Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hello all!
I'm excited about the new 6x10 V-nose trailer we (my girlfriend & I) bought to convert into a camper. We ordered it November 21, 2020 and took delivery April 24, 2021, yeah...five months to get it. It's a Haul About, built in Indiana. https://haulabout.us We bought it from a dealer North of us in Clarksville and ordered it with a few custom touches: extended tongue, Dexter torsion axle, blackout package, and a height reduction for less aero resistance while towing. We are going to build it with a back galley and a sleeping cabin separated by a full wall with a pass-through.







I hope to chronicle the whole build here and enjoy a dialog with others who've done (or are doing) a conversion to minimize errors and poor choices.

Of course, it's been six months since we got it and you may be wondering what progress has been made. There certainly has been some, though I will say we are doing this project without urgency. It's about the journey as much as it is about the destination.

The first this we did was to gut it. Took all walls and trim out.



I happened to be under the trailer, just doing a general "I got a new thing and want to know all about it" kind of inspection and noticed that some of the undercoating applied at the factory was poorly applied and bare metal was exposed. Corrosion is something I have a high desire not to mess with, so not knowing how well it was applied to other parts of the trailer, we decided to remove the floors too.

So, yeah, that section of undercoating just came off the face of the cross member in one big piece. We were floored! (I like puns) So, we decided to just remove ALL of their stuff and recoat the entire bottom section to insure a consistent robust barrier against corrosion. As we went along, it became clear that the affected area was limited to that one area, but we had already started and are sticklers for detail, so we forged on. Let me tell you, it was no easy work. It took a couple months just to do that, with us working on it only on the weekends. Scrapers, wire brushes, wire WHEELS, steel wool, acetone, etc. all came into play. I really wish they had applied their undercoating properly everywhere.



As it is now, all of their undercoating is removed and the whole bottom section is primed. I still have to spray the actual undercoating.

I don't much care for the look of the small tires usually found on cargo trailers. Plus, we intend to get into terrain that might prove to be a challenge for those little wheels and tires. We got the torsion axle with that in mind. So, we decided to upgrade the wheels and tires to be ready for the coming adventures.

BEFORE:



AFTER:



The new wheels are 16" (up from the stock 15") and they have the same lug spacing and offset as the stock wheels. They are Vision 353 Turbines. https://www.visionwheel.com/wheel/11240/VisionOffRoad/353%20Turbine?finishID=12 We love the matte black and the simple design. The tires are some budget-oriented all-terrains called Pathfinder sold at Discount Tire. It's my understanding they're made by Hankook. I didn't feel the need for more serious tires on a trailer. We got a couple inches of more ground clearance and I think will be in better shape for grip and stability on rougher terrain.

attomica, Howdy;

Interesting all that you have goin' on there. Nice set-up for the wheel/tires,
what's your plan for fenders? Looks like your a detail oriented individual.
Looking forward to following your progress.

hank

Hi hank,

You're indeed correct...I am a stickler for detail, as is my girlfriend. We're both designers, so you can imagine the attention we pay to the space we occupy. We intend for this to be a more simple build, but one with nice details and finishes.

Funny you ask about the fenders. When we ordered the trailer, we really wanted to get Jeep fenders, but alas, they weren't on the options list. We accepted that and just figured it'd be fine. Nope. During my research about what others have done, I came across a couple examples of what we'd really like and happened to mention it to a co-worker who has a full fabrication shop. He said it would be easy to put together what I was looking for, it wouldn't be expensive, and that he'd be happy to do it. SCORE!

We didn't just want fenders, though. Among the examples I found were several that have platforms that extend from the bottoms of the fenders toward the from and back and provide for more surface area to use as a step or put things on, whether they be a permanent fixture or just a cup of coffee. The area that tapers to a point is the back side. It tapers so we can swing the barn door all the way to lock into the hold-back.



The platforms and the fenders are separate constructions that all bolt together, then bolt to the trailer as a unit. They are composed of a frame of thin-wall steel tube over which is a piece of aluminum tread plate, held on by rivets. It's all powder coated black to match the trailer's color scheme.







Here's the right side.

I don't want to have the spare tire mounted on the tongue or take up space inside, so we opted to incorporate a spare tire carrier in this construction too. It's on the left side of the trailer, in front of the fender.





Here it is, test fitting. Blurry pic, but you get the idea.



And with wheel on. The tire actually rests on the platform and is just held in place with the upright lug plate.

One of the reasons I didn't want to put the spare on the tongue was because we wanted some storage up there. There don't seem to be any boxes on the market that conform to the V-nose, so we decided to have something made along with the fenders. There's a bit of engineering to make a waterproof enclosure and my co-worker conveyed that he wasn't interested in doing that, so we went with a basket instead. I figure we can find sealed containers to put in there and find a way to secure them well enough to prevent worry.



Here's the underside. The two angled rails slide over the tongue and bolts hold it in place. Such a clean idea. He welded perforated sheet metal inside the frame to finish the basket. You might think I've added a lot of weight with all of this, but it's all actually quite light. It's all thin-wall tubing and the tread plate is aluminum.



Powder coated and mounted.

As it stands now. I'm working on getting a tire cover for the spare.

Fantastic... I'll trade you a brand new cargo trailer diesel heater for you old tires and rims. I'll throw in a 45-amp battery charger too.

Gulfcoast wrote:Fantastic... I'll trade you a brand new cargo trailer diesel heater for you old tires and rims. I'll throw in a 45-amp battery charger too.

If you're in Nashville, I'm down to deal. I don't need these stock trailer wheels/tires or fenders.

I can be in Nashville one day soon. Need a WAVE-3 propane heater instead?

I've no interest in the Wave-3. Do you have more details on your diesel heater and battery charger?

Private message sent.