Tent Haters Society present: A disaster in progress

[StormRider]

I started this project a year ago. Maybe i'll even "finish it" before the end of the year, right now i'm just trying to get the outside done so I can park it outside. Feel free to flame, make fun of my welds, ect

I hate tents. Mostly because i've got certain management staff that make it impossible to get to a site before the sun is going down. After the 45 minute struggle to get the tent setup, and the air mattess inflated, and all of the crap thrown in, I somehow end up with the undetectable rock that somehow manages to put a hole in the air mattress at 2 am. I wanted a hardside trailer that all I have to do is park, open the door, flop in, and pass out

Looking at what's commerically available leads to terrible sticker shock. You want 10k for that little thing? So the natural conclusion is of course I can build it for cheaper AND get exactly what I want. To the Intertubes! Eventually I ran across this design: http://www.mikenchell.com/weekender/

easy to build, no complicated curves, sounds like my kind of project!
But what fun is it to follow someone else's design and expertise? Google Sketchup, here we go!

I'm not a skinny guy, so let's push this baby out to 62" wide (hey, that matches the tub of the jeep!), let's slip some 35 x 12.5's under there, oh, and let's tub it for extra construction fun and match the track width of the heep. Hack off the back 2' because I don't need that much kitchen. Enough planning already, let's cut some steel!

2x3x.120" tube for the frame

3500lb rated axle, 10" electric brakes on 5x4.5

5/8" Recovery tabs

 

[StormRider]

Moar pics

The $300 harbor freight metal bandsaw was one of the best tools I picked up as this project was about to start.

 

[StormRider]

I used the front springs from a CJ

 

[StormRider]

Crap, did I really use OSB for the walls? I SO do not recommend it. It's fine structually, and if/when water gets at it, it won't seep the length of the panel like plywood will, but it's a SEVERE pain in the ass to finish. Floor/wheel wells are 3/4" AC grade plywood.

 

[StormRider]

Eventually I'll get a cool 3 axis coupler, but for now a cheap harbor freight hitch will do. 90 degree jacknife accomplished.

 

[StormRider]

So the theory goes I can get at the cooler with the back closed up.

 

[jackjoh]

I like it. What do you project your cost to be?

 

[sixstringsteve]

Wow, that's slick! Excellent work. How are you attaching the wood to the steel frame?

 

[jeep-N-montero]

I would hate to see what happens to those plywood wheel wells if a rock gets jammed up in there, otherwise nice work. What some have done is build a frame to put a lightweight tent trailer onto and works great.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...I hate ground tents. Mostly because i've got certain management staff that make it impossible to get to a site before the sun is going down. After the 45 minute struggle to get the tent setup, and the air mattess inflated, and all of the crap thrown in, I somehow end up with the undetectable rock that somehow manages to put a hole in the air mattress at 2 am.

Fixed that for you You just summed up my love for roof-top-tents.

Love this build! I'm so glad to see you went with a longer leaf spring versus the typical trailer leaf spring. So many complain of the poor trail performance of a leaf sprung off-road trailer and come to find out they used super short trailer springs that have a super high spring rate and very little intended flex. Excited to see more

 

[sixstringsteve]

Why did you plate this? I'm going to building a bumper soon, and I wonder if I should do something similar.

 

[Corban_White]

Why did you plate this? I'm going to building a bumper soon, and I wonder if I should do something similar.

So that it would be the same thickness as the 2x3 tube he used in the tongue?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Guessing it was plated so it had the same OD of the box channel he used thus allowing the gusset plates to sit flush across both. No reason to plate it unless you have a similar need on your bumper.

 

[StormRider]

Jack- It should be about $2500 - I stopped counting after I was into the frame/axle/wheels/suspension for $600

Sixstring - Kurt was right, I plated the receiver hitch so it's the same height as the square tube so the gusset plates are flush and easy to weld together.
To attach the body I welded some angle to the inside of the frame to run bolts through the floor.

Black_ZJ - That would be a pisser, eh? I thought about using 1/8 or 3/16 plate to line the wheel well, and I might do that later, but right now I want the damn thing out of my garage

Kurt - I do like the smaller trailers w/ roof top tents, we'll have to see how this one turns out.

 

[airmanwilliams]

VERY NICE!!!! I need to make a trailer similar to that or a trailer with a roof top tent. I also like the idea of having the same size wheels and tires with the same bolt pattern as the pulling rig.

 

[mbryson]

....Black_ZJ - That would be a pisser, eh? I thought about using 1/8 or 3/16 plate to line the wheel well, and I might do that later, but right now I want the damn thing out of my garage ....

Steel trailer fenders are very reasonably priced. I might see if you can get one of those to fit in there?

 

[YOUKNOW]

That is a cool project!

 

[StormRider]

Steel trailer fenders are very reasonably priced. I might see if you can get one of those to fit in there?

I need to decide what i'm going to do for the wheel flares, it's probably going to be easiest to find someone with a sheet metal brake and bend something for it.

 

[Kevin B.]

I dig this.

If you had it to do again, what would you use instead of the chipboard? Does it need to be structural, or would something like greenboard sheetrock work?

 

[Bart]

Diggin it. Nice work.