Building a chassis from scratch

[James9324]

Hi everyone! It's my first time here on the board. I live in Michigan and have been recently been taking trips out to Utah for vacations. I thought it would be fun to build my own camper trailer for my trips.
I am building the chassis from scratch and have a question if someone could help, and maybe this question is already answered and I just can't find it.

I am wanting to build a 5x10 camper (body dimensions). If you were creating the chassis from scratch, would you build the chassis 5x10 or would you make it a little smaller such as 58" by 118" so the camper body sits over it instead? I was thinking making it sit over the chassis would not allow water to accumulate in between the body and the chassis.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions it would be much appreciated.
Thank you everyone! I look forward to discussing things on the forum as I build.

James

[tony.latham]

I have built the trailers for my 5'-wide builds 59.5" wide so that aluminum trim doesn't sit on the steel.



If you are not sheathing with aluminum, then 60" is fine. I seal my floors with epoxy. Water isn't an issue.

Tony

[James9324]

Thank you for the reply. I am going to be covering the trailer with aluminum if I can find it. I'm having a difficult tine locating a supplier for a 10 foot trailer. I'v emailed several sign shops around my area but have not heard anything as of yet.

Any suggestions? Black aluminum.

So back to my main question, I think I will make it slightly smaller so those two metals are not touching.

Thanks again.