Gordinho80's Offroad / Camping Trailer Build

[NC_IslandRunner]

Looking good!

[Darkrider_LS]

Cool project!

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[Gordinho80]

I saw Kyle's update and figured its probably time I post an update of my own.

We went up to Bar Harbor, Maine couple of weeks ago and the trailer made it's second trip. I didn't have much time to get lots of the details done, and I had to sort of rush some things. But the trailer worked out pretty well for this trip.

Here it is partially loaded and attached to the Suburban that we rented to haul the 6 us up in 1 car.





Night before we left, I realized that I had forgotten to mount the spare. I didn't want it inside the trailer, nor did I really want to mount it on the cap or roof of the Suburban. so I came up with this.



There is a small plate under the wheel. Grade 8 1/2" threaded rod, locking washers/nuts underneath to keep from backing out while driving down the highway. The wheel in that place gave me 10" of clearance with the trailer attached to the 'burban. The Suburban is LOW... My truck next to it was much taller. So I had to flip my receiver just so that the trailer wasn't too slanted.

Had picked up this bottle opener on our last trip to Watkins Glen, NY. Mounted it to the side of one of the boxes. It came in handy!



Tongue box is not the neatest setup and will most definitely get an overhaul, but it was functional. 24 gal water tank, Camp Chef Triton water heater, FloJet pump (hard to see, bottom left under the heater), deep cycle marine battery, and 1500w power inverter. Again, not clean by any means. Wired the trailer for 7 pin plug to charge the battery while towing. The battery was actually bad and only lasted 1 day. Luckily, we were near a Walmart where I picked up a new one that lasted most of the rest of the trip, only needed to be charged once.



One of the side boxes. I used this one for the stove and all other "kitchen" pieces.



Here is the side table/sink before I finished it. I painted it and covered it in spar urethane to waterproof it. These pics also show the sink without the drain. Used a stainless steel serving tray and a small bathroom sink drain. Hooked up a length of drainage hose and ran it away from our feet at the camp site. Table folds in half and stows inside the trailer very nicely. Set up, it slides into a piece of 2x4 steel tube that is bolted to the bottom of the side box. You can see the tube and the locking bolt in the first couple of pics in this post. You also see how the heater folds up and is ready for use.





And to finish it off... I wanted to keep track of all the places where the trailer goes, so I pick up a sticker from each place.

[Cable810]

That's awesome!!!

[Gordinho80]

Thanks. I'm not too happy with the amount of wood that is currently into the trailer... so I'm probably going to redo the boxes and the walls in steel.

[jonbo2002]

Amazing work man!

[HARDTRAILZ]

Nice. Looks like it is working out well.

[NC_IslandRunner]

Nice work!

[drburke]

Watkins Glen.. you ever stop and watch the race there? IMO it's one of the best tracks on the circuit.

[dvanbramer88]

That trailer is hooked up man. Nice job.

[Gordinho80]

Watkins Glen.. you ever stop and watch the race there? IMO it's one of the best tracks on the circuit.

We heard the races every morning but we never went to see them. If we make our way back up there, we'll definitely check them out.

[v7guy]

Concerning the side door, why not move the locks to the corners and then add some cables to make it stop at 90?
Then you could make a slide out on the door to make a compact, light and easy surface for the stove and cooking surface.


It would be compact and fairly robust and suit the need.

[Gordinho80]

Not quite picturing what you're saying....

I see what you're saying. That is possible. I didn't tinker too much with the door since I'm still not sure I want to keep the wood boxes. I might get a bunch of steel and replace all the wood. I'm undecided yet. This trailer might not be used many more times, by myself at least. I've been looking at expanding... LOL

[mikekey]

Any plans for a roof top tent? I'm starting to really consider a trailer for our future needs with little ones on the way.

[Gordinho80]

Nothing planned yet, but one is possible.

Our camping trips to date have not really needed a trailer of this build. I have the AT tires on there, but they have not been needed to date. The ground clearance also has not been required. I would have been better off keeping it lower with smaller wheels/tires. Our trips have not been out in the middle of nowhere, though. We've been to campsites, and there were 6 of us. We even joked that we should combine funds and look into an RV or Camper.

Wife is still not crazy about spending more than a night or so truly out in the wilderness. She likes to have running water and a flushing toilet. I've been wanting to go to Assateague for a while now, but she's not fond of the chemical toilets.

I might even consider selling this trailer and starting from scratch on a new build... maybe more teardrop or build from an enclosed trailer.

[nayrlladnar]

Just read this entire thread; it is so inspiring. I have a question though: why is the tongue so long? I don't have a ton of experience with trailers, so if it is some fundamental reason, I apologize. It's just the first thing that I noticed and thought it was a little odd. Regardless, it's an awesome trailer.

[Gordinho80]

Thanks! Trailer was designed and built to be used with my Trailblazer. I had a swing out tire carrier on the back of my truck, and I wanted to be able to swing it open completely with the trailer attached. I also wanted some extra room on the tongue to possibly mount a bike rack or something in front of the aluminum box there.

I'm actually considering selling the trailer... Its a great trailer for off-road camping/expedition type trips. However, the wife is more of a designated campsite camper, and there will be few times, if any, in the near future, where we will be out in the middle of nowhere. We usually go with a small group of people, so I'm looking into a camper instead.

[AA1PR]

I didnt read all 9 pages word for word, but I like the trailer build so far & I've seen this somewhere before