My DIY Squaredrop Camper Build

Hello,

I frequent this forum mostly as a lurker but I'll chime in when I feel like I have something to offer and now I think I do. Three years ago I built my first trailer as a little project during our 2020 Winter lockdowns since I figured I could learn to weld and build something useful. My first trailer was a small 40"x48" little camping trailer for storage and on board water pressurized. After I built that one I decided I wanted something different so I decided to build another that would have a kitchen, sink, storage and a RTT. I was proud of that one, I designed and built it from scratch so it was a fun project (walk-around here). Well, another year came and went and I decided to build something different (again) because if I don't stay busy I'll probably get into trouble. So I designed and started on a 5x8 SquareDrop camper, because I haven't built one of these before and figured a square is easier than a teardrop shape.
1st Trailer:


2nd Trailer:



I decided to learn Fusion360 CAD Software to design this trailer so I could actually plan it out vs rough ideas on my previous builds. This worked out really well being able to plan measurements out visually with realistic models vs lines on graph paper (visual learner here). Here is my design I decided on, I wanted this trailer to possibly double as a 5x8 enclosed utility trailer if possible so I wanted the entire rear to open and hinge upwards. Common on teardrops but I haven't seen a Squaredrop that does this, possibly for some reason I'm not aware of yet.



This forum, along with ExpeditionPortal and YouTube have helped me tremendously in my research of building all 3 of my trailers. Everybody on here that shares what they do, how they do, why they do etc.. Giving tons of ideas and inspiration so I decided to share my project as well. I'm also uploading this build to YouTube as some sort of "How to" showing how I'm building it so mainly at the end I can timelapse myself building something from "nothing" because I love watching those types of videos. You can find part 1 here where I talk design and why I'm doing certain things. Currently my trailer sits looking like my design here so I've made a lot of progress that I'll post in replies to this thread. My bottom frame rails are 2x2" square tubing 1/8" thick, walls are 3/4"x3/4" tubing 1/16" thick. Using Aluminum Composite Material for the outer shell.

Thanks for reading, hope to update more shortly.

 

Hell yeah dude! Keep up the good work!

 

My main frame was built from 1/8" 2x2" Square tubing. Should be plenty strong and not nearly as heavy as 3/16 or 1/4. I cut my ends at 45° to enclose them against each other and to make it look nicer.

Welded the main tongue on which was 13ft to give my truck full ability to turn and basically jackknife without hitting the body. Also welded up a support in the middle to stiffen up the frame along with providing a solid base for my floor.



Next was the tongue supports which were tied into the sides, front, and tongue. Definitely stiffened everything up. I decided to go with the tongue UNDER the frame so I wouldn't have to cut more pieces and in my research it seems like it was a common thing to do with these types of trailers.




Overall dimensions are below and if you'd like to watch my video building it, it's here.
The idea was that this trailer would be slightly smaller profile than my Tacoma and not that heavy so that I don't lose what little MPGs I have already.