"TrailTop" modular trailer topper building components

[blvdking]

Sounds like the concept in this drawing drawing is a pretty good fit for your needs and the size of your Jeep-tub trailer. If you want to see it in Rescue Green plus the outfitting you've described, I can update the drawing, but it'll look pretty much like this in a different color and with a spare on the back .

A detailed picture would be cool if it's not too much trouble to see with the color, slight lift, mt tires, and carrier. Can you also get me pricing and specifics/dimensions to make sure it will fit my gear?

 

[jscherb]

A detailed picture would be cool if it's not too much trouble to see with the color, slight lift, mt tires, and carrier. Can you also get me pricing and specifics/dimensions to make sure it will fit my gear?

I'll try to do an updated drawing for you this weekend.

Specs are mostly up to you - you already have a tub, so you know those dimensions. The TrailTop system allows you to DIY-build whatever top you want, so you can size the height as appropriate for your gear and needs.

As for pricing, the TrailTop parts are still at the "hobby project" stage for me, I haven't decided yet if I want them to be commercially available. And if they are, it won't be me that's selling them, it'll be whatever company licenses them from me, I don't sell anything .

 

[jonnyquest]

jscherb, just a quick thank you for sharing your concepts. You are a very talented designer. A lot of people on this forum build some beautiful and functional works. The difference with your stuff is the modularity (I hope that's a word). Keep thinking. I hope your stuff comes to market.

 

[Ace Brown]

Very interesting and intelligent thread. Hope your parts eventually become available as I have plans for a camper shell on my existing trailer tub. Currently have a very well built trailer and tub sitting on 35" tires. My sleeping quarters are a Autohome Columbus RTT. Just spent 66 days camping in Baja and really got tired of struggling with zippered doors and climbing the ladder. The box is 70" by 46" inside with 2" boxed top rails. Obviously this is too small for a livable camper but my plan is to extend the sides and front of the box about 6" with welded on "shelves". I'm only 5'10" so that would be adequate for sleeping room. Any other thoughts on how I might enlarge the box. Can you do a concept drawing? The box sides are 15" high and I would like overall height to be full sitting up room but sides no more than 48". Attached are a couple of photos of current trailer config. (Next post)

Thanks,
Ace


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[Ace Brown]

Here's the photos:

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[jscherb]

A detailed picture would be cool if it's not too much trouble to see with the color, slight lift, mt tires, and carrier.

How about this?

 

[jscherb]

Very interesting and intelligent thread. Hope your parts eventually become available as I have plans for a camper shell on my existing trailer tub. Currently have a very well built trailer and tub sitting on 35" tires. My sleeping quarters are a Autohome Columbus RTT. Just spent 66 days camping in Baja and really got tired of struggling with zippered doors and climbing the ladder. The box is 70" by 46" inside with 2" boxed top rails. Obviously this is too small for a livable camper but my plan is to extend the sides and front of the box about 6" with welded on "shelves". I'm only 5'10" so that would be adequate for sleeping room. Any other thoughts on how I might enlarge the box. Can you do a concept drawing? The box sides are 15" high and I would like overall height to be full sitting up room but sides no more than 48". Attached are a couple of photos of current trailer config. (Next post)

Thanks,
Ace

Ace,
I'll be happy to do a TrailTop concept drawing for you, but it's a little hard to see the trailer because of all the gear you've got hanging off it in the photos . Got a photo with less gear on board so I can see your trailer better to draw it correctly?
jeff

 

[jscherb]

jscherb, just a quick thank you for sharing your concepts. You are a very talented designer. A lot of people on this forum build some beautiful and functional works. The difference with your stuff is the modularity (I hope that's a word). Keep thinking. I hope your stuff comes to market.

Thank you, that's very kind of you to say.

Yes, "modular" is a word, and it's a word I live by for these designs... making the TrailTop parts modular enables a very wide range of different designs, sizes and styles of trailers to be assembled from the same basic parts. And, it makes everything more affordable too.

 

[Ace Brown]

Ace,
I'll be happy to do a TrailTop concept drawing for you, but it's a little hard to see the trailer because of all the gear you've got hanging off it in the photos . Got a photo with less gear on board so I can see your trailer better to draw it correctly?
jeff

How are these early naked shots?

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[jscherb]

Today I'm bonding the second TrailTop teardrop side together. Here are the parts before trimming/fitting/bonding:

And once they were bonded together, I stood both sides together to make sure they were identical (they are):

It took me about an hour to bond the second side together; the first one took a little longer because it was the first time ever done, but the technique developed during the assembly of the first one made the second one go more quickly. I took step-by-step photos of the trimming/fitting/bonding, I'll post those soon.

 

[jscherb]

How are these early naked shots?

Ahhh, now I can see it! . I'll try to get a concept drawing done for you tomorrow.

 

[Ace Brown]

Ahhh, now I can see it! . I'll try to get a concept drawing done for you tomorrow.

Thanks. Little more info on what I'm thinking. I'd like the front wall vertical so one could sit against that wall for reading, maybe 24-30", then tapered back for streamlining. The rear wall should be vertical to facilitate a full height door.

I scanned the whole thread but did not note much on framing. Do you feel the fiberglass ribs are enough to hold everything together even on rough roads, i.e. washboard? The only load I would put on the roof might be a kayak or gear nte 100#.
Can you give an estimate of the added weight of the topper?


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[jscherb]

Thanks. Little more info on what I'm thinking. I'd like the front wall vertical so one could sit against that wall for reading, maybe 24-30", then tapered back for streamlining. The rear wall should be vertical to facilitate a full height door.

Ok, I'll see what I can work up for you.

I scanned the whole thread but did not note much on framing. Do you feel the fiberglass ribs are enough to hold everything together even on rough roads, i.e. washboard? The only load I would put on the roof might be a kayak or gear nte 100#.
Can you give an estimate of the added weight of the topper?

I haven't posted too much on framing yet, partly because there won't be too much of it required. The TrailTop parts are designed to be structural, and in combination with the inset plywood side and roof panels, will make for a very strong structure. Some 1x2 cross-ribs will be advised in most cases to reinforce the plywood; I'll post a bit more about structure soon.

I've designed the TrailTop system with suporting a roof-top tent in mind, so loads like kayaks are well within the range of the carrying capacity I'm designing for.

I haven't weighed the TrailTop components yet (I plan to), but a TrailTop + plywood structure will weigh less than an equivalently strong all-wood structure. A properly constructed TrailTop won't have any trouble with rough roads, but since this is a DIY system, I'm sure there people could find ways to build a TrailTop that won't handle off-road conditions .

 

[jscherb]

Currently have a very well built trailer and tub sitting on 35" tires. My sleeping quarters are a Autohome Columbus RTT. Just spent 66 days camping in Baja and really got tired of struggling with zippered doors and climbing the ladder. The box is 70" by 46" inside with 2" boxed top rails. Obviously this is too small for a livable camper but my plan is to extend the sides and front of the box about 6" with welded on "shelves". I'm only 5'10" so that would be adequate for sleeping room. Any other thoughts on how I might enlarge the box.The box sides are 15" high and I would like overall height to be full sitting up room but sides no more than 48".

Little more info on what I'm thinking. I'd like the front wall vertical so one could sit against that wall for reading, maybe 24-30", then tapered back for streamlining. The rear wall should be vertical to facilitate a full height door.

I'm wondering where you plan to add the 6" "shelves" to the existing trailer. Would they be at the top of the current box? The problem I'm seeing is this: if you put those shelves at the top of the current box, then all of the extra length you're looking for will be on top of the box. If you then build a camper top with enough headroom and put it on top of the current box, the finished trailer will be very tall, probably too tall.

If you extend the width at the bottom of the current box, you'll need to remove the current box or it would be inside a camper top, making the inside of the camper top very awkward to use.

The nice thing about a roof-top tent on this trailer as you've been using it is that it's low when the tent isn't deployed, and it doesn't matter how tall it is when the tent is deployed.

To do a camper top with a reasonable overall height and a practical inside headroom height, you generally need to mount the camper top right on the trailer frame. Your current box gets in the way of that, so I'm wondering what you want to do with the current box and these shelves you mentioned.

 

[Ace Brown]

I guess you missed the point above where I said "sitting headroom" and also stated that the sides would not exceed 48". My sitting headroom is 40" so if I used that the ceiling would be about 55" high from the trailer floor. I might add a pop-up in the roof to stand in and have more ventilation. Thinking a big sailboat hatch.

The shelf would be an extension of the top rail of the tub so instead of a 2" surface it would then be 8" wide adding another 16" to the cabin width. The shelves would be welded in place becoming a permanent part of the tub. The width of the floor is not important as long as there is room for my feet and some storage up front. I hope that clarifies a few points.


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