Sportsmobile Fuso

[kerry]

Having the door at the front with the porch seems to preclude using that area for storage

 

[Lynn]

The top must be counterbalanced somehow.

.

The swinging upright supports are attached to torsion bars underneath the camper to counter the weight.

I've always thought the Trailmanor design was pretty cool. I've only seen them at dealerships, but the torsion bar system seems to work really well.

 

[haven]

I presume that the torsion bars could be adjusted for a little extra weight, like a couple of kayaks on the roof.

 

[haven]

"...A nice big truck with a big camper that is unusable while driving? How about pulling over for a quick lunch break while on the trail..."

That's true of most pop-up campers, such as EarthCruiser, Four Wheel Campers, and so on. The lowered roof pays dividends in less wind resistance (hence better fuel economy), and lower center of gravity (better stability when on an off-camber trail). The lowered roof gives extra vertical clearance, which can be valuable in certain circumstances.

Here's a photo of Mike Van Pelt at the wheel of a GXV Unimog that shows how a tall camper sticks out to the side when in an off-camber situation. This is not a problem on a wide trail, but could become an issue on a tight trail

 

[Lynn]

"...A nice big truck with a big camper that is unusable while driving? How about pulling over for a quick lunch break while on the trail..."

That's true of most pop-up campers, such as EarthCruiser, Four Wheel Campers, and so on. The lowered roof pays dividends in less wind resistance (hence better fuel economy), and lower center of gravity (better stability when on an off-camber trail). The lowered roof doesn't stick out as far in an off-camber situation, either, making the rig less difficult to drive on a tight trail.

And don't forget that this rig was designed to fit in an ISO container. The Holy Grail for me would be a rig that fits in a container for shipping and storage, and has all hard walls, yet has room for a family of four, including seating in the cab (doka). I would be willing to give up the pass-through, and convenience of quickly accessing the camper box.

Don't get me wrong, I've been singing the praises of trailmanor campers for years, have come close to buying one a couple of times. I've even thought of putting one on a truck chassis myself. I'm fine with that. I just expected Sportsmobile to do something more than what I can do in my own backyard.

We've seen a lot of trailers mounted on trucks. It's a great DIY option. And a Trailmanor trailer is probably the best of the breed.

Also note that the Trailmanors are a composite design, not stick frammed. Even the cabinets from what I understand, are SIP construction. For a manufactured camp trailer, they might hold up off-road better than average.

 

[Ford Prefect]

The Holy Grail for me would be a rig that fits in a container for shipping and storage, and has all hard walls, yet has room for a family of four, including seating in the cab (doka). I would be willing to give up the pass-through, and convenience of quickly accessing the camper box.

Nah, you do not need a doka, there are several "day bed" and "extended cab" type fusos out there, just mount in a rear bench seat out of a pickup truck, take OUT the "third passenger" seat and you are good to go.

Don't get me wrong, I've been singing the praises of trailmanor campers for years, have come close to buying one a couple of times. I've even thought of putting one on a truck chassis myself. I'm fine with that. I just expected Sportsmobile to do something more than what I can do in my own backyard.

Yeah I think that is one of my big hang ups as well. For me it is a concept I have been very interested in. Personally I would use a typical TM (opens the same way in both directions) so that I have a bed over the cab as well, but still I can go and buy a dumpy fuso for about 3K right now (high miles and no 4x4 I know) and get a good used TM for about another 3K and mount the thing on there myself. If not there is a guy in town who could do it for a few K. So to me this is just a newer version of something I could do in a few days myself.

Also note that the Trailmanors are a composite design, not stick frammed. Even the cabinets from what I understand, are SIP construction. For a manufactured camp trailer, they might hold up off-road better than average.

Interesting, I did not know that. That perks my interest.

I guess to clarify... I, like Chip, seem to find it growing on me as I look at it more, but I would really want the slide to go over the roof. The MOUNTS are actually attached to the bed so they come out while you slide the bed out.

I also think that with it only being held down by four clips it would not be hard to pop the thing up for a meal. Then again when I camp with a tent I do not have to set that all up to be able to eat. My point is that I can keep a fridge in the cab of the truck with a few drinks and some food so I do not have to get into the camper to eat.

Overall it is a great idea, but in the sense that it could have been anyone's build thread and people would love it, but given that it is SMB many are expecting a little more to it.

Jonny thanks for coming and commenting for us. That was big of you to do that mate. I hope you sell a ton of these things if that is where you are headed. The container thing is a great deal to me too. Did yall explore the thought of putting the thing on the other way at all? The gap between cab and body might look a touch odd when down, but it would possibly give more room for working on the engine when needed too.

Thanks

 

[Ozrockrat]

OK I was in the "man that is ugly" camp. But looking at it closed it makes a lot of sense. If I had a dollar for every time someone in the USA laments the lack of hard sided, 4x4 "containerable" campers in the USA I could probably buy the prototype from SMB. Yes you probably could build it yourself, same thing can be said for their vans. But remember the money you save cannot buy the time you spend building it.

Personally I hope they decide to put it into production. It can only help lift the profile of our passion as well as providing an alternative on the new or 2nd hand market so we can do some of these trips we talk about.

So SMB please note that I think your market demographic for this rig will probably swap the usage paradigm. Instead of 80/20 good road to bad road ratio for your vans these would probably be bought by people who would be looking at 20/80 good road to bad road. So make sure the mechanics and fixtures etc are capable of a lot of abuse. Also work out how to put a motorcycle on the back :bike_rider:

 

[dwh]

Having the door at the front with the porch seems to preclude using that area for storage

The area in front of the door sure, but the space on both sides could be used.

 

[Ford Prefect]

I think A Moto on the back would really be rather easy. There are a number of folks on here who have made various kinds of lifts that could do the job. With a little 200lbs harbor freight winch, mounted on the bottom of the bumper, and a pully mounted as high as you can without hitting the open trailer, you could use Westyss design I should think. Or basically the same thing they use for the bumpers on the Unicats that can raise and lower.

Yeah I agree they totally should keep making these.

The area in front of the door sure, but the space on both sides could be used.

If you watch the videos etc you can see that the hand rail around the deck are permanent with a slant from the body out to the hitch area or front area. That would imply that anything you can set up in there without being above that rail would be just fine stowed there. You could even put a small trials bike, or 50cc scooter or something up there. Then you just have to slide it around to get in. Not a big deal for most overlanders I should think.

 

[dwh]

I think A Moto on the back would really be rather easy. There are a number of folks on here who have made various kinds of lifts that could do the job. With a little 200lbs harbor freight winch, mounted on the bottom of the bumper, and a pully mounted as high as you can without hitting the open trailer, you could use Westyss design I should think. Or basically the same thing they use for the bumpers on the Unicats that can raise and lower.

Yea. You can see how SMB set the spare tire out a bit and angled it to clear the roof as the roof travels upward at an angle. So anything hanging off the back would have to do the same - or be lowered before raising the roof. Might cut into the departure angle too much. It might have to be done so that the rear rack is lowered, then the roof raised, and vice versa before getting under way.

If you watch the videos etc you can see that the hand rail around the deck are permanent with a slant from the body out to the hitch area or front area. That would imply that anything you can set up in there without being above that rail would be just fine stowed there. You could even put a small trials bike, or 50cc scooter or something up there. Then you just have to slide it around to get in. Not a big deal for most overlanders I should think.

I thought about that quite a lot while dinking with the design for a reversed camper on a mog. Of course, the Trailmanor roof setup changes things some...

Loading and unloading a bike from that space is a pain. I figured a modified version of dzzz's crane would work. Something more like Bill Caid's spare tire crane on his 1017.

You can see that SMB got rid of the starboard railing to make a side entrance. That's good. The Trailmanor railing drops the corner before dropping the roof, and I dunno how much that would intrude into the available storage space. I'd probably get rid of the port railing as well and use some aircraft cables and carabiners instead.

 

[John E Davies]

Where is that pic? It looks a lot like Pucker Pass, just outside Moab UT.

John Davies
Spokane WA

 

[Ford Prefect]

Yea. You can see how SMB set the spare tire out a bit and angled it to clear the roof as the roof travels upward at an angle. So anything hanging off the back would have to do the same - or be lowered before raising the roof. Might cut into the departure angle too much. It might have to be done so that the rear rack is lowered, then the roof raised, and vice versa before getting under way.

I was thinking about something that might work... If you set something up like JRhetts tire carrier. However his is basically the same height the entire time, so how you modify it is to make it look like a Lower Case "h". Where the Fixed height is the smaller part o the h and the bike is attached to the taller section. IE the bike gets up pretty high when it is in the up position (thus not limiting departure) and the lower leg of the h is down out of the way when you drop it. Either way it would take some time and thought to make it work, but I believe it is very possible.

I personally would rather just get a 2wd version that is longer, so I can have a deck on the back. You could easily put on a bike or a UTV that way. Then again my concept had been using a typical trailmanor with the two ends that both go up. (And the 2wd because the only 4x4s I can find (read afford) are all rotted out and not worth the time.

 

[John E Davies]

Here is a link to magazine reviews of the Trail Manor trailers: ... http://www.trailmanor.com/WebDocs/Misc/Info&FAQ/Tests/tests.html

The walls, floor and counter tops are made of laminated foam and aircraft sheet aluminum. My guess is that the rest of the construction, especially the interior, is typical RV garbage - small pieces of wood stapled together, no glues, with junky hardware and low quality RV appliances.

The moving sections have "moisture barriers" - rubber bulb seals - I wonder how durable they are, how well they work in a windy downpour, and how easy/ cheap they are to replace. What about water and dust intrusion on nasty roads when everything is flexing?

I bet they would build you a stripped version, less the chassis and running gear, for a good discount, so you could bolt it to your FUSO bed..... I wonder if they would sell a bare bones shell with no interior and systems, so you could build it as tough as you pleased, with higher quality appliances?

John Davies
Spokane WA

 

[dwh]

I was thinking about something that might work... If you set something up like JRhetts tire carrier. However his is basically the same height the entire time, so how you modify it is to make it look like a Lower Case "h". Where the Fixed height is the smaller part o the h and the bike is attached to the taller section. IE the bike gets up pretty high when it is in the up position (thus not limiting departure) and the lower leg of the h is down out of the way when you drop it. Either way it would take some time and thought to make it work, but I believe it is very possible.

Sure, but when it's up, it will interfere with the roof/bed, so it would have to be lowered each time before raising the roof, and raised each time before getting under way.

 

[dwh]

I bet they would build you a stripped version, less the chassis and running gear, for a good discount, so you could bolt it to your FUSO bed.....

Which looks to be what they did for SMB. Special windows for the SMB build as well.