New, from Phoenix

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New, from Phoenix

Postby KangarooRat » Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:24 pm

Been lurking around, reading everything, and am enjoying all the ideas I'm finding here. I'm in Phoenix where it gets hot, and not cold. Don't camp much anymore, because that whole pack, drive, unpack, setup tents, tear down tents, pack, drive, unpack thing is BS. But thinking that I'm 55, it's a good time to rethink things. The idea of a small, light trailer I can load, and mostly LEAVE LOADED really appeals to me. I recently found myself enjoying a "Mad Max" themed camp event in the desert, and will be going again this fall. This time I'm going to bring a teardrop (although it may be at least temporarily "distressed" to fit in the theme) towed behind my jeep.

After reading some of the posts of the foamie folks, I'm thinking I may put together a small, very light, 4x6 to 4x8 foamie on an old utility trailer with no kitchen as my first one, while building a 8', off-roadable, aluminum framed, custom framed, 5x8, queen bed, rear kitchen in the hatch model for my "good one".

One of the things about always making stuff, is you develop all sorts of skills. Sewing, woodworking, welding, cabinetry, electrical. All those will get used in the "big" teardrop. The first little foamie (an ice chest on wheels) will be a good practice piece, and I can even get "creative" with the foam if I want. Spikes, sawtooth ridges, whatever I want for the post apocalyptic RV camper! The only real "special feature" I have to have is a place to mount my solar panel, a small deep cycle battery (preferably vented to the outside) and a 12v venting fan. Now to find trailer parts for the first one. Such fun! :thumbsup:
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Re: New, from Phoenix

Postby pchast » Thu Jan 11, 2018 10:40 pm

Welcome! :D
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Re: New, from Phoenix

Postby KTM_Guy » Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:40 pm

Welcome, I'm in the east valley and will be starting an off-road build soon. The Mad Max foamie sounds like fun. Probably the more mistakes you make the better it will look.


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Re: New, from Phoenix

Postby KangarooRat » Tue Jan 16, 2018 8:29 am

My wife teases me about my different obsessions. I've been scouring Craigslist and OfferUp looking at cheap old trailers, looking at a few supposedly "great shape" or "strong frame" (and in actuality "horribly homebuilt" or "rusty and will need most parts replaced") trailers. Also seeing what it would cost to buy brand new axles and steel and just build the frame from scratch. I think I've got a frame from a stripped popup lined up that I can modify into something that will suit - it's got a torsion axle under it that might be kind of cool to use if I change the hubs to use bigger tires. My wife does like the retro look of a tear, even if she may not really like the idea of camping that much. At least it won't annoy her parked on the side of the house when I get it all pretty.

The urge to repurpose and recycle is ingrained in me, and sometimes it really is counterproductive. After all, I have a welder, and a frame is just a sturdy metal rectangle. I probably will custom fabricate the frame on the "big" teardrop to get it just right and spend enough to get the GOOD axles (looking at possibly the Timbren axle-less units for that one), while letting my first build be where I make all sorts of stupid mistakes but still have fun with it. And like KTM_Guy said, the more mistakes the better a "post apocalyptic" teardrop will look! I like that idea!
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