Bolts on NT trailer in the way?

[spsilvaine]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum and appreciate anyone's help! I'm not the handiest person in the world, so a lot of this can be a bit over my head. Didn't have the greatest way to title this to explain my question, so here goes:

I'm building a pretty straight forward foamie to attach to an NT/Ironton 5x8 bolt together trailer. My plan was to build the full body separately and then attach it to the trailer via screws from underneath (in part to make the PMF wrapping easier). The subfloor, for what it's worth, is a sandwiched construction of 1x2s, 1/4" ply on each side, and 3/4" XPS foam.

Okay, all well and good, until I realized that I had imagined the foamie to sit flush on top of the trailer. The bolts on the trailer where crossmembers are attatched, though, obviously don't sit flush but extend upwards maybe a 1/4" or so. So every couple of feet there is a bolt head sticking up from the trailer frame. I imagine this could create some problems if I just attach the body as planned. Could create pressure points, maybe even cause some cracks? I really have no idea.

Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts or simple solutions to this? Hoping for something not too complicated and that doesn't add much in extra weight. Or, maybe it's not actually an issue at all. All thoughts appreciated. Thanks!

[John61CT]

Spacer shims in between the bolt heads?

Replace the bolts with ones long enough to help secure the "pod"?

[Woodbutcher]

Cut some 1/4" X 1 1/2" strips of a good solid wood and attach them to the underside of the floor over the frame where ever there is no bolt head. The cross pieces on some of their trailers go inside the side rails, so those strips need to be thicker. Put a straight edge across the trailer on top of the bolt heads and measure the opening and make the strips fit. I had to do this on 2 of my trailers.

[friz]

Another option is to float the camper over the trailer. This eliminates the possibility of trapping moisture between the frame and camper. It also makes it plausible that the trailer remain a "utility trailer' and the sleeping pod is "cargo". I used hockey pucks as spacers to achieve this.

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[ghcoe]

Yes you will want to lift the body off the trailer frame. I install 1"x2"s at each cross member. This will raise the body off the frame 3/4". If you don't install a spacer the trailer frame will rub against the canvas covering and bad things will happen. This 3/4" space also allows for installation of a drip edge, also very important.

With the Harbor Freight 1195lbs you don't have bolts that stick above the frame except on the corners which don't really hinder how I attach the body anyway. The 1720lbs trailer does have bolts that stick above the frame at each cross member. With the 1720lbs trailer I drill holes large enough to fit over those bolt heads. Pretty simple really.

I attach the body to the trailer using carriage bolts at the pre-drilled hole locations on the inner 3 trailer cross members. On the ends you will find you cannot attach to the trailer frame because the wall are too thick.

I make what I call a inner frame rail that go alone the inner walls. I use 1"x2" for the side walls and 2"x2" for the end walls. I drill 3/8" holes through the 2"x2" close to the corners before I install them. I then go underneath the trailer and cut a 2"x2" to fit snug between the outer walls of the trailer frame. If you then snug it close to the front and rear trailer frame cross member they should align pretty close to the inner frame rail inside. Then I wedge them in place go inside and continue to drill the holes I made earlier through the floor and then through the 2"x2" under the floor. I place a 1/4" spacer between the floor and the bottom 2"x2" to compensate for the space between the bottom of the floor and the bottom 2"x2". This space is created because the bottom 2"x2" will also be under the C channel of the trailer side members. Then I drop a 3/8" carriage bolt through the inner frame rail, floor, 1"x2" floor spacer, 1/4" spacer, lower 2"x2" and bolt it all together. Since the bottom 2"x2" is cut to fit snug between the frame rails it will keep the body ends from moving side to side. This also clamps the bottom 2"x2" to the frame to keep the ends from bouncing up and down.

This probably sounds complicated, but it is quite easy and works well.

George.

[spsilvaine]

Thanks, all, for your replies and suggestions. These all give me good ideas to move forward!

George, any chance you have pictures of what you are talking about?
edit: actually, upon further read, I think I can picture what you are saying. Thanks!

[ghcoe]

Thanks, all, for your replies and suggestions. These all give me good ideas to move forward!

George, any chance you have pictures of what you are talking about?
edit: actually, upon further read, I think I can picture what you are saying. Thanks!

I lost all my pictures and video when my hard drive crashed. You might find this video helpful https://youtu.be/7HunGQvlHSw . This is for the 1195# trailer, but will give you a idea how the spacers fit. There are a couple videos on building the floor that may help too. You can find them on my YouTube Channel here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3xVuH ... yrw/videos .