Contest: How I would use the Harbor Freight trailer if I win

[mikeschn]

Finally, we have a new contest. And yes, you can win a Harbor Freight 1175# trailer.

After serious consideration here’s what we came up with.

How I would use the Harbor Freight trailer if I win it.

1) Describe what and why you would build if you won the H.F. trailer. Write a few paragraphs. What will the inside look like? What will the galley look like? Paint a picture for the judges. You can use pictures from the forum or others to help give us your vision with explanation. Get us excited.
2) For extra consideration, show us your sketches, using Paint, Photoshop, SketchUp or any other program that works for you.
3) Post a picture of where you are going to build your beauty! Your garage, your backyard, the garage at work, whatever. Give us a visual.
4) Here’s some more incentive for you. If you can get your build done in less than 9 months, and you keep us in the photos, we’ll give you an added prize. A pair of Kerry’s fiberglass fenders. Humor us. Share your timeline with us!
5) Let's plan on ending the contest on Valentines Day, midnight, Eastern Standard Time. Can you have your design built by November?

Post your entries in this thread before Midnight, Valentines Day. Come on, you can do it!

Mike…

[sdtripper2]

This is the Trailer that will be given away:

HF model 90154 ITEM 90154-8VGA HF 1175 LB. $239.0
HF CAPACITY 48" x 96" FOLDABLE UTILITY TRAILER WITH 12" WHEELS

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=90154
Manual 90154 http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/m ... emID=90154
***


This is the winning entry from last years Trailer give-a-way 2006:

This is just an example and doesn't fully conform to this years rules:

riverfront (Bruce) Won last year and posted this Sat Apr 29, 2006 3:27 pm

Some very good posts here and some very deserving of this unbelievable offer! So here goes!

Some time back, Linda and I were watching a program and Teardrops and other Tiny Travel Trailers were shown as a way of enjoying the outdoors. She said, "Now that I would go camping in and it might be something we could handle with our van and budget, and I know you have the skills to build it yourself!"

You see, I camp alone if I go because she won't sleep in our tent anymore! So when she said she would sleep in a Teardrop I was game!
Found this site through a member who I know from a fishing site. Been reading ever since and joined a short time back! Started to collect some of the things and supplies but the trailer base is out of the question for the Generic Benroy we would like to build! So this Trailer would get us on our way!

Of course there would be pictures but maybe I am getting ahead of myself!

What would I do with this gift? Build our dream! The hope would be for us to take that first honeymoon after 35 years of happiness together in our new Teardrop this October(If we can get her done by then with help from all of you!). If finances or troubles slow us down then will have to work all the harder to complete it by next year for our 36th!

Yes we have all the same troubles with health and bills and problems like everyone else but receiving this gift would really be our dream come true!
Thanks,
Bruce


This is the thread from last years trailer give-a-way contest:
Note: This years entries have more conditions as seen
above in Mikes post, so don't take these entries from
2006 as exactly what is expected in 2007:
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?p=106095

Important Note:
Remember you can edit your entry by going back and clicking the edit
button @ the top right of your post uP and until the day of the ending of the
contest. So if you want to flesh out your vision or entry you have time to
do so.

Good Luck ~

[grant whipp]

Geeeze, Mike! Make it easy for me, why don't ya ... ... ...? I've had that one figured out for a week or so, ever since I saw that plan for the cheap'n'easy Vardo somebody posted a link to, here, somewhere.

I'd build that Vardo, but you know me ... I'd have to tweak it considerably! Instead of fabric or poly-tarp for the top & sides, I'd use 1/4" ship-lap planking after I gave it a bit of a whisky/wine barrel bulge to the middle. I'd also round the front, kind of bullet-like (but not too pronounced), and extend the sides down to the trailer frame for some outside-accessible storage.

I'd leave the back pretty much the way it's designed, except maybe offset the door to one side a bit to make room for a potty closet on one side. I'd also make a fold-down aluminum-grate patio/deck that form-fit to the rear bulkhead in the UP position and would have a door built into it to access the trailer while on the road.

Inside I'd have the aformentioned potty closet, and then a basic counter with sink and a stove-top, maybe an ice-box, down one side. The other side would have the dinette/bed ... very similar to a slide-in truck camper.

With the solid sheathing/roof, I could make provision for and position a couple of windows in the sides and let the sheathing extend over the tops a bit like an eyebrow or eave (and since I've got a few of those Australian CAMEC radius-corner crank-out windows laying around, I'd more-than-likely use those ... but normal crank-outs would be fine, too).

I might have to contract out to Roly to have some wooden-spoke wheel-covers made so I could paint 'em up gypsy-style, and maybe even turn him loose on some gingerbread outside trim.

Since I don't play with CAD, Paint, or PhotoSop, and I don't have time to sketch this thing out (it's all in the mind, ya know!), I can't post any images for you to drool over, and you'll just have to use your fervent imaginations!

No way I could have it done by November (hell, I'll be gone for 60+ days this summer, and paying customers' work always comes first!), so I guess I loose points there. And since the trailer wouldn't need fenders, well ... thanks anyway ... ... ...

So, there you have it ... what I'd do with a Harbor Freight frame if I won one! NOT what you expected, was it ... ... ...?

You know where to ship that frame, right, Mike ... ... ...

CHEERS!

Grant

[Gaston]

I would use it to haul home the steel I would use to build the frame for the trailer I would build

[Nitetimes]

I would use it to haul home the steel I would use to build the frame for the trailer I would build

Well I'm glad somebody else said it first!!!

[Ira]

Get us excited

This ain't fair:

Although I can do the Photoshop rendering, some of us like myself who have been around here for a while and have clearly exposed our TD building skills CAN'T get anyone excited, much less build it in 9 months.

Does it HAVE to be a TD? A lot of us already have one and don't want a second one, so why not something ELSE and off the wall..and EXCITING...to put on that frame?

[rudeboysaude]

I'll put in an effort but need some time to get it all together. I've been bad at not putting build photos in the album but being near completion of the first one there are already tons of things I'd change if I built another one. I'll try to get them down on paper and meet the guidelines of the contest. First thing I'd do differently.. find some 1/8 ply no matter how far I have to drive. 1/4 has been less then pleasant to work with.

A.

[Spadinator]

HMMMMM what would I do with a new trailer..........

I would build the long awaited Sunspot!!!


The first thing I would need to do is make a place to work. As you can see my Garage needs attention.


The Benroy is nearing completion and it will be a great summer for camping.

My wife loves the idea of "Christening" the Benroy and my boys are excited for the annual father and Sons camp out.

When my wife and I were married 17 years ago we both loved the idea of a honeymoon camping. Three days into the trip my wife got sick and we needed to return home to visit her doctor. We have since then been planning to take a camping honeymoon and travel with the trailer. Although the Benroy would be a great little traveler and would serve a great purpose.......we both agree that a trailer that you could also eat at a table inside would be a better idea.

The Sunspot meets that desire to a T. The interior would have bench style seating and a fold down table that would become the bed. The galley would be accessible from either side and cooking would be a breeze inside or out. The interior theme would be Levi's. My wife is well on her way to making an all Denim quilt to compliment the denim curtains and rustic wood interior.

The exterior would be one of my favorites.....COROPLAST.......The stick framing would be covered in 4 mil Coroplast with luan interior to create a light weight but extemely durable structure.

The mistakes I made on the Benroy have been a lesson learned and the Sunspot would be the Pinacle of my building career. I want all those in the camp ground to ask......What the heck is that? So that I can explain the concept of Tiny Trailer life style.

What I would do with a new trailer? Build the trailer that would join the gap between Teardrop and Tiny trailer.

[s4son]

Spadinator,
How does the Sun Spot compare to the Grasshopper?

Scott F.

[Spadinator]

From appearances.....I'm not sure....but the Sunspot appears a little shorted.

[mikeschn]

Scott & Spad,

Here's a few dims that I came up with on the Sunspot.



Mike...

[Dooner]

Get us excited

This ain't fair:

Although I can do the Photoshop rendering, some of us like myself who have been around here for a while and have clearly exposed our TD building skills CAN'T get anyone excited, much less build it in 9 months.

Does it HAVE to be a TD? A lot of us already have one and don't want a second one, so why not something ELSE and off the wall..and EXCITING...to put on that frame?

Ira !!! What do you mean "CAN'T get anyone excited." Why heck, that avatar alone has me excited. SWEET.

[grant whipp]

This ain't fair:
... Does it HAVE to be a TD?

No where in the rules does it say anything about it being a teardrop, hence my whisky-barrel-Vardo submission ... and that qualifies for your "something else and off the wall"

... some of us like myself who have been around here for a while ... CAN'T get anyone excited ...

I'm with Dooner on this one, Ira ... I'm still shakin' from the near-fatal heart attack I got when I first saw your new avatar ... ... ...!

CHEERS!

Grant

[Ira]

Can we make ONE additional rule, please?

No pitiful stories about how a free $200 HF trailer is going to totally change your life, but you can't afford one because all of your expendable income goes to helping the destitute street children of Calcutta.

MOST of us here are broke, and this ain't Queen for a Day.

(And man, did I date myself with THAT reference!)

[bledsoe3]

Can we make ONE additional rule, please?

No pitiful stories about how a free $200 HF trailer is going to totally change your life, but you can't afford one because all of your expendable income goes to helping the destitute street children of Calcutta.

MOST of us here are broke, and this ain't Queen for a Day.

(And man, did I date myself with THAT reference!)

Why, you were the Queen for the last two weeks.