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Been working on the roof and tent frame. Made of 1-1/4" Sq Tubing 1/8" wall. Still have to rough in the storage floor about 4" up from the top of the trailer box to clear the fridge. Then build doors for sides and rear (5 total) and strengthen the front enough to hang a spare tire, battery box and propane tank off it. Sides will be covered in Dibond sheets cut on to doors, surrounds and ends. Dibond is a poly in the middle with alloy sheets on the outsides. It is painted so am having white with black frame where exposed. Roof is just good old plywood with white RV rubber roof. Have to have this fairly complete in a month as have a festival to go to so maiden voyage. Tent and solar panel goes on top with a second portable flex panel to aim at the sun better. Panel I have now produces 5.7A @ 19VDC and fridge draws 4A but does not cycle a lot. Freezer stays at -12C with fridge set at +3C.
More to come in the next couple of weeks with some mock ups showing all equipment in about 3 weeks.
Well I thought I better do an update. Trailer is getting to the point where I can create a to do list that will fit on an 8.5 x 11 page. Should be done in 2 weeks. I have a roof on and a storage floor just above the donor trailer box height. One thing I did was to mount a 3 piece storage floor made of birch plywood and have a 12" strip bolted down on the middle. Off this I hung a front to rear hinged floor that lifts for both sides and bolts down when not needed to be raised. <see pictures>. This allows me to work on the kitchen, some woring, the plumbing and water system. Perhaps I will add some more compartments in there later on but for now it is ok. The storage area will house gear in totes that are contained between wooden strips (yet to be installed) and held down with good bungee cords. Will hold the shower tent, kitchen plates, pots, dry goods, inflatable kayak, removeable water heater, tools etc. Electrical is almost complete with 100W solar, 12V gel cell LA battery (won't use lithium) and 2000W converter/inverter/12V charger. The trailer will be campground ready for electrical and water service. Roof is 3/4" birch plywood with spar varnish and this week about to get a poormans fiberglass roof using Titebond 3 glue and a painters drop cloth. There is a space in the front floor below for a diesel heater but not sure if I need it yet as we are not cold weather campers. Rooftop tent has an annex for privacy and drivers side will have the batwing awning on it once roof is complete. Anyway take a look at the pictures below: About the only place to mount the switches where we can get at them easily. Plumbing needs some finishing and piping to the portable Joolca water heater. Going to pipe a cold tap in beside the slide out kitchen as well. Remote for converter/inverter on top, next is the solar controller and below that the DC fuse block. The bar up about 4" is the storage floor level. Had to do this to clear the Dometic CX75 fridge/freezer. 2000W inverter/converter/charger. Extremey heavy to handle Slide out kitchen module on right, 2 parts of the storage floor raised to work underneath. Doors are 1 above tailgate, 2 on right side and 2 on drivers side.
Well folks I am down to about 8 things left to do and she is, for the most part, done. Just working on side and rear doors and fill panels. Doors are 060 steel sheet on 3/4x3/4 frame. Still have to add the struts. Tent needs to go on once it departs the garage for clearance reasons. Photos should show a lot but solar is fixed on the end and I will use a flexi panel sitting always angled to best sun. The 120VAc outlet will be able to drive a small toaster. You can see the cheap ass $300 batwing on the driver side. Tent and awning and bedroom annex all came from Princess Auto and are comparable to Smittybilt tents. Tailights and safety chains are done, hand brake is adjusted and pretty much ready to go. Plumbing needs to be connected to the Joolca water heater and a kitchen tap down by the stove slide. Storage area needs some tie downs, some corner trims outside and a revisit for waterproofing and pretty much done. Heater is going to be added in a few weeks. Diesel unit off Amazon for $299 and it gets ducted up to the tent. Some LEDs for reading and a USB port need to go in. Enjoy the pictures and estimate about $2300lb fully loaded. Scale will tell the truth. Final tallied cost will be $9800CDN for everything. Left side and batwing. Bracket barely visible is for the water heater at the end of the trip. Big door going to have my brand on it "BazzaBilt" Aussies used to call this redheaded kiwi either Blue or Bazza. Blue referred to colour of my hair - long story. Pass side doors Kitchen slide on right, fridge just needs to be put in and tied down. Will run on 12V due to more features available Siding and some trim is 1/4" and 1/8" ACM which is painted alloy, plastic, painted alloy layered.
Been pretty tied up last year but here are a few shots of the finished build. Trailer works great and never an issue right off the bat. Only problem I had was with a fixed solar panel I was at the mercy of sun and trailer position and fridge kept running out of juice. So I simply bought a Renogy portable solar panel and use that to follow the sun with some input from the fixed unit. The fixed unit keeps the fridge running freezing cold going down the highway even on a cloudy day. The trailer has standalone and shore power and the same with water - campground service or tank and water pump. Annex is for changing in and wifes vanity use at night. Very pleased and what a strong military trailer from the Iraq war 2004 model all Stainless Steel and paid $910 CDN for it. The trailer has all the functionality as the $50k+ factory built units (plus more storage than theirs) and cost me about $7kUSD to build the entire unit as seen here. Rides better than the Jeep and does not bounce all over the place offroad as well. The water heater is Joolca continuos heat. Takes about 3 minutes to setup with all quick connectors Annex is great for the ladies. Not installed when I go solo. Old fart needs the ladder now so it is a foldup and fits in the storage area along with the 14ft tandem inflatable kayak, luggage, food, appliances, table etc. The batwing cost $299 and is totally the same as the expensive ones except needs to be poled and tied down but for the price not complaining.
Last edited by Sixty4x4; Dec 22, 2025 at 08:08 PM.
