Smittybilt Scout Trailer Reviews?

[Plannerman]

Nice!!! Can't wait to see it. I pulled all the electrical out of my tongue box and plan to redo the whole setup this Winter. I have all the new gear just struggling with making it all fit in the way I want. And yes, solar is also going to be added. Bought a 100 watt and a 50 watt panel, not sure which one I will use. Leaning towards the 50 watt as the fridge is in the truck and it already has solar.

Are you going to put the electrical back in the tongue box?

I’ve eyeing the drivers side kitchen box and wondering whether I should put all of my electrical in there. Or the generator I box. Both cabinets are currently underutilized.

 

[ebrabaek]

Are you going to put the electrical back in the tongue box?

I’ve eyeing the drivers side kitchen box and wondering whether I should put all of my electrical in there. Or the generator I box. Both cabinets are currently underutilized.

Yes.
My right side is fully occupied by the Engen MT40 Fridge, and the Left side by stove, and utensil box (rigid) so both my compartments are 100%full.
All the electricals will be in the composite box, and this time on the left side. The CF water heater box will mount on the left side of the new box. The electrical control pane right in front of it. There will be a swing door on the right side, right in front of the gen/fridge door. That will access the entire, now open area. That will house the 12 gallon water tank which will be moved to the left. Generator will also stov in there. Propane will move to the left aft side of the side box via mount bracket. The front area ( roughly the same as the current tongue box) will have its own compartment, housing the electricals, and other things. It will be accessible through a lid type door, not unlike the current lid. Instead of the front corners on the current tongue box narrowing in, the last few inches, the new box will be straight, just like the CF plate shape shows.
Gonna be a lot of work, I know I know..... but if you think that this is not doable, then you should have seen the look on peoples face, when I made the worlds first Carbon/Kevlar side cases for my adventure bike..…
This is going to be a fun, and very doable project. Time consuming, yes, but not hard to do at all.

 

[Silverback07]

Are you going to put the electrical back in the tongue box?

I’ve eyeing the drivers side kitchen box and wondering whether I should put all of my electrical in there. Or the generator I box. Both cabinets are currently underutilized.

I want to.. Not sure where else to put it. My kitchen box is pretty stocked with all the kitchen supplies.

 

[ebrabaek]

Sorry. I just now realize that question was not for me. Must have been the eggnog...

 

[ebrabaek]

So the back plate was laid up, starting with masking of the size on the mould plate.


Then a layer of release agent was applied.


Then I began to cut the fabric. On the top is two layers of 12K/12oz 2x2 Twill......Middle is the cardboard, and bottom is two layers of 6oz/6K 2x2 Twill.

 

[ebrabaek]

They were laid up in that order. First you brush a layer of resin on the top of the release agent. I hit that with a heat gun, briefly, to get the left over bubbles out. Then the two layers of 12K fabric, and off course in between layers, you have to reapply the resin, then cardboard, and two layers of 6K on top.
That is your matrix, and top that with a layer of plastic, and then the top piece installed.


This is now curing. Notice the two heaters. It is important to not let the temps fall below 70 deg. The aircraft hanger is heated to 60, but a little local heating is still needed.
So a little note regarding the layup process. The method is the following. Always first brush a layer of resin, then lay the fiber, then resin, and fiber, and so on. When you lay the fabric down on top of the resin, you massage it down, and force the resin up through the fibers. If you do this in reverse, you will trap too much air, and the matrix will lag in saturating the fibers.
Cheers....

 

[john61ct]

This DIY composite howTo stuff is IMO way too valuable to get buried here!

Start a new thread (they're free!) and then post links to it from threads oriented around other topics.

 

[ebrabaek]

This DIY composite howTo stuff is IMO way too valuable to get buried here!

Start a new thread (they're free!) and then post links to it from threads oriented around other topics.

I looked before fire'ing from the hip, but did not see a real good place for any such thing. It I wanted to build an expedition vehicle I knew just where to go, but a trailer modification...… Only place I could see was expedition trailers..... but that is the same sub as this, and as this is done to the Smitty, I simply could not find a place else. Specially after my FB is cooking again...

 

[Wynn]

https://www.liftsupportsdepot.com/lift-supports-depot-st360p60s10-gas-charged-lift-support/

• Extended Length: 36.00
• Stroke C [in]: 15.20
• Compressed Length B [in]: 20.75

Jessica at Lift Support Depot was a great help to us

I will see what I can do regarding a video. Originally I got the idea from Habitat off road video and been periodically going to their website. They just very recently added a tent rack lift strut kit. It wasn't available when we started our project and may have gone in that direction instead of the trial and error method we went through. I am really interested in their on board water kit and hope it becomes available soon.

Great work. I too saw the Habitat video and thought it was a brilliant solution. Wanting the ability to raise and lower the tent, I opted to get 4 linear actuators but may reconsider and use struts instead.

bobebm,

Do you mind letting me know the bracket, ball stud, and other things needed for install? Thanks buddy!

 

[MOD3RNFJ]

Wire pull out basket is something we've been looking at too.. which model is this? Just finishing the final touches on ours!

That's wonderful news! Also a couple weeks ago we took the trailer out on another camping trip, and tested out the new Scout trailer stove drawer we bought. We really like it. The new drawer comes with no drawer back, and the drawer side can be mounted either on the left or right side. We also modified the handle/latch (from our original drawer) to make more room for our stove by removing the latching mechanism and shortening the rod holding it, see pics.View attachment 470448

Loce

 

[OregonJKU]

Wire pull out basket is something we've been looking at too.. which model is this? Just finishing the final touches on ours!


Loce

We got those from Amazon. I'll see if I can find the specific model info

 

[bobebm]

Great work. I too saw the Habitat video and thought it was a brilliant solution. Wanting the ability to raise and lower the tent, I opted to get 4 linear actuators but may reconsider and use struts instead.

bobebm,

Do you mind letting me know the bracket, ball stud, and other things needed for install? Thanks buddy!

https://www.liftsupportsdepot.com/e...-8-3-hole-mount-angle-bracket-s316-stainless/
These are the top mounts and found long enough bolts and nuts (home depot) to go through the length of the tent support bracket

https://www.liftsupportsdepot.com/search/search-results/?search_query=+A-bs8ext+

Bottom mounts and got the washer and nuts at home depot.

Ours does not go up as smoothly as Habitat. A little pull and push to get it up and down, but relatively easy and no way we would be able to raise without it. A couple of tips, you will need to take off the side panels (attached inside) so as not to rub the piston. Also be careful where you put the bottom bracket. We decide to go straight down from the top bracket and if able to do over, would angle it just slightly inside, since now, the pin for the tent support bracket slightly rubs the piston. Take into consideration the weight you are trying to raise. We have a large tent weighing close to 200lbs. Although the 40lbs struts helped a little, we really needed to go to the 60lbs struts. When attaching them to the bracket It takes a little bit of muscle to compress the strut (especially the 60lbs struts) to pop them on. Funny, with my wife, it took us about 10 minutes to put the first one on and then about 10 seconds each for the other 3, once we figured out the right angle.

I hope that helps.

 

[Wynn]

https://www.liftsupportsdepot.com/e...-8-3-hole-mount-angle-bracket-s316-stainless/
These are the top mounts and found long enough bolts and nuts (home depot) to go through the length of the tent support bracket

https://www.liftsupportsdepot.com/search/search-results/?search_query=+A-bs8ext+

Bottom mounts and got the washer and nuts at home depot.

Ours does not go up as smoothly as Habitat. A little pull and push to get it up and down, but relatively easy and no way we would be able to raise without it. A couple of tips, you will need to take off the side panels (attached inside) so as not to rub the piston. Also be careful where you put the bottom bracket. We decide to go straight down from the top bracket and if able to do over, would angle it just slightly inside, since now, the pin for the tent support bracket slightly rubs the piston. Take into consideration the weight you are trying to raise. We have a large tent weighing close to 200lbs. Although the 40lbs struts helped a little, we really needed to go to the 60lbs struts. When attaching them to the bracket It takes a little bit of muscle to compress the strut (especially the 60lbs struts) to pop them on. Funny, with my wife, it took us about 10 minutes to put the first one on and then about 10 seconds each for the other 3, once we figured out the right angle.

I hope that helps.

Thanks for the insights! Doing it again would you choose struts with more lifting ability? And from your opinion, one side of my setup has is heavier with an awning, would it be wise to get struts with more force on that side?

 

[bobebm]

No, too much would make bringing it down more difficult. We have an awning on one side and we just kept them all the same. Good luck and would be very interested to see how yours turns out!

 

[ebrabaek]

Back side is made using the same technique.