7x16 Cargo Camper

[Mark519]

Hi Jerry,
When I say jack I mean a single motor/corner. The product is a pair of two jacks (left and right) and wiring harness and switches. You gotta spend double for front AND rear but you could go with just rear and an electric tongue jack. According to the chart, lift at 14" is 1800 lbs (not clear if that is per jack or per pair). I wonder if that is realistic though. If you have really low ground clearance you will get less lift. My trailer is basically empty at 2500 lbs. A 6000+ trailer may be too much for these jacks to lift a tire. I searched the internet for reviews of this product but didn't find much except a review on a 5 wheeler which was way too heavy to lift but worked good for stabilizing.

I bought them here for $479 + shipping: http://www.adventurerv.net/ultra-fab-power-twin-stabilizing-jacks-model-p-4267.html
The manuals are here: http://www.ultra-fab.com/new_detail2.cfm?productid=7

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

OUCH

That was what i was thinking that you need to buy front and rear @ $500 a pop

Not knowing jack about trailers & just having jumped in blind to my build,
I just use my front hand crank & put a cheap metal jack under the center of the rear door..... & tighten it up
so far I have not gotten sea sick yet.... it does go more side to side however
I do have 4 fold down metal jacks however - just never used then yet....
dont need to be level ...my fridge works at up to 30 deg angle no problem

BUT I like your set up....its great , may be too late for me as I have no extra room for interior wiring / would be hugh hassle....
for me to jamb that in there somewhere ??
I also love the torsion spring axles.... maybe I will upgrade to those, looking for 5k each axle
its on my crazy wish list

Thanks

[Mark519]

The reason I ordered the 60" extended tongue should now be apparent. There will be a big generator/accessory box mounted there. The box is 76" wide, 24" deep and 24" high. I would have made it as wide as the trailer but the front of the trailer was not square like I had expected. I gave it a taper for looks and installed taller piece of tread plate on the front of the trailer so it would match the height of the box. That wasn't too hard since the tread plate is about 22ga and very easy to bend.

Almost any generator will fit inside and there is plenty of room left for fuel cans, hose, wire, chocks etc.

The box is constructed out of 1" tube steel with aluminum skin. The steel is welded with an oxyacetylene torch and the aluminum is riveted. It took about three days of work to get this far, using basic tools. I am going to have to find a shop to make the diamond plate skin for the cover since that will require bending and welding aluminum. I still have to decide on the lock and spring/hold open mechanism, as well as sound proofing material, exhaust, etc.

Base frame with vents on sides. Also cutout for wire and hose on right hand side.



Base frame with skin, and top frame. The lip on the base is for a gasket for sound control. Part of the lip is steel and part is aluminum.



Setting on the trailer - yes I do have enough room to turn without hitting the bumper to the box (just barely). It will be hinged on the top rear edge. As I posted earlier, I don't need a tongue jack but the cover doesn't swing forward that far and would have cleared one mounted close to the coupler. Love that reflective tape!



Coming up soon: $529 Generator and modifications

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Damn this pisses me off

I gotta learn welding

you guys are killing me slowly with all these goodies.....
sooooon I may need 14k axels trying to keep up

Good work.... Can I order one ??

[Mark519]

GENERATOR
This model (46512) is available from Northern Tool for $529 with tax.



It was designed by Champion in response to feedback from RV'ers, and reviews say it lasts well. Obviously it is not quiet like a Honda inverter type, but costs a lot less. And inverter gens are not always able to start a 13K BTU AC. It has electric remote start, TT30 plug, and a large muffler so it really isn't terribly loud like a contractor gen. It is a pretty nice generator.

I immediately ripped it apart.




Here is the list of things I did to it:
- took off all the labels
- removed control panel and cut off left hand bracket to make it easier to pull start
- removed battery - it will be started from house battery
- added a jumper from neutral to ground inside the head
- disabled radio control start
- rewired it with a manual control switch - these changes involved some additional circuitry to take advantage of the automatic choke feature. It can now be started and stopped with a remote hardwire switch also.
- Wired charging coil to a motorcycle regulator to get clean 12VDC for the indicator light

Now back to the generator box...

Here is the box with the cover installed. I had a local shop bend and weld the diamond plate aluminum to fit the frame. Then it was riveted down with a bead of silicon rubber between steel and aluminum. I still need some handles on the outside and a lock mechanism of some sort.



Opened up, there are compartments for fuel cans, chocks, hose and wire. All of this was built out of sheet aluminum and aluminum angle and riveted together with silicon RTV. I cut it out with a hand held saber saw (jig saw). It was time consuming but fun. BTW aluminum is really expensive!



You can see the controls for the electric jacks. They are not wired up yet.




See the gas strut that holds the top open. That took some time to figure out. 80/20 rule: 20% of the work takes 80% of the time. Also notice the U bolts that hold the box to the trailer frame. I decided that drilling holes into the top of the tongue was a bad idea, and probably not good to drill into the sides either. It takes hours and hours to find parts like 8x2" U square bolts but surprisingly they were on amazon.com not Grainger.



Generator is not wired up yet. I will use flexible exhaust tube to run the engine exhaust out, and a bilge blower to exhaust hot air. Still working out the details of that...

[Glenlivet]

Very clean design and tidy execution. Bravo!

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Mark - Holly Crap

This Gen set looks so nice and clean that I wanna rip my solar out

Can I order one from you ??

supper great job...I really gotta retire and learn welding .....

WH vent.JPG (148.98 KiB) Viewed 19659 times

Just look at my second rate work next to yours.....
But i'm more a wood working & electric kinda guy to be honest
this is my enclosure for the 180,000 Btu Jacuzzi water heater
this is my first ever crack at sheet metal work
I don't have a break or anything


http://overthetopcargotrailer.blogspot.com/

[Mark519]

Thanks guys! Jerry, dont rip the solar out just yet!! And your box looks fine! After building this box, I don't think I am going into the business because it is a lot of work! I used oxyacetylene to weld the steel. I learned that in high school and use it only rarely, but it really isn't difficult to weld small stuff, and the equipment isn't expensive. Of course you have to be very careful to follow the safety rules. I have never done arc welding. I don't have good steel cutting tools and that causes a lot of extra work. I used a cheap compound miter saw with a metal cutting blade to cut the 1x1 steel tubing. Each piece has to be sized to within 1/32" of an inch typically. The ends have to be perfectly square (or angled) or they won't join up right and will throw off the geometry. That frequently requires grinding, filing, belt sanding. I use a couple of carpenters squares. Longer pieces of steel will twist and bend from the heat which requires straightening. Basically, the welding is 10% of the job. As far as sheet metal, I avoided any bends over a few inches. A shop could do that for you. I did look at buying a large tongue box but they were all too small. It might be possible to find one that fit a Honda eu2000.

Stay tuned... I am building the fold down bunks out of 1x1 steel tubing right now...

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

It looks like you have 50-60+ hours invested in the project......
nice idea with the fold up also.....makes it easy to work on everything.

Now I having dreams that you could weld up a electric / hydraulic solar panel lift kit for me

[Mark519]

BUNKS
I have finished the steel framing for the bunks. I will put plywood down on the surface and plywood on the sides and part of the face. Maybe a door to make a storage compartment area. There will be some sort of springs or struts to counterbalance them, some sort of bolt to hold them in the upright position.

Both sides are in the upright position. The mattresses will be stored in the gap against the wall.



Both sides are down for two 74x30" bunks. One side can also serve as a couch by using the third 20" mattress that goes on the bridge as a backrest.



Bridge is up and hinge is strong enough to support two adults. It was tricky getting the bridge width exact - it has to fit perfectly in both places.



Left side is up but bridge can only travel 90 degrees so it makes a 47" high table.



Closeup of hinges.





All of this weight should help counterbalance the generator box on the tongue. In theory.

[Mark519]

BUNK UPDATE
They look better with wood on them! There will be paneling on the walls but I have not decided if I will paint everything a light color or stain it. There are pros and cons to both.




This is a 35 gallon Valterra water tank. It is 8" wide and fits inside the wall. The weight should offset the large batteries that sit on the other wheel well. Since the tank is inside it will be much more freeze resistant. There will be a 6' x 30" fold down table above it with cabinetry.

[Mark519]

WATER HEATER & PLUMBING
Endless hot showers are great but the energy and water requirements are way too high for boondocking for days at a time. So I tried several things.

First I wanted to use a 110VAC tankless water heater that could run off generator power. I tried the EEMAX 2412T but it just did not preform very well. If the supply water was over 70 degrees the EEMAX could warm it up enough for a warm shower. But it sent surges of cold water down the line when the flow started and stopped.

My camper has no propane system so I had to use an electric water heater. But running the generator for 15-30 minutes to warm up water was not appealing. There is an Australian company that makes a 240VAC/12VDC 2.6 gallon water heater (Duoetto). But I found a better solution. I bought a Seaward 110VAC 3 gallon heater and replaced the 110VAC 1500W element with a 12VDC 600W element. This is the most powerful element I could find (used for solar/wind diversion loads). There are 100W - 300W DC elements available but they have a longer warm up time. Actually, the 300W element I tested was really running more like 240W.

It takes about 45-60 minutes to heat the water to 135 degrees and uses about 45-60 Ah depending on how warm the water is to start with. That is a lot of DC power but I have the battery and charging system to handle it.

The components are installed in the front end of the trailer under the counter.



The hot water runs into a thermostatic mixing valve to give me 100 degree shower water (and more total warm water). It is mounted right above the water heater. I added insulation to the water heater to hopefully keep it hot longer and keep the heat away from the fridge which will be installed right next to it. I installed a carbon water filter on the sink and water heater lines. There is no tank fill inlet. Instead an electric solenoid valve allows city water to flow back into the tank, and two other valves which drain the fresh tank and hot water heater. This is wired to a 3 position toggle switch (DUMP/NORMAL/FILL).

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Holly Crap

you got plumbing up the wazoooooo - I would keep awake at night worry about all those 50 clamps leaking
I'm really happy with my new Jacuzzi 180,000 btu water heater, it makes hot water FAST and ENDLESS
I estimate about 600 gallons from 2 x 20 lb tanks.
at 1.1 GPM it only uses about 20- 25,000 Btu and the blower runs real slow outside ...
tanks and everything about $1.1k...but easy to install. maybe I can sell hot showers for $10 like at the truck stops

Say what do you know about those torsion axels ??
also what are 1/2 axels ? If I would go off road on BLM land a little are they better then my cheap standard spring set up
I'm thinking to upgrade to 2 x 5,000 lbs Torsion 22 deg neg ?? ....but don't know jack or where to go to get the work done....
It will require some welding I suppose - I also want to get more ground clearance...here is just what I found for example

http://www.cityspring.com/content.php?id=46

I talked to some dumb ass trailer guy.... but he was even clueless what 22 deg neg was & told me spindles can not be changed
told me there was only one kind of torsion axel I just HATE STUPID TRAILER SALESMAN !!

thanks for any advice, PS im kicking it up to 1,530 watts SOLAR

http://overthetopcargotrailer.blogspot.com/

PS do you have a link for those blue & brass little dump valves ?

[Mark519]

I have ALKO axles although I have read that Dexter are somewhat better. Both have design sheets on their website that show the measurements and options. I went with torsion because they have a better ride on-road and I selected a down angle that put the trailer level with my hitch. However I wish I went with 45 degree down angle because another 1.5 inch would come in useful getting over my driveway which is on a hill. My jacks just barely clear the ground at one spot. You might go to a 4x4 suspension shop for advice.

BTW, I got a Sherline scale and just measured my hitch weight: 900 lbs! The trailershowroom site said hitch weight would not be over 250, but I suspect it was more like 500 out the door. It feels safe but rides a bit bouncy and the weight is pushing down the front of the trailer which is bad for the front trailer tires. I am thinking about airbags on my truck although the best solution may be an equalizing hitch. I will probably need to get a shop to look at it once I finish building it.

The solenoid valves are sold on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0072PKMJK. There are lots of different types of solenoid valves but this was the only type that I found that would work in the way I am using them.

[Gadget Man]

Mark;
Your trailer build is absolutely amazing, I'm selling Gadget Mans Adventure Trailer and starting over after I steal all your ideas. But, I'm not sure my check book could handle it.
I thought I read that you have been planning this for 2 years, I can only imagine how many times you have drawn this out before starting your build, then the amount of time researching parts and pieces would be endless.
Your axle ideas, generator, beds and water system are simply ingenious.
Please keep the pictures coming, it's fun to watch a project like this come together.

Cheers
Gadget Man