Now initially I had planned on building a camper trailer in the style as what you lot up there in that part of the world would call a Tent Trailer which is basicly a heavy duty box trailer with a tent on the top. They are very popular over here but I could not get my head around the tent thing as am over tent poles and setting up and packing up as it cuts into the time it takes to evaporate a hydroloic sandwich.
In this part of the world I spend allot of my time chasing a fish known as the Barramundi and they tend to live in places where another lovely little critter lives "the Swamp Gekko" not to mention wiggly poly pipe and drop bears 
. Now our Gekoes make your Gators look like petting zoo entertainment for the kiddies and have this nasty habit of eating people so camping in a swag by the river is like leaving a Snickers bar on the table at a Weight Watchers convention you just know what is going to happen 
So after much reading of the beer bubbles at the bottom of my glass I came to the conclusion that a tear drop style was for me. This brought about more problems of the design and how I was going to build it and out of what. At the time my main ride was a Jeep Wrangler and as we all know they are not the most economical modes of transportation but are lots of fun. So first of all the weight was going to be an issue. I like the idea of timber as it is fairly lite stands up to vibrations, and easy to work with however it is also expensive and not a great variety is available to me in my location without coming on special order. Cool room panel was also a consideration but would be bulky. So a steel frame it will be as it is cheap, easy to work with and I am just as happy laying out a bird turd as I am butchering wood.
Taking Inspiration from the galleries, Steve F and Magillas trailers I set about hacking into a pile of 40 and 20mm steel tube. First I had to consider the size, as I wanted a queen size bed to fit and make the most out of a standard size sheet of ply. I started by making a base frame out of 40 x 2.5 mm square tube 2400x1500mm. I gusseted the corners and welded 40mm angle around the inside for the floor to bolted to later down the track. Once the base was built I put it aside got a sheet of cheap 3.6 mm ply and traced out the basic profile.
The profile is the Grass hopper design that I got out of the design library of this site and have modified it to suit me. The taper at the back above the galley was deleted for two reasons, 1 easier to build a flat door and the most importantly I intend to put a tinny on the top so did not want to have to remove the boat when tying to open the galley door. The front was brought straight down rather than tapering back as could not see the point of wasting internal space.
The galley area will be in two pieces with the traditional open up hatch but on the bottom I will also have a swing out tail gate with fold out table so will have twice the bench space.
Once I had decided on the final profile and had traced it out on the ply I placed all the 20 x 1.2mm steel out on the ply for one side to make sure all the angles and sizes would fit and adjusted to suit. The wall frame was then tacked together and the opposite side layed out on the first frame and done likewise. By doing it this way I knew both sides where exactly the same and was fairly quick to do. The cross pieces where then cut out and welded in. I might add that up to this stage this was all done without a square only a tape measure, the profile drawn on the ply and the good ol' eyecrometer. Later checking, everything lined up near perfectly and true. At the back I added a frame of 40mm to form the galley frame and seal.
This was all welded together and and was the hardest part, welding 1.2 mm steel without blowing holes and getting globs of molten metal falling onto my Thong
. I do not view the metal frame as a load Bearing structure as the walls will be braced with ply which will give all the strength so welds where kept to a minimum. This top frame was then welded to the bottom frame and is now the basis of the camper. Originally I had intended to use the bottom frame as the main chassis and to use it on-road only but later thought bugger it, I will build a heavy duty chassis for it to sit on for off road use and I can unbolt it to take the top off and use it for a normal trailer if I want or I can slide the camper top onto the tray of a Ute if I want to use it that way and not have to tow a trailer.I then gave it all a coat of jam to make it look pretty. I used a bitumen based paint for this just brushed on no need to worry about finish as it will be all covered up. Ignore the wheels and axle set up I have it sitting on I just use this to wheel the beast in and out of the workshop. I wish I had of taken a few more pics earlier on for you all but got carried away building. Pick to follow once I worked out how to do it.
