Build thread: One-man Sleeper

[Toyotamike]

Towing it with a 1st gen xB. Your braver than me. I have an xA and it's way too gutless to even drive with 4 people in it lol.

Trailer looks pretty good though.

[CarlLaFong]

Towing it with a 1st gen xB. Your braver than me. I have an xA and it's way too gutless to even drive with 4 people in it lol.

Trailer looks pretty good though.

No kidding
I have an 05 Xbox and I have to be sure I don't have a lot of change in my pocket

[eggsalad]

I don't really anticipate any problems towing. I camp alone, and the anticipated finished weight should be <500lb. That keeps me close to the GVWR. I have 5 gears to choose from. I'm not scared.

[Junkboy999]

Welcome to the forums.

Keep at it and you'll be camping in no time.


Are you gonna decorate it with the usual Coffin trimming. Side handles rails, chrome corners, and padded silk liner?

Ha hahah just google image “ coffin trailer “ for some morbidly funny ideas

[eggsalad]

Welcome to the forums.

Keep at it and you'll be camping in no time.


Are you gonna decorate it with the usual Coffin trimming. Side handles rails, chrome corners, and padded silk liner?

Ha hahah just google image “ coffin trailer “ for some morbidly funny ideas

That would be horribly amusing. I will add that to the list.

[eggsalad]

Phase I is complete! Wahoo!

The roof skin is on! Coroplast! Yep - it's cheap, light, waterproof, and UV-resistant. What more could you want in a trailer roof? Held in place with shingle roof drip edge. Also light and cheap - easy to work with, too!



Bit of a detail shot here on how all the trim goes on and holds everything in place and covers my sloppy seams.



Don't have a metal bending brake? Couple of pieces of angle iron and a couple of clamps makes a passable brake, at least for .040 aluminum.



And voila! We have nose protector!



Now we have a sleep-able, sealed (enough) box for sleeping. It's been a longer haul than I anticipated, so I think I'll give it a rest before tackling ventilation and electrical.

[eggsalad]

Time for Phase II: Electrical. All this stuff came out of the junk piles at work:

2@ 6V, 12Ah Emergency Lighting batteries, wired in series, mounted in a tray I fabbed out of a random chunk of diamond plate:



Here's a little switchbox near the door. All switches have pilot lights.



Here's the actual lighting. The green circle contains a LittleLite reading light, converted to LED. The blue circle is a strip of 15 SMD LED for general area lighting (it's WAY bright!), and the red circle is a piece of 1/2" square tube with 2 ordinary red LED, for night lighting/night vision.

[eggsalad]

More on the exterior now... First, here's a little piece of angle aluminum to finish off the last exposed seam:



I'd posted in some other threads about an issue with my Coroplast roof skin ballooning up in the heat. Simple solution: strap it down! Here I've held it down with some 1/8"x1" aluminum strap, on the most forward and rearward roof beams. The middle two will have to wait until the roof vent goes in, so I can see how to fit it all together. Even these first too pieces seem to really get the ballooning under control:

[Doubltap]

Yeah, I used drip moulding for shingle roofs for my seam sealers too. Undrlayed it with a healthy helping of clear silicone, and also siliconed all the metal lag screws that hold it all down. Went with a rubber roof over 3/8" ply for the roof. Used 2x2 cross members for the roof supports. Here is my build thread:

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=53840 ...

Looks like you are rocking along in splendid fashion. Keep up the good work !

[eggsalad]

I just need to gloat. It rained hard today, first time since I finished off the roof. And it's bone dry inside!

[KCStudly]

[Cantputt]

I just need to gloat. It rained hard today, first time since I finished off the roof. And it's bone dry inside!

Congrats

How are you going to charge your batteries back up?

[eggsalad]

How are you going to charge your batteries back up?

Battery charger! LOL

Seriously...By my math, that pair of batteries ought to last 3-4 days of typical camping. Since all my camping is dry, if I want to stay out longer, I can pop them out and connect them to the TV battery and have them charged in under an hour, I bet. I'm also considering a 20W portable solar panel. If I figure it right, 4 hours in the sun at 20 watts should put 6 or so Ah back into the battery, which ought to be plenty.

[Junkboy999]

I have the older version of this 3.9 Watt and a tiny Emergency battery. With both light on, 4 hours, with one light one for 6 hours. Light is a little dim outside but enough to cook in the galley. In side the camper, and with it all closed up, the light is plenty bright.

http://www.harborfreight.com/39-watt-so ... 68694.html

I use a Coleman lantern if I need bright outside light and have a Wick oil lamp for inside use if needed.

[eggsalad]

Woo! Remember me? Now all the idiots on the road can actually see my trailer! In the pics below, heavy circles are LED lights, medium circles are reflectors, and fine circles are 3M Conspicuity Tape. If they don't see me now, it's their fault, not mine!