Nuclear Redneck
Adventurer
I've had the pleasure of renting an Adveture Trailers Horizon and owned a Chaser for a few years. I sold the Chaser to pay for some house upgrades and found myself in need of another trailer. I now have two kids, a 6 year old boy and 4 year old girl. I wanted to have a separate sleeping area for them as they both flop like fishes while trying to go to to sleep. Sometimes for an hour or so.
The Adventure Trailers are awesome. However, they were not in my price range this time around. I decided to build my own trailer and aim for 80% of the capability at about 30% of the cost.
My goals:
- 2 RTTs
- Organized kitchen
- 12 volt power
- Keep onboard everything wanted/needed for camping with the exception of food and clothes.
Here is the nearly final sketch. It was drawn in SketchUp.
Here's the as built picture:
The top RTT is a Tepui Kukenam. The lower one is a Tepui Ayer. The kitchen is a Drifta DPOS. You can see the Engel MT 45 and Ark Pak power supply here:
The rear RTT is mounted to a subframe made of 1"x1" 1/8" steel tube. There are stabilzers for both the rear of the trailer and the subframe.
The trailer stabilizers are mounted to the trailer using 2" receivers. They unpin and rotate 180 degrees for support. When stowed they act as a failsafe for the RTT in case the strap holding it upright breaks.
Water is just 4 5 gal plastic water jugs. There are issues of course. One is that the trailer is too tall for the stabilzers on anything other than level ground. I need to figure that out. Another issue is that the doors are not quite right. I need to rebuild them and figure out a better method of sealing them.
The trailer frame itself is a modified Harbor Frieght 4'x8' heavy duty trailer. I added a 3500 lbs axle with brakes and a stud pattern that accepts Jeep JK wheels. There is a cargo rack on the front to carry the propane, gas, wood, and spare tire. The tongue was extended using 2"x2" 1/8" steel tubing and 2"x2" 1/8" angle steel. All hardware is grade 5 or higher. I've installed a breakaway kit for the trailer brakes.
So far, we've camped in it 2 nights. No camping for the next 2 months as I am stuck in VA at a school. Looking forward to some weekend getaways this fall. And a Death Valley trip during Thanksgiving break.
The Adventure Trailers are awesome. However, they were not in my price range this time around. I decided to build my own trailer and aim for 80% of the capability at about 30% of the cost.
My goals:
- 2 RTTs
- Organized kitchen
- 12 volt power
- Keep onboard everything wanted/needed for camping with the exception of food and clothes.
Here is the nearly final sketch. It was drawn in SketchUp.
Here's the as built picture:
The top RTT is a Tepui Kukenam. The lower one is a Tepui Ayer. The kitchen is a Drifta DPOS. You can see the Engel MT 45 and Ark Pak power supply here:
The rear RTT is mounted to a subframe made of 1"x1" 1/8" steel tube. There are stabilzers for both the rear of the trailer and the subframe.
The trailer stabilizers are mounted to the trailer using 2" receivers. They unpin and rotate 180 degrees for support. When stowed they act as a failsafe for the RTT in case the strap holding it upright breaks.
Water is just 4 5 gal plastic water jugs. There are issues of course. One is that the trailer is too tall for the stabilzers on anything other than level ground. I need to figure that out. Another issue is that the doors are not quite right. I need to rebuild them and figure out a better method of sealing them.
The trailer frame itself is a modified Harbor Frieght 4'x8' heavy duty trailer. I added a 3500 lbs axle with brakes and a stud pattern that accepts Jeep JK wheels. There is a cargo rack on the front to carry the propane, gas, wood, and spare tire. The tongue was extended using 2"x2" 1/8" steel tubing and 2"x2" 1/8" angle steel. All hardware is grade 5 or higher. I've installed a breakaway kit for the trailer brakes.
So far, we've camped in it 2 nights. No camping for the next 2 months as I am stuck in VA at a school. Looking forward to some weekend getaways this fall. And a Death Valley trip during Thanksgiving break.