Starting a new camp trailer

Spent the morning in the garage. The axle is mounted. There is 18 3/4 inches of clearance between the frame and the ground. That will decrease slightly as the body weight is added. But I am happy with that.

For some reason the pics won't load off my web site. Will have to figure that out.

 

Lets try this again.




Finally, looks like they changed my server. Odd they did not send an e-mail about it.

 

Went for a short drive today. The trailer pulls great and tracks nicely behind the Jeep.



Close up of the Lock-N-Roll hitch.

 

Looks nice behind the Jeep. I thought the sides would be taller though.

 

Put a boring meeting to good use today. I think this is how I am going to do my walls. I work better in free hand than I do in CAD.

 

Cool! I hand sketch/draw/draft my fabricated parts too.

 

I thought about that idea. The voids will have foam core glued to the walls. That should be strong enough for the how light it will be.

 

Frame almost 100% complete. Spent the weekend putting on the frame extensions. At least now it does not look like its 40ft long behind the Jeep.

I used a large piece of scrap plywood and a clamp to give me a stable surface to fit and tack weld the frame extensions.



Everyone should have one of these in their shop



Eveything together. Looks a lot shorter now.



I left the box for the rear cross member open and added a piece on the passenger side just in front of the tire to give me a place to mount accessories in the future.



I still have to do the body mount tabs and the tongue braces. My plasma cutter is down waiting on a replacement part so I cant shape the tongue braces yet.

 

I like this build.

 

Thanks for the updates and pics.... keep up the good work.

 

Time to start making sawdust.

Bought a rack for the Jeep to allow me to get lumber without borrowing a pickup. It's made by Olympic 4x4 and works great.



Getting ready to lay the keel. More to come later.

 

Spent some more time in the garage today. Have the main layout of the floor complete. I don't want to go any further until the frame is completed and painted.

Cut and fit the main floor panels.



I routed and overlapped the panels to make the floor act as a single piece.



The tongue box will be integrated into the body. So I used the same technique for joining the panels. I used a hand chisel to square off the corners of the routed area.



Fits like a glove



Shaping the floor of the tongue box.



And all together.



Still have to glue everything together. That will have to wait until the frame is completed and painted. I should have the replacement part for my plasma torch tomorrow so I can finish the frame construction this week.

 

If I may ask, is the plywood for the floor exterior grade? From the pictures is looks to be birch. Also IMOP, osb sheathing may be a good choice (as far as moisture concerns from underneath) You do not have to paint or seal it. If it gets wet it will dry out quickly. Fleetwood pop-up campers are constructed in this manner. As an owner of one I can say it works. Fleetwood's printed argument on the choice of sub-floor is a very convincing one.

 

It is birch. There are ways to seal any plywood against moisture. CEPS with a fiberglass cover is what I am planning on using.

OSB tends to disintegrate very quickly when it gets wet.

 

Finally got the parts for my plasma torch so I can finish the frame and get it ready for rhino lining.
Started by fishmouthing the tongue support braces.

Cleaned up the cuts and closed the mouth.

Welded the mouth closed. This will provide a ramp to help pull the frame over obstacles.

Mounting the braces.

Now I can at last take it down to the shop and have it rhino lined. Then I can get back to work on the body.

 

Couple of pics. This stuff even makes my welds look good.






Now I can start working on the body.

 

Would love to see if there is any progress......can't wait!

 

Haven't had a lot of time to work on it since before Thanksgiving. I have a little progress but not a lot.

 

Here are the latest updates...

Making the body mounts. 2" square 3/16 steel with a 1/2 inch grade 8 bolt. This is all epoxied together and will be gorilla glued to the floor. Should be able to remove the floor without having to get to the tops of the bolts.





What the floor sandwich looks like. Bolt through 3/16" plate, then 1/2" plywood and finally 1/4" metal tab welded to the frame. With 10 of these, I don't think I have to worry about the body coming off the frame.



Framing the floor and making sure the eletric parts will fit. The black box is a AC/DC power distribution panel. The metal box on the left is the AC to DC power converter with built in battery charger. The bare metal bracket is a hold down for an optima Battery. I will mount this to the floor and use it to hold my Optima Blue Top battery.



Finally, it's always nice to have the right tools for the job. My wife gave me the portable bench for christmas a couple of years ago. The compound miter saw is from interior trim and molding work in the past.