Hi everyone! I am Robert. I am in San Antonio, and really wish I had found this gem of a forum before beginning my build...lol I decided early this year that I wanted to scrap a pop up I had purchased years ago to scratch build a camping trailer suitable to pull down 60 miles of beach accessible to 4 wheel drive only due to large areas of soft deep sand. I bought the Skamper pop up due to its' lower weight and wide tires, and very low cost due to a lift mechanism issue. I replaced the problematic components of the lift and was able to use a warehouse to get a full assessment of the damage, which was relatively minor.
I rented a pop up from Adventure USA, and took it to the beach. The narrow tires only allowed me to get about 5 miles down the beach with my Jeep before I was worried about burying the thing to the axles in the soft sand. The set up and takedown was okay, but I was liking the idea less and less. Needless to say, the deeper I got into my pop up the less I liked the idea of set up and take down in high wind conditions, and the canvas replacement was going to be problematic and expensive.
I decided to take it down to the frame and start a TTT more suited to my needs and liking. I have a construction and mechanical background, though not to the degree of precision of many of the fine builders I have seen here. I decided that weight was my main concern, but still wanted a TTT larger than a 4 x 8. I chose 22 gauge steel framing of the type I had used in a few commercial jobs. I will work on a build diary to document the steps taken so far. I am now VERY certain that this is going to be a prototype and my first TTT build after delving deeper into this excellent forum...lol
Anyway, this is my long winded way to say HELLO!!!!!