My Offroad Design

[fornesto]

It's built on a 4'x8' frame, with 31x10.5 tires. The galley is very basic with a bolted-down propane stove and sink that hooks to a solar bag that can go in the Con-Fer rack on top. I envisioned the sides as being partially solid and partially roll-up canvas. The recessed area allows for good storage without your stuff flying all over the place and provides a place to sleep at night. It could be used like a pickup truck bed during the day, unloaded at night and a sleeping pad and bag rolled out at night. The entire frame would be a single steel welded structure put together like a sand rail - no wood. the model shows mostly 2x2 framing. There is storage underneath the bed for tools. I wanted to keep this stuff very low to keep from torquing the tongue.

[jagular7]

Cool look to it for sure.
Think about 'squaring' off the front lower area and adding some protection for trail debri? You could also add the splash guards as part of it. By squaring off the front lower section, you will add some room on the interior.

[Bevis]

nice looking design.

[MSG Hall]

very cool!.... how do you get in?

[Steve F]

I was wondering where the door was as well And yep, it does look very cool.

Cheers
Steve

[mikeschn]

He must have a trap door in the floor... or maybe in the roof?

Mike...

[mb82]

That is really cool.

[fornesto]

Since the sides would be roll up canvas, you'd crawl in. I guess the framing on one side could be modified to put a standard door in - or maybe a flip down tailgate style door (just the 6" side rail) would be nice. It would make loading easier also.

[schaney]

Nice design, I like the roll up canvas sides idea. I would be concerned with the rounded areas overhanging the frame taking a hit at some point.

[Gerdo]

Very Nice!

[caseydog]

very cool!.... how do you get in?

Don't be such a nit-picker.

[fornesto]

The reason why I don't have a big wide open door (it wasn't really an oversight) is that big openings are definitely the weak spot of any construction. I wanted to design this as a rolling cage with modular panels to fill in the voids. Leaving a 30x36 opening would create a weak spot. I also liked the idea of underfloor storage (almost like a ballast). If someone were to build this, you could engineer it to be very lightweight and very strong with a low center of gravity. Also, if the trailer were subjected to some tough trails, it could and should flex a little bit. Door frames don't like this kind of stress. Ideally, it would be more like a pick up bed then a trailer.

[sseaman]

i like the idea, get some aluminum, and weight shouldnt be any concern

[MSG Hall]

Ok, I “really” like this trailer of yours…. But I don’t get the canvas. Are you saying the top portion will be open? Neat idea, but going down the highway, the wind will shred the canvas…. Wont it? as I said, I like it and I may very well incorporate some of you features in my build. I don’t know how to run a CAD program, but I sure like how well in works.

I really like your design!

[sseaman]

they actually make canvas tops for truck beds that roll up in the same fashion, i think there called canbacks or something like that. I know when we looked in to replacing the canvas on our pop up its isnt cheap