SomedayAdventure: Opa's Adventure Trailer build

SomedayAdventure · Dec 20, 2015

In the beginning, there was nothing. The vast void and vacuum was neither dark not light. There was neither sound nor silence. Everything was formless and without order and there was no need for anything other than chaos.

Then Opa (my dad) opened his mouth and the sweet sound of his voice was heard. "Let there be trailer".

I've shown it before but this is Opa's M101A1 military trailer. It's a 1968 3/4 ton military trailer picked up for auction for approximately $600. There's plenty of rust spots to take care of but nothing we can't handle with time.

Today is build day.

A bit of straightening to do on the rear. Opa has his own plan for building the trailer deck for the tent. As far as I can explain it, it's a bit like a contractor rack that sits on the rails of trailer. Those will be secured with bolts for safety and to limit movement. Honestly, his design is simpler than mine and easier to get off.

So here we go

SomedayAdventure · Dec 20, 2015

And it goes on and on my friend...

This is the design start my dad came up with.

.

Nicely done

TheCelt · Dec 20, 2015

Somedayilllearn said:
And it goes on and on my friend...

This is the design start my dad came up with.

.

Nicely done

More!

SomedayAdventure · Dec 20, 2015

Design is definitely different

He's planned it with 3 legs per side as opposed to my 4. The steel usage is more efficient for sure but mine was layed out differently from the start.

And he's using advanced technology with something from Star Wars called a "gusset".

Much easier to get his off. His however abandoned the military side rails and will have them mounted to the deck post fab.

He's also setting his deck to be made out of plywood.

More welding I guess

TheCelt · Dec 20, 2015

I love watching metal go together, just something about it.

SomedayAdventure · Dec 20, 2015

Cutting and grinding

SomedayAdventure · Feb 13, 2016

Today, Opa added some Metal gussets to strengthen the deck.

Next up is grinding to wipe off the rust and then a quick coat of rustoleum to protect it before it gets linexed

Gallowbraid · Feb 13, 2016

Sweet!

BigTom · Mar 9, 2016

Subscribed

SomedayAdventure · May 6, 2016

Opa back at it:

Ok, full disclosure, I had to change my screen name. It was causing problems as our blog is www.somedayilllearn.com but I started the adventure stuff on IG with SomedayAdventure. Then, to deal with that, we created the link blog page www.somedayadventure.com and...it was starting to get messy. Back to the point.

Opa is back at it.

He did something a bit more advanced than me when it comes to his deck and how he mounted it to the trailer. My trailer as welded in slips where his is bold down with channel steel. Smart. Opa also decided to use a two piece plywood deck on top.

He set it to be supported in the front, on the sides, and in the middle.

His way also made it much easier to plan and mount the CVT Tents Mt. McKinley tent. Plywood was a lot smoother than my multiple 2x8"s. That's old people thinking right there.