gwolff's Cargo Trailer Camper Conversion

Looks sick!!!

 

Cool trailer build! I am curious about your plans for cooling. That little ceiling opening was built into the trailer right? Are you planning on leaving that as is or installing a fan?

 

I am swapping it for a fan, I was actually planning to do that today... funny you should ask!

 

Big Video Update!

1. All walls insulated and installed including the front one.
2. Ceiling completely insulated and installed
3. Vent was removed and replaced with a fan (which is wired and successfully tested)

That may not sound like much but it was a lot of work!

Next up is wall coverings on walls and ceiling, then filling in the corners between the walls and ceiling with a plank. Its going to be trimmed out nicely. Then I will put down the floor.
Then I will be building the divider wall and started to build cabinets inside and out. It's moving along!

https://youtu.be/7gHmdgLZ8y0

 

Great project! It'll be cool to see when it's completed!

 

Good progress! I'm curious about the bed. Are you sliding the passenger side underneath the drivers side? Or are they hinged together so that the driver side goes up the wall and becomes the back for the couch and the passenger side slides to where the driver's side was and becomes the seat?

 

Originally I was going to have the drivers side of the bed hinge up to be backing for the couch but I realized it's overly complicated. I am going to build something like the picture below and I will just lean the futon against the wall of the trailer for backing. It will be comfy enough. The passenger edge of the bed/couch will need a lip to prevent the mattress from sliding off but it should be simple.

 

Dude... The ceiling was a HUGE P.I.T.A. to get in. Got glue everywhere, all over myself and everything. But, it's in. I installed the dome light too just because. We did the first piece of the wall which included a window. We put locktight on the window hardware this time because I'm never taking it off again ever no matter what. The walls are extremely easy and quick to put on, the ceiling.. never again.



Check out the dome light and window trim! Looking cleannnnnn.





You can see the first part of the wall completed

 

Looks clean, nice job.

 

Right here I was thinking.. maybe this wasn't such a good idea

 

In for updates. This gonna be cool

 

Sooooo any updates ?

 

Yeah, but every time he looks up at that ceiling when he’s kicking back camping it’ll be like “Fck you, I won”.

 

This is true.

 

No updates yet. I did work on it this weekend a bit but I am going to make a little bit more progress before posting another update.

 

That sliding bed is way more clever than what I had been thinking. Now it makes sense. Sucks about the ceiling falling off! But thanks for sharing it so others can learn and not just showing the final result.

 

Great job thus far! I'm looking to start a similar build this spring and one question I'm hoping you can help me with is; can you shoot me the link for the reinforced 50 degree tongue you bought? I searched AT's site and could find such a piece and I intend to run a full length tongue down the cargo trailer to get some rigidity, added tongue length and rear tow point, so this piece would be ideal for my mods as well, if I can find where to purchase it!

Thanks for taking the time to create an account and post here, even though you're not a Taco owner. It's definitely been a great thread to watch and learn some from in preparation.

Jake

 

Thanks Jake! I actually contacted Mario from Adventure Trailers at info@adventuretrailers.com to ask if they had any pictures of how people converted standard ball couplers to a receiver hitch. Mario then told me that they actually sell a laser cut plate to make it easy. He set up an order number for me and I called in to pay for it.

Here is the pic he sent me:



With shipping I think I paid around 70 bucks but I think it's well worth the investment. You really can't get much better than this and making it on your own will take most more than $70 worth of material and labor for a lesser product.

Here are some pics of the install. after I installed it I felt like the tongue need to be strengthened and that's when I added the piece of tubing all the way from the tongue to the crossmember at the wheels. It made a huge difference in the rigidity of the tongue.

Here's right after install


Weak sauce!

During:




Time for Beefing

 

When I look back at the picture of the trailer before I added the extra piece of tubing, the tongue looks so weak. However, the trailer had a capacity of 3500 lbs with the factory tongue. Despite its looks, it should have been plenty strong enough for a trailer with a weight of under 2000 lbs. The fact that I could flex the tongue a bit if I hung on it made me concerned though and now I have an extremely high level of confidence in it.