4 season Camper/trailer- is there such a beast!?? - Page 2

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - 4 season Camper/trailer- is there such a beast!?? (Page 2 of 2)

Posted: 12/25/2011 4:00:20 PM EDT

[#1]

Tandem or not? If you have a trailer of any size you're likely not going off at least improved trails that have sufficient clearance.

If your trailer is over abt 12' I'd say go tandem and if you have a choice, go with 6000 pound axles, even tho your trailer won't weigh more than abt 4000. You'll get a bit more clearance too. Although you can pretty much forgetabout running on just one axle if the other fails.

Most trailers this size will come with 3500 pound axles. So if you're serious get rid of the wimpy 3500# trailer bearings made in china and switch to 6000 pound axles with Timkin or other quality bearings. I inadvertantly had to do this because my rear axle came loose one night abt midnight at 58 mph on I-5 and it was a hell of a ride. Accidently ordered the wrong replacements [tks SO] because of a transposed digit in the VIN number and wound up with 6000'ers that fit perfectly!

The difference in bearing size is impressive. The benefit is reliability.

Posted: 12/25/2011 6:39:42 PM EDT

[#2]

You can find a lot of home built setups on the net, I have been reading up on folks who converted vans as well as trailers since some of the ideas used in vans or box trucks apply to cargo trailers.

Even in some of the stuff folks paid big money for there were some problems early on or they just decided to redo some stuff anyway.

I like tandem and I forget the suspension company but I like the suspension modifications that let the 2 seperate axles move seperate from each other on leaf springs.

The torsions may be an option, early on they did not really work all that well in pairs but I suspect that has been fixed if expy is recomending them.

Part of why I like leaf springs is they are dead simple and not hard to rebuild but I also admit I sometimes shun technology because I don't want to learn to repair it.

I will readily admit there are some good companies out there that might assemble a heck of a package but I generally run from the price pretty fast.

I have a shed full of odds and ends I use for car camping and they are items I plan to assemble into a toyhauler/camper trailer before too long.

I spent a lot of time and effort buying stuff and fixing it up doing it this way, but to some extent I kind of like knowing I have what I have and the stuff I cleaned up or rebuilt is stuff I know I can repair.

I decided about the middle of last year that if I could stick to something like the tear drop trailer posted above a single axle would be fine.

I can't stick to something that size and while some of my stuff won't take up a lot of space it will weigh a fair bit.

I decided that I need 2 axles and I have read about the recomendation to use bigger axles than you need several times and figure that is certainly going to be something to look into.

Expy has threads in the archives on the electrical and plumbing and probably other stuff as well. Some searches will turn up a lot of past threads on bugging out in a camper vs. trying to offroad with a camper.

I want something that can handle dirt/gravel/cruddy roads and shallow water crossings. I also want to go ahead and know what I own so I am going to be buying the trailer and building it.

Just the way I plan to insulate it is going to be something most companies might not want to mess with. Or they would do it but charge more than I want to pay.

Posted: 12/25/2011 6:49:04 PM EDT

[#3]

I want a side door and a barn door in the rear. Is there a way to
Lock the door from the inside as well As operate it?
I like the powered roof vents with fans and I like the idea of hiding solar panels on the top of the
Roof.
As far as water -
These trailers are flat on the bottom
- where would you put a black water tank and a fresh water tank?

Posted: 12/26/2011 1:09:25 AM EDT

[#4]

"These trailers are flat on the bottom "

Most I've seen have a frame underneath.

You won't be easily able to 'hide' solar panels on top.

For the kind of conv we're talking abt the water tank can be a W-M 6 gallon 'green' tank near the back on each side with a small pump routing the water to your sink via the B-R with an accumulator tank in there with a couple valves and a pressure guage,

Tanks secured with a cut down ATV strap each end hooked into the E-track you've optimally mounted.

Our 'green' W-M tanks have about 70,000 bouncy miles on them and are going strong. Works great!

We put a Fantastic vent in the B-R and an unpowered one in the back over my head.

Works great for a cross flow of air until it rains. If I'm sleeping and want it dark I stick a small pillow into the vent and pull one of the 5 [each side] ATV type bedding hold UP straps across tight under it to hold it in there.

Posted: 12/29/2011 4:19:14 PM EDT

[#5]

Did you use permanent bunks or fold ups?

Posted: 12/29/2011 9:19:18 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
Did you use permanent bunks or fold ups?

They fold UP and are attached w/ 2 E-track clips each to E-Track. So they are also quickly removable.

The outer legs fold down and are mitered accordingly. When up a simple pin retains them in that position.

Posted: 12/30/2011 1:24:11 AM EDT

[#7]

Here you go

Posted: 12/30/2011 6:41:21 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:

Quoted:I ended up building my own trailer, it was a success but a failure at the same time. lol.

What happened to yours? I remember reading that build thread a couple months ago.

Long story short., Mold got into the wood and ruined it. The build was a success along functionality but was un-usable due to mold.

die-tryin

I saw some where on the ar15 web page. About a new water sealent, repellent?
I'm mostly in outdoor threads. So I'm not sure if I can fine it again.Looked very promising.
Do not know if that would of help with the last trailer. But maybe for the next one?
Maybe someone else know the link to that page?
I had two question for this thread:
Also mj1angier It does not look like you insulated the in side.Why not?
How do you heat your trailer?

PITA45

Posted: 12/30/2011 7:16:48 AM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:

Quoted:I ended up building my own trailer, it was a success but a failure at the same time. lol.

What happened to yours? I remember reading that build thread a couple months ago.

Long story short., Mold got into the wood and ruined it. The build was a success along functionality but was un-usable due to mold.

die-tryin

I saw some where on the ar15 web page. About a new water sealent, repellent?
I'm mostly in outdoor threads. So I'm not sure if I can fine it again.Looked very promising.
Do not know if that would of help with the last trailer. But maybe for the next one?
Maybe someone else know the link to that page?
I had two question for this thread:
Also mj1angier It does not look like you insulated the in side.Why not?
How do you heat your trailer?

PITA45

My trailer was doomed from the start. The type of wood I was using could have gotten mold in from the manufactor and the fact that I built this in a very wet humid environment didnt help. It got wet a few times and thought I had it taken care of.

It came down to poor material selection. It is possible I couldve put some resin fiberglass around all over it and encased it, etc. but that wouldve been messy, time consuming and costly.

Posted: 12/30/2011 2:35:03 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:

Quoted:I ended up building my own trailer, it was a success but a failure at the same time. lol.

What happened to yours? I remember reading that build thread a couple months ago.

Long story short., Mold got into the wood and ruined it. The build was a success along functionality but was un-usable due to mold.

die-tryin

I saw some where on the ar15 web page. About a new water sealent, repellent?
I'm mostly in outdoor threads. So I'm not sure if I can fine it again.Looked very promising.
Do not know if that would of help with the last trailer. But maybe for the next one?
Maybe someone else know the link to that page?
I had two question for this thread:
Also mj1angier It does not look like you insulated the in side.Why not?
How do you heat your trailer?

PITA45

My trailer was doomed from the start. The type of wood I was using could have gotten mold in from the manufactor and the fact that I built this in a very wet humid environment didnt help. It got wet a few times and thought I had it taken care of.

It came down to poor material selection. It is possible I couldve put some resin fiberglass around all over it and encased it, etc. but that wouldve been messy, time consuming and costly.

Never Wet
Well if this does not help you. Maybe someone else can fine a use for it.
Your next trailer, from scratch? Or
Take a sows ear and make one hell of a camper?
Eather way, I can not wait for those pictures!!!!

PITA45

Posted: 12/30/2011 3:12:26 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:

Quoted:I ended up building my own trailer, it was a success but a failure at the same time. lol.

What happened to yours? I remember reading that build thread a couple months ago.

Long story short., Mold got into the wood and ruined it. The build was a success along functionality but was un-usable due to mold.

die-tryin

I saw some where on the ar15 web page. About a new water sealent, repellent?
I'm mostly in outdoor threads. So I'm not sure if I can fine it again.Looked very promising.
Do not know if that would of help with the last trailer. But maybe for the next one?
Maybe someone else know the link to that page?
I had two question for this thread:
Also mj1angier It does not look like you insulated the in side.Why not?
How do you heat your trailer?

PITA45

My trailer was doomed from the start. The type of wood I was using could have gotten mold in from the manufactor and the fact that I built this in a very wet humid environment didnt help. It got wet a few times and thought I had it taken care of.

It came down to poor material selection. It is possible I couldve put some resin fiberglass around all over it and encased it, etc. but that wouldve been messy, time consuming and costly.

Never Wet
Well if this does not help you. Maybe someone else can fine a use for it.
Your next trailer, from scratch? Or
Take a sows ear and make one hell of a camper?
Eather way, I can not wait for those pictures!!!!

PITA45

My next one will be made on the my "chasis" from the old trailer and itll be all steel and aluminum, NO WOOD. Im done with wood.

Ill be using virgin steel and aluminum so I dont have any metal to clean up, etc.

Posted: 1/2/2012 4:23:23 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
Few more pics
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd178/mj1angier/IMG_0669.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd178/mj1angier/005-2.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd178/mj1angier/Picture006.jpg

This is a before pic
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd178/mj1angier/IMG_0481.jpg

I'm sure I missed your post on this but can you give some details about what it was how you made it or a link to your original post?

Posted: 1/3/2012 8:45:26 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Few more pics
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd178/mj1angier/IMG_0669.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd178/mj1angier/005-2.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd178/mj1angier/Picture006.jpg

This is a before pic
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd178/mj1angier/IMG_0481.jpg

I'm sure I missed your post on this but can you give some details about what it was how you made it or a link to your original post?

Here is a post I started on another board about it here

I got the idea from here

Posted: 1/3/2012 3:07:34 PM EDT

[#14]

There are some great options mentioned here for you to consider but these proposals don't take into consideration any specific budget limitations that you might face. I've found that you can make frequently great deals on a used RVs or campers since many retired people sell them at very low prices when one or both of the spouses health deteriorates (...sad, but true!). Take a look at local and on-line publications that carry RV sales and you'll be pleasantly surprised at the variety of models and prices that you find.

Posted: 1/3/2012 3:13:58 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:

Quoted:I ended up building my own trailer, it was a success but a failure at the same time. lol.

What happened to yours? I remember reading that build thread a couple months ago.

Long story short., Mold got into the wood and ruined it. The build was a success along functionality but was un-usable due to mold.

die-tryin

I saw some where on the ar15 web page. About a new water sealent, repellent?
I'm mostly in outdoor threads. So I'm not sure if I can fine it again.Looked very promising.
Do not know if that would of help with the last trailer. But maybe for the next one?
Maybe someone else know the link to that page?
I had two question for this thread:
Also mj1angier It does not look like you insulated the in side.Why not?
How do you heat your trailer?

PITA45

My trailer was doomed from the start. The type of wood I was using could have gotten mold in from the manufactor and the fact that I built this in a very wet humid environment didnt help. It got wet a few times and thought I had it taken care of.

It came down to poor material selection. It is possible I couldve put some resin fiberglass around all over it and encased it, etc. but that wouldve been messy, time consuming and costly.

Never Wet
Well if this does not help you. Maybe someone else can fine a use for it.
Your next trailer, from scratch? Or
Take a sows ear and make one hell of a camper?
Eather way, I can not wait for those pictures!!!!

PITA45

My next one will be made on the my "chasis" from the old trailer and itll be all steel and aluminum, NO WOOD. Im done with wood.

Ill be using virgin steel and aluminum so I dont have any metal to clean up, etc.

Any pix of the 'virgin steel'????

Posted: 1/3/2012 6:14:52 PM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
Here you go

Now that is cool. Looks awesome. Price???

Posted: 1/4/2012 6:05:50 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Here you go

Now that is cool. Looks awesome. Price???

That does look cool but they dont show any prices on their site... kida makes me think it may be a little on the outrageous side.

Posted: 1/4/2012 8:33:45 AM EDT

[#18]

Not sure if it's been suggested yet, but have you checked ou the Fleetwood Evolution? Its a pop up tent trailer that has a kitchen, plenty of ground clearance, storage, and it comes in Yellow!

And first post got it lol

.

I saw two when the wife and I were camping this weekend, they look great, I'm still too young to give up tent camping though.

Posted: 1/5/2012 8:29:57 AM EDT

[#19]

These come to mind. Sportsmobile is right down the street from my office. I saw the one above in Sequoia, had a pair of black bears on the other side of it, couldn't get a decent picture of them though. I have a neighbor that picked up a 2008 4x4 1 ton diesel van with a 4" lift, a small bathroom, pop up top, propane, water, ect. Fully capable offroad and 4 seasons. He picked it up used from sportsmobile for less than $30k IIRC.