Thread: Offroad Trailer Build

Stick with the first project.....at least that is possible!!!

Not bad at all, I like the design and im planning on doing the same with our roof top tent.

The eleky brakes are a great addition, I had them on a van I was towing years ago and they saved me when a master cylinder seal split on my F350 comming down a hill heading for a T intersection with a factory on the other side.

What size RHS are you using and wall thickness and what are you cladding the sides with?

Good job

The main frame is 75x50x4mm. The rest is 50x50x3 and 25x25x2mm.

The cladding is 1.6mm steel sheets.

PS. Nothing wrong with a jeep. (oops, did I just say that out loud. )

I finally managed to take some more pics.

I am up to the painting stage. One thing I have learnt....I CAN"T SPRAY PAINT.

I am really dissapointed in the painting. I have never spray painted before but in the normal Aussie way I though "how hard can it be?"


If you had a nice ventilated spray booth it would probably make things a lot easier. But I had a cheap $30 pergola with plastic wrapped around it and a plastic floor. That combined with my very poor skills gave a very average job.

But at least I was consistent. I managed to get consistent orange peel over the entire trailer. So my nice metalic enamel now has the hammertone look!

I will take it up to Brissy at Christmas and by the time I get back I'm sure I will be able to make 1 of 2 decisions. Either I will get used to it and not really care anymore and leave it as it is.........or it will bug me for the entire trip and I will take it to a spray painter to get it painted properly in 2 pak.

How much thinner did you add to the paint when you sprayed it? Some enamels are 1:1 so you're only spraying 50% paint.

Anyway, once it gets covered in dust and bugs and crap you'll hardly notice.

Mmmmmm. Maybe that was the problem. I only added 15-20% thinners. When I bought the paint the paintshop said I did not need to thin the enamel at all but I am starting to wonder if they knew what they were on about.

I pulled it out into the light today...........it's pretty bad. I think it is the coverage of the metallic metals which makes it so bad, I have not got it even at all which gives it stripes and some parts dont look covered. But it is only a trailer and like you said it will be covered in stuff pretty quickly. I will leave it for a few days then give it a wash down and maybe a polish. It is just annoying to work hard and getting to a point where I am happy then let myself down with the painting.

hmmmm I dunno which I like more your trailer or your shed.

It's finally finished.......................................... .............almost!

Just a couple of things to do, like tidy up dad's workshop, some touchup paint and recheck the water filler pipe which was leaking. I also need to make a stone guard but this will have to wait till after this trip.


Now for the bad news. The idea of this project was to make a lightweight offroad trailer, something which would be about 750kg fully loaded.......the reality............................home builders overengineer!

Took it to the weighbridge today. Fully loaded with 2 jerry's, 60litres of water and everything else except for luggage.........860kg. So fully loaded it will be closer to 1000kg! I knew I should have used aluminium sheet!

So, nothing I can do now, I will just have to replace the springs when I get back with 1000kg jobbies. I am hoping that spring companies build in a bit of a safety margin so my 750kg spring will be of for this trip. .

So now for the pics:







And the kitchen: