Motorcycle tent trailer (Kustom Klamshell)

[grantstew8]

Just started following your build and it's looking fantastic.
I've learned a lot from what you've done, in particular the floor boxes.
My floor box idea has been the back burner and I was swithering whether to do it or not. Now I've seen how to do it, it's a no brainer. After I've done the cupboards I'll do that.
Thanks!

[harleykamper]

Glad to be of help. I think with a "normal" sized teardrop the floor storage is less important. However with a small motorcycle trailer, space and center of gravity become much more important. Also with two of the boxes behind the axle, and two in front of them, I can adjust the load to maintain the correct tongue weight by moving the heavy stuff fore or aft. Correct tongue weight is important on a motorcycle! Sway.....BAD!

[harleykamper]

Well...Damn near done!! I think this was a fairly fast build compared to many I see here. My Kustom Klamshell is much less complex than most of these teardrops. However I must say... The tent was REALLY HARD! I couldn't have done nearly as nice as my daughter did it. Nor anywhere as quickly. Thanks, Melinda!!
This post almost completes the build portion. Still need to wax it. And install the tongue mounted ice chest. It's on the way now. The weight came in lower than I thought! 400.4 lbs. The tongue was 26 lbs empty. With the ice chest (25 lbs) on the tongue and camping supplies inside, the tongue weight is closer to 42 lbs, if I remember correctly. I can't find the paper I wrote it down on... I think with all the supplies and ice/drinks in the cheat my tongue weight should be about 12% of the total weight. Just about right!

During this part of the build, we completed the tent body, installed it, waterproofed it, installed a hammock in the back to hold clothes and boots, put up two "swag" bags to hold wallets, phones, etc..., put the rear stabilizers back on, removed two helper springs.

Here's the rain bib snapped in place to keep the rain outside! We ended up spraying the outside of the tent with urethane spray to waterproof it. Then seam sealer on the seams. Still to test it with a shower from the hose!


OMG... These corners were really hard to protect. Finally got it. Not all of it is pretty, but I think it'll keep out the rain.


view out the window. I hope this is enough ventilation. Should be.


This doesn't show the latches installed yet. But I have installed this cable to keep the top from opening during travel. Just in case!! That would suck! It would be like a giant parachute. NOT fun...


Here you can see the hammock, swag bags, and the underfloor storage.


No tiny trailer would be complete without a dinette. However small..


Here's my daughter, her husband and child lying down inside. While it looks like he doesn't fit, he still had room at his feet. The inside length is 73", I'm only 66". Room to spare, barely...


I had these made by ebuysigns.com from a picture of the 105th Harley Davidson anniversary emblem. It's the emblem on the tank of my Electraglide. As is the copper and black colors.


Obligatory script across the back...


Completed Kustom Klamshell motorcycle tent trailer! Today I removed the two helper springs from the leaf springs to soften the ride.


And of course, It wouldn't be a Harley Davidson tent trailer without a few skulls on it now would it? Here's one three. The other two are snaps on the front rain bib. This one is on the zipper cover on the front door/window.
Hey! it's a Harley thing.


The post below this one will document the first test ride.....

[harleykamper]

Now we quickly jump to the test run!! Yesterday, we registered it at the DMV. Pulled it there with the van. Didn't want the first test run with the bike to be that far in traffic. $43.00 to resister it in Nevada. Registered it as a utility trailer. The inspector said "let's keep this simple." No receipts, weight. Just test the lights, checked the width and VIN. Out the door, done deal. Easy, simple. Piece of cake.
Today I first hitched it up to the bike and tested it around the neighborhood with just me on the bike.
I differently knew it was back there. However, not as bad as I expected. Accelerating around a corner from a stop, it wants to pull me into the lean, i.e. it pulls the back of the bike making it feel like the bike wants to tip over in a way. It's hard to describe to a non rider. Not an uncomfortable feeling, just takes getting used to. It's not unlike the feeling a large heavy bike like the Harley Electraglide as compared to a light nimble sport bike! Just more so. There was no sway at all. It's was easy enough to keep it all in the lane. A little tricky around the "round a bouts" here. The side to side reaction time is slow. Gotta go slow and easy. I took it up to 60 mph on the freeway. Did just fine. Don't even feel it on the freeway. Not bad in the wind. That'll still take more testing. I had no trouble getting up to freeway speeds on a long uphill on-ramp. Reno is 4400 feet elevation. So that wasn't bad fro this elevation. Also 84 degrees temp today. Now to braking...... actually,,,,not bad! No problem with braking, just leave a little more room between the car in front, keep the speed down and be careful. The tricky part is on the street while stopping. For those of you that have never ridden a bike, You activate the front brake independently with the left hand lever, then the rear brake is activated with the right foot lever. Not as simple as a car. Too much rear pressure, you lock up the rear wheel, too much front pressure lift the rear tire off the ground or just lose control and fall over....
When I stop I apply both brakes up to the last second then put my right foot down to hold the bike up at rest. So the last few yards of travel are just with the front brake! Gotta be careful with that trailer behind me. I'll practice putting my left foot down first. It's usually busy with the last downshift to first gear. On a bike, all four extremities are busy!!
All in All.... It wasn't at all bad. This coming weekend we're taking it to Santa Rosa Calif on a test run. That's approx 400 miles round trip. That's just a road trip, not camping. We'll try to get it out camping in the next few weeks however. We leave on our cross country trip (6500 miles) Sept 15th. As gotta get'r done!!

Last minute check out...


Showing it to a neighbor.


View from the front.


Checking hitch.


Side view. Plenty of tongue length. No ice chest there yet.


Starting down the road.


Just a couple of things to finish up with then done.....as if we're ever really ever done with these things!!

[PKCSPT]

[ST1100]

Hi Paul - im impressed, how fast you finished your trailer.
Looks fine with the matching design to your Harley.
Can you please explain, why you choosed such a long tongue ?
Did you notice bad influences to the bike with the shorter tongue in your first test rides ?
Gruß - Tom

[harleykamper]

The tongue does look quite long. By the formula (1.5 X axle width) it's just slighty long. 6-8 inches or so. When the ice chest goes on it'll look shorter..... The tongue on the trailer is way too short, so I ordered this 48" extension figuring I could shorten as needed. So I'll leave it as is for now. The longer tongue is safer if you drop a trailer wheel off the shoulder. Doesn't pull you into the shoulder as badly I'm told. Also when I weigh the tongue for every 1 foot shorter the tongue goes up easily 15 lbs or so. It handled really well as is. I'm going about 400 miles this weekend, so I'll see. I hope the ice chest arrives by then so I can add the tongue weight. The grand experiment!!

[Oldragbaggers]

Beautiful job, and an allover very nice looking rig. I noticed people in the background checking it out in one of your pics. I'm sure that will be happening all the time!!
Enjoy!!

[harleykamper]

yes i expect it will get a lot of attention on our trip. it has already just around town. There just isn't anything out there like it. Hummm...I hope there's not some reason for that!!

[rebapuck]

When I replaced the canvas in my poptop, the smartest thing I did was sew Velcro to the top edge and the opposing was stapled to the frame. Surprising how often I needed to drop that canvas.

[harleykamper]

Hi there everyone. We completed our test run to Santa Rosa this weekend! This was just a roadtrip to test the tires, bearings, towing/handling, etc....not camping. It's 240 miles to Santa Rosa, Calif from Reno NV. We climb from 4400 ft elevation to Donner Summit past Truckee, Ca. 7600 ft (I think). Then drop down to sea level. After that flat. So we tested towing the trailer with the bike downhill, uphill, in wind, cold and hot (100 degrees), wide open highways to stop and go traffic. We got it all.
It towed VERY well! No sway (46lbs tongue weight), No problem with power from the motorcycle. I could climb at 60 to 70 mph at will. The brakes worked better than I expected. No problem stopping or brake fad. I definitely knew it was back there, but not a problem. I'll have to be careful with the clutch when starting off from a stop of course. The finished empty weight was 400.02 lbs. The only "tricky" part was starting from a stop and accelerating into a turn. Big bikes like the Harley electra glide are top heavy (duh). They tend to want to dip into a turn. God forbid you lose power in a slow turn. You just auger in (fall down, go boom). That feeling is worse with the trailer! But I got used to it quickly. You just have to give it the gas! All in all, it went very well.

The trailer did attract a lot of attention at stops and along the highway. Most everybody thought it was "store bought"! They were very surprised when I opened it into a tent trailer! It travels well. We stored stuff inside and it's easy enough to get inside to get stuff out while at gas stations etc. I'm going to install a smallish cartop carrier to keep light weight stuff on top instead of inside. And the ice chest came this week so I'll have to install that onto the tongue. Then ready to go!! Yay!!
Here's some pics of the trip.
These are near Donner Summit over looking Donner Lake. It's very smoky in these pictures from all the wild fires burning here. Half of California is on fire....


Looking over her shoulder. And a "smiley" without the smile....


The Queens view over my shoulder.


Riding into the sunset. Well.....actually we're riding away from the sunset, but whatever.....!


So next I'll post pics of the carrier and ice chest I guess. Then..........CAMPING!!

[PKCSPT]

Amazing, makes part of me wish we had a bike and trailer.

[nhstt]

The tent was REALLY HARD! I couldn't have done nearly as nice as my daughter did it. Nor anywhere as quickly. Thanks, Melinda!!
Your daughter did an amazing job on that tent. I'm working on a modified Wildgoose or Kampmaster and could really use some help with the tent part. Can she go into details on that part. Like fabrics, zippers, snaps. Where she got them. Sewing the doors and windows etc. and what type of machine she used and how she got such an exact fit? It all look Great
Karen and the Ladybugout

[harleykamper]

Yes I'm sure she can. I'll talk to her. We got the zippers from a tent I wasn't using. We cut them down to length as needed. The tent material was from a large shade structure that was damaged in the wind last year. The mosquito netting came from the tent also. We mad the pattern from the plastic fllor of that same tent. We sewed the pattern together and did a test fit. Then seem ripped it apart and used them to outline the real tent. It was extra work but we needed to be sure it would work and fit. That's some of the details. I'll talk to her.

[nomad]

Paul!
I have to say that you have done an exceptional amazingly work.
Your commitment has pushed me to finish my trailer as soon as I "recover' from the a long trip this year.
Thanks for sharing.
Nick