Thread: My camper trailer build - a different approach?

Hi
Back to it on the weekend; firstly the Alli Body was lifted off, rolled over and carried inside onto the table. It’s surprisingly light.

The under side seams are welded and the welds that can’t be accessed once back on the chassis (like front edge of tool box) are ground and lynished (a tool that is like a small belt sander - 25mm wide - but the belt runs on an arm like a chain saw and one side has no backing plate making it great for curves). Is that the worst description ever?

There are strips of nylon glued to the chassis so the Aluminium won’t come into contact with the mild steel. The body is lifted into place.

We then push the first trailer to one side and start body#2 - following the steps above up to the stage where it is all tacked and ready for seams to be completed. While BIL welded the seams on #2; I go back and finish #1.

The Body is attached to the chassis by no less than 67 * ¼ inch blind rivets. Heaps of rivets are used instead of a couple of large mounts to limit the fatigue in the aluminium that would be likely if held down at only 4 to 8 points.
ALL the Body welds are lynished (hate bare welds). A few spots need to be filled with the welder and are lynished again until we have nice round corners. The holes are cut for all the electrical and plumbing and the big ones on the back for the tail lights.

The body is washed with an acid solution to remove the burn marks left by the welder.

Trailer #1 now only needs the tailgate fitting and is then ready for paint – underneath first.
Trailer #2 is ready to have the body removed and rolled over.

sorry for the exposure of the pics - had to use a phone

Sweet, keep them pics coming

Finally I have found my idea of a camper turned into reality, well almost Good work on a pair of good looking units.

Nice going Harlie.
Was there any science to determine the distance between the coupling and the trailer axle? Longer is easier to reverse, but is there a "sweet spot"?
Also, 50mm ball couplings are scary - just got off the barge on Fraser to be greeted by a stranded gent with fractured coupling from the first decent washout (trailer twisted wrt. vehicle). No more happy holiday from him and family
Tingalpa trailers (or similar name) have their own off-road hitch which is a better version of the Tregg for ~$200 from memory.
Cheers,
Steve

Deleted double posting was here - sorry

Nice work mate!! very neat unit, keep those pics coming!!

Originally Posted by zzsteve

Also, 50mm ball couplings are scary - just got off the barge on Fraser to be greeted by a stranded gent with fractured coupling from the first decent washout (trailer twisted wrt. vehicle). No more happy holiday from him and family
Tingalpa trailers (or similar name) have their own off-road hitch which is a better version of the Tregg for ~$200 from memory.
Cheers,
Steve

Hi Steve
I’ve seen a coupling fracture/crack, it was because it was std bolt on unit that had been welded, it should shear a bolt well before the casting lets go. The weld-on ones and 4 bolt ones will pop off (bend the locking tag) before they crack - this is why guys with a 3rd wheel up the boat trailer draw bar use a poly block - because of the upward pressure when the rear of car is bogged - not articulation.... So be interesting to know the quality of casting, what had been done with it, and what he was doing.

I’ve been travelling the beaches with trailers between Noosa and Bundy for over 30years and when we go to Fraser, we usually head away from the crowds and go right to the Cape so it’s not as if we are just dropping off the barge and stopping there... Never had a problem with a ball coupling. Mind you I’m one of the “Idiots” that just pokes along the East beach at 60-70kph so when we get to a wash out I can pull-up, then proceed through at a suitable place and speed – and I’ve been abused by the heroes that scream around when I slow and subsequently hit the wash out at huge speeds because they can’t even see it until its way to late (Apparently it’s not their fault when damage is caused).

I admit that the ball has limitations compared to the block but what I‘m going to be doing with this trailer is no different to what my Farther has been doing since the 60s without a poly block – he’s still using the same trailer (now slightly modified) that he was before I was born!!! His 1969 FJ40 L’Cruiser is on its 4th engine but it still has the original 50mm ball that was fitted when the old (1 7/8 inch) size went out of fashion.

It’s not the $200-300 that’s my issue here, as you can see I’ve thrown some coin at this project and $300 is not going to make much difference. For me – I don’t want to have to change back and forth with another towbar, I’ve used a poly bock in the past and found it a pain in the a*se to couple up – it’s OK with a camper but try a 3t boat on uneven grass on your own (which I nearly always are). So I would need two towbars and change it for different trailers (this one will make 4 that I own) – I simply don’t want to do that if I don’t need to. I think the point here is that this decision is based on experience and knowledge of MY intended use and that I just don’t want one if it isn’t needed – believe me this has been talked about a lot leading up to this. If I’m proven wrong it will be changed.

Originally Posted by zzsteve

Nice going Harlie.
Was there any science to determine the distance between the coupling and the trailer axle? Longer is easier to reverse, but is there a "sweet spot"?

Basically you want the axle as far back as possible, as you say large distance from ball to axle makes easy to reverse, it also gives the towing vehicle a mechanical advantage (like a long lever) over the trailer in terms of sway and general road manners. Any weight behind the axle is going to act as a lever and counter (negative) the car in terms of road manners so it’s best kept as close as possible.
From the design we know how much weight (you know kg/m of your steel) and its distribution we are dealing with, add to the drawings basics like spare tyre and battery and we can now have a picture of the unladen (complete) trailer. I know that I’m going to have a lot of cargo on the draw bar, that’s a big box and I’ll have a fold up boat trailer. So I could either shift the axle forward to keep the ball weight down or shift some of the dead weight to the back (like battery and spare).

I am aiming for 140-160kg ball weight with the tinnie and its trailer onboard and 120kg with out – however you may have noticed that #2 does not have jerry holders on the front – this is because BIL will be towing with a smaller vehicle and we are aiming at 80kg ball weight.