Motorcycle tent trailer (Kustom Klamshell)

[KCStudly]

That is shaping up nicely!

[harleykamper]

Thank you all for the kind comments! And suggestions, and ideas!! I had today (Friday) off so I worked on the trailer today. I won't be able to work on it Sunday as we are going out of town to visit family. Today I finished lying down the Luan on the top! Again I soaked the Luan for about 3 hours this time and it bent very easily around that tight radius. Then vanished it inside and out.
This week I bought the 5' long hinge for the top. Also 2 locking clasps for the front. I stopped by this old RV yard here in Reno to talk to him about his aluminum sheet that he has in a big roll out in the yard. it's 48" side, painted white on one side and it's a LONG roll! I need 20 linear feet. At the usual price of $9.00/ linear foot, that's no less than $180.00. He's had this roll out there for years. The last time I talked to him he said he didn't even remember how much he paid for it....
I hoping to get 20 ft between 50 and $100. Hopefully $50.00. The rest of the aluminum trim will likely be bought new online...I still need to look around Reno more. maybe I'll be able to find trim in town.

Clamped down and mostly screwed down.




After gluing and screwing it Luan down I cut it to shape with a box cutter. Easy to cut when it's wet. A little sanding.


Test fit before varnish. NOW it looks like a trailer!


varnished, corner view


Profile


Front view


This is a vinyl lettering I ordered to put on the back of the trailer. It's shown on a copper background because the trailer will be painted copper to match the bike. This is 40" across and 7" tall. So it will go most the way across the back.


This is a picture of the 105th anniversary badge on the sides of my motorcycle's gas tank. This also will be vinyl and placed on the right and left front sides of the trailer. It'll be 10" tall. There will be black panels painted on the top and sides. These will be smaller than the trailer's top and sides. Again to match the bikes paint job. There's a picture of the bike somewhere in this journal. I think it'll really look great that way. Matching bike and trailer.

Time for a drink!

[KCStudly]

SWEET!

[nomad]

I am wondering how heavy this trailer is!

[harleykamper]

At this point, with the spare tire it's 375 lbs. The aluminum skin should add 30 more pounds. I was shooting for low 400s. So I'm ok at this point. The owner of the RV yard here in town called today and is selling the aluminum sheet at $4.00 a linear foot!! that's a great price. And he has the corner trim I need also.cheap.
So it will only cost $80.00 to skin the trailer. Whoo woo!!

[ST1100]

Congratulations Paul to the good price for your aluminum - and fine work with the wood - I'm looking forward to see the trailer painted matching your bike !

Tom

[Eric_kc0ahk]

Looks good!

[harleykamper]

Thank you Eric. It's getting better and better each week. It's going to look great, just a bit heavy though. I think using 1/2 plywood in the floor and lighter storage boxes would've helped. But, as they say, that's water under the bridge.

[harleykamper]

Well got my aluminium skin this week and started to put it on. It, like everything on these things, took longer that anticipated!! WELL, there's a surprise. I got 4 of the panels glued on. 4 more to go. Then test fit the trim, then paint. I hope to be done in June sometime! I want to take at least 3 trips before we tow this thing across this country! Work the bugs out, you know? I did score the .025 aluminum sheet for $4.00 a linear foot. 22 feet/$88.00. Got the all corner trim for $25.00. about 35' of it! used of course. This old RV yard here in Reno has yards of this aluminum in a big roll. Painted white on one side, silver on the other. I can send his name and number if you're close and need some. OK now for the Pictures
First clamp the sheet to the trailer


Then scribe along the edge of the wood.


Rough cut around the scribed line with Harbor freight shears.


Fine finish cut with right hand dutchman's.


Clean the back side, ready for glue


After waiting 20 minutes for contact cement to set, then clamp and staple it along the edges


Here's the panel stapled in place after gluing it on the wood.


I applied the contact cement with a roller. They die quickly but they're cheap.


Same process for the top panels.


Right side


Left side


Now Here's the problem with a 54" wide trailer. The aluminum is 48" wide. So the top has to be covered with two pieces side by side. Not length wise. So that leaves a seam in the middle doing from one side to the other. UGLY and leaky. So I tried soldering two pieces of aluminum together. That didn't work. Too thin, so of course it warped. So I then routered a very shallow groove into the wood, glued and stapled the edge of the sheet down in the groove. Then I glued the other piece of sheet onto that, leaving a 1/2" overlap. I applied fiberglass impregnated Bondo over that, sanded, painted. Looks good I think. That should hide the seam, and provide an excellent canvas to paint on. The trailer will be painted with copper urethane paint. To match the motorcycle. It's getting closer and closer!!

Picture #1 Looking GOOD!........... ........................................................................................ Picture #2 Looking like SH*T!........
Think I'll use BONDO.
Thanks for following my build.

[nhstt]

[/quote]
Great timing! Found this as I was getting to my boxes and it helped a lot. Keep up the great work!
Karen

[nhstt]

[img]http://www.tnttt.com/gallery/image.php?album_id=2858&image_id=102081[/i
I think I have the same trailer. but mine was from harbor freight.
Questions on the tires. Did you put them on out of the box or re grease them? and if so how and with what?
Rank Amateur here!
Karen

[harleykamper]

Yes, this is the 40" X 48" Harbor Freight trailer. So far without any Modifications. I may lengthen the tongue in the future. I may also modify the leaf spring. I took the bearings out cleaned and regreased them with good old high temp American grease. I don't have the brand here at work. I like to hand pack my bearings. It's good to know how so that if for some reason I need to do it on the road, I can. Put a medium glob of grease in the palm of your hand (I use the left) Then push the bearings larger side down into the grease forcefully to the palm, repeat a lot while rotating the bearing around to get grease into all the needles. Look on you-tube. There are good examples there. It's easy. Also if you're careful, you can get the inside grease seal off without damage to regrease the inner bearing. I'm going to make increasingly longer test trips over the summer. Then regrease prior to leaving on our cross country trip this Sept/Oct. I want to carry a spare set of bearings/seals with us. Cheap insurance.
Hi karen. The boxes are easy to make. Just heavier than fiberglass or some metal ones. But cheaper and I had the leftover wood, so that's way I used plywood. I think 3/8 plywood with metal 90 degree angles on the bottom would be a lot lighter. again, the 3/4" is what i had left over.

[nhstt]

Thanks for the answers and great pic's. Ive learned a lot from this build. Gordon asks what do you use to clean the old grease out? I'll go looking for the YouTube video too.
Hope there be lots on your tent also. Will you be making that yourself? and what will you use for tent material .
I'll used 1/2" birch ply for the 3 boxes. If I did it again I'd uses thinner screws.
Karen Ladybug-out build journal viewtopic.php?f=50&t=55602

[harleykamper]

Hi Karen. Glad my pics are helpful. I'm having fun building and taking pictures to document it! We have some light weight nylon material leftover from a damaged shade structure. I'll buy some zippers and no-see'm netting and sew up a tent! I've done fair bit a sewing on clothes, boats, packs. I have a sewing machine with an extra heavy duty motor. It'll be fairly easy. We want to minimize weight where we can. It won't be "water proof" but we'll scotch guard it. And then I'll probably sew up a rain fly to cover the forward portion of the tent trailer. Same material but with polyurethane backing. Lets face it, it's a motorcycle trailer. If it's raining that hard, It's motel 6 time!!
As to the bearings, I don't really know if one product or another is better, safer, etc. In the old days we just used gasoline. OK, maybe that's not the safest method..... Hey, I said old school....Now I usually just grab the paint thinner. But any shop solvent would work just as well. Then I blow then out with compressed air. Then re clean them to get out any left over grit. It's not too hard. I checked your build out. It looks like it'll be bug-a-lishous. Great paint scheme. I'm going to paint mine with urethane paint and clear coat. You might want to watch for that part! However, there are many easy, cheap methods to paint if you don't have a spray gun and large high volume compressor. And get a great professional looking paint job!
We also choose the 40" X 48" Harbor freight trailer. The only thing I might recommend is lengthening the tongue now before you're too far into it. I didn't, and I wish I had. I'll get a little extra length with the swivel adapter I'm installing. But maybe more like 18" to 24" might have been better. It improves the handling a lot I'm told. I saw on your journal that you also are building over the wheels. So you can see what I did about that. We just felt we needed the extra sleeping room for our month long trip we're taking in our trailer. We tried different widths as you did with mockups, and decided we needed the extra length. That said, it's a pain in the butt. All the plywood and aluminum is 48" wide ( or at least the less expensive options). So It turns out to be more expensive with possibly more wasted material. But we want to be comfortable! I brought my floor out the the edge of the fender so I could attach the sides to the fender for added support. and for a clean look with the wheels inside. Are you going to cover it with aluminum sheet? or paint the wood?
On my underside, I but two coats of varnish, didn't sand. Then two coats of spray under coating then some left over paint over that. There is likely a better way to do that..... It's what I had in the garage...
it looks like you have some great help there!! Good luck and Keep at it,

[nomad]

Hi Paul!
I have been following your "Building trailer journal" for awhile, and I have to ask you a couple more questions. What is the heaviest load that you have pulled with your Ultra?
The reason I ask, because I have pulled several different kinds of trailers, and my Ultra Limited (103cc) has to worked very hard to pull a trailer that has a weight around 550 lbs (I am traveling alone). Few years back, I thought I couldn't pas through Wyoming because the head wind, I only could ride up to 45 MPH.
I understand that your wife will travel with you, so how do you do with the trailer, in terms of pulling?
I am currently trying to build a TD, and I hope I can keep the weight to the max of 200 lbs.
Anyway, your trailer is really nice, especially its low profile.
Have fun!
Nick