To answer some questions.
I have a tube bender and was thinking of bending up a tube that curves out from the sided of the frame at the front, goes past the doors as a sort of step and then curves up and over the wheels and then curves back in to join the frame at the rear. This would double as a slider and a tubular fender mount which I can then just sheet. The only thing is I think it will be too high for a step and just make getting in and out more awkward. I was also thinking of a hinged stirrup type step that folds flat up against the floor for travelling and pulls down and hangs below the door to help getting in and out whan camped.
The flat top of the fender will have some sort of mount to clip the edge of a table on. I'm hoping the width of the fender will be enough to support a table, if not a single center leg will be added at the end. I'll do this on both sides, it's one of the reasons the fenders are flat.
I looked at an awning coming off the side but it isn't high enough for me to stand under, I'll revisit that when I start the build though and see what the final roof height ends up being.
I'll put in plenty of tie down points, I have a false floor in the back of the Jeep at the moment and do a lot of touring and rock crawling so know only too well the problems you get when things aren't strapped down, even my fridge (50lt Waeco) gets packed carefully but it still has a couple of small dents on it's interior from beer cans and rough tracks.
The roof slopes down towards the front from just behind the vent, I was thinking of sloping it down towards the back slightly as well and may still do this, I guess a drop of a couple of centimetres would be enough to stop water from sitting there.
The suspension will be leaf springs and probably shocks as well. I'm thinking of using the main leaf and and a couple of others from a spare leaf pack I have for the Jeep. All the leafs would be too much but a couple would be fine. A nice long leaf pack means good flex and a smoother ride. It also means I can carry one spare main leaf an use it on the jeep or trailer if I need to.
The frame will most likely be 50mm SHS 3mm thick (2" SHS 1/8" thick) does that sound strong enough? or shopuld the draw bar be a little thicker, I'm trying to keep the weight down. The trailer will also run elcectric brakes and 31"x10.5" tyres.
I did render a rack on there but decided not to bother, the Jeep has a roof basket if I need it and I'm hopping that once the trailer is built I can keep stuff off the roof
Here's a pic of the frame layout. The springs in this pic are not the jeep srpings but generic offroad trailer springs, the jeep ones are longer and flatter. I think I'll also have some expand steel or aluminium mesh on the drawbar from the cross piece back under the jerry cans. It'll be a good spot to put stuff I want to keep off the ground in camp and will help protect the jerry cans and trailer from rocks that get kicked up etc.
Cheers
Steve
by Steve F » Tue May 15, 2007 5:51 am 
