Adventure trailer take 2...

So last year I bought a trailer that was great, but unfortunately not quite big enough and the amount it would cost to do the repairs on it put it on the back burner for a while for me. So I've been keeping my eye out for a trailer to build for camping/exploring and finally found one a few weeks ago. It was a 19' boat trailer that was about 4.5' wide between the frame rails. Its a little rough around the edges, but the actual rear section of the frame wasn't pretty solid





It had these goofy hubs on torsion axles...i don't love the setup, but the torsion springs still work great and the hubs/bearings were in great condition so i repacked them and added some grease through the zerks...




had a trip coming up so i had to get started right away on it...

So the purpose of this trailer is to serve our camping adventures in the summer, and act as a decoy/boat hauler for duck hunting in the fall. Eventually we will get a roof top tent and build a rack for it, but until I know for sure where we are living in a few months I'm going to wait till we are settled...

I started by cutting down the trailer to 4.5' x 7'. I made the box 4.5' x 6' which should be sufficiently large enough for our gear.

Cut down:



Then I flipped it over (its actually not very heavy at all...its I beam construction so its pretty sturdy, but not super thick)...had to move the axle back a few feet and cut all the brackets off

I also installed another support on the frame where the box would end 6' from the rear (can see it in the last pic above) and then it was time to weld in the new 3x3 for the main beam/tongue






lots of cutting, rust grinding and metal cleaning, but that was finally out of the way.

Then it was time to weld the frame of the box in. Corners and centers are 2x2x3/16" and the side rails on top are 1.5"x3"x3/16"...squared everything up as best i could (not perfect but i'm also still not a master fabricator lol)

then it was getting too close to trip time, so I welded in some 1.5"x1.5" angle that will eventually hold the sheet metal sides and screwed some temporary 1x3" pine for sides. I also dropped a 14 ga sheet metal floor in and fabbed up a tail gate. Here is how she is sitting as of now...







I also threw a 2.5" piece of square tubing in the back so we could eventually put an accessory rack or bikes behind it.



Then it was time to take it on a 1600 mile round trip for our Iowa vacation...and it performed perfectly. Only hitch in the get along, was a valve stem that blew out of the wheel in Moline Illinois just before we crossed into Iowa. Set us back an hour, but since I cant find any wheels that fit over the goofy ass hubs I have, I only have two wheels for it. I tried all the local places, but none had wheels that would fit...

Plans from here include:

-Pull the floor back out and take the whole thing to a sand blasting place...I could do it myself, but it seems like its a hell of a lot less hassle just to have someone else do it. Once its done, Ill paint everything and add to it from there...

-Install new axle with hubs that match the WJ...the torsion axle is okay for now, but I really don't know how old it is and I'd rather start with something that's new. I will probably have to switch to leaf springs when that happens

-install box sides...they will either be 14 ga sheet metal or hammered aluminum. Most likely steel though

-either fab up a top/cover or get a soft cover of some variety for now

-fab up a rack for boats and a rack for a tent...the boat rack will be first since the RTT may not happen for a few years...

-install a lock box of some sort, spare tire carrier, and tongue jack on it

-3 axis coupler of some sort


from there very far down the road the next plans will be:

-add some sort of water tank to the trailer
-leveling jacks of some sort
-spare fuel container
-flip out gas stove
-heating and cooling unit similar to outkast boss...

Looking nice.

I'm going to start a trailer build this summer/fall, starting from scratch. It'll be a simple utility trailer for the quad and whatever. Mine will be 5'x9'.

Lots of flexibilty in future plans for that trailer. I like it!