Trailer Mod for RTT

[dkali]

So, I have this 20 foot doolittle double axle trailer. I carry my dirtbikes and a ton of camping gear. I've added 3 rows of e-track on the floor, a couple of shelving units, a custom shelving unit at the front and a hanging shelf.

I decided to add water tanks and a rack for a roof top tent. Originally, I wanted to mount the tent on top of the trailer, but then decided I'd mount it at the front of the trailer to save height.

I wanted to be able to transfer the tent to my truck for shorter trips, but didn't 'want to break my back doing it. thus, the design provides for lowering the tent off the trailer for transfer to my truck.

First the tent. I got an eezi-awn 1600 t-top used from a family that used it twice. It literally looks brand new.

Then the rack. Here are the pics. Just finished the welding and fitting today. Off to powder coat next week and then mount.

I'll post pics of the tent packed and deployed.

Next step, move the motorcycles further back in the trailer to counterbalance the 300 pounds I just put on the tongue. Then I'm adding a water tank and storage for diesel.

Cheers,
d-man

 

[RLH]

Looking forward to your pics

 

[dkali]

update

Got the rack back from the powder coat guy and mounted the thing in the rain. lol. I couldn't wait, but stopped short of finishing up the mounting the tent. The loading of the tent worked perfectly. We slid the tent out of the back of the truck onto the rack and then raised the rack into place.

There's a little movement front to back, so I put a couple eyes through spars on the trailer. I used some rubber bungies to hold it, but I think I'll just uses a ratcheting strap to limit the play.

After I get the tent mounted, I'll take a couple pics with the tent deployed.

Almost ready to camp!

Sorry about the quality of the pics. The rain was messing with me.

 

[elmo_4_vt]

Nice! I didn't get how it would lower and how it would be stabilized in the upper position, but now I see. Looks like it came out and will work nicely.

-

 

[Titanpat57]

I really like the concept, and the ingenuity, but I think the angle braces would be better served being longer and reaching much closer to the bottom.

I think that would help with the stability, and also the cantilevered weight once the tent actually opens.

Just my 2 cents...either way its way cool and a great problem solver!:victory:

 

[dkali]

Deployed

Well, I got a ray of sunshine today so I decided to slog through the mud and deploy the tent. It was really fun.

As you can see, I mounted my hi lift jack on the cross bars.

you know, I decided to put the cantilever at the half way point to avoid interference with the truck. As it is, I can only get the lid up about 1/2 way. I knew it would be better to make it go all the way to the tongue, but that interference and the interference with the tongue jack made me choose to go there.

There's a little bit of movement, but I'm going to add stabilizing struts that will go on the corners for when the tent is deployed. I'm going to use a couple of telescoping fiberglass tubes and make a mount for the rail - think 5th wheel stationary stabilizer.

That's it for now. Next project: Roof deck for the trailer.

Good camping all.

 

[dkali]

Out Camping

Thought I'd give a report on the rack.

It towed just fine. There was some flex while driving, but nothing that affected handling. The extra weight on the tongue is offset by moving the dirt bikes back in the trailer.

I added a couple of cables to firm things up and they worked great. You can see the "x" cross cabling attached with the trailer and vertically along the main posts.

Took the tent out in 30+ winds. For the test, the tent was put up fully exposed to the wind. The tent flapped a lot, but held up fine. The one complaint I have is that the bottom room is attached with the tent base using hook and ring. In the high wind, the hooks kept coming off the rings. I'm thinking about replacing with plastic hooks with clips. We'll see. Other than that, it was cozy warm inside. There was a little movement of the rack, but as you can see, I staked the corners down for more stability.

Oh yeah, the cushion in the tent is really good, but we're going to add some memory foam on top to make it more plush.

Finally, I'm going to add a small shoe rack to the tent so I can have my shoes for getting up and down the ladder.