Gadget Mans Adventure Trailer Photos

[8ball_99]

Trailer is looking great. Thats the exact same vent fans I put in mine. The smoke lid is great. Lets light it but doesn't just blast you with light in the trailer. Also helps cut down on the heat with the light tint. Might want to check on different vent cover.. I have vent covers on both my fantastic vents. Mine are just the Camco vent covers that walmart sells. I believe its this one http://www.adventurerv.net/camco-roof-v ... -1669.html I can open the vents pretty far. Not all the way but much more then 2 inches and its plenty to allow airflow. No way I would not have the covers. I never close the vents inless I'm running heat or the AC.. Its nice to be able to just leave the vent open all the time with out worrying about the weather. I also leave mine open while on the road this helps with any gas fumes or just other smells. Park something with a gas tank and tires inside a closed trailer on a hot day and you would be surprised how much oder the trailer gets. My trailer is a little longer so I have two vent fans. One in the front and one in the Rear with an AC in the middle. Something to keep in mind is if you turn the fan on you need air to come in from somewhere else. If the door and windows are closed when I open one vent and turn it on it doesn't pull much air at all till the other vent is atleast open. As soon as I open the second one you can feel the air start to move. I leave them both open and one sucking air in the other exhausting air out.

[sportxlh]

Great thread: that is a beautiful conversion!

[sgip2000]

Where did you find the fold down benches/beds?

[Gadget Man]

Pete.
My wife's idea all along was to mount the sofa beds straight across from each other, so when we fold them down it would make one big bed and we would sleep sideways in the trailer. Sideways we have an 80 inch bed, otherwise it's only 68 inches long.
I think we will try it a few times this way. If we don't care for the layout, we can always change it.

8-Ball
good points on your vent ideas.
I have a cover I think I'll put on the Fantastic fan, I've had it sealed up tight for the past week since I took the vent cover off, and yes, you can sure tell the difference inside, it does get stuffy if you can't have a window or vent open.
I have the original cheap factory vent that I plan on installing in the second roof vent holes I had installed when I bought the trailer. I'll cut out the hole and install the roof vent in the back, then I will for sure have a vent cover over that one.
Good point on having a vent open when hauling the bike inside.

sgip2000
I got real lucky and found the fold down sofa beds on e-Bay. I had been looking all over the web for some beds, I checked E-Bay one day and there were none listed. Then the very next day, these two popped up. I bought them immediately.

kankujoe
I have a removable wheel chock to mount to the floor. Then I'll decide where the floor tie down need to be.
I'm pretty sure one will sort of be in the bathroom, and the other one will be in front of the power converter.

This weekend I'm going to mount the big eye-bolts to clip on my draw-bridge chains to make the ramp door level for the back patio.
I'll post pictures this weekend.

Gadget Man

[sgip2000]

Those beds were an awsome find! Congrads.

[pete42]

I forgot you were going to make a patio out of your ramp I have seen some where they used chain and others use cable.
now I know why you want the wine rack close at hand

would it be bad of me if I said I hope you never finish your trailer???????

I enjoy watching with envy your ideas and the truly super way you build
if you finish I'll not have anything to watch.....

old pete

[Gadget Man]

Pete
I'll have to get some photos to show you my drawbridge patio ramp door idea.
There is a cable already fastened to the ramp for the garage door roll up springs, but it's only fastened on with a couple big #12 sheet metal screws. Fine for lifting the weight of the door, but not even close to hold up the patio with 3-4 people standing on it.

I'm going to drill 3/8 inch eye bolts all the way through the 2x4 metal ramp frame. Then I'm going to drill and install 2 more 3/8 inch eye bolts in the back frame wall of the trailer. There will be a snap hook on each end of the chain. The chain will be cut so when it's hooked up the ramp will be perfectly level every time.

I believe this is the only way to go. Why would you want to mess with jack stands that can sink in the dirt or sand and always need to be readjusted.
Just think if a corner jack stand fell over and the rear ramp door got warped or twisted ...? that would be bad.
The chain idea is how I did it on my last toy hauler.

I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Gadget Man

[elmo_4_vt]

I'd be afraid that the weight of the door with people could distort the trailer framing though with just chains? I can't wait to see your setup as I was thinking about going more towards the jack stand idea... Actually more like this:



That way it would self adjust for uneven terrain... But I think it may still be able to twist a bit with an uneven load. Maybe a mixture of both? Cable/chain to keep things level, and the feet to keep the forces on the frame minimized?

Don

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[Gadget Man]

elmo:
I went ahead and stuck with my original plan. I drilled through the 2x4 rear wall metal frame and installed my eye-bolts.
Then I drilled through the 2x3 inch metal ramp frame and installed eye-bolts there also. I made sure to silicone all my holes for rain water.
The ramp was perfectly level and then I marked the chain and cut off the excess. (I did leave 3 links on each for possible adjustment)
I wanted the chains to line up as close to possible with the factory ramp lift cable, and it worked out just right.
Check out the stock ramp cable bracket, I'm sure it's fine for the ramp lift assist, but not near strong enough for the ramp patio idea.
When you look at the last picture, you will see that even a 7 wide 6.5 tall trailer does not have that big of a ramp. Two chairs and it's full.
I don't think we will ever have 12 guys the grill and a 16 gallon keg up on there. But I can always dream....





















Gadget Man

[crumvoc]

elmo:
I went ahead and stuck with my original plan. I drilled through the 2x4 rear wall metal frame and installed my eye-bolts.
Then I drilled through the 2x3 inch metal ramp frame and installed eye-bolts there also. I made sure to silicone all my holes for rain water.
The ramp was perfectly level and then I marked the chain and cut off the excess. (I did leave 3 links on each for possible adjustment)
I wanted the chains to line up as close to possible with the factory ramp lift cable, and it worked out just right.
Check out the stock ramp cable bracket, I'm sure it's fine for the ramp lift assist, but not near strong enough for the ramp patio idea.
When you look at the last picture, you will see that even a 7 wide 6.5 tall trailer does not have that big of a ramp. Two chairs and it's full.
I don't think we will ever have 12 guys the grill and a 16 gallon keg up on there. But I can always dream.... :twisted

Are you sure those carabiners are man-rated? They look a little light duty to me. Just saying... Cool setup, though!

[crumvoc]

elmo:
I went ahead and stuck with my original plan. I drilled through the 2x4 rear wall metal frame and installed my eye-bolts.
Then I drilled through the 2x3 inch metal ramp frame and installed eye-bolts there also. I made sure to silicone all my holes for rain water.
The ramp was perfectly level and then I marked the chain and cut off the excess. (I did leave 3 links on each for possible adjustment)
I wanted the chains to line up as close to possible with the factory ramp lift cable, and it worked out just right.
Check out the stock ramp cable bracket, I'm sure it's fine for the ramp lift assist, but not near strong enough for the ramp patio idea.
When you look at the last picture, you will see that even a 7 wide 6.5 tall trailer does not have that big of a ramp. Two chairs and it's full.
I don't think we will ever have 12 guys the grill and a 16 gallon keg up on there. But I can always dream.... :twisted

Are you sure those carabiners are man-rated? They look a little light duty to me. Just saying... Cool setup, though!

[Gadget Man]

Not worried about the carabiners...They are actually chain binders, sold at the hardware store right next to all the chain and chain hooks.
I believe they are rated at over 500 pounds each. They make for a nice quick and easy hook-up.

And if they ever fail, I will only drop about 2 feet to the ground...

Gadget Man

[Gadget Man]

I have been working on a few small items over the last couple weekends, so I thought I'd post some pictures to bring everyone up to speed on the
Adventure Trailer.

I took 8-Balls advise and put the roof top vent cover back on. I was worried that the white roof vent cover would limit how far I could crank open my new
Fantastic Fan. Well it does keep me from cranking it 100% open, but it will open up far enough to operate just fine for a smaller trailer.
I took a picture looking up through the fan blades, you can see the vent screens.

Then I worked on mounting a 120 volt power converter. This is one that will take 12 volts DC and jump it up to 120 volts AC so you can run normal appliances.
I mounted my Bose music system in the desk area of the trailer. It runs off 120 volt plug-in. I started wondering how I was going to have my tunes when camping off-line.
I remembered I've been carrying this 12 volt converter around in my car "just in case" and have never used it, so why not mount it in the Adventure Trailer.
The converter came with both the battery clamps and a male lighter plug. I chose to use the male lighter plug, so all I needed was a female lighter plug somewhere to plug into. I had to buy a 2 into 1 plug at my local auto parts store for $6.50 and cut the male end off, and had 2 female sockets left.
This converter is pretty cool, It will do 120 volts AC, it has a 12 volt power plug, and a USB charging port all in one.




















I thought I'd just throw this in here and see if anyone is paying attention.
This is the GoPro Camera that I got from Santa Clause. I mounted it on my Bike and went for a ride.
These cameras are awesome.



Gadget Man

[8ball_99]

Looks good. Might want to read up on inverters. Not sure if yours is a true sine wave or modified wave.. Looks like a modified wave inverter.. Some say they are fine for electronics some say no way.. Since your radio is a Bose and not a walmart special. It might be worth checking into. Its funny cause I just purchased an inverter today for my trailer.. I already had a small Modified wave one. But after doing some reading I was a little worried about using in the trailer since I wanted it to run a LCD TV..

[roadinspector]

I've used the Maxair vent covers on both a 5th wheel and a large cabover and they work great. They allow you to leave a vent open when traveling too. Nice bonus. I'm sure you already know it but those inverters can suck your battery down pretty good.

Nice build, I have enjoyed watching it and have stole (borrowed) a few ideas from you.

Earnest