loading a small trailer

[bobhenry]

I looked for a post to tag this onto. I searched "packing" and "loading" and nothing appropriate came up so here goes.

People often wonder just how DO you get all that camping gear into a tiny trailer. My 4 x 7 is about as tiny as any so I took time while loading for home to take shots of the loading ( and thought process ) involved in packin' up.



I was towing with the "not rated to tow" toy car ! Going out I placed all the cast iron in the car trunk with spare tires and a floor jack for emergency use. It was kinda squatting.

On the way home I vowed to do better....

As far back as I could load it was the 9 pieces of cast iron and the cook table. I nested the little propane cook top under the D.O. cook table.



Then went in the popup and the side tables to make a base



on this base went the camping chairs. The blue duffle is full of party lights and the pop up side curtains,



next I loaded the tongue cooler.. here you will see the charcoal the starter the electrical cords the d.o. lid lifter and the coal shovel.



Then get all the goodies speard around the campsite that fit into the dry box.

Food, dry goods, the foils and parchment, can openers, silverware, plates, and on and on



I even found enough room for the pop up safety tie downs and other junk.



The tote was to go at the door.(I always like something big to block the door in case it should pop open.) Unfortunatly I am not used to a 4 wide and it had to ride on top of the chairs. See it's little yellow wheel in the pic? The red neck hot water heater and the empty pop cooler are in the front.



There was still plenty of room for a clothing duffle and other items. I did keep the wet cooler in the back seat of the car. In case of a leak I would rather have a wet backseat than a wet bed.

[ParTaxer]

That looks pretty much how I pack it up.

[Redneck Teepee]

This is how I do it!

[bobhenry]

You take way to much camping junque.

[wincrasher]

This is how I do it!

Obviously, headed to Burning Man!

[working on it]

Originally, the plan was to build a < 1000 lbs TTT, to be pulled by a "not-really-meant-to-tow" HHR or Cobalt (1000 lb limit). As a necessity to get just enough tongueweight (given that I had an A/C and generator in the rear), I designed my 4x8 trailer to be loaded with 1 or 2 water jugs and loaded cooler inside the cabin (weight to be variable to get the TW right), to be transported by strapping them to a front-wall mounted E-track and other strategically located tie-down loops). I would fold the mattress back, strap it down, then slide the jugs and cooler inside (the cabin has waterproof carpeting), and attach the hold-downs. Then, I would lay my side-tables on the mattress, cover them with the Easy-Up canopy and side-tent (in their own cases), and secure them with bungy cords. A lot of work to pack and unpack, but the trailer rode well, and the system should be handy in case I need to use it for cargo someday (I registered it as such). However, the loading and unloading takes a while, and after just two excursions, I wanted to make the process quicker. So, I moved much of the load to the bed of my pickup (note: I missed the 1k lb limit by 75%, requiring use of a truck to tow the trailer!). I still will carry the water jugs in the cabin (no leaks anticipated), but everything else mentioned will sit in the truck bed. Set-up time at camp (able to get in the cabin, no canopy erected yet) will be greatly accelerated to just seconds, in case of rain??? copied from a previous post:

The main object of this exercise is to make the trailer more easily/immediately usable upon arrival at a campsite. Previously, I would have to load and unload tent, canopy, a heavy cooler, side-tables, cookstand, chairs from the interior of the trailer (I designed it that way, but empirical data wins over theory here). I am getting older, and lazier too. I want to be able to remove one or two items from the cabin and be able to hunker down immediately, especially after dark or in inclement weather. So, I moved weather resistant items to the bed of my truck (lacking an enclosure like a topper or large SUV; my HHR would've worked fine for this, if I had built at 1/2 the weight!). I had already built a compartment to transport my cooler (back when I was dragracing) about 8 years ago; it worked fine to keep the cooler locked in place, while I packed miscellaneous racing gear around it, and also served as a secure transport for fuel from the gas station to home. I repainted the treated wood, and refreshed the hardware, then added more sections to transport my camping gear. A place for everything I moved, measured and built to fit each piece. Truly a redneck engineering design, but I'm still working on it.

truck bed reorganization for camping trips.jpg (108.09 KiB) Viewed 262 times

compartmented pickup bed.jpg (94.24 KiB) Viewed 262 times

This is just an interim solution; since my original intention was to be able to pack some items in the small car(s), and then tow the trailer to camp "economically" and with a small footprint (so the TV and TTT would fit anywhere), towing with a large 11-14 mpg truck doesn't quite fit the bill. I always intended to get a medium-sized 4-door/4wd pickup or SUV to supplement my "fleet" anyway, and use the little car(s) for commuting and big truck(s) for big tows, that's next on the agenda.