Utility Body Trailer - Post Build Tour

loren85022

Explorer
I regained my ExPo/overland itch in 2010. Prior I thought of it all as off-roading and camping. But its all the same to me. I went to school on this forum absorbing everything possible about trailer builds and vans.
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And so shame on me for not adding a trailer build when I finally started mine. So herein lies a recap. Let me preface this by saying I’m by no means an expert. Nor do I consider my work to be pro quality. I’m not building for the Rubicon or Dekar. My goal was/is to build a trailer that I (and hopefully my family) enjoy and to have fun designing and building it. It’s built for 2-7 night trips in the southwest. My 4wd van has limits and the trailer is built to get in and out of similar environments. Its always work in progress, but thus far, it’s serving its purpose.

Build or buy? I get asked all the time how much did it cost to build? I probably purposely dont know but its inching towards $10,000. And so I’d say to anyone who doesnt love tinkering and making trips to Home Depot, steel yard, etc, buy one and enjoy. You probably arent saving 75% by building your own as many think. That's just my opinion. Other’s may vary.

Utility Body

I roam the planet in a wheelchair. So I knew I wanted side boxes for maximum equipment access. I drew up my idea in Sketchit and found the side boxes tough to acquire. Prefab boxes didnt fit. Custom boxes were priced too high. My design took a pivot when I realized it looked just like a service or utility bed.

Craigslist was the answer. I knew i wanted it to not be from a fullsize truck and I really liked the looks and reduced weight of fiberglass. In hindsight I was lucky to almost immediately find a 30 yrs old fiberglass body off of a minitruck for sale. It was lag bolted to an old fishing boat trailer and half covered in weeds. The body measures appx 90x60”. We haggled to $400 and I lashed it to a flatbed for the ride home.

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Body Mods

It had no real bad repairs needed. But it took weeks to get the body prepped for paint and for the doors to be functional. The biggest modification was in the front compartment. As they sit on a truck, the fuel tank resides behind the cab across the frame. So these beds are built around the tank. This results in the front compartment pass-thru being either non-existent from side to side being less than 50% of what it could be. So we cut out the fiberglass and enlarged the area. Huge difference! This is by far the best place to store valuable equipment.

My modification here could have been better. We bought all the materials to do it with fiberglass mat, but it sat and sat. So I just went with plywood, aluminum joint and corner frame, carpet and caulk. It works but i wish it was cleaner. If you see where the carpet is on the right wall, thats how much we removed and repaired to get maximum space.
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I am happy with the auto carpet. Easy to clean and has enough friction things dont slide easy.
I had some credit with an auto paint shop. So I had the frame painted black and the trailer to match the van.

Frame
If you dont weld, having a welder for a friend is essential. We’ve always agreed to a very wholesale rate for all his work. I truly would hate to lose a friend over such a project so I pay even the best of friends to get involved. We mocked up the frame and realized he had a half-built one we could use and save time. Its 2x3” steel. The frame is very basic design.
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We did use what I guess I’d call L-bar to create a guard around the body at bottom. I havent needed it yet but it does make the trailer look clean.
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You’ll see a subframe was added to increase the support in a few places and a rear bumper with receiver and towing points are added. Up front the frame to uses a removable receiver. I remove when parked to hopefully make it harder to just tow away by zombies.

Once the frame and box were half bolted down we rigged the lights, bolted on an old axle/tire combo and rolled into Az’s DMV for a title. I was really hoping this wouldnt be a hassle. I knew I had it made when I saw the inspectors taking selfies with the van/trailer in background. A lifetime title is $85 in Arizona. Not bad.

Suspension/Brakes
Basic stuff here. I had an opportunity to add swing arms but I wasnt willing to relocate my water tank and for our travels, the leafs are plenty fine. I did break an old 2000lb leaf out in the woods and updated to 3,500lb springs. I added shocks almost immediately after hitting first speed bump.

I do have electric brakes that are great. Beyond them I added spacers to go from 5 lug to 8 lug to match van. I wanted to retain the 5 lug for resale. Interestingly, should I ever need to, I could remove the space and use a 5 lug as a spare.
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Currently, even with the fender guards added I stick out a bit. Its a muddy pain in the ******** occasionally.
 

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loren85022

Explorer
Part II: Utility Body Trailer - Post Build Tour

Electric Box/System
For the electrical, I bought a rather cheap ($100) Delta truck box (12x30” to host two batteries and the charger. It is bolted to the frame in front of body. So far the location has proved to be good. The box got really deconstructed when a batter came loose. The rebuild included reinforcements. Next time, much better box. Inside is two batteries and the charger.
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I have the fuses inside the utility bed. I initially wanted them with the batteries. I deferred to someone else’s advise and mounted them on the wall. They're more convenient but for as little as I tinker with them, I'd have liked them in the box just as well.
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Currently the system can only recharge using shore power (110) or the Honda 1000 generator. The next time we do anything I’ll add the ability to charge from vehicle.

Upper Frame
Atop the body is a 1.25” sq tube rack we welded up. it’s bolted to the body in four places on each side. They line up with the pilars of the body to add strength. This mounts the RTT and awning.
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The body has an enclosed rear compartment. It has two rear double doors and a sliding top (which Ive never opened). However I did make the most rear cross member removable should I need to slide anything big into the aft.


Awning/RTT
The frame hosts a Camping Labs tent that our son and 1-2 friends call home (wife and I sleep in van). It opens to the drive side and works rather well. The cover flat sucks.

One day a Hannibal 2.4m awning showed up on Craigslist. Hours later I was configuring the additions required to the rack to host. It sits low 5’5” so my design isnt for everyone, but we use the awning everywhere. Being able to rotate the trailer to outwit the wind or improve shade without needing to unstake or mess with poles is great.
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Hot Water/Water Tank/Propane Tanks
In order to mount awning, I added a vertical support on front of trailer that extends up to awning. On the other side I did the same and mounted the L5 instant water heater. The heater itself is an easy mount. It gets alot of mud and rocks from the van so we made a cover. The plumbing is not as clean as I'd like it. Its great for showers. I usually use two waffle boards for keeping tootsies clean.
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In front of the electric box is a dual propane tank rack. Its a prototype made by Zebra Fabrications. It’s great for fiberglass and smaller steel tanks.
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[Note: yes I know this tank has a recall. I bought it at Amazon. They refunded and told me to dispose of it. They didnt say when]

I have a 16 gallon tank almost directly over the axle (slightly in front). I use the factory gas intake location to fill it. We usually roll with 5 gallons in the van and we definitely could do better at managing consumption.
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The plywood you see in foreground is a tabletop that slides out the back. More later.
 

loren85022

Explorer
Part III: Utility Body Trailer - Post Build Tour

Kitchen
Knowing a happy camp cook means more excursions, I set out to really make cooking (and cleaning) be as easy as possible. The entire passenger side of trailer is for KP duties.

Sink
First step was my idea of a foldaway stainless sink with hot cold water. First off I reversed the trailer door hinges to open to the rear. Its much more convenient. If it ever flies open on the road, it wont be pretty.

The photos are pretty self-explanatory. Its all ½” Starboard. The sink drains through a hole I bored in the body and we typically just fill and dump a 5 gal bucket. This has an added benefit. With only 16 gallons of water in the tank, I can see when 2-3 gallons gets drained.
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One note: the sink is too far from instant water heater. We waste all the water in the 8-10’ of tube between sink and heater (maybe 12-16 oz) before the hot stuff arrives. The solution is to fill a cup for future use but its a design flaw. Sink needs to be near hot water source.

Storage
The middle long compartment is for storage. Using ¼” Starboard I created some shelves and slots for cooking wares, condiments, etc. And when open, the door serves as a large cutting board.. A cabinet maker would cringe at the end product but so far its proved rugged and has greatly improved efficiency. Starboard is pricey but great to work with.
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I love hearing my wife say she wishes she had this or that. One time she mentioned she needed a place to put her beloved knife that was getting dropped and misplaced. Wa-La! I added a big magnet to the inside of one vertical slot used for dishes and now she can just hold it near and its quickly positioned. The starboard is easy to clean.
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She also needed a place for paper towels and trash. The frame had an end of a cross member exposed so I found a long piece of square tube that would slide in it. I drilled a hole to insert the alum bar (towel rod), and now it serves both needs once we stop.
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[note: the paper towels kept unrolling. I was all set to improve the design until the wife just mashed the roll into an oval. No more problem!

Interior Lights
Tucked high in the cabs is a strip of LED lights that light up either side of the trailer’s interior. Except when bugs are about they are really convenient. The switch and water pump power (the pump actually only draws power when a valve opens) are located above sink.

Rear Table
Once the body mounted to the frame I noticed considerable wasted space underneath the rear compartment. I added two parallel L-channels that allow a plywood ‘table’ ride on and be extracted. It pulls out 75% of its full length and then cantilevers for support. Its a great addition and gets used often. However it gets trail dust and in spite of the urethane coats isnt easy to clean for a meal.

I’ve not a fixed a stove as the wife likes it portable. She uses on the rear table and a folding table. She likes having nearby counter top and sets up based on wind, available light, etc.

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Generator
I have a Honda 1000 generator we typically bring along. The biggest reason is to charge a power wheelchair for a few hours. My preference is a manual chair, but some terrain is just too limiting. We added a stout frame to host the generator in the rear driver side compartment. So far it’s always there when we get home.
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*I’m working on an overland wheelchair
 

loren85022

Explorer
Part IV: Utility Body Trailer - Post Build Tour

Miscellaneous

Third Wheel
Ive gone through a few. The current one is a modified Harbor Freight special. It would not go high or low enough so we modified (raised)the trailer mount and chopped off a bit of the shaft to allow it to lower further. The 9” rubber tire is essential. And I probably will need to learn the hard way to carry a spare as we use it considerably.
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Exterior Lights
I have one over the elec box that is great for decoupling trailer and when using propane and water heater (such as showers). We use portable lanterns otherwise but I would like to have a few floodlights we could flip on once parked.

Rear Storage
I have not done much back here. Its probably 32” by 60”. Great for grills, buckets, fishing poles, tarps, etc. My portable table won't stow upright and its one of the first things we need so I added a semi permanent compartment. It also makes for a great ramp. I need to add a light back here too.
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So I hope this makes ammends for all those who have asked and for all the threads I hijacked over the last two yrs. I'll add more as she evolves.


Bike Rack

I can insert a bike rack in the rear receiver. Its great for folding chairs as well. However its negates the use of rear table and we use it for all kinds of things.

Leveling Legs
My improvised ones are almost embarrassing. But they work quite well actually. I havent gotten too serious about legs as we quite often don't disconnect from van. So they get used sparingly. But once inserted, I block the tires, and raise the tongue a tad to add weight.. Three kids in RTT holding wrestling matches and she sits solid. Note that my RTT is well in front of axle.
[photo pending]

Whats Left?

Mostly I'm just improving everything. We camp and I come back with a punchlist. Its the kind of repairs you'd likely never experience if you bought a high quality trailer.

My next big improvement will likely be a refrigerator in the front compartment. The design is done. The rack is half ready, I just cringe at the sticker price of a refrigerator. I keep missing decent deals on CL.

Using $5 in foam I mocked up the ARB 63 and the National Luna 50. I'm playing around with which works best. Boy does she love the frig and freezer of the NL!
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Mark Harley

Expedition Leader
I have always wanted to see your build.
Your trailer was an inspiration for my family hauler.
It looks perfect with your van. " love matching toys"
Now I need to search for a service body local to mount on my 101A2 frame.
 

Floridazed

New member
Loren...
Im so happy to finally see your trailer! I believe my service bed is the exact same as yours. So when I see your modifications, I can picture them on mine. Things I would not have thought of, like the pull out table in that rear space above the bumper. Great work on it... Im sure you will be getting a lot of "How did you do this _____" questions from me in the years to come. And vice versa.


Thanks for taking the time to post it all.

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teotwaki

Excelsior!
To think that it started with a $400 deal! Lots of great ideas too. The improvements and modifications are the most fun next to hauling the trailer somewhere scenic.
 

Toyotero

Explorer
loren85022,

That's a great write-up. I've been noticing your trailer for sometime and have been watching the local CL for a similar fiberglass utility bed.

You've got some really great ideas built in there now.


I wonder what the weight difference is between a fiberglass and a steel model utility trailer?


Cheers.
 

java

Expedition Leader
Great write up! Thanks.

Those fiberglass or aluminum ones are like Unicorns where I live.... Looked for a long time before just getting a PU bed.
 

ToolBox Guy

Adventurer
Got your PM, figured I better get in here and check it out.


Seriously nice trailer, very well thought out.

Makes me want to change a few things on the utility bed on my truck.
 

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