Steph & Mark decide to build a trailer one day....

[Steph&Mark]

Well.

My name is Mark & her name is Steph... and we decided to build a small camper on the 9th of April, as we drove back to the city from the lake.

We will document our progress here. We would love to hear any feedback you guys might have. We haven't a clue what we're doing, but we're gonna do it anyway.

Mark & Steph

[Steph&Mark]

Here are some pics of the chassis design.

Custom made from aluminum.

[Steph&Mark]

Windows....

After searching the internet all day. It would seem the windows that I like / think we would enjoy, all seem to come out of Australia.... but I think we got lucky and found these guys in north america.

https://www.ternoverland.com/eurovision-windows



The built in roller screen and shade is a nice touch!

[edgeau]

Welcome and G'Day from Australia!

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[noseoil]

Greetings from the sunny southwest. Looking forward to your build!

[Andrew Herrick]

Welding up a custom aluminum frame, huh? What an undertaking!

It's a little difficult to tell from the CAD drawings what metal you're using for the frame. Channel or tube? And are you stitch-welding the top and bottom plates for weight support or to create a torsion box? From where I'm sitting, it looks like you've got heaps of money just in aluminum. Are you going after weight savings or rust prevention?

[Steph&Mark]

Thanks for the greetings guys!


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[Steph&Mark]

Well. I'm not building the chassis. It will be fabricated by a local fab shop.

The main chassis is 2x2x1/4. The plates are being stitch welded to the bottom to seal it & provide a cavity for insulating (rigid foam).

The tongue is 3x3x1/4.

Can you post pdf's on here? I could put those up if you'd like a better view of the drawings.

All of the through tube fastener locations are sleeved through to prevent any collapsing of the tube.

Yeah. The aluminum isn't the most economical choice. That's for sure.

Originally it was chosen for weight savings. We have a trip planned to the west coast this summer & I was really considering dragging this little toaster behind our BMW M3 (I thought it would be hilarious & save a ton on fuel)

Second consideration was overall height.

Third was corrosion. As this was our first build. We weren't sure if it would be a keeper. So. Corrosion wasn't high on the list.

But now. I think we'll either end up taking the truck or an old Volvo we have (93 240).

I'm not jazzed about the cost of the aluminum. Didn't help that I went to town on all of the misc details.

As long as the trailer doesn't explode. It's probably a reasonable cost in the long run. Fuel savings. Corrosion. Built well. Etc.

Also. The headache of connecting the dissimilar metals doesn't get me excited either!!!


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[me&z]

Misread your title and thought you had decided BUILD a trailer IN one day.




Good luck on your build.

[Andrew Herrick]

Thanks for the information. I spend half my life reading Redneck Trailer Supply manuals, it seems, so I'm always on the lookout for creative trailer designs.

Did I read the drawing correctly when it said you planned to use 1/8-inch aluminum plate for the bottom? If you're wanting skid plates for off-road use, then that'll do it! To my way of thinking, however, there are three other concerns:

-Using 1/8-inch plate eliminates any weight savings from switching to an aluminum trailer.
-And if you ever need to access the cavity, you'll be busting out an angle grinder
-Methinks it's only theoretically possible to completely waterproof each cavity by stitch welding a plate to the inside edges of each cavity. You might trap water inside instead. Or ants. Ants love to nest in rigid insulation.

Maybe I'm nitpicking. If you're happy with the design and the price, that's what counts! It's certainly beastly. But if you're still in the design stage, perhaps you might switch the tongue design to a fully-wrapped A-frame tongue. Then you could dispense with all the individual stitch welding and just use a single 5x10 sheet of aluminum to cover the whole bottom, no seams necessary. As it is now, your fab shop will be making a mint off labor

[Steph&Mark]

The 1/8" plate isn't for off road use.

As far as the water proofing / stitch goes. The cavity would be sealed from the inside.

I love nitpicking!

I know the owner of the fab shop, so I'm not getting killed on it.

Out of curiosity. What do you think that trailer would cost to fab?


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[KCStudly]

Welcome game!

Have to say that cross members every 15 inches does seem to be overkill, but hey we all do our own thing at some point or another.

[Andrew Herrick]

The 1/8" plate isn't for off road use.

As far as the water proofing / stitch goes. The cavity would be sealed from the inside.

I love nitpicking!

I know the owner of the fab shop, so I'm not getting killed on it.

Out of curiosity. What do you think that trailer would cost to fab?


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Good idea to seal floor cavities from the inside. It may be labor intensive, but at least effective.

As far as costs go ... I'd say the average cost to pay a welder/fabricator to put together a complete trailer is about $750. Cost to fabricate simple trailers could be as low as $400. And I'm just talking labor and freight, not materials. As far as this trailer goes ... I don't know anyone around here who would accept the work for less than $1,000. Aluminum is tricky to weld. And considering that you're wanting sleeves in the tubes, and 14 different stitch-welded plates, and all those cross members and extra framing - which means a lot more clamping and beveling - I wouldn't be at all surprised to see $1,500+ in fabrication costs. Plus the $500-$750 in aluminum, plus the $350+ in suspension and features.

Now, if you've priced it out, I'd like to know what you found out Especially if you know the owner of the fabrication shop.

[Steph&Mark]

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[Steph&Mark]

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