New Project Trailer

[ArkansasDon]

a little more work on Sally & I's offroad adventure camper. Fabricated some 3" x 1 1\2" x 48" aluminum tubing cross rails to attach to the existing roof rack to hold our 45" Condition 1 trunk. I installed (4) bimini top strap eye tie down loops (welded them on), primed with automotive etching primer then 2 coats of a satin matte black finish to match the existing roof rack finish. Install (4) plastic 1 1\2" x 3" tubing end caps in black & installed (4) cam buckle straps cut them down to size & installed Rhino Rack Awning Cleat. The trunk is held down by (4) 4"x 1\4-20 bolts with 1 1\2" x 1\4 fender washers, (4) lock washers & (4) flush mount 1\4-20 fasteners.
The trunk holds our (4) Batwing Awning Tapered Walls, (4) 2ft. -4ft. Green Elephant Mini Poles, our 8" cast iron dutch oven, & MR. Buddy Heater with 15ft. hose for the awning tapered wall enclosure room, with room to spare.

 

[ArkansasDon]

More upgrades to the adventure trailer, removed the old exterior lighting & installed some new ones, solder the joints. I also upgraded the solar port to SAE port where I was using the Renogy hard plastic male to female connectors which can be a pain in the ass to disconnect.
Planning couple trips soon after this heat subsides. We plan to spend Thanksgiving out on the trail camping.

 

[ArkansasDon]

well I got all finished installing the new interior light fixture & all new wiring for it. Nice clean job, had to remove the support roof\ceiling tube from the inside of the cabin were I ran the wiring inside of it from the light fixture to the chase. I fished 30 ft. of 16 ga. electrical wire positive & negative. Let me tell you this new cabin light fixture for our offroad adventure camper has multiple functions that you can set.

Used a old hospital bed sheet to cover up the bedding, I know how my wife is about bedding ..........it's a girl thing.

 

[ArkansasDon]

spent the morning into the afternoon yesterday fabricating bracket for the Darche Privacy Room for our offroad adventure camper. I ordered a swing out mounting system from Kimberley2Cape 4wd & Adventure Accessories out of Queensland, Australia. watch the video to see how it works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilK6lRuQsRI&t=3s I got every thing mocked up the way I wanted it. I used 1\4" plate that I cut to the same shape as Runaway's roof rack brackets, & sized up the aluminum spacers to the same as Runaway's. I'll need to go to the hardware store to pick up longer bolts to hang the shower ensuite mount to the bracket I fab.
Tomorrow I'll disassemble it all, media blasted it, prime & paint it black the bracket I fabricated. Then re-install it all using butyl tape for water tite seal. No more setting up a pop up shower \ privy \ dressing tent. This Darche Shower Ensuite will be much faster for set up & make room in the rear storage area in the back of the camper

 

[Gallowbraid]

That bracket looks very cool. I see you weld the same way I do...wearing OSHA approved crocs.

 

[ArkansasDon]

That bracket looks very cool. I see you weld the same way I do...wearing OSHA approved crocs.

yeah I do Gallowbraid, my wife gets after me about wearing leathers & long pants, funny thing about she right, I should. I guess it goes back to my old rodeo days getting buck off horses all them years must of jar'd something loose in my head.

 

[ArkansasDon]

I got the shower ensuite swing out mount installed & Darche shower tent attach to it. I'm happy & impressed.

 

[ArkansasDon]

I decided to fabricate a reinforce diagonal brace on the bracket I fabricated I made few days ago for the swing out arm. I had to remove the arm from the swing out bracket. I used the Darche mounting brackets, cut welded media blasted, primed & painted. Even though it was solid it notice a very slight flex to the bracket, it did stiffen the bracket to the camper up 101% with no flex, I started thinking the trails my wife Sally I decided to fabricate a reinforce diagonal brace on the bracket I fabricated I made few days ago for the swing out arm. I had to remove the arm from the swing out bracket. I used the Darche mounting brackets, cut welded media blasted, primed & painted. Even though it was solid it notice a very slight flex to the bracket, it did stiffen the bracket to the camper up 101% with no flex, I started thinking the trails my wife Sally & I go down in the National Forest are pretty rough & remote to camp.

 

[100acre]

That’s a sweet trailer!

 

[ArkansasDon]

That’s a sweet trailer!

thanks, I put a lot of thought into it.

 

[ArkansasDon]

Finished with the swap of my swing out spare tire carrier, I remove the existing one I had which was the Kuat 1st Gen right hand swing which I weld a 2" tubing upright to hold my spare & drop down Front Runner table. I was going to use the Rig'd up & over swing out but the dimensions were questionable, so I went with Owl Van's 1 Up swing out in the medium Great customer service too https://owlvans.com/collections/bike-cargo-carriers/products/hitch-swing-out-1up-rack-attach-2-0 this thing is a beast & built like a brick out house. Left hand swing option just by flipping it over. I weld up a 2" tube with to support my spare tire.

Tomorrow were leaving for a short 3 day offroad trip to the Barkshed Rangers District in the Ozarks. Give us a chance to try out the Darche Ensuite Shower Enclosure with the Kimberley2Cape Shower Ensuite Mount. My wife Sally made the new bungee cord netting, the roll up shades for the windows on both doors & the curtains for both windows.

​

 

[ArkansasDon]

It seems the rain is putting our trips on hold, my wife Sally & I spent the morning yesterday working on our adventure camper, I finally got around to installing the Yakima shovel mount, installed a 20mm RAM Mount Ball on the back of the camper so we can transfer the RAM X Mount & arm if we wanted to watch YouTube or the weather. I also installed a TackForm Smart Phone Mount inside the camper.

Also my order came in from Overland Gear Guy "Map Pouch" love this, keeping paper maps & DeLORME Atlas & Gazetteer all together while in travels. Our Texas trip got canceled do to storms in May, our Missouri trip the same this month. Crazy weather in the south & midwest.

 

[ArkansasDon]

most of the times Sally & I can not use the air conditioner in our small offroad camper while on trips. I done a lot of research on a small 12v. low amperage draw fans, part of the research was the fan to be portable or can I make it to be portable, quick removable when NOT in use during certain seasons. I end up purchasing this particular fan made for sail boats that only draws .5 amps a hour which is perfect for the power consumption I was looking for. Every thing that is electric that we use that is 12v in our camper I made sure it's all low amperage consumption when I was doing the build.

So I ordered this small 6" fan that can be turned, pivoted in all directions, locked in position, 2 speeds: low & high, super super quiet, designed to move a lot of air on either speed do to the blade design. It's set up for 12v. or 24v. application. The fan was originally meant to be hard wired, but I can install the mount, to remove the fan only just twist off the knob above the fan & the mount will remain, all I have to do is reinstall the knob put the fan away. All is left is giving the measurements of the fan box to Overland Gear Guy make me a bag for the fan.

 

[ArkansasDon]

I am so stoked about my new spare tire trail bag came in today. The order came fast from Edwardstown, South Australia. Now I can do away with that Trasharoo bag, no more shifting, sliding downward trail bag. It never fit correctly on my spare, every trip I was constantly re-adjusting it so it wouldn't hang too low. I've done everything I could think of to prevent this problem.
This new trail bag is designed to fit a spare tire diameter 28" to 32" I run 31" offroad tires on my camper.
This new trail bag has a pocket that slips over the top 1\3rd of the tire then straps to secure it with quick release buckles. It's lined in the inside with ripstop PVC with drain holes. It only took 10 days to receive from the time I placed my order.

Shop all

blacksmithcamping.com

 

[ArkansasDon]

Got up this morning headed down to the shop, temperature outside was 28 degrees, pre-heated the shop within a few hours a steady 70 degrees inside.
Solar panel install this early afternoon, we prepped the solar panel @ the house, cleaning the back, priming the location with 3M's VHB tape primer, applied the 2" wide VHB 2-sided tape. This VHB 2 sides tape has exceptional adhesion, about 40lbs per inch of hold down strength.
After the shop building got to 70 degrees, my wife Sally & I washed the area on the roof of our off-road camper then followed with a wax & adhesive remover & allowed that to dry, we installed the Renogy Monocrystalline Flex 100 watt Panel. The tape provided air space & any condensation to escape from underneath the flex solar panel.

Monday I'll drill the hole through the roof into the camper & route the 10 ga. cables inside & back out underneath floor & the camper chassis into the tongue box where all my electrical & solar charge controller is house.
NOTE* all my existing solar is all Renogy; 30 amp Renogy Adventurer Li- 30A PWM Charge Controller, the portable solar panel is 100 watt Renogy Monocrystalline Foldable Solar Suitcase with 15ft of cable. Battery is VMax Tank AGM 125amp hour.
The new Renogy parts I will be installing 100 watt Renogy Monocrystalline Flex Solar Panel with 20 ft. 10 ga. cable, Renogy Solar Panel Dual Cable Entry Gland, Renogy MMF+FFM for Parallel Connector, MMF to FFM M4C Connectors & various hold down clips. This will give me plenty of power for the camper since everything is low amperage draw, Engel fridge, AT Overland Portable Proplex furnace, Endless Breeze Fan, & LED lighting.

Since Sally & I favorite travels are Backroad Discovery Adventure Routes, I can shut down the 12 volt side of the camper & just turn on the solar side while traveling to keep the battery charged.

 

[ArkansasDon]

well just about finished installing the Renogy Flex 100 watt Monocrystalline Solar Panel on the roof to my camper, spent about 4 1\2 hours on this install. This new panel will work great in conjunction with the Renogy 100 watt Folding Suite Style Monocrystalline Solar Panel giving us 200 watts or I can charge my 125 ah AGM battery on the move traveling with the roof mounted solar panel. When I wired this camper, I can turn on or off each system; solar or 12 volt by turning either of the switches.
All I'm waiting on are the white adhesive backed cable clips for the 10 ga. solar cable. Super clean install, I'm super happy about this add on mod for our offroad camper.

 

[ArkansasDon]

Got my camper solar project finished this afternoon, my hold down clips came in & I got them installed. I’m pleased how this project came out, very clean, detailed.