A New Twist on a Tent Trailer

[Backwoods Guy]

Hi Mark,

After a few tries, I can put it up or down in about 5 minutes, including tarp and all. One other nice thing is that after it's up, if you decide to move it around, you can leave it up and just move the trailer. Nothing is tied to the ground to keep you from moving it to a new camp spot.

Take care, Guy

[woytovich]

Can I see better pics of what you used to pivot the tent poles so you don't have to remove them completely?

[Backwoods Guy]

Hi Mark,

I bought 6 each of these 2 items:

http://www.basspro.com/SeaSense-Bimini- ... 3/-1014623



http://www.basspro.com/SeaSense-Bimini- ... 8/-1014651



In the 3/4" size they fit like a glove on the tent poles. I then measured the spacing on the rails that come from Kodiak Tents and used the same spacing for mounting the pivots on the top of my trailer walls. Now the poles lay flat. I don't have a really good pic of it on my trailer, but I still have some wiring to do for my 12V system, so next time I work on it I'll put the tent up and get some better pics.

Take care, Guy

[Backwoods Guy]

Hi All,

I did my very simple 120V system this weekend and thought I'd share a few pics. First off my pile of goodies:



My plan was to cut the male plug off of the cord and use hunks of cord to wire my trailer, then what was left over I would use to plug the trailer in at the campground. The first thing I did was mount the boxes where I wanted them.



I'm putting a plug on the curb side outside for lights or other things so I won't have to string a cord all the way back to the pedestal. I'm also putting a plug under the bed where I can plug in the battery charger for my 12V system. Next was to prep the wire.



I like to use crimp on connections and then solder them to make sure there is no corrosion in the future. I then added tape to the hot and neutral wires for insulation.



Then connect in the outlet.



Finish installing the outlet and it ends up looking like this.



Now just repeat for the other outlets. After I was all finished I tested everything with my little outlet tester to make sure I got it right. Now that part is done.

Now, this is not THE way to do it, just the way I did it. But I hope the pics will help someone else who is doing the same thing.

Take care, Guy

[MarkInMLB]

Just stumbled upon this post, and really glad I did. Great job, Guy!

I've been going back and forth between building a teardrop, an adventure type trailer with RTT, or even purchasing a Lifetime tent trailer. Since I had concerns over my ability to do a teardrop and making it weather tight for my first attempt, I was leaning toward the Lifetime, but really had preferred to have the cargo not interfere with a quick setup (like yours doesn't). The Compact Camping Concepts trailers, but had the same concerns as you over the ladder access (and price, to a certain extent).

You definitely helped my decision. This looks like a great father/son/daughter project. If your still monitoring this tread, I was hoping I could bother you with some questions on your build. First, how did you determine the appropriate dimensions to fit the tent? Did you measure an actual truck, or did Kodiak provide details on critical dimensions? You mentioned A/C at one point. Did you ever give that further consideration? I was thinking of trying to adapt a window A/C with ducting and figuring out a good way of pumping that in from outside via vents somewhere in the floor of the sleeping deck. Gotta do some more searching here. I know someone has some great ideas on that (seen a few already).

I think I might do something more like and adventure trailer, with maybe a slide out kitchen and storage, along with some other ideas from the great members on Expedition Portal.

Once again, great build! Thanks for posting this.

[proformance]

Great Job Guy,

I have a Kodiak Canvas 8-person tent and can attest to their quality. They are well manufactured and made from high quality materials.

I only wish they made a bed tent for my 2007 Tacoma, 4-door shortbed.

[Backwoods Guy]

Hi Mark,

Sorry this took so long to get a reply.

To get the dimensions I just measured a full size truck bed, it doesn't have to be exact, the tent is designed to fit many different trucks, so it just needs to be close.

For the AC, which I haven't done, I was thinking to just use a small window unit and build it a rack so it would sit in front of the small lower window on the front of the tent.



The lower window is made to be a pass through to a sliding window on a truck. You made need to sew up a little canvas tunnel to seal around the AC unit.

Hope this helps, Guy

[Backwoods Guy]

Oh, by the way, I'm thinking my next trailer may be a Vardo. I really like this guys trailer, but I probably would make mine not as tall. I'm not sure my Sentra would like pulling a 6' tall trailer.

http://paleotool.wordpress.com/plans-pr ... the-vardo/

[MarkInMLB]

Oh, by the way, I'm thinking my next trailer may be a Vardo. I really like this guys trailer, but I probably would make mine not as tall. I'm not sure my Sentra would like pulling a 6' tall trailer.

http://paleotool.wordpress.com/plans-pr ... the-vardo/

Guy,

If you're going to pick a vardo as an example, that's certainly a fine one! It actually got me thinking that if you could work out some sort of lift mechanism you could still have a full size setup, but one that the Sentra wouldn't resist too much. I have the same problem too (small cars), and that's why I liked your solution so much. Light weight and easy setup. I was thinking that the addition of a pullout kitchen would really suit our needs.

Thanks for the reply. If we get around to this, we'll post the progress.

-Mark

[Backwoods Guy]

Hi Mark,

A pull out kitchen sounds promising, a large pull out drawer that pulls to the side from the front right hand corner with the kitchen towards the rear of the trailer is what pops into my mind.

But I've always preferred to be able to move my kitchen away from the trailer, like to a picnic table, so I have gone with an unattached kitchen box. I am contemplating adding a side door and partition under the bed so I can put my EZ-UP canopy and chairs under the front of the bed.

Guy

[MarkInMLB]

Guy,

Sorry for the delayed reply. Lots of family business...

That pullout idea you had was exactly what I was thinking. I've been lurking around the MySwag and Expedition forums checking out some of the units those guys have been working on (and drooling). I'm leaning on the self-contained idea myself, but maybe I'll make provisions for switching to a "removable" unit like you suggested in the event it doesn't work out like I had hoped.

Thanks for all the help.

-Mark

[planzman]

this is slicker than owl snot!

Good job on being creative. :applause: :thumbsup: :applause:

[woytovich]

Now the poles lay flat. I don't have a really good pic of it on my trailer, but I still have some wiring to do for my 12V system, so next time I work on it I'll put the tent up and get some better pics.

Take care, Guy

Any chance you have pics of the poles set-up?

[Backwoods Guy]

Here's a pic of mine that shows the pole in the rear:



And here's a pic from the website:



The poles are not free standing, they have to be attached to the tent to stand. Here's the instructions from the website.

http://www.kodiakcanvas.com/assets/Uplo ... 067218.pdf

I hope these will answer your questions.

Guy

[woytovich]

Thanks for those pics... what I meant was pictures that better show the fold down modification you made... maybe it is as simple as adding the joints in place of fixed "sockets" at the pole ends?