Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hello,

New guy here, looking to covert a 7x14 Trail Boss into a mini toy-hauler/camper. We have two small quads that I figure will fit just about perfectly. I am going to try to apply the K.I.S.S. principle to this project and not get crazy, but I have a tendency to over-think and over-build things. I also want to be able to use it as a regular cargo trailer should the need arise.

I recently acquired the trailer from my cousin, who used it to tow his Harley trike to shows and such. On one of his road trips the rear axle, street side, bearing grenaded and trashed the spindle beyond repair. I’m guessing the trike took a bad hop inside and a rear wheel landed pretty hard, causing the square-tube cross-frame below to bow down an inch or two. So the trailer sat for about 4 years before I acquired it. Fortunately it’s the desert here, so it’s been preserved and still in pretty good shape otherwise. The only thing I’ve done to it so far is to replace the whole axle assembly, tow it home, tear out the oily carpet, and remove some hooks and such from the walls. Oh, almost everything attached to the walls was done so with self-tapping screws that went all the way through the outside skin, leaving little holes all over.

Here it sits:




A sample of the interior:



From the factory it has a rear loading ramp, side door, ceiling vent, and one interior dome light. No insulation or interior walls. Long-term goals are for it to have:

Cabinet up front at the nose which will house: a small ice-box, sink, 12v water pump, on-demand water heater, grey/fresh water jerry-cans, and whatever electrical converters/fusebox etc. are needed.
Overhead cabinet for storage
Going with an external shower set-up
Install whatever is required to take advantage of shore power, maybe even water if available.
A/C and Heat
Fully insulated
Fold-up beds
Install windows
Spare tire carrier mounted to loading ramp
Toolbox, batteries, and propane on the tongue
Solar

I measured out the frame work and re-created using 3D software. The colors were added to aid in depth-perception when viewing at different angles. Everything grey is future-state additions/modifications.




I don’t anticipate this being a quick build due to time/money constraints. My immediate goal is to get it road-worthy (check on the other axle bearings/brakes, fix frame and floor, new tires, check wiring, etc) by January.

Welcome!

That's an interesting looking trailer - a different look from the usual flat or v-nose cargo trailers.

I'll be interested to watch your build. Good luck!

Made a little progress this weekend. Started by putting in new wheel bearings on the old axle.



Plugged those through-holes created by the self-tapping screws. Used a small nut/bolt combo with a neoprene-bonded washer to keep the water out. I had previously painted both the bolt head and washer white. Didn’t turn out too bad and not very noticeable.



Threw it up on the lift, which took some doing. The tandem axles wouldn’t allow the arms to swing in to contact the frame, so I took a couple of 10 foot long sections of 2” tubing and welded a couple sections of pipe to keep it from moving. It did the job but not happy with the amount of flex in the tube. Will have to do something about that before I get under it to actually work on it.



Here’s starting weight, bare-naked and completely unloaded.



You can see the bent cross-tube here. I’m guessing the rear wheel of the trike was above that cross-member when it took a nasty hop, creating that bow.



I happen to have more of that same tubing left over from a gate build project, so the bent section will be cut out and replaced with new, straight, piece.

Added some mojo to those cross tubes



Success! No more flex and it feels rock solid.





I feel much better about crawling around under it now. Next up will be to address the bent frame-work. Baby steps...

Cool,i will be looking for the completed job.

A good mix of R&R and progress on the trailer project this past weekend. Cut out the bent cross-support tube, ground down the remnants on the frame, and cleaned up to prep for the new section to be welded in.



Used two floor jacks to prop it up and hold it in place while adjustments were made and tacked it into place. Bad angle here, but the new section is hidden behind the axle.





Once that was final-welded into place I started measuring and cutting sections of 1” tube for added cross-supports in between the 2” tube sections. This should beef up the deck a little bit and give it a bit more of a solid feel while walking around inside. Used the same floor jack approach to holding up the section while lining it up and tacking them into place.

Ran into a bit of snag as I wasn’t able to add sections where the lift adapters were in the way.



Only thing to do was move the adapters in a bit to free up that space, but then the adapter would only touch on the 1” cross-support tubes and not touch the frame at all. To get around this I added a small section of tube to space it out a bit



Now there’s full contact across the full width of the trailer again.



Finished up adding the cross-section support tubes and called it a night.



Next up will be patching up the electrical to get it on the road. Ordered a new break-away kit that should be here today.

Man, sure wish I had a lift, it's such a pain crawling under there, and downright dangerous to weld.

You've turned that into a confidence-inspiring frame. Nice job... and congratulations!

Dave

dustboy wrote:Man, sure wish I had a lift, it's such a pain crawling under there, and downright dangerous to weld.

I wish I had your wood-working skills, nice stuff! But yes, the lift sure made a huge difference. It’s actually new-to-me and I’ve only had it up and running for about a month. I still managed to catch my shirt on fire twice putting those cross-bars in. :-D

walkrdg wrote:You've turned that into a confidence-inspiring frame. Nice job... and congratulations!

Dave

Thank you! It’s a bit of added weight, but well worth it in my opinion. Unfortunately I’m not done adding things, so trying to keep that in mind.

Well, I sat down to install the new break-away kit and after taking a closer look at all the wiring I think it will be easier to just run all new wiring instead of patching this stuff up. Too many splices and questionable connections for my liking.


A good friend of mine came over and dropped off some freebies. His father-in-law had taken apart an RV some time ago and these windows have been sitting in a shed for who knows how long. They have an old-school feel to them, kind of heavy, aluminum frames that appear to screw into the trailer from the outside, thick glass, and metal-meshed screens with aluminum frames as well.


The smallest windows are roughly 24” x 36”, which was a bit bigger than I was anticipating. Not sure if it’s a standard size or just coincidence, but vertically they fit perfectly between the trailer wall studs. It sure would be a lot easier to install them this way, just need to add a top and bottom horizontal tube to complete the frame-work. I think it may look kind of wonky, though. Very long top-to-bottom. After holding them up both ways, horizontal appears more natural. To install it that way I would have to cut out one of the vertical studs, build a new frame and weld that back into place plus add some supports. Not that big of a deal really, just a bit more work.

Here is what I am considering, the new windows in purple.



Any suggestions from you experienced RV folks? Windows too big? Just a personal preference? Any other considerations for camping and such?

Stormcrow, Howdy;

They are designed to be installed with the weep-holes on the bottom so that rain
and snow (spit), melt can drain out instead of becoming a leak to the interior. Check
for some 1/8th" slots in the frame, those will be the weep-holes. The pair (upper right),
show the weep holes on the near (to the photo taker), edge. See'um, right there ....

hank

hankaye wrote:Stormcrow, Howdy;

They are designed to be installed with the weep-holes on the bottom so that rain
and snow (spit), melt can drain out instead of becoming a leak to the interior. Check
for some 1/8th" slots in the frame, those will be the weep-holes. The pair (upper right),
show the weep holes on the near (to the photo taker), edge. See'um, right there ....

hank

Hank,

Wow, that is something I did not know or even think about. There’s a good chance I would have installed them incorrectly! Thank you very much for your input!

Regards,
Todd.

Stormcrow, Howdy;

Main reason this forum is here, ... to help when we can.

hank

The angled slider looks like it could work well with the shape of the trailer. (roadside)
McDave