I'm a newb to this site and have been reading all the build threads. Bob I think you've really hit the nail on the head with this design. You mentioned having the nose piece made of fiberglass - have you considered molding the entire body out of fiberglass? It would be lighter and would speed up the assembly process. Take a look at the Scamp trailers to get an idea of what I'm talking about. You might also look at the laminates used on counter tops for some of your kitchen and interior finishes. You can buy it in sheets and glue it on. Comes in all kinds of patterns too. You might take a look at what's being used in the new RVs for some ideas.
Skersfan's New Shuttle Pod Trailer Build...
- Thread starter SWITAWI
- Start date
Actually, A company in Hemet, Trailer Products, I think actually made the first molds for scamp and trillion. Larry and I have discussed the whole trailer.
The final product will be prettier inside, this was just for the wife orignally, but it has taken on legs, still not sure how I want to proceed on it. I am supposed to take it to Eclipse RV for them to look at it. Have not done that. Could have done some things, but everytime plan it something else comes up. Had towers down this morning at 330AM, finally just got warmed up after being in the rain on top of mountain all night.
Your ideas are gladly recieved, thank you for the kind words.
The final product will be prettier inside, this was just for the wife orignally, but it has taken on legs, still not sure how I want to proceed on it. I am supposed to take it to Eclipse RV for them to look at it. Have not done that. Could have done some things, but everytime plan it something else comes up. Had towers down this morning at 330AM, finally just got warmed up after being in the rain on top of mountain all night.
Your ideas are gladly recieved, thank you for the kind words.
Took the trailer to the RV manufacturer today, the lead engineer is impressed, would end up working with them if I sell the platform. I have another meeting next Tuesday with a design engineer and a board member. Who knows this may be the easiest way to go. Doing the baby steps, still want to be involved I think. Either way got one of the have to do's done today.
Titanpat57
Expedition Leader
Complete and Total Awesomeness......
Trailer
It is exciting but a long way from a done deal. It may happen, it might not, neither is the end of the world. Big under taking for them to say the least. And I am not sure I want to do things that way.
I have no desire to be an AT company. I would much prefer to build these as a hobby, past time so to speak, I want control of what has my name on it I guess. More personal involvement I think. Will just have to wait and see how things go.
Thanks for the kind words guys, I turly appreciate them, and value your opinions.
It is exciting but a long way from a done deal. It may happen, it might not, neither is the end of the world. Big under taking for them to say the least. And I am not sure I want to do things that way.
I have no desire to be an AT company. I would much prefer to build these as a hobby, past time so to speak, I want control of what has my name on it I guess. More personal involvement I think. Will just have to wait and see how things go.
Thanks for the kind words guys, I turly appreciate them, and value your opinions.
Dirtytires
Explorer
The build GOD!!:bowdown:
thanks guys, it truly has been a ball building this. But yesterday was the best, took it out on a real trail for the first time. The trialer handled everything quite well. Compression, hicentering, off camber, descent and tracking was fantastic. I had two pretty experienced drivers behind me watching how it worked, both were very impressed, never hopped nor swapped in any application. I pullled if fully loaded with 28 gallons of water, 7 gallons of propane, and we picked up trash off the trail and it carried 6 full contractors bags of trash back. I will try to get the photos up this week.
I had played with it on things around my area, but this was a fun trail that offered a lot of different things that are normally only encountered on a trail, big roacks along the side in turns, washouts of the trail making it narrow in turns, the trailer tracked perfectly with in the rear wheels of the FJ, never dropping into holes or climbing the side rocks. Fender system kept the mud and debris off the trailer, and I have yet to find any scracthes on the trailer from the brush. All in all a great day, had a ball, and all seemed impressed with its abilities.
I had played with it on things around my area, but this was a fun trail that offered a lot of different things that are normally only encountered on a trail, big roacks along the side in turns, washouts of the trail making it narrow in turns, the trailer tracked perfectly with in the rear wheels of the FJ, never dropping into holes or climbing the side rocks. Fender system kept the mud and debris off the trailer, and I have yet to find any scracthes on the trailer from the brush. All in all a great day, had a ball, and all seemed impressed with its abilities.
Yes, it certainly is. This is a bigger trailer than the box trailers, pretty much in every aspect. I went for strength, and a look that screamed different. I hate the look of the tear drop, always have, and I have built hundreds of regular enclosed tag trailers. But by changing design so drastically, you run into other problems. Balance, loaded and loaded becomes a concern, heading out with a totally full trailer and returning with 28 gallons less at the center of gravity leaves questions to be answered. The trailer has to work both ways. Most never take that into consideration. I also over built the trailer for certain reasons, yesterday I put it into extreme twist situations on purpose, the back door being steel framed has to stay where it is intended to be, other wise it will not open properly. By dropping a wheel into a 2 foot drop and turning the trailer at 90 degrees puts a lot of twist/torque into the frame. It passed perfectly with no stress to paint in the stressed areas. I painted the frame on this trailer for that very reason. The production trailer will be powder coated.
I have built this type of off road trailer for over 25 years, so the R&D on design has been done for a long time, but the testing was for more high speed accross the desert floor loaded with ten quads, a full kitchen, bathroom and sleeping for 8. Totally different deal, but in structure design very similar.
I am planning on doing the Kokopelli trail after Cruise Moab with Ace Brown. He is very knowledgable of the area and has been with several that have drug their trailers through. I plan to beat this one over the summer, may remove all the innards and intentionally roll it after the Summit this summer. I have built small trailers before that have rolled and only required a minor amount of cosmetic repair. I want to know what I have built is the best out there, and if not what I have to do to make it the best.
I have built this type of off road trailer for over 25 years, so the R&D on design has been done for a long time, but the testing was for more high speed accross the desert floor loaded with ten quads, a full kitchen, bathroom and sleeping for 8. Totally different deal, but in structure design very similar.
I am planning on doing the Kokopelli trail after Cruise Moab with Ace Brown. He is very knowledgable of the area and has been with several that have drug their trailers through. I plan to beat this one over the summer, may remove all the innards and intentionally roll it after the Summit this summer. I have built small trailers before that have rolled and only required a minor amount of cosmetic repair. I want to know what I have built is the best out there, and if not what I have to do to make it the best.
Fresno, I will remove the breakable stuff, such as fridge, AC, TV, mattress and misc. I honestly do not expect much damage to the trailer, outer skin scratches and scrapes, torn trim and possibly the back door explodes due to real strength integrity, more of shield than anything else.
I expect it will be less than 1500.00 in damaged product, time to fix it is not considered., and it would be worth it to know in honesty.
I expect it will be less than 1500.00 in damaged product, time to fix it is not considered., and it would be worth it to know in honesty.