Motorcycle tent trailer (Kustom Klamshell)

[harleykamper]

Good progress there. Looks nice.

Have you been keeping track of the weight, and are you still on target for your goal?

I weighed the trailer today. Up to this point, without the "body" it's........ 270.2 lbs, or 122.8 kg. I think I should be able to keep it around my 400 lb target. Maybe just a bit more....
Today I built one side of the trailer. Tomorrow the other, then post some more pictures.

[harleykamper]

YAY, today, it sort of looks like a trailer. Kinda, maybe.....
Other the last two days I have completed both sides, varnished them and undercoated the exposed bottoms. I built the front and back frame work and varnished all that.
My wife Marilyn was out of town this weekend so I was able to work on it both Saturday and Sunday. Here's the pictures of the work so far today.


This is one of the sides completed prior to varnish and undercoating.


Here's the left side installed. I have screwed it directly to the floor because the sides and top will be covered with aluminium siding.


Here's a view of the front and back framing prior to intalling the plywood.


I doubled the thickness of the back frame. The top will hinge off this structure. I thought it needed to be stronger.


Here's the profile view with sides varnished.



Here's the table set up. It'll be a tight fit, but it's really just for rainy weather.


These 3 pictures show the "top" set on the trailer to see the complete profile. The inside is only 12" tall when the trailer is closed. The complete height is 35". I'll easily be able to see over it in my motorcycle mirrors.




Next week I'll skin the front and back and start to build the top. Little by little!

One thing I'm not sure of, is bending the luanne plywood around that tight of a radius. That's a pretty tight radius. Anybody out there have experience with this? Should I soak it in water? Just slowly bend it? One problem is that the trailer is 53" wide. So the plywood will have to be done side to side instead of front to back, if that makes sense. I'm not sure is the luanne will bend well that way. I may need to create a seam somewhere so that I can apply it front to back. Ideas??

[ST1100]

Two thoughts about your bending problem:

- You may take a bigger radius for the end of your trailer lid.
- or take aluminum for the top, its easier to bend and will not burst.

But great woodwork you do here !



Tom

[harleykamper]

Two thoughts about your bending problem:

- You may take a bigger radius for the end of your trailer lid.
- or take aluminum for the top, its easier to bend and will not burst.

But great woodwork you do here !



Tom

Great idea on the aluminium. I might even be able to bend it myself. I also thought of using those large thick cardboard tubes. Guess I'll see next weekend.

[harleykamper]

More building completed. I didn't get nearly as far along as I wanted to. I bought carpet but didn't have time to cut it. Oh well, Later for that...
Today I worked on the electrical for the lights. It will only have the usual tail/brake/running lights and side markers. I'm not wiring the inside for lights or power of any kind. The interior lights will be battery powered. This first shot just shows the connection end of things.


The main wiring harness goes down the middle metal floor support.


I then routered a grove into the wood to run the wires along. It was a really hard angle to router along!


This is the front right running light wiring. Again routered into the wood. The plywood will cover these wires.


This is how I snaked the wires through the channel.


Then just pulled it out the other side.


I cut out these wooden covers that will hide the wires inside the trailer. They're just screwed in place so I can remove them if I need to get to the wires.



Just like this. Then varnish them to match.


Completed wiring, ready to be covered.


Then I had time to install some of the cross members along the bottom curve. I test fit the Luan plywood to see if it will make the bend...
Sorta made the bend... I then soaked it a short time with water and that improved the bend. So next week I'll soak it for an hour or so in a kiddie pool and then install it!

That should work. If not I'll use aluminium. It's a very tight radius for Luan to bend around. I also cut notches into the cross members to allow for drainage of water that will get thrown up by the tires.
I'll then put the trailer on it's side and spray undercaoting on the bottom supports/Luan.
Done for the week.

[harleykamper]

hummm...Pictures are gone. Not in my gallery either. I'll reload them tomorrow I hope.


OK fixed!

[nomad]

I know that it has been a while, but what is the current status of your trailer, if you don't mind to share.
Thanks!

[harleykamper]

These pictures just above are from this weekend work.so they are current. More to come this weekend.

[harleykamper]

This week saw the Luan glued and screwed to the cross members, both front and back. I clamped the luan along the top after applying glue to the cross members. Then put in a few screws. Then attached a 1X4 along the bottom edge and bent the luan around the curve. OMG....it worked. No cracks. I soaked the luan in water for 2 hours prior to bending it. It bent very easy.
This is the back with the luan bend and glued but not yet screwed down. I tried using my nail gun with small 1" U staples, but they pulled thought the wet luan. So I used small screws.


Here's the underside of the back, with the clamps top and bottom. Still quite wet.


Here I've started screwing the luan to the cross members. I snapped a chock line across the wood to get my screws into the cross members underneath.


The front cross members completed and awaiting the luan.


I had to build around the tongue.


Here's my sophisticated technique for soaking the luan plywood. I wouldn't fit in the tub!


Here's the front luan wrapped around the tongue.


Here's the back curve completed and varnished. The wires for the running lights.


Beginning to look like a trailer.


These are the running/brake/turn lights for the back. I also bought bright LEDs for the side marker lights.


Ok, done for another week. Next week the top starts.

[ST1100]

Nice progress - you have my respect for the woodwork !
I only work with alu and stainless steel cause I am a lousy sander and painter

No - I am really afraid from water in the body destroying all my work.
I own two old Eribas from the seventies and their alu skin is the only thing what last nearly forever.
The steel frame is rusty and the wooden floor is rotten and you cannot protect it forever.

But If you build your own trailer you can avoid all the mistakes a company will make by saving costs.
Every small detail could be perfect or not and you alone are responsible for it !

I'm looking forward to see more - Auf Wiedersehen - Tom

[harleykamper]

Well Tom, I hope it last a while! I've had 4 different RV and I've done quite a bit of dry rot repair! I've sealed everything with varnish then, painted over that and used undercoating on the bottom. Most dry rot problems I've had to deal with have been in the roof area of course. This type of trailer shouldn't have that problem because it doesn't have the space between the roof and the ceiling! Water gets into the insulation and soaks the wood of both the roof and the ceiling, leading to damage because it just can't dry out. The top to this tent trailer is luan plywood over cross members covered with aluminium. If there were any leaks, it will be obvious quickly! And it will dry quickly also. No insulation of ceiling to trap the moisture. I've sealed the crap out of the floor. But that still could be a problem area over the years. That said, I live in a very dry part of the country in Reno Nevada. High Desert. Additionally, this is a motorcycle trailer and while I expect and am prepared of rain, mostly I'll camp in the drier part of the year! In about 5 years I'm going to retire, and we're going to trailer full time in a 5th wheel. I'll probably still have the bike, not sure about the trailer. Or maybe I'll have bought that Lees-ure Lite tent trailer. Your aluminium trailer will undoubtedly become part of your estate!! Your kids will love it I'm sure. I'm enjoying watching your build as it reminds me of my job long ago in the custom aircraft business. I worked for a company that built custom aircraft interiors. Seats, galleys, tables, sofas, video cabinets etc. We built interiors for the Playboy jet, Air Force One, SAC Jets, and lots of stuff for the Arabs! Teak, leather, gold plating, nice stuff. So watching your build is like OLD times!!
I'm trying to complete this project in something of a hurry. Still trying not to cut corners. The tent trailer we really like is the Lees-ure Lite tent trailer. About $5000.00 or so. So I'll build this one for $1000.00ish. My wife and I are going on a Fall colors trip around the USA in Sept and Oct. Leaving Reno NV, then heading east, up into Canada, through New Hampshire, down to Tennessee, across to Colorado, then Home to Nevada. About 7000 miles round trip. I want time this summer to take at least 3 camping trips with the trailer before leaving on such a long trip! Work the bugs out and all. So I've got to move along with this build. So far, so good.

[harleykamper]

Well now, I was On Call today. Didn't have to work. So I worked on the trailer today. I painted the under side where I just installed the from and back cross members and luan plywood this last Sunday. Added a coat of high gloss white to the storage boxes. Added another coat of paint to the outside of the boxes underneath. Then I made two spring loaded PVC Stabilizers for the back of the trailer to prevent it from tipping over. Very little weight will be behind the wheels, however the possibility of tipping over is still there. so I build this stabilizers out of schedule 40 2" PVC. They are light weight, only 1 pound each, easy to build, inexpensive, and easy to use. I didn't have a lot of room under the trailer, and It's quite low, so getting down under it to lower more conventional stabilizers would be a pain in the butt! These will come out the back behind the wheels near the side and will be easy to reach. They are spring loaded, so they self retract when the pin is removed, and will stay up out of the way. I don't expect much weight in the back. They seem quite strong. Guess we'll see!!

Here's how I built them....Tipped the trailer on end to paint/seal the bottom and work on the stabilizers.


Here's the area I'm sealing and working on. Hard to get in there to seal!!


assemble the parts. 2 12" PVC pipes. the small one fits inside the larger one. 15" spring, PVC end cap, clevis pin. I ended up using a hitch pin instead.



Cut the spring in half and bend the spring up to create a new hook on the cut end.


This shows the pin that will hold the spring inside the tubes. One at the top of the larger tube, and one midway into the smaller tube.


Here's the inside of the smaller tube inserting the spring.


I'm attaching the spring to the pin inside the larger tube



The end cap is screwed in place so it can be removed. The whole thing can be taken apart to repair springs etc.


Here's the stabilizer installed. Not painted/sealed yet. In this picture, the stabilizer is retracted.


Here it is extended. I'm going to replace the pin with a larger one. They were out of the 3/4" pins today!


The stabilizer is held in place with this hose clamp. Loosen the clamp to remove the tube for repairs or whatever.


I've sealed the supports for the stabilizers and glued them into place. When they're dry I'll install the stabilizers and test them.

I'll post pictures of the stabilizers up and down when they're installed next weekend.

[ST1100]

That's really simple and looks good also for my trailer.
But how do you fix the height of that stabilizers ?
Tom

[harleykamper]

That was dictated by the amount of space available under the floor (to the ground). That's why mine hang down 5" below the trailer. Then there's enough length for the internal tube to reach the ground and also have some ajustability for variables of the ground. My tubes are 12" each. With the end cap in place the total reach is 23". I needed 21" to make it work! If they are mounted outside the frame or protruded into the inside of the trailer then it's easy to have enough length. I didn't want them outside or sticking into the inside of the trailer, so they'll just have to stick down below the trailer a bit. I'm a little concerned about the wood braces being strong enough. If the tubes work well enough, then I'll look at how to better engineer them. i.e. metal braces. But I thought I'd start with wood first and see how they work, then go from there. They weigh 1.1 pound (0.5kg) each. I think I spent about $14.00 for both. The main objective for me was easy access to the mechanism to lower them without crawling underneath the trailer. The curve of the body on mine means I'd have to mount conventional stabilizers 2 feet from the back of the trailer and they would be difficult to reach. Or I'd have to have a long handle to reach them somehow. Too difficult and too much weight. I also want something quick to use. Guess we'll see!

ps I'm sure you could easily do the same thing with aluminum. Mounting them to your aluminum frame would be easy and strong! I'd love to see that.

[ST1100]

But what I do not understand, how you fix them with different ground levels.
Do you have different holes through the inner tube to stick a pin through ?
Tom