Its starting to get cold out in Michigan

[Yota Bill]

Hello all. My name is Bill.
I go camping often, and have always used a tent, but that's getting a little old for some of the camping I do. I have been thinking about building a camper for quite some time, have already drawn out my plans, and am building the trailer next weekend. Its going to be a bit on the bigger side at just under 14' long, but will have room for 4 adults to sit and eat inside (when its raining or cold) and for 4 adults to sleep...or just room for my girlfriend and I, my 2 dogs, and her 3 dogs. Yes, 5 dogs!

I will still use a tent at times, since I often camp while trail riding (ride the trails all day, when it starts getting dark, find a spot big enough to park the trucks and setup camp, usually about 4 trucks and 4 tents) but the rest of the time, I don't want to have to sleep on the ground or bother with an air mattress. It will also be nice to not have to store everything in my garage when not in use.

I'm no newcomer to fabricating or building, though. I am a heavy equipment tech by trade, which often entails fabricating parts or repairing broken parts, and have built many trucks for off-road use (trail trucks, big dumb mud trucks, etc.) I've also done my fair share of woodworking as well, building different smaller projects (sheds, decks, kennels, etc...my dogs have a 4'x8' house with 2 rooms and a lift-able roof for easier cleaning) and doing remodeling on a few different houses.

I'm building the trailer for my camper next weekend, since I need to use it as a utility trailer to go to Oklahoma City in a couple weeks. The trailer itself will be an aluminum deck frame, plywood deck, with a mild steel sub-frame that will essentially be just 2 rails that support the deck from underneath, and also incorporate the tongue. I decided to go that route to raise the ground clearance (it will go off road from time to time) make it a bit easier to build, and still allow for relatively light weight, about 500 lbs for the trailer itself, including decking, axles, wheels and tires. I'm hoping to keep the total weight to about 1500-1800 lbs. I will pull this, at times anyway, with a Ford Escape, so the maximum trailer weight is 2000 lbs for my smallest tow vehicle. I would also like to build the camper itself as sort of a "pod" that can be taken off of the trailer, so I can still use it as a utility trailer, meaning one less trailer I have to store!


See ya on the trails!


Bill


p.s. Yes, I have been lurking here for quite some time

[bobhenry]

With a mixed metal frame how do you isolate the aluminun from the steel to avoid galvanic corrosion.


P.S. welcome aboard !

[Shadow Catcher]

the "pod" can be built of aluminum and an interface i.e. rubber between it and the trailer. Why not build the trailer out of aluminum as well?

[Yota Bill]

the trailer will be partially aluminum...I don't have a good way to weld aluminum at home, so I'll bolt those sections together and take it to work so it can be tig welded. That was also a major reason in deciding to make the 2 main beams of the trailer out of mild steel, which I can weld at home.

I'll put some heavy plastic between the steel and aluminum. I'm not sure exactly what type of plastic this material is, but I used it on another project (38 of them, actually) about 4 years ago, and have had no problems with corrosion from the two materials, or the plastic wearing out as of yet, and those trucks get daily use, lots of miles, and way much, much more.

I am thinking I will use aluminum for at least part of the framing of the camper pod, but that's the part of this I don't really know about. I see most of these small campers are built out of wood with pretty basic techniques, so what about the stress of the whole thing flexing? Does that not seem to cause any issues? IS it better to try to make the whole thing as rigid as possible, or to design it to flex in certain locations?

[Roly Nelson]

Yota Bill, welcome to the board. Ridgid is good, flexing is bad! The more it flexes, the more it leaks. After all, it is the trailer box unit that gives it it's strength, not the twisting, flip-flopping frame. Just my 2 cents, good luck.
Roly