A New Twist on a Tent Trailer

[StandUpGuy]

Its a Conestoga! I love it!!

 

[compactcamping]

Guy, Love it, came out great

 

[Backwoods Guy]

Thanks Everyone,

I had a lot of fun building it and as I'm sure you know, and my wife dreads, we'll call this build #1.

When I get around to doing my simple electric work, I'll take a few pics and update this thread.

Thanks again and take care, Guy

 

[Steve_Cox]

Really nice job Guy

 

[backwoods_rick]

Hey, Hey my ole friend got-r-done and a fine home it is. Congrad's on a new twist to an old past time. Are you going to strap the kayaks to the top of the trailer or did you have something else in mind? See you Saturday and we'll finish the electrics and pack the wheelbearings.

Very Nice looking setup,
backwoods rick

 

[Quietgentleman]

Guy

Have the attach points on the bed rails changed or did you change then to something different. I really like what you have done and am considering doing one myself. I would rather use a foam mattress than a airbed. Again nice work and happy camping

Scott

 

[Backwoods Guy]

Hi Scott,

Thanks and I think your asking about how I attached the tent to the trailer. In this pic, from another site, you can kinda see how from the factory they use a rail with pins that you C-clamp down to the top of the pickup bed rails.

The way they set it up the bows won't lay down flat attached to the pins. I wanted the bows to lie down without removing them from their attachments, so I bought 6 Bimini boat top fittings and put them on the end of the bows.

You can see what I mean on the right rear of the pic there. This way to put the tent down I need to first unvelcro and lower the middle bow, then lower the back bow toward the front with the canvas still attached, then lower the front bow toward the rear, also with the canvas attached. I just leave the canvas piled on top of the bed and put the tarp over it all. I went with the air bed because after deflating it the bed is very thin and allowed me to have more room under the bed for storage.

Let me know if that clears it up or if I can help more. I keep thinking that lower window on the front looks like a great place for a window AC unit.

Hey Rick,

Where we goin first? LOL

Take care, Guy

 

[Quietgentleman]

Thanks Guy

After seeing your set up I went looking at the tent and noticed that your attachment was different from what I was seeing on the net. I wasn't sure if you changed how it was attached of if the company had changed it and hadn't updated their sight. I like the improvements you came up with for the attachment. Thanks for the info and in the near future I will be following your example of a great outfit.

Scott

 

[Backwoods Guy]

Your welcome Scott,

Glad I could help, keep an eye out on the thread, this weekend I'm going to start on my very simple 120V electric system I'm putting in. Should have pics up on Sunday evening. I just ordered stuff for my 12V system, I'm rigging my Sentra to charge the onboard battery I'm putting on the trailer for lights, accessories and my CPAP machine. I bought some 8 gauge wire and fuse holders from this place:

http://www.amenoelectricconnection.com/

They seemed to have pretty good prices, we'll see how their service is. I had them ship ground, so I won't get it till next week sometime. I should have pics up of the 12V stuff in a week or two.

Take care, Guy

 

[woytovich]

How long does it take to set up the tent once you position the trailer?

One of my goals with the cargo/camper was to eliminate 90% of the set-up/break-down time that I was seeing with a tent.

 

[Backwoods Guy]

Hi Mark,

After a few tries, I can put it up or down in about 5 minutes, including tarp and all. One other nice thing is that after it's up, if you decide to move it around, you can leave it up and just move the trailer. Nothing is tied to the ground to keep you from moving it to a new camp spot.

Take care, Guy

 

[woytovich]

Can I see better pics of what you used to pivot the tent poles so you don't have to remove them completely?

 

[Backwoods Guy]

Hi Mark,

I bought 6 each of these 2 items:

http://www.basspro.com/SeaSense-Bimini- ... 3/-1014623

http://www.basspro.com/SeaSense-Bimini- ... 8/-1014651

In the 3/4" size they fit like a glove on the tent poles. I then measured the spacing on the rails that come from Kodiak Tents and used the same spacing for mounting the pivots on the top of my trailer walls. Now the poles lay flat. I don't have a really good pic of it on my trailer, but I still have some wiring to do for my 12V system, so next time I work on it I'll put the tent up and get some better pics.

Take care, Guy

 

[Backwoods Guy]

Hi All,

I did my very simple 120V system this weekend and thought I'd share a few pics. First off my pile of goodies:

My plan was to cut the male plug off of the cord and use hunks of cord to wire my trailer, then what was left over I would use to plug the trailer in at the campground. The first thing I did was mount the boxes where I wanted them.

I'm putting a plug on the curb side outside for lights or other things so I won't have to string a cord all the way back to the pedestal. I'm also putting a plug under the bed where I can plug in the battery charger for my 12V system. Next was to prep the wire.

I like to use crimp on connections and then solder them to make sure there is no corrosion in the future. I then added tape to the hot and neutral wires for insulation.

Then connect in the outlet.

Finish installing the outlet and it ends up looking like this.

Now just repeat for the other outlets. After I was all finished I tested everything with my little outlet tester to make sure I got it right. Now that part is done.

Now, this is not THE way to do it, just the way I did it. But I hope the pics will help someone else who is doing the same thing.

Take care, Guy

 

[MarkInMLB]

Just stumbled upon this post, and really glad I did. Great job, Guy!

I've been going back and forth between building a teardrop, an adventure type trailer with RTT, or even purchasing a Lifetime tent trailer. Since I had concerns over my ability to do a teardrop and making it weather tight for my first attempt, I was leaning toward the Lifetime, but really had preferred to have the cargo not interfere with a quick setup (like yours doesn't). The Compact Camping Concepts trailers, but had the same concerns as you over the ladder access (and price, to a certain extent).

You definitely helped my decision. This looks like a great father/son/daughter project. If your still monitoring this tread, I was hoping I could bother you with some questions on your build. First, how did you determine the appropriate dimensions to fit the tent? Did you measure an actual truck, or did Kodiak provide details on critical dimensions? You mentioned A/C at one point. Did you ever give that further consideration? I was thinking of trying to adapt a window A/C with ducting and figuring out a good way of pumping that in from outside via vents somewhere in the floor of the sleeping deck. Gotta do some more searching here. I know someone has some great ideas on that (seen a few already).

I think I might do something more like and adventure trailer, with maybe a slide out kitchen and storage, along with some other ideas from the great members on Expedition Portal.

Once again, great build! Thanks for posting this.

 

[proformance]

Great Job Guy,

I have a Kodiak Canvas 8-person tent and can attest to their quality. They are well manufactured and made from high quality materials.

I only wish they made a bed tent for my 2007 Tacoma, 4-door shortbed.

 

[Backwoods Guy]

Hi Mark,

Sorry this took so long to get a reply.

To get the dimensions I just measured a full size truck bed, it doesn't have to be exact, the tent is designed to fit many different trucks, so it just needs to be close.

For the AC, which I haven't done, I was thinking to just use a small window unit and build it a rack so it would sit in front of the small lower window on the front of the tent.

The lower window is made to be a pass through to a sliding window on a truck. You made need to sew up a little canvas tunnel to seal around the AC unit.

Hope this helps, Guy

 

[Backwoods Guy]

Oh, by the way, I'm thinking my next trailer may be a Vardo. I really like this guys trailer, but I probably would make mine not as tall. I'm not sure my Sentra would like pulling a 6' tall trailer.

http://paleotool.wordpress.com/plans-pr ... the-vardo/

 

[MarkInMLB]

Oh, by the way, I'm thinking my next trailer may be a Vardo. I really like this guys trailer, but I probably would make mine not as tall. I'm not sure my Sentra would like pulling a 6' tall trailer.

http://paleotool.wordpress.com/plans-pr ... the-vardo/

Guy,

If you're going to pick a vardo as an example, that's certainly a fine one! It actually got me thinking that if you could work out some sort of lift mechanism you could still have a full size setup, but one that the Sentra wouldn't resist too much. I have the same problem too (small cars), and that's why I liked your solution so much. Light weight and easy setup. I was thinking that the addition of a pullout kitchen would really suit our needs.

Thanks for the reply. If we get around to this, we'll post the progress.

-Mark

 

[Backwoods Guy]

Hi Mark,

A pull out kitchen sounds promising, a large pull out drawer that pulls to the side from the front right hand corner with the kitchen towards the rear of the trailer is what pops into my mind.

But I've always preferred to be able to move my kitchen away from the trailer, like to a picnic table, so I have gone with an unattached kitchen box. I am contemplating adding a side door and partition under the bed so I can put my EZ-UP canopy and chairs under the front of the bed.

Guy