Hi all, new here, though I've been lurking for a few weeks reading all the great posts.
I have a 1988 Sun Lite pop up trailer on which the canvas is shot. At first I considered replacing the canvas, but I've always been intrigued with the Aliner hard sided trailers and wondered if I could build one. So for the past few months I've been working on designs, trying to work out all the details and I think I'm ready to give it a go. I'm sure I'll run into all kinds of things which will make me scratch my head and wonder why did I even attempt this, but then, overcoming the problems is half the fun.
Anyways, my starting point is to use the existing box of the tent trailer which is 10'X6'X2'. First thing I will do is add to the side walls to bring them up to 36" to give me added headroom. Then build the 2 roof panels which will fold one on top of the other to form the A frame roof. Then on to the folding side walls and voila, a finished trailer. Sounds simple huh? I'm guessing though that a few issues might arise during construction.
Anyways, my first question is on the framing for the skeleton of the walls and roof. What size and type of wood should I use? I've read 1X3 or 1X2, can I use pine or should I use a pressure treated material? I even thought of getting 2X4's and ripping them in half, though one of the reasons for the design is to cut the weight down as much as possible. The existing trailer as it stands is around 1,600lbs dry weight and I want to try to cut as much weight as possible. The existing roof is quite heavy so I hope to lose a lot of the weight there in addition to removing the 2 bed slide outs at each end and even the canvas is surprisingly heavy.
I tried doing some searches to find out what others have used for framing, but haven't had any luck as far as specifics.
Once I get started I will put together a simple web site to document the progress. I've already done the basics and posted a couple pictures of the existing pop up trailer at www.aframecamper.homestead.com
Thanks in advance and I'm looking forward to this build and learning a lot.