Flat pack trailer kit. pop top works, and we have a tent

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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. We have an awning, we have shade.

Postby saywhatthat » Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:53 pm

But building the press to handle it is the hard part. A perfect vacuum on a 6 by 12 sheet is around 120000 lbs of force, kind of hard for a home builder to build a press

yes it seems easier with vacuum ..this press was on it side less floor .there were only running 45 psi you don't need that much pressure to glue foam to skin to me. in sawtooth video he used just dead weight for top floor skin. It be great to see you selling kits .
I think a small outfit could just use pattern and router and good coller I had about 10 mi to cut Tony shape of side walls out of full panels with 2 skins.
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. We have an awning, we have shade.

Postby saltydawg » Mon Feb 15, 2021 12:18 am

[quote="saywhatthat"]It be great to see you selling kits .
/quote]

I am currently just happy doing frames for people. Most people can buy a few tools and cut wood. Not many can buy a welder and weld. And I can knock out a simple frame in a long weekend.
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. We have an awning, we have shade.

Postby saltydawg » Wed Mar 24, 2021 7:35 pm

Okay first hinge for the pop top made, it works as it should and is nice and smooth in operation. It is an unbalanced lift to tilt the roof as it goes up, it is made of steel, so more than strong enough. I just need to cut the cross bars for the second one to finish it, it is so nice have a mill in the basement to cut the slots.



It took me an hour of searching on the internet for some kind of calculator to try and find some sort of ratio for the offset to get the lift I wanted. In the end just a couple of strips of foam board and some tooth pics to figure it out the hard way, trial and error. But I got it on the first try, for an acceptable lift angle and height.



three pics, open closed and in the middle and the last link is a short vid showing how smooth it moves.



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https://imgur.com/4cZ4AS2
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. pop top hinge made and trip repor

Postby saltydawg » Wed Mar 24, 2021 7:38 pm

Madden voyage, was a 800 mile round trip to a large paintball event in north caolina with over 800 players. It towed great with my 95 tacoma at an average highway speed of 72-73. The torque curve in the tacoma meant it towed better at the 72 mph than at 65, it just was not into the torgue curve of the tacoma until I got it just under 3k rpm.

I slept in it 3 nights, I used about 30 % of the battery in 3 days, and I had the inverter on for about 5 hours charging small electronics for people. I did have an inverter gen running a small electric heater when I slept, but did not charge the battery at all. I used about 5 gallons of water out of 25, mostly just doing dishes from cooking.

Everything worked as I expected, since it was sitting at the house being tested, opened closed, worked on etc. I did blow the main fuse at the house running the 1000 watt inverter running the heater on 900 watts just as a test. I replaced the fuse and ordered a breaker to replace it. I think it actually blew the fuse because it turned out I did not have the lugs on the fuse block tightened so I think it was just due to a not tight connection. But thats why I did tests like that.

I did have to give about 75 tours and explanations of how I built it due to so many questions. I had one guy ask me how much I would charge to build him one. I answered 25 to 30k depending on what he wanted for options. He took my phone number without even a blink.

Gas milage was just under 14 mpg at highway speeds and the truck normally gets about 18. So I lost 4 mpg towing it, so not too bad, for a 15 year old truck with 190k miles on it.
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. pop top hinge made and trip repor

Postby saltydawg » Sun Mar 28, 2021 6:38 pm

I can stand up inside, yippee.

I need to make the supports to hold it, paint every thing then make the tent. But at last I can stand up, in the center it is about 6' and on the right about 6'6" or so.

It lifts nice and smooth, lifting force is only 30 lbs or so.
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. pop top works, I can stand up ins

Postby aggie79 » Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:18 am

Awesome!


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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. pop top works, I can stand up ins

Postby saltydawg » Sun Apr 04, 2021 12:59 pm

Crappy one take no edit walk around video.



https://youtu.be/hqVJoxl7T2M
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. pop top works, walk around video

Postby S. Heisley » Sun Apr 04, 2021 3:33 pm

:applause: A very nice job! The video is great! :applause:
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. pop top works, walk around video

Postby aggie79 » Tue Apr 06, 2021 11:40 am

S. Heisley wrote::applause: A very nice job! The video is great! :applause:


:thumbsup: :applause: :applause: :applause:
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. pop top works, walk around video

Postby RJ Howell » Wed Apr 07, 2021 6:25 am

Nicely done!
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. pop top works, walk around video

Postby Bezoar » Wed Apr 07, 2021 4:09 pm

Thanks for the tour. All your hard work shows!
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. pop top works, and we have a tent

Postby saltydawg » Sat May 08, 2021 2:03 pm

Okay we have a tent, I will remake it at some point as I have never done this type of thing before its not perfect ( it will never be ) edit pics are sized at 1000 wide, no idea why they look huge to me.


The material is waterproof, and it velcros in place so its easily removable. There are 3 screen windows, one is completely removable for the AC. The ac sits on the part of the roof that is flat and covered by the top when it is down and it has clips that lock in place and around the lip of the opening so it cant fall. I have velcro in place covers for when I have the ac on or dont want airflow. If I need to run the heat the roof wont be up so I dont have a solid panel for the AC opening just a screen. I do need to make some strips that fill the opening against the ac, but thats easy.
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. pop top works, and we have a tent

Postby Socal Tom » Sat May 08, 2021 2:31 pm

Have you tested the water heater? It looks like it will melt the box when you use it. Usually those exterior boxes have the heater on the lid, so the exhaust doesn't burn the box.
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. pop top works, and we have a tent

Postby saltydawg » Sat May 08, 2021 2:34 pm

Socal Tom wrote:Have you tested the water heater? It looks like it will melt the box when you use it. Usually those exterior boxes have the heater on the lid, so the exhaust doesn't burn the box.


Yes I have and run it for probably a total of an hour. There is a aluminum sheet heat shield that is over an inch away from the box and wraps the rear, top and sides. I can go take a pic if you want.
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Re: Flat pack trailer kit. pop top works, and we have a tent

Postby Socal Tom » Sat May 08, 2021 5:22 pm

saltydawg wrote:
Socal Tom wrote:Have you tested the water heater? It looks like it will melt the box when you use it. Usually those exterior boxes have the heater on the lid, so the exhaust doesn't burn the box.


Yes I have and run it for probably a total of an hour. There is a aluminum sheet heat shield that is over an inch away from the box and wraps the rear, top and sides. I can go take a pic if you want.


Ahh, I see it now.
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