New 5x8 (5x10) off road build thoughts, feedback?

[Gonefishin]

Jody, I've done much of what you are asking about. No A/C, but a portable 12 V fan really helps. No awning, but I have enough height to stand up in, easily get dressed and undressed, tie flies comfortably with light and a good table (out of the wind and rain!), and sleep as comfortably as I do anywhere. I have leaf springs, and travel hundreds of miles of washboard roads every summer. So far, so good. As for water, I use a few 5 gallon sturdy, portable containers to do dishes and wash hands, outside, with the containers on a fender. For showers, I have 5 gal. solar shower, but no inside plumbing. I also have a 12 v water pump to pump water from the containers through a shower head. My Dickinson heater is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I can't recommend it enough. Do get some kind of safe propane heater. Use LED lights to eliminate power drain on your battery(s).

For all the things you mentioned in your first list, I would think even a 5X10 is going to be too tight, with not enough space for what you're envisioning. For me, I have no problem towing my full-height 6X12 on two-tracks, dirt roads, 75mph on the highway, and through low canopies of vegetation along streams and rivers--All with a gasoline F-150 with a V-8. No problems at all. I've been over Eisenhower and Vail pass with it, and kept it at 65. Same with Berthoud. Even Wolf Creek and Red Mtn. once in the fall on my way to the Juan. The height does catch more wind than a low-rider, but after all the work, time, $$, and travel, I want a place to really relax inside and make the vacation a vacation instead of a work out. Its especially nice on crappy weather days when you're either inside the trailer, or sitting in the truck.

If you can see or use a few different sizes, I'd recommend that before you commit to buy. A tiny trailer may be the way to go for you, but then its mostly just a sleeping space on wheels with a little bit of storage. If you want to eat in there, wash in there, tie bugs in there, sleep like a baby, be warm/cool, and all that, I'd look at at least the 5X10, and for sure the 6X12. I have a 6x12 Haulmark, and love it. If I could retire, I'd live in it full time!

I got nearly all of my ideas from this forum, so take the time to read the hell out of it. There's great ideas in nearly every thread, and some are just brilliant. Pick an idea here and one there from a few different threads to suit your personal preferences, and you have your own custom camper.

[StuckIntheCity]

So a while back I started researching a conversion build and got some ideas in my head. I found an older 5x10 haulmark on craigslist for $1300 so I thought that would be a good place to start -

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My first order of business was to upgrade the suspension. Although it did have a torsion axle I had my mind set on the Timbren axle less system, and ordered a kit from etrailer. Grinding off the old brackets was a pain in the ass on my back under the trailer. Once they were off and I carefully positioned the Timbren brackets, they went on relatively easily. I did have to find a torque wrench to make sure I wasn't over or under tightening the bolts. As most of you know, drilling holes in steel is a tough without a drill press. For those of you who have yet to drill into steel, I would advise to purchase a nice set of bits, drill slow starting with a small bit, and work your way up. Using oil will also help keep the heat down.

continued in next thread....is there a way to post more than three pics in a message?

[StuckIntheCity]

Timbren units bolted on-

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[StuckIntheCity]

As the trailer would eventually have some weight to it I decided to opt for some trailer breaks which were not on the original trailer. Installing new drums and breaks was very easy. Etrailer.com has lots of videos that were helpful

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[StuckIntheCity]

I decided to use the same size wheels and rims on the trailer as I have on my Grand Cherokee so that I could use my Jeep spare as the trailer spare and not need to care a spare on my trailer where I thought there would be limited space. Next pic shows the larger wheels/tires. I found two lightly used pathfinder tires on Craiglist that looked like they would do the trick.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what type of door to use. There are lots of good looking teardrop doors on ebay, however the heights proved to be pretty low, and I decided that I really should get a taller door if I could find one. From a thread here on TNTTT I found some larger, nice insulated aluminum doors from KMTparts.com. They were built and shipped relatively quickly, and proved to be well made when they showed up in the mail.

Framing in steel studs for the doors proved to require some welding. Fortunately a neighbor and friend are both very proficient in welding, and one had an old welder he ended up lending me. He gave me a quick welding lesson and helped me with the first door, then turned me loose letting me know that a weld doesn't have to look good to be strong and get the job done. We marked out the openings, used a grinder to cut through the vertical stud already in the trailer, and framed in a new opening with 1x1 16 gauge.

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[StuckIntheCity]

Once the doors were framed in, installing them went really quickly

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Unfortunately (after I purchased it) I realized that the roof was in pretty bad shape, and apparently had been repaired but didn't look like it would last and was leaking. They had used four sheets of galvanized steel (I think) which I thought would probably eventually leak. I replaced this with a solid sheet of aluminum. This proved to be difficult with one person, and didn't come out completely square, but I think I'm the only one that will notice.

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Next I framed in for a roof vent/fan

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[StuckIntheCity]

Again, once the vent was framed in, installing the vent/fan (Fantastic fan) really just consisted of some screws (and putty tape)

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I had found a good deal on a used solar panel on ebay, and went ahead and mounted this as well

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[StuckIntheCity]

It was time for my first trip with the trailer now that I had finally gotten the suspension mounted and wheels/tires mounted. I failed to mention earlier that after purchasing the timbren kit, I later discovered that I needed longer spindles to accommodate the wheels and tires that I wanted to use. I wanted off road capable suspension that would prevent crappy roads from shaking my hard work to pieces, but didn't want my overall trailer height to be too high, so I ended up going with the Timbren ASR2KHDS05 kit, which is the 2000lb, 4 inch drop kit. This would give me a clearance of about 13". After purchasing the trailer and taking off the old axle, it sat for about 2 months before I got the new suspension - and then the correct wheels/tires installed. I was excited to take it for a test run.

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My wife and I drove about 80 highway miles, and then 7 miles up a washboard road to a campground. I was thrilled that the suspension was awesome. The trailer did not bounce around in my rear-view mirror at all. I was pretty stoked. At this point the camper was simply a 5x10 open space, and we threw all of our camping gear in and had a great weekend.

Our camping spot wasn't completely level, and after trying to pull the trailer up onto pieces of firewood to level it out I decided I needed a better system. I purchased some jacks on trailer, and found some old rusted 1/4" thick steel discs at a metal yard that were about 14" in diameter. I cut one into quarters, and welded a stabilizer jack to each quarter, then welded one unit into each corner of the trailer.

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The jacks were cheap (I think about $15 each) and worked surprisingly well!

[StuckIntheCity]

At this point it was mid July, and we had planned a long road trip up to Montana to visit friends and spend some time in yellowstone. I was worried it was going to be really hot, and really wanted to get the fan wired up. Although I had pieced together most of the equipment I would need to get the solar panels hooked up to batteries, I didn't have the time and hadn't finished planning in enough detail. A friend was able to get me a good deal on a pair of 6V trojan T105 golf cart batteries, which I wired up in series for a 12 volt system.

I had purchased an aluminum tongue box which I planned to use to house the batteries. However it was a bit too deep, and I had to remove the tongue jack to get it mounted, thinking that I could use the stabilizer jacks I had just installed to get it off my hitch if needed. This was a bad idea. I also followed the tongue box installation instructions and screwed through the floor of the tongue box into the tongue, however the screws supplied were tiny, and several would break during my road trip. I hastily bolted in a few elbow brackets to try to secure the batteries in place, however these also eventually got pretty loose on the trip and the batteries slid around a bit. I was in a rush to get my fan hooked up before packing and hitting the road and cut some corners in the process. But one day prior to leaving I wired the fantastic fan up to the batteries and it worked like a charm. I also quickly built a 2x3 fir stud wall in the trailer separating the sleeping/living space (approx 7 feet long) from the rear kitchen/storage space (approx 3 feet long). Now at least our sleeping pads, bags, and duffel bags were separated from our cooking gear and food. I also purchased a bracket for mounting a 10 pound propane tank to the left rear of the trailer, which I would be able to hook up to our stove, and eventually heater/water heater/camp oven.

I think we traveled more than 2000 miles on our road trip, and the suspension continued to work great. As I had simply screwed a plywood floor down to the floor joists of the trailer, a fair amount of dust made its way in after travel on dirt roads....overall a great trip!

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[StuckIntheCity]

So I read over my posts from last night and realize that I have been rambling quite a bit. I'll go ahead and finish updating my project to its current state....

I had convinced myself that I wanted a small trailer with a cooking area separated from the living area, as I didn't want all my gear to smell like food. Although I don't own and have never used a pop-up, I figured that would be an issue, just as I had experienced cooking inside an RV with everything smelling like food (or smoke). I was quite inspired by the Moby1 XTR off road teardrop, and intend to borrow lots of ideas from their design. I was really interested in getting an awning, and after I saw the Hannibal Safari awning with enclosure walls it really got me set on the idea of a small camper with an outdoor enclosed space to hang out in during bad weather or mosquitos, or when I had more friends camping than would comfortably fit in the trailer.

I contacted the guys down at Hannibal Safari (South African company out of Cape Town) about purchasing an awning, and they happened by be shipping an order up to the Denver Airport and thought I might be able to get a good deal on the freight. Air freight turns out to be really expensive, however I was able to get a great deal by adding the awnings to the other customers order and splitting the shipping cost. I ended up purchasing a small awning for the rear of the trailer and a larger one for the side with drop down walls. This was definitely my biggest expense in the project, however I was pretty certain that this outdoor enclosure would be worth it in the long run.

I contacted a metal fabricator about building an aluminum roof rack that I would be able to attach the awnings to, and could also be used for extra storage, and possibly even fit a raft on top (for short, slow drives). We got together and I showed him some sketches, but his rough estimates for the aluminum alone was going to be over $500. Another $500 or so in his welding time was a rack way more expensive than I was prepared to buy. I ended up welding up a rack out of 1x1, 1x2, and 1x3 steel tubing. It ended up being a bit heavier than I had hoped, but it appears to be pretty durable.

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Finally I got the rack mounted and it felt pretty secure

[StuckIntheCity]

Mounting the awnings took another long day of careful measurements and slow drilling. I had to try to position the larger side awning at the correct height to allow the bottom of the awning walls to just barely sit on the ground.

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[StuckIntheCity]

I was pretty excited when I was finally able to set up the awnings after they had sat I'm my garage for most of the summer...The awnings are pretty cool as they take less than a minute to set up and are free standing, without any legs or ropes to deal with or trip over. Hanging the walls took a couple of minutes but was pretty easy. These things seem to be very durable and well built, I guess time will be the judge...

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The pics of the side awning (and walls) was actually before I had bolted the awning to the rack, I just had it clamped to figure out the right height

[StuckIntheCity]

I ended up pulling the tongue box off, welding on some pieces of steel for additional support, and using heavier duty U bolt mounting brackets to secure it to the trailer tongue. I also found a tongue jack with a side crank that would work with the tongue box, as the top crank on the stock jack wouldn't turn as it would've hit the box. I bought a piece of angle iron at home depot and made a three sided bracket to keep the batteries from sliding around. I bolted the bracket down to the reinforcing pieces of steel which now feels pretty sturdy.

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[FIREBALL05]

Very cool! Did you consider a fox wing awning?

[StuckIntheCity]

Currently I am trying to get ready to wire up the solar system. For some time I've been trying to sort out where to mount the charge controller, fuses, and inverter. I have head that the charge controller can make some noise, so I really didn't want to have it in the main cabin area as I am a very light sleeper figured it would probably wake me up when the sun came up and the system started charging. Apparently to maximize a solar setup, the charge controller should be as close to the batteries as possible, which eliminated placing the charge controller in the rear kitchen area. This week I finally decided to make a compartment below the floor to house these components. I am a bit concerned that there won't be the recommended clearance around the charge controller in the enclosed space. I am thinking that if things do heat up I can probably put a small fan down there for some airflow.

I used two 1x1 pieces of steel tubing welded to the bottom of the trailer frame to give the compartment an extra inch inch in height and a bit more clearance, however this did cut into the overall clearance of the trailer as far as going over rocks, etc. I cut a 2'x2' section out of the floor over the compartment and hinged it, to allow for relatively easy access. Now this compartment is only several feet away from the tongue box and batteries, which from what I have read will make for a more effective solar set up.

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If anyone has any strong advice against putting the solar components in the compartment, I would love to hear. I think the main issue is heat, and I will be running a pretty small system so I'm hoping this won't be much of an issue. I've also read the charge controller should not be in a compartment where battery gases can accumulate, but this should not be an issue. I'd love to hear any other advice anyone may have before I make more progress which prevents me from easily correcting some of my mistakes...