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What if You Wanted to Build Your Own Camping Trailer
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- Written by: ken
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- Category: Uncategorised
- Published: Thursday, 04 January 2018 05:27
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What if you wanted to build your own camping trailer and all you had is a flat bed Trailer you don't use enough? More to come on that quest
The initial build took place a year and a half ago and it looks ok for a box. It is heavier than expected and it was rushed. so definitely not really ready for all types of weather.
I am still figuring out how to lighten this project and redesign it when I have the money to accomplish.
My Primary project is the truck project in the :Truck Tech" section
Captains Log Date: 19 May 2019
OK let's open this entry:
What if you Wanted to Build Your Own Camping Trailer. Well, it started when family asked if I would like to Go hunting or camping with them. I said sure. But, over the years it became more and more challenging to find room at the INN.
Well we tried the 5 foot by 8 foot trailer thing and the project became a glorified box with no sleeping or real camping capability. So what do you do. you Google the project to death between actually buying new and used RV trailers, or building your own from scratch or meet somewhere in the middle.
Well, the Middle ground is where I am at. I am the proud owner of a 7 foot by 17 foot Cargo Trailer from Cargo Craft. It is already insulated and has a Air Conditioner on the top with a drop down tail so off road ATVs can be installed. I used the trailer with barely a bed and capability to cook and a little eletric heater to keep me warm at night.
Now on the the Project TECH Requirements.
- Wife wants a Bathroom and a Shower of Sorts
- Need a place for a Refrigertator
- Need a Kitchen with a stove; be it propane or Electric
- Generators to support the AC unit, eletric heating, and other Alternating curent requirements.
- Windows for allowing fresh air in and hot air out.
- Need to have a better sleeping arrangment in this trailer
- Some other type of heating source, be it propane, portable or Diesel heat
- Stairs to get in the trailer from the side entry doors
- One other option for power is add ing Solar this
-- So a lot of Tech and research and design ideas will go into this.
-- Again the Goal is to keep the Cost down as much as possible.
03 Nov 2019
Well the camping trailer build has come a long way in the cargo trailer
Pieces information
Trailer purchased at www.Coloradotrailersinc.com
So major update. I the Trailer came with E-track already installed around the left and right side of the trailer. I am using these as my points to for securing the twin bed and and seat/storage boxes in the trailer.
It takes a lot of planning and research to keep costs down. A lot of custom work and re-work.
So design goal for this year has been met.
- I went with a 5 Kilowatt Diesel heater to supplement the portable electric heater. I had to learn how to install and protect the 10 Liter fuel tank. Where to place the diesel heater that bests fits with the confines of the trailer design. you have to start thinking every aspect of the build to accomplish not just one task. But, each item has toprovide a secondary purpose based fit form and function. THAT is TECH for you. It always has to meet design goals of Fit, Form and Function. It has to solve a problem. Technology is always solving a problem.
So yes a Diesel heater had to meet easy of install and keep costs down.
- Kitchenette is in with meeting basic function to provide a place for a stove and a sink, and leave room for a electric Nuwave hotplate. That Nuwave works on tech as well
- I bought two windows that are 46 inches wide and 22 inches high. The most expensive part of this system was paying for TrailerSourceInc.com Service department to install the windows and provide a Quality assurance check on the propane install I accomplished.
The kitchenette uses a two burner stove and has to be plugged into AC for the stove to operate It ignites the stove using this source.
- 12 Volt DC center uses right now a Blue Sea fuse block I was going to use on the other truck project.
- The trailer came with a small 12 volt battery that manages the LED lights. But, will not support the Diesel heater on a very cold day. It would drain the battery much quickly. So technology wise I am looking for a LiFEPO4 battery configuration to support this trailer in the future.
-- So the question stand do I build from scratch and document the learning of this technology along the way or buy very expensive pre-built Lithium Ion battery.
- The bottom of the trailer is insulated with R-13 foil faced foam board insulation. That made a big difference and supports the design goal of foot comfort.
- The floor of the trailer had work accomplished as well. Installed flexible click type vynil planks from HomeDepot.com.
So, the trailer is functionally capable of being an RV to support sleeping and eating and getting out of the elements for the year fo 2019.
- 2020 year design and tech goal is:
-- Getting the bathroom installed and plumbing in a water tank
-- Redesign the 12 volt system to better meet industry standards and support LiFEPO4 lithium batteries.
-- Allow the woman in my life to design the curtain/blinds and color schemes. for staining or painting the wood inside.
-- Some type of refrigerator/freezer system. There is several options here. But, ultimately keeping the cost down.
20 Mar 2020
Ok Learning to add pictures. So a couple of pictures
Truck Tech 2
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- Written by: ken
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Truck Tech 2
- Category: Uncategorised
- Published: Monday, 20 May 2019 00:43
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08 May 2019:
Placing new Entry Here. I will be archiving this project on the Diesel Chevy Colorado truck. It was with sadness, I had to trade off the 2016 Chevy Colorado. Since the first month I have had this truck, I had continuing issues with Air Conditioning on this truck and a couple other issues. The straw that broke the camel's back was while towing light trailers of 3000 pounds or less this truck left me stranded in Limp Mode. The Diesel emission system on these early trucks were not up to the task. Twice in one year, while on vacation, I had to go to the nearest dealer and request emergency help to restore the truck to full power.
The second time was pulling a new 17 foot by 7 foot cargo trailer I bought for my new project. Building a trailer to camp and hunt in. That will be another story under the heading "What if You Wanted to Build a Camping Trailer".
08 May 2019,
SO GOOD NEWS, I have a 2019 Chevy Colorado 3.6 liter V6 Gasser truck that is my new project.
So what is the goal of this truck? What is my requirements?
So, Here is my requirements
- First keeping cost spread out over time for prepping this truck for true easy four wheeling trips, maybe even moderate difficult trails with a four wheeling club; not spending the money all at once, and GOING into debt. Breaking bad habits here.
- Secondly, now that I have the trailer, I need to consider how high a lift I can accomplish and not compromise the tow rating of this vehicle
So design goals are:
- Improve torque rating of this truck at the wheels
- Consider safe limits for of lift kits
- Some New 18 inch wheels that can run with the factory height
- Tires that can run with the current factory height on the new wheels
- A lift kit that meets design goals
- A tune for the truck
- A cold air intake
If these are enough for the design goals then maybe I might look into some type of power adder to the truck. But, this may be too extreme cost wise
19 May 2019,
So I am still playing catch up on what has already been accomplished on this 2019 Chevy Colorado.
- A tune for the truck:
Affter much research and patience I went with a TriFecta Advantage + tune. This tune kept with the design goals to improve torque.
- A Cold Air Intake
I went with a S&B cold Air intake. I could not feel much improvement with this other than it removed the shroud off the engine. Together with the TriFecta Tune and the S&B Cold Air Intake I was ready to implement the next mod on this truck
- Wheels and Tires
Last Fall I had already purchased Mayhem Prodigy 8300 Wheels and had them in the Garage. They are bolt patter of 6 x 120, with a negative -6 mm offset.
I just purchased some BF Goodrich 265/65R18 tires. Well the installer showed me that I will encounter wheel rub until I trim some plastic from Wheel well. Well, I did that and solved most of my issues. But, when turning and I hit a bump the Tire rubs on wheel well somewhere.
Well that is the last of the updates on this until I can save up the money for a lift kit of sorts.
03 Nov 2019
Ok, so it has been a very long while since I did an update. I went with Ready 3.5 " SST Lift kit that provided 3.5 inch lift and leeling of the truck. It has been a good fit. No cutting of frame members to reach 5 inches of lift. The rear provided 1 inch of lift to level the truck. It works well with the truck and still pulls the Camper build project. I do feel I need more torque at the wheels. The engine cannot pull confortably the light trailer. But, at least the emission system is not leaving me stranded. So, I am giving a great atta boy to Ready lift for this kit.
I'll provide pictures as soon as I can figure out how.
Ken the project man signing off for today
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20 Mar 2020
Well, it again has been a while since I posted. I have started building the frame of a camper shell on my truck using 8020 inc 15 series extruded tee channel aluminum. That has been a fun experience. More will occur when I get more tools to tighten up the connections. The frame is really solid. I used 1.5 inch x 3 inch aluminum and 1.5 inch x 1.5 inch aluminum. I did not really want to drill into the truck box so I had to figure out how to make the stake pockets useful and strong enough. Almost endanger the loss my hand on that cut. Next time I'll figure out how to cut this small piece of aluminum safer. The camper shell frame allows me to mount several more LED lights to point toward the front of the truck. Also, I added two narrow set of LED lights under the rear bumper to provide extra backup light for the backup camera. It is currently, temporarily connected to the truck trailer port on the rear bumper. As soon as, this COVID 19 event is over and and some more parts come in I will be able to fabricate a centralized relay box. So, I can enable those rear facing LED lights on demand as well as for backing up. Also, provide the relay ports necessary for the other LED lights. Trying to clean up the temporary work I've done so far.
I finally figured out how to make my LED Switches appear more neat and clean within Colorado center console. I'll be using 16 MM stainless steel LED push button switches. This eliminates the the stock aluminum bar I used before.
I still have not gotten off my lazy derrier to figure out how to add pictures to this. I guess that will be next.
Ken the project man signing off for today
Wow, What happened...Upgrade Failure has occurred
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Well Hello Folks. I took some time off from updating the site do to Covid Pandemic in the world. I came back and tried to update/upgrade the site. I hit the proverbial Things hit the fan upgrade failure. Working with my Hosting company, they helped to recover some things. But, the back end features of the Joomla totally failed, and then got backed up that way at the hosting company. No Restoral would work from my Cpanel access. Since, I am keeping the cost fairly low that makes me the administrator. Well, Failure on my part has occurred. I am going to research how to gather what little content I had. But, I think I have learned the hard way about not having any offline copies.
So, I can say my Site got struck by the lazy Admin attitude.
Well, one good thing to come out of this is that I am finally on an upgrade path. I'll have to research if my site was saved off for historical sake somewhere. I guess I get to learn that new feature of the web.
TechKenLite is back online starting anew
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