Hmm, where to begin. The outdoors have always been a large part of my life and highly enjoyed from a young age. Backpacking trips to Alaska, bush plane drop-offs, and pick-up two weeks later became an almost every year thing as a young adult and beyond. I lived most of my life in North Texas so traveling to destination spots was common, and the older I got, the more I realized that I needed to leave Texas and find my forever home. I left North Texas in early 2016 and made Idaho my home. I live in the middle of everything I enjoy, the outdoors! The area I live in is surrounded by over 10 million acres of state and federal lands, and I could not be happier. “Overlanding” for me has been merely camping out of a vehicle, but the older I get…, the more a little creature comfort becomes…..important.
So what brought me to this corner of the Internet? A TRAILER PROJECT! I have been going through a ton of Youtube videos and here I am. :) I happened upon such unique topics, I had to learn more so spent all evening watching Overland Bound videos. So the Trailer?
A few months ago, I helped a neighbor load several items into a moving truck, and he off the cuff asked if I was interested in buying his little old trailer. For a little steel beast, the price we came to was a steal in my book. I primarily used it for hauling wood from the woods on our firewood gathering runs. Here in Idaho, you acquire a permit for cords of wood, and off you go. A buddy knew I had been shopping for an expedition-style trailer, and he asked, "why not turn Lil Beast into one?" I laughed at first, but we all sat down and started brainstorming. The first thing we did was order a 3500 Dexter Torsion Axle with electric brakes. Pulled the old axle and springs, welded in reinforcements to the bottom, and slapped on the new axle. We removed the original towing point and welded in a 2-inch square tube and ordered an Ark Articulating Off-Road Coupler for 2" Receivers. I'm attempting to locate mount points for Rhino Heavy Duty Bars I had laying around but short of installing an actual track system to the round rail running from front to back, not seeing many options. I figured I would post here for input and updates. Think we are going to weld in a rack that can raise lower the tent using linear actuators, which would also provide a mount point other than the round bar for the RTT....this would also allow me to pull the entire rack off the trailer to use it as a normal trailer with a hoist system in the workshop
I thought it appropriate to lay out all my plans for this little monster. I believe the trailer is an old U-Haul trailer that was decommissioned. 6ft x 4ft. The plan is to install items on the outside of the trailer and the tongue box leaving the interior open to general use etc. The more we plan the less likely that looks LOL
Buyers Products Company 16 in. x 16 in. x 49 in. Black Steel Trailer Tongue Truck Tool Box - Ordered and the plan is to add more 2-inch squares to each angled side at the tongue and mount and weld the tongue box. This should raise the tongue box just high enough not to interfere with the trailer jack. Thought of updating the jack but it works so I think I will leave it as-is unless it proves to be inefficient
Electrical - The primary function of the tongue box will be to house two Odyssey Extreme Series Batteries and an electrical system. (probably will change this out to a LiFepo4 battery) I plan to install a NOCO Genius 2-Bank battery charger along with a Port Plug power inlet for shore power and BlueSea battery switches. I have a Xantrex 806-1220 PROwatt SW 2000 Inverter along with a Renogy Rover 40 Amp 12V/24V MPPT Solar Charge Controller Battery Regulator that will also find a home in here. We'll center the batteries for weight and go from there
Hot Water Heater - Pretty sure we'll also have room to install a hot water system in the tongue box as well for cooking and showers
Roam Vagabond Roof Tent with Annex - I already own a roof tent and we are trying to decide if we want to directly mount it to the round bars or have a lift and lower rack system for the tent. If we go with a lift and lower system, we'll fabricate that and use the areas you can see in the first pictures on the sides to weld in square iron on each side for the raise and lower bars. More than likely will go aluminum for the actual towers attached to the tent platform
Stabilizing Leveling Jacks 2 - We are devising a method to install mount points and install these on the front end and backend
Custom side boxes - We are roughing up a few drawings for boxes to install over the wheel wells for various kitchen storage etc
Bedliner - I plan to Bedliner the entire interior with black Bedliner and olive drab on the entire exterior
Water Tank(s) - Trying to decide how I want to do this. Considering how tall she is now, I MIGHT be able to squeeze a few Valterra RV Water Tanks on her underside. If not, I will have a custom-built for inside the trailer up near the tongue and go with a drawer system for a kitchen, out of the back...or out of the side with a few select cuts and door placement.
