Newbie from Ohio.

[BlackCatRacing]

Hello all,
First of all what a wonderful forum. So helpful and informitive. A little about myself. I am a 47 year old construction worker from Put-in-Bay Ohio. It is actually an island in the western basin of lake Erie. I have a wonderful fiance with two amazing kids. I could not be luckier in the fact that they all love to camp, like myself. We camp a lot in the summer in my VW vanagon camper. It works out well because the kids sleep in the "poptop" and we sleep below on a very comfortable fold out bed. The one problem we have is storage. I have converted the van (which is a small turbo diesel) to run on used fryer grease. I have to carry this with us and along with the camping chairs, stove ect. It gets very crowded. To solve this I have semi converted my old sailboat trailer (I used to race catamaran sailboats which I gave up to spend time camping) into a cargo camping trailer of sorts. It is a HF trailer in good shape. Of course my crazy mind always wanders into how can this be better. Not a big fan of setting up a kitchen every time. Then it hit me the glorious day I saw a Teardrop camping. The very kind owners allowed me to look it over and I was hooked. I LOVE the kitchen layout of the trailer. It seems like a perfect fit as the kids are getting old enough to have friends and for that matter I would love to have some of our friends as well have the chance to enjoy camping. A VW camper with a cottage towed behind it. So this winter I am planning on building my own. In the process of going through all the awesome designs. I really like the look of the curvy round trailers but am leaning on more of a design to match the pretty squareish look of a VW van. Let the journy begin. I am also looking at incorperating many parts from a spare Westfalia I purchased years ago and my trailer might have a VW poptop of its own. Quite busy this weekend with the holiday and such but will begin taking pictures, making an avitar, and posting soon.

Patrick (BlackCatRacing, my old sailboat team name that I am still fond of.)

[Woodbutcher]

Welcome Patrick! It sound like you have a pretty cool setup. It will be fun to follow along and see what you come up with. We love pictures so post up when you can!

[Junkboy999]

Welcome to the forums.

Hum I did not now that Buckeyes float. heheh

[Shadow Catcher]

Welcome from another Buckeye, not far from you.

[BlackCatRacing]

Thank you all for the welcomes. I took some pictures and am working on down sizing them. Tomorrow I will be taking the sailboat boxes off the trailer to get it down to the frame. I was wondering why people move the axle back and am sure there is a good reason. Is it so it tows better or because the kitchen adds a lot of weight to the back. Might have to do that which I will not mind because I like that look better. Thanks again.

Getting excited for the build Patrick

[bc toys]

I would like to welcome you to this great site They move them back to balance the weight and for the door cut outs it just works better when the axle is back further. Well good luck and post pics

[BlackCatRacing]

Thanks B.C.
I love all the different shapes and am still trying to come up with the best one for me. I like your trailer and am thinking about the same route. This makes sense for myself because I might not be able to store it inside and a weather hardy trailer would give me piece of mind. Do you know if Uhaul sells there old trailers. I have looked without success, bu they must turn them over at some point. I am looking for a 4x8. Starting off with such a trailer might be faster and easier than building one and aluminum skinning it.

Thanks again and pics will be posted.

Patrick