these units on my rig before the event. We run the repair station and spend the whole day on a hot rock fixing unprepared jeep owners broken junk. I thought that would be just the ticket to keep the sun off our backs, but I needed that awning shipped fast. Bob not only gave me a fair price, but he arranged for drop shipment even before my check cleared and I had it in a week.

Not only is this fella a master craftsman, but a genuine guy that follows through for you. Thanks Bob!

You can check my build thread in the Toyota section: "InvisibleOnes Rockcrawler Conversion"

 

[skersfan]

Thank You

Thanks Rob for the kind words. I knew you needed it quickly, if I had waited for the check to clear, I doubt you would have gotten it when you needed it. I think most on this forum are good people, trust it seems is a bag that I have a lot of, too bad that does not transfer to money! lol.

Hope your trip was great and that the fox wing did the job you needed it to do.

I have been using mine here in Colorado and Utah and it is fantastic. Keeps the trailer cooler during the day and the rain off the cooking area. We are going to add sides to ours for full enclosure as time goes by, too expensive to do it all at once.

Unfortunately, Old Sarge left his up and got hit by a major dust devil up in the Tetons. Destroyed it I guess, will have to replace the knuckles, which I understand was the safety measure for them. Will work on that today.

The trailer has worked flawlessly I hear, and he loves the quiet and warmth of it. We had 70 mile an hour winds day before and it was solid and barely moved, could hear it by not like you would think.

 

[Old Sarge]

I guess I should pipe in here on my trailer! Let me clarify that I am new to pulling trailers, I have pulled them in the past but it has been a while. Let me start with Bob, Bob is the MAN! My buddy who wired my 7 pin got something crossed and it would not release the trailer brakes at the FJ Summit and Bob worked on it for a couple of hours trying to figure out what happen, he ended up just disconnecting the brakes. I have given Bob a couple of suggestions for the interior, mainly storage pockets for keys, cell phone and wallet and a couple of grab bars to pull my butt up after sleeping! We also discovered that the FJ factory wheels needed spacers, All Pro saved the day there! Currently I am in the Grand Teton's and heading to Yellowstone today. My campsite has no 110 so I have be running off of the massive battery that Bob stuck in there! For 4 days now it has gone from 12.9v to 12.6v using lights, stereo and fridge. I don't have a generator, so I need to get an inverter to charge my electronic devices! This has been my only complaint, and it has more to do with my pocketbook than Bob! The trailer sleeps great as my step son and myself have plenty of room. Having sliding windows in the doors you can regulate the temp (including a sleeping bag as a cover). The temps have been in the low 50's and high 40's and we have been very comfortable. The trailer atracks alot of attention and Bob has already had one lookie lou from my campsite on his website making inqueries. If anybody has any questions please feel free to PM me. I will be taking this trailer thru Canada and Alaska and down the west coast.

 

[johnyt]

Passing thru Edmonton Alberta?

Hi Sarge
Let me know if yout route takes you thru Edmonton Alberta, I would love to have a look at the unit.
Im thinking its probably time to replace my hillbilly hacienda.
its an old Alasken 10 foot on a 16 foot flat deck ( note the all weather patio and deck chairs!
If my Land Rover will pull that much water-logged plywood , im sure pulling a new unit would be a joy!

 

[deepmud]

johnyt I like that camp trailer - it's one of them there fancy hi-lo trailers

Old Sarge I have no love for generators if you can avoid them - noisy/obnoxious things - maybe you can use one of those roll-up solars? That and vehicle charge ought to do you since you are going so many days as it is.

Let us know as you roll up here - I'm in Wasilla. I've been up the haul road to Prudhoe quite a few times - tho' mostly in winter.

Erik