Hi everyone!
I have a rather puzzling question that I hope someone can help me answer. I've already completed a modified widget a year or two back that I built when we only had one son. Now that we have two kids, I realize that the space is kinda tight, and some ideas starting brewing in my head about extending the already completed build.
Here's a link to my build with some pictures and what not: http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=66347&start=0
My widget starting off being an old 1980s popup that we (or I should say, I) got sick of setting up and down. After a year or two of dismantling, and building up again, I ended up building a widget type camper on the old popup frame. Now that we have two kids, I started thinking that it sure would be nice to have a couple more feet of length on the camper to account for some bunks and other odds/ends. So, I figured I had a few options:
1. Build a new camper - uh, no! I have two little kids and have limited time as it is
2. Remove the camper from the current frame and place it on a new one - I'm up in the air on this one. If anyone has ever done it or has an opinion I'd love to hear it
3. Elongate the existing frame and tongue - this one seems more doable to be, but I'm a woodworker, not a welder, so I'd love to hear what everyone has to say about it.
Below are some pictures of a birdseye view of my existing frame and the elongation that I'm wanting to get feedback on. I know there are a lot of details I'm omitting here such as the size/gauge of the new steel members, but I wanted to get more of a proof of concept opinion from the experienced folks on this site. Would it make sense to just cut off the existing tongue on my current frame and add a super super strong longer tongue and just build over that, or is it better to elongate the actual frame like I have illustrated below and do it that way? I know that by just elongating the tongue I'm still going to experience some flex at the interface with the first perpendicular crossmember so I'm not sure if a freaking super strong tongue could be sufficient rather than actually extending the frame itself. I'm thinking the new additional 2 feet of length I'd like to add will probably only add about 100 pounds or so. I've included an image of what the elongated version would look like.
Here's what the extended camper would look like. The "wart" on the front of the camper is what I'm adding. It would be about 2 feet long bring the total length of the box itself to 12 feet.
Here's what the extended frame would look like. The stuff in red is the existing and the stuff in gray is the extension