Service bed to overland trailer

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WJ Overland

WJ Overland

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Hartsel, Colorado, United States
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Rich
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Mumm
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Mounted 3-100 watt solar panels, refrigerator slider, water heater, water tank and pump, propane tank with manifold, etc...
Getting everything mounted was going to be the easy part. Plumbing and wiring I knew would take the most time and something that I don't enjoy very much.
 

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lhoffm4

lhoffm4

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WJ Overland said:
When I bought the service bed, the keys were lost and several of the door latch/locking mechanisms we're broke. Ordered them up and they were delivered very quickly. Knapheide was wonderful to purchase from. Great customer service. Side boxes are mounted, squared and plumb. They way I designed and built this was so I could completely assemble/disassemble everything by nuts and bolts down to the flatbed frame. There were a couple reasons for this. First, I don't have a car lift to pick up the assembled side boxes as one unit. Second, I wanted to completely Raptor line the frame/flatbed and cover all surfaces black and Raptor line the boxes gray. Third, if I ever just needed a small flatbed trailer, I could disassemble and take the boxes off and even build some side rails for just the trailer.
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I totally agree and appreciate your ideas on scalability and forward thinking multi-function... “ One trailer to rule them all”...
 
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WJ Overland

WJ Overland

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Hartsel, Colorado, United States
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Rich
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Mumm
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lhoffm4 said:
WJ Overland said:
When I bought the service bed, the keys were lost and several of the door latch/locking mechanisms we're broke. Ordered them up and they were delivered very quickly. Knapheide was wonderful to purchase from. Great customer service. Side boxes are mounted, squared and plumb. They way I designed and built this was so I could completely assemble/disassemble everything by nuts and bolts down to the flatbed frame. There were a couple reasons for this. First, I don't have a car lift to pick up the assembled side boxes as one unit. Second, I wanted to completely Raptor line the frame/flatbed and cover all surfaces black and Raptor line the boxes gray. Third, if I ever just needed a small flatbed trailer, I could disassemble and take the boxes off and even build some side rails for just the trailer.
Click to expand...
I totally agree and appreciate your ideas on scalability and forward thinking multi-function... “ One trailer to rule them all”...
Click to expand...
Thanks. That was the original thought, but after assembling everything I'm not sure how often I would disassemble everything for a flatbed trailer. The nice thing is that I do have a larger car hauler, so not much of a need for me but you never know. I kind of wanted the challenge.
 
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WJ Overland

WJ Overland

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Member III

1,764
Hartsel, Colorado, United States
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Rich
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Mumm
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30439

Installed the top panel to make the inside weather tight. Make the RRT and got it all mounted up. Still not sure if I'm going to keep it as is or make some type of actuators so the tent can be higher when I use and I'll be able to walk under it when opened/deployed. We'll see.
All the lights, inverter are wired. Water lines are ran and no leaks! Now packing all our items in to get a feel on how things will fit.
This configuration got us to Moab and back via Rimrocker trail and Mesa Verde. 1200 miles towing. No major problems. Even had a rain storm in n Moab and everything stayed dry and together. One thing we did learn, one of the camping spots we had in Moab, we had to back in so the solar panels were facing north. With the warmth in Moab, the refrigerator ran constantly so that brought the battery voltage down pretty low. We ended up moving so we could get better solar exposure and that resolved the issue. Didn't really think that that would be an issue, so I will add a couple remote solar panels that can be plugged into the system and deployed no matter which way we face.
 

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WJ Overland

WJ Overland

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1,764
Hartsel, Colorado, United States
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Rich
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Mumm
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Finally had a chance to work on the sink. Built the slider brackets. Wood is teak with a poly finish. Has hot and cold water. Collapsible sink that lifts out. Not sure if I will put a drain with a hose to run out the gray water about 20 ft or just leave it as is and dump the sink as needed. Desired to use some scrap wood on the left side to hold hand/dish soap, shampoo, etc... I'll probably add a towel bar somewhere as well. Everything can collapse down into one cabinet. Was hoping to have it a little more "transformers like" but ran out of brain cells and ended up with this. Pretty happy with it overall.

Next two items on the list will be to clean up the electric switch area. Not sure if I will use wood or aluminum yet. Also the 270 awning should be in the week. Going to use scissor jacks to raise it. Am hoping to have the closed awning tucked up tight to the RTT and then be able to raise it about 18-20" and swing it out about 6" so it won't be over the solar panels and shade them. We'll see what I can come up with.
 

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sumoslam62

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Awesome build. This is the exact reason I joined the forums. I have been thinking of a service bed trailer and this is a perfect example. NICE JOB!

Andrew
 
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Brian Forrester

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WJ Overland said:
Installed the top panel to make the inside weather tight. Make the RRT and got it all mounted up. Still not sure if I'm going to keep it as is or make some type of actuators so the tent can be higher when I use and I'll be able to walk under it when opened/deployed. We'll see.
All the lights, inverter are wired. Water lines are ran and no leaks! Now packing all our items in to get a feel on how things will fit.
This configuration got us to Moab and back via Rimrocker trail and Mesa Verde. 1200 miles towing. No major problems. Even had a rain storm in n Moab and everything stayed dry and together. One thing we did learn, one of the camping spots we had in Moab, we had to back in so the solar panels were facing north. With the warmth in Moab, the refrigerator ran constantly so that brought the battery voltage down pretty low. We ended up moving so we could get better solar exposure and that resolved the issue. Didn't really think that that would be an issue, so I will add a couple remote solar panels that can be plugged into the system and deployed no matter which way we face.
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Looks awesome. Could you make the solar mount easy to disconnect so that you could relocate as necessary? Maybe even just a single panel.
 
WJ Overland

WJ Overland

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Member III

1,764
Hartsel, Colorado, United States
First Name
Rich
Last Name
Mumm
Member #

30439

There are only 4 knobs/nuts to remove the mounted panels. I currently don't have the wiring setup to allow the panels to be set on the ground or aimed differenly. Most of the time we setup camp and aim to the south for good solar coverage, so not an issue. I have an additional 2-100 watt panels that are stored in the "garage", middle box that can be set up on the ground and aimed anywhere. So the system has a total of 500 watts. We just got back from a 10 day trip to NM and AZ and did not have any problems keeping up with power needs. It could be done, but I think it would be more of a hassle than just setting up the additional 2 we already have.
 
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Sonarman

Sonarman

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Weight is important factor I have Knapheid on my trailer it's a bit more weight than I like so I am going to sell it.
 
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OcoeeG

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Sonarman said:
Weight is important factor I have Knapheid on my trailer it's a bit more weight than I like so I am going to sell it.
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I agree about weight. I see these guys with their giant mil-spec trailers and can't seem to think that is a bit overkill and harder on their truck and MPG killers. But in the end it is lighter than your average trailer hauling firewood or a SxS. @Sonarman what does your trailer weigh with the Knap box on it?
 
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