Adventure 1

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Adventure 1

Postby cspencephoto » Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:12 pm

Hi Guys!

I'm doing this Build Thread somewhat backwards but for a good reason.

Around May 2018 I stumbled across Hiker Trailers on Reddit. I was absolutely fascinated. From there I started looking at build costs and importing into Canada. I soon realized that with the build package I wanted and how weak the CAD is, it was a bit of an unrealistic dream.

I then thought, maybe "car camping" in my Forester would be ok. I took an air mattress, a -15ºC sleeping bag and drove out to Riding Mountain Nat'l Park in Western Manitoba. The temperature was only -5ºC but I was still very cold sleeping in a Non heated, Glass box. Thats a big NOPE to car camping.

I then started lurking and reading through r/teardroptrailers, youtube, tnttt, and other various blogs to get an idea of how to build a strong, capable, lightweight and durable trailer . drawing and drafting a set of 5x8 plans in my spare time at work, and the evenings... which also included scanning Kijiji and local Trailer/ATV-Sled-Outdoor companies for a 5x8 Flat Deck.

Sure enough I found one on Kijiji during October 2018, a H&H 2013 5x8 Golf Cart Hauler that had a 1500LB capacity! It was a little big and bulky to start but it ended up being a fairly decent platform to start with. After a few weeks of getting familiar with the trailer and forming a plan of what I wanted to do with the build, I got to work with modifying the flat deck during November 2018.

*cue the pictures*

First up I had to remove all the old decking/golf cart ramp/box sides/all exterior brackets/pockets/fenders. so, I got to work prepping the chassis. I had to be ready to start the build on December 21st. I was allowed to build this at my shop during our xmas break where we were shut down till Jan. 2.

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Back in November I had measured up the tire size that I wanted and spent a few weeks hunting for a combination that I liked. They showed up! But I forgot to account for the Axle Mounting Plate Bolts. Now I was on the search for a Wheel/Hub Spacer that would fit in a pinch.

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I found a spacer that fit but It was the wrong Lug Size and Pitch - ½-20 to M14x1.25. this would be fine but a socket couldn't fit inside the spacer bore holes so it was easier and cheaper to just machine down the original lug nuts to match the OD on the new lugs and then I can use the same adapter socket for both sets of lugs.

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On the Left is a Metric Spacer Lug, the Middle are my Machined Standard Lugs, and the Right is a Original Standard Lug.

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At this point I am bringing the trailer into the shop every weekend and working on it from Friday-Post Shift to Sunday Evening. It was impossible to properly torque the spacers on with free spinning hubs. Introducing the Hub-Stopper-Thing-A-Ma-Jig!

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The Trailer had a leaf spring that must have been bent by the previous owner. This meant it wasn't level, I figured that a .200" lifter would do the trick to bring it back to level.

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I did a run to the USA Border. I placed orders through Amazon, TeardropTrailerParts and a few other places. Cross border shopping is incredibly cheaper than buying everything Canadian-local unfortunately. During the trip down the fenders that I put on stilts to stay legal had gotten damaged and broke off. So the first thing I got to work getting prepped were the Fenders.

It is Now Dec. 21st, so Let the build BEGIN!

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While the Primer was drying, I made the first supply run to HomeDepot to load up for the next week of work. This is the last supply load this trailer will ever have strapped to it.

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Dec. 22 - Got into the shop early, washed the trailer down and got to work setting up a station.

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The First Cut for the build! It was very exciting to be able to see something happen after waiting for the last few months.

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Starting with a good setup is the key to any Mill or Lathe job that I run at the shop. I took that philosophy into this build. Taking my time to plan this out for months and now build it it a matter of days will hopefully pay off. Each panel I cut, each board I played was already drawn up and ready so that there would be no guessing or time lost.

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I used a rigid EPS panel with a radiant reflective layer on the underside for insulation inside the floor, sandwiched between stringers for strength.

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Out of some extruded C Channel Aluminum I made some brackets to mount the floor through. This design would prevent the floor from moving fore and aft, as well as maximizing strength to the area around it, to not damage the aluminum decking.

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I counter sunk the fender washers and the bolt heads to help grab the floor, and so that the floor will be level. Each bolt is also drilled through the stringers that are sandwiched between the layers of ply. this way there is even more strength.

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Re: Adventure 1

Postby cspencephoto » Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:12 pm

Once the Floor was attached I needed to run the underfloor wiring. A few power lines and a 14-2 AC line.

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Now that the lines are ran, I needed to close in the under sire to protect it from water, debris, salt, rocks and such.

I decided to use Expanding Spray Foam. Once cured its a fully closed cell structure that provides insulation AND it fills all the cavities under the trailer between the floor and the decking.

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The perks to working alone: Always your choice of music; solely accountable for production and quality; Can take breaks at your leisure
The cons to working alone: No one to help flip over a trailer

I figured I would strap the wheels to the forklits and pick it up until it just flipped under it self.... Let me tell ya, its tough to run two forklifts by yourself.

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The Spray Foam cured during Dec 25 and I got back to work on the 26th. My pops came in to assist with build the "skeleton" since it would need two people.

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We made "Jigs" for each wall to allow us to be accurate with squareness and straightness.

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Every corner was double seamed and welded shut. All wall angles were 45º cut's for strength with the extra surface area.

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While I was busy welding up the skeleton, pops used the plasma and cut come Gussets for me to add in. This is my first big project for welding and general fab work.

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Mocking up a Door! I have never been so excited to see something that I've been planning, start to come together

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Dec. 28! The first board is cut for the walls!

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We proceeded to cut all the boards for the walls. Because of all the drawing, cutting, dust and thinking I didn't take to many pictures of this process.

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Using PL Premium I adhered the steel frame to the floor, in addition with 20+ Lath Screws going full depth through the floor and stringers.

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Time to start an insulation sandwich. I needed to make a 1.25" thick panel to fill between the tube skeleton. I used a 0.5" Extruded Polystyrene and a 0.75" Expanded Polystyrene and laminated them with Super 77.

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Last edited by cspencephoto on Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Adventure 1

Postby cspencephoto » Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:13 pm

Dec. 29 - The Great Insulation Day

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And now the Panels

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The Wood panels were all PL Premium adhered to the metal skeleton as well as drilled countersunk and self tapped into place. About 100 were used.

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Testing out the interior stain in a minute of distraction

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Back to chorin'

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The floor was peppered from the hours of welding and grinding sparks, the test fittings, getting walked all over and needed a quick sand down to level it out

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Dec 31 - New Years Eve Edition - Installing the MaxxAir Fan and the roof for good

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Cutting out the skin was not fun...

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Drilling all the holes that need to be drilled before the skin goes on

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I also spray foamed all the window and door seams

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Jan. 1 - Adventure 1 Has to leave the shop to get home so that work can resume for 2019. At least there is a place at one that I can heat to work in during the -20ºC to -40ºC temps we are having. But first, I have all day to work.

First up is the Galley dividing wall

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Insulating the interior from the galley

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Testing the Wiring for the fan. You can see the galley wall has been finished up

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Wiring from the nose of the trailer ran up under the floor and through it to the galley

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and on it goes... with the help of the doors to hold the skin on

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Many hours later it was buttoned up enough to transport. Home we go.

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Taped over windows but its enough to make it home.

Each week night I would tackle little jobs here and there. From wiring, to woodwork, to sanding, reinforcing, staining, sealing, and many other tasks. 2 hours here and 3 hours there really help add up to the work thats being done. With roughly 40 Hours a week put into it, I was hoping to get it mostly done for the winter trip on Feb. 8.

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Weekend of Jan 5-6th - Time to seal the trailer up. I brought it back into the shop Friday evening and allowed It to acclimate. Saturday the 5th, I did all the roof and vertical seams with DAP3.0.

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Sunday I started on the electrical in the Galley.

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The next weekend I had got it far enough it was good to go for a test trip to Asessippi - a ski hill 4.5 hours away. During the holidays I had done a full hub service, clean and repack, the test was also to see how the hubs did on a decent amount of time at 100km/h.

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One of the side projects that I had to do was make a new ball mount. The standard off the shelf ones are to short and interfere with my spare tire so I had to machine a new one that was extended to allow for the proper height offset and lack of interference with the spare tire.

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If anyone is worried, A Curt hitch is just a welded tube on welded tube. This is a single piece, billet, of 1045 Steel. Every Dimension on this ball mount is larger and every clearance is smaller to ensure maximum material for strength. It is also Radiused, Chamfered and Milled for increased strength and decreased geometrically weak areas
Last edited by cspencephoto on Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Adventure 1

Postby cspencephoto » Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:41 pm

Days from Jan 15-24: Finishing details Ensued

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A sketch of what Im thinking I want to make my interior look like

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Weekend of 26-27 - ITS FRIGGIN COLD - We have hit -40ºC for the last 4 days. I'm so glad to have shop space on the weekends to work in a heated environment

Armor time.

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While the primer is drying on all the arbor, fenders and tongue box, I sanded and epoxied the galley counter

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Then once the epoxy was setting I went and Herculiner'd (roll on BedLiner) the primered stuff.

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AH sh**. I didn't wear gloves.... LPT: Wear gloves with Herculiner

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I have an electric jack that I needed to modify the bracket so that it could fit on the very short tongue

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Its just a small fire

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Not bad for eye-balling the alignment

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Last edited by cspencephoto on Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Adventure 1

Postby cspencephoto » Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:41 pm

Time for the First Final Install

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The First Edition of the Exterior. I still have a few brackets and fixtures to make for the spare tire and the jerry cans, this summer will feature a roof rack as well.

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Thats all I have for now! We are all caught up. I will add to this as I go from here on out!

Colby
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Re: Adventure 1

Postby Atomic77 » Mon Jan 28, 2019 6:56 am

Very nice work! Quick too! Looks like a heavy duty rig. I'll watch for future progress

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Re: Adventure 1

Postby redbicycle » Mon Jan 28, 2019 7:37 am

That is a nice looking rig you built!
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Re: Adventure 1

Postby FM82 » Mon Jan 28, 2019 9:52 am

Very nice! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

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Re: Adventure 1

Postby twisted lines » Mon Jan 28, 2019 11:10 am

cspencephoto wrote:Time for the First Final Install

Colby

Yea I do that a lot :lol:

Intech has a strong inspiration going on in mine as well as a few on this site.

I like it.
Racking up; And Rapin foam
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Re: Adventure 1

Postby GeekFisher » Wed Feb 13, 2019 5:53 pm

Ah a fellow canuk !

I might have some questions along the way since my build should end up being very similar to yours and I have an hard time sourcing some parts in our beloved Canada...

Result is awesome btw !
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