Thread: My camper trailer build - a different approach?

Chassis
The chassis fame, pictured below is about 4.5m long, 1.8m wide using 100*50*2.5 Gal tube. This was made on the bench upside-down with all the side and bottom (facing up) welds done before rolling over. While upside-down the springs are fitted, runners for the handbrake cable, top shock mount, handbrake handle mount, jockey wheel base, coupling and chains. All of the holes for electrical wires (run inside main rails) were predrilled and draw wires pulled through. M12 nuts have been welded inside the end of the cross members prior to closing the ends up, these are for the boat racks to mount directly to the 100mm channel. The positioning of the chassis front cross member is in front of where the main box will sit – it’s position is for the rack and will locate it between the tent and the lid for the front box. The frame was then turned over and the top welds completed, axle & wheels fitted – now it moves.

Springs (9 leaf rebound "outback" shackle) and axle are rated to min 1500kg for the heavier trailer and 1100kg(6 leaf) for the other.
12" electric brakes with Jap 6 stud wheels and hubs. Thought long and hard about this one - I have gone with Leaf springs & 6 stud for the availability of parts. Another down for LR hubs and wheels for me is that LR have already changed the wheel type again, so when my disco is replaced, there is no vehicle that will match the LR wheels - LR or not, and I’m not p*ssing about change wheels every time I change my car.
With my ties to the marine industry I’ve seen a few of the AL-KO IRS systems on big boat trailers fail now (admittedly they are on Tandem or Tri installations and since IRS doesn’t load share I suspect that one axle is taking far more weight that the others) but that shot my confidence with that system – and if they fail try fixing it on the highway, or at home for that matter – and it would double the cost…
I know I’m going to get smashed for this – as you can see we are using standard 50mm ball couplings, there no reason why I need a poly block but it can be changed if that theory changes in the future for now we save the $300ea.
So running gear is very standard. Note the ally components lined up behind the chassis – more on that later.

Chassis finished - the extra rib supports for the floor are added because the floor is only 2mm aluminium and I don’t want it to bend.

Now there’s 2…. The 2nd unit is build in just under 2 hours clamped to the top of the first to use as a template. Work is halted in the 2nd pic as the chief inspector (in the stripped red shirt) is on site for a closer look!

Chassis ready to go,
complete with electrical cabling in place, brakes connected, 85L water tank & pressure pump in place. Now you can see what the large "blank" sections in the support frame are for – this enables the tanks and spare tyre to be up hard against the floor as apposed to the subframe. I can hear the ground clearance issues starting here - The only concern I have is the tyre bracket hitting on departure off a barge (Fraser / Moreton) so we will see how it goes, the whole bracket can be removed with 3 bolts and the tyre mounted elsewhere if it becomes an issue.

Painted with etch primer, under body black and enamel silver on the drawbar.

Weight as it stands now - 247kg
Eagle eyed viewers will note that the aluminium work is well under way.

Nice job so far Harlie - watching with interest

Aluminium Body.
While I was "sitting around" painting and fitting out the 2 chassis’ BILL has moved back on to the ally and the speed that pre cut and folded components go together is fantastic, don’t get me wrong these assemblies that contain the side lockers, mudguards and rear facing panel took a bit of prep work but compared to measure and cut on site – it was nothing.

Firstly the pin barrel Hinges were welded to the (12) doors, then the trim (angle to take the rubber seal) was bent around a jig (one piece / door) to shape and welded in to the box, then the rear panel, the full length shelf, some reinforcing for the top, and finally the door hinges to the side panel.

By the time I had finished the chassis fit out we had 4 completed side assemblies with doors - they still require fitting of the latches.

It is now apparent that two people that both know what they are doing can produce two units considerably quicker that one unit on your own.

Next move is to lay the 2 floor panels over the chassis - this is when we see how accurate our cutting is – need a couple mm trimming off in the wheel arch (can wait until body is rolled over), square up and clamp.
Square up the side assemblies and tack weld.
Add the front wall and rear stiffener bar- tack weld in place,
Check for true and square, there was a bit of adjustment required because one of our folds was not perfect 90 degree, but it was small enough to be manipulated by hand.
Weld…

Front storage box.
Unfortunately (Easter Monday) gave us a ton of rain so we are forced inside and the shed was never really sized for this type of work.

But stop complaining and get on with it - The front and 2 sides are separate panels with the returns for the rubber seal at top folded as per the original drawings. The lid is also pre folded but required some minor adjustment.

Stand the 2 sides up tack at the bottom then square the front and tack. Add in the small panel that runs across the front wall to complete the seal edge. This was our first cock-up – when the lid was lifted on it did line up on the LHS – bugger. Cut tacks and realign with lid in place. Obviously we should have lined the sides up with the lid on first up, all the panels were the correct size but the LH side was lined up incorrectly and we could not quite work out why… Finish by clamping down the lid and weld hinges to both faces.

Add in the two panels (side lockers) to complete the mudguards (required a trim). Notice the block of concrete in the side locker – we have a slight twist and with the front box taking shape no where to clamp that corner down…

We now have a complete Body except for the tailgate and some of the seam welds (still have to turn the body over to weld underneath, we got sick of falling over each other and everything else and called it a day early - with what we’ve learnt we have about a day to finish the 2nd body.

Unfortunately time constraints mean we won’t get to finish these for a few weeks yet but it’s nearly there.